We got up early Wednesday and drove the two hour journey to La Rochelle, the city where Francine was born and raised. It was a bustling, fishing town with tons of shops and tourists. We walked the stony streets peeking in windows of the many, many shops on winding streets in a city centre that reminded me a bit of San Francisco.
We went down a sleepy street away from the waterfront to find a less touristy place to eat, and Dad found a really nice place that had wonderful outdoor seating and delicious food. I ordered the chicken entreé that had white aparagus, mushrooms and a lovely rich sauce and a dessert of cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream, smothered in hot chocolate sauce and sprinkled with sliced almonds. John ordered a unique starter salad with a creamy cheese base, some kind of pesto-looking layer and a bunch of finely sliced vegetables that was incredible, and thought he ordered a fish entreé but received the same dinner I did, which he was not sorry about because it was so good. Our French-speaking hosts were at the opposite end of the table when we ordered, and though Fiona speaks French very well, her vocab doesn't yet include the fineries in French cuisine at that level. I was sitting next to Fi and kept asking her what everything on the menu was but she would lean over and say, "I have no idea." I think she is getting a bit bored with having to translate for Aunt Rachie and Uncle John. Gretchen and Dylan have been learning more phrases and are brave in testing them out. I keep recalling all the Norwegian I have been learning, so I have been pronouncing everything incorrectly or forgetting it straight away.
We took a tour of one of two historic towers, climbing the steep stairs to an exhibit that was mostly in French, so I didn't take the time to look at each display, but oggled a cool huge ship in a bottle, then went to take photos from the top of the tower. Here's a cute Schmoopie photo to commemorate that moment :)
After the tour, Dad went for a nap in the car and Francine took us around to show us the house she was born and grew up in, and we shopped a bit, and me and Fiona got some adorable glass animals for our respective shadow boxes. We took a brief walk through of a huge church that is being renovated and then made our way back to find Papou (Dad) and head back to the house to prepare for supper.
Time and space are nebulous at best right now, so please bear with the sparse blogging and lack of details about meals and other minutea that I normally like to include as a sort of writer's scrapbook of our travels. I will say that we are eating better on this trip than any other since most meals are homemade and casual. We have only eaten out a couple of times so far, and though the restaurants have been great, nothing beats a roasted meal of chicken and veggies, salads and bread with cheese and Irish butter. We are very much enjoying the rustic cooking of rural France.
Love&hugs, R&J
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