Living (and Loving) the Island Life! And do NOT use "Bit" in France!!!

Before I forget, I have to share an amusing translation issue again!  It is common for Americans to say, "in a little bit" or "just a little bit" . . . so imagine our horror when, after a year for my American co-worker and almost 2 months for me, someone finally bothered to tell us that "bit" is a slang French term for male "parts."  Even funnier was watching the French guys die laughing about it, "little bit, little bit . . . I was wondering how does she know?"  Yeah . . . be warned that "pine" as in pine tree is also off limits!  This conversation came about as a result of us telling them that they could NOT translate a product as "nut bag" (or nut sack) in English since it can either mean a crazy person or, well, slang for other male "parts."  Ah yes, the fun that comes along with words having a much different meaning in other languages!  Even more awkward is needing to have them at WORK to ensure there aren't language snafus for your coworkers or company.

So, despite being ill, I started my day off by driving to the island of Île de Ré.  First off, the main attraction here is apparently a lighthouse, which was really nice and all . . . but it costs 8 Euro to get onto the island.  I promise you the lighthouse is not worth 11.20 Euro with the entry fee!  If your only interest is a lighthouse, go to Biarritz or something.

Having said that, I'd recommend visiting, but for more than just the lighthouse!  There are lovely beaches, old abbey ruins and a couple of adorable towns . . . plus, donkeys in pants apparently!  While the donkeys had no pants this time, they are super shaggy and adorable!  On my way to the abbey ruins, I stopped by a coffee shop and had my now usual "French breakfast" - pain au chocolat and espresso.  I should note here that while I was between the 2nd & 3rd hole on my belt when I arrived, I now have to use the 1st hole (smallest) - again, how can you not love a country where you eat chocolate for breakfast and dessert with virtually every lunch, yet lose weight?

After soaking in a bit of the sunshine, it was off to the abbey!  Somehow in my many adventures here, I've yet to visit an abbey, so these ruins were my first.  It was actually rather stunning to see it because they've kept the area cleared - you can pull out to take a photo of it at a distance or walk around inside.  I opted for the close-up trip!

Upon approaching the lighthouse . . . well, that is nearly an 11 Euro view!  What a gorgeous day!  And it really does stand out nicely against such a blue sky!

This is about the point when I started wondering what I'd gotten myself into, especially with being sick!  Really?  A lighthouse?  Who climbs up a lighthouse sick?!?

Having made it to the top though - what a view!  Again, *maybe* an 11 Euro view . . . maybe.  I haven't seen any other lighthouses here yet, so it's hard to compare!  The first view was of the "old" lighthouse, which is funny since the "new" lighthouse is from the 1800s.

Ah . . . not so bad when this is the beach that is 90 minutes from your house!  On my way down, I had to take one more picture of the lovely staircase and the date on the floor at the bottom - 1845 is the year of the new lighthouse, to be specific!  Shortly before this shot, the young boy in the photo was well in front of his group and moving quickly when he tripped and started to fall past me . . . years of being an older sister have apparently left me with quick reflexes though as I caught him before he fell too far!  He was solidly in the middle of the adults after that!

Mon Château est Votre Château! Or Leonardo da Vinci's Chateau Anyway!

As I drove from Chateau de Touffou, I had my first moment of questioning whether the typical French diet works for me.  The days when I'm more active, that morning pastry sure doesn't seem to last and I do find that I'm EXTREMELY hungry by lunch time . . . which I don't like as it tends to mean I eat lunch too quickly.  I also noticed today, for the first time, that the lack of protein in the mornings seems to be an issue on active days as I was really dragging.

Having failed to find a local restaurant open, I did experience my first "thank goodness there's a McDonald's!" moment in France.  However, I did not feel that way long!  I should have known when I saw the masses of people standing around that there was going to be a problem, but I was expecting a typical US McDonald's experience - you order, each person gets their food about 30 seconds after ordering and you're out of there in 30 minutes!

So . . . after ordering, I headed up to the pick up counter since I hadn't indicated a seating section for my food to be brought out to.  My number was 97, so I listened for the next number to be called out.  "Soixante trois!"  SIXTY THREE!!!  And it isn't like you can cancel your order at McDonald's after placing it at the machine and paying.  Speaking of - in France, most people select their food using automated machines to select the items they want.  You can also select table delivery of your food!

Considering I had a Medieval City and three chateaus on my list to see for the day, the last place I would have expected to lose more time than expected was lunch at McDonald's, but it was an HOUR later before I received my food.  Finally, I was on the road again and headed toward the Loire Valley and the city of Amboise.

Chateau d'Amboise While I didn't get a distance shot on my way there, I conveniently drove past Amboise on my way back home and stopped for this lovely photo of Chateau d'Amboise towering over the town below it.  The first parts of the chateau were apparently built before 987!!

Out of the extensive number of chateaus available to visit in the Loire Valley, I selected this one because Leonardo da Vinci is buried here!  The chateau plays that up by placing easels and fancy painting frames around the grounds.  I particularly liked the one in the front of the lodge!  And, while I mostly got very lucky and was inside while it rained, then it cleared up before I was back outside, it started raining and everyone headed indoors just in time for me to get this photo with no people!

The chateau was seized by the crown in 1434 for treason and became a favorite of the French kings through when da Vinci was here in 1516.  Given da Vinci was a big reason for coming, I headed to the St Hubert Chapel, which I found PACKED with people.  Apparently, seeing da Vinci's tomb is hot property.  I still managed to get a few shots of the inside.

Of course, da Vinci wasn't the chateau's only famous resident - Catherine de Medici (a name that came up often throughout the chateaus) raised her sons here and Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed with her here as a child!  Having said that, the first series of rooms (Gothic Lodge) were very sparsely furnished.  The Renaissance apartments had more furniture, including King Henri II's room (Medici's husband), but the most impressive rooms to me were the Orleans apartments!  This era was after the French Revolution and only a 5th of the original chateau buildings were left; however, they were beautifully decorated.  I've decided my future dream home also needs a sleigh bed - perhaps not the canopy & bright pink though.  The music room was similarly stunning!  As an interesting tie-in to my MuCEM visit, there was a small display about the 1848 imprisonment of Abd Al-Qadir at d'Amboise due to his resistance to the colonization of Algeria.

Wrapping up the interior part of the visit, you get to see the Minimes Tower, which has an amazng view of the Loire River.  My favorite part of the view was the old bridge supports that are still standing.  I ended up seeing this several more times in the area, including ones where the supports stood in the river, there was a big gap for the road I was driving on, and then you could see the old arched supports and part of a bridge marching across a farmer's field still!  

The Minimes Tower also housed a ramp large enough for a horse and carriage to ride up to the top (same with the Heurtault Tower that you exit through).

After exiting the chateau, I headed out through the grounds to the back view of the chateau.  Here is where I found one of the golden "portrait frames" and a lovely French lady took my picture.

While I'm glad they've restored the chateaus for viewing, I also like the old crumbling bits, like this medieval section of ramparts:

The view from the other side of the chateau grounds wasn't too bad either.  The homes retain enough "ancient" charm that you can almost imagine yourself French Royalty looking out over your domain below . . . ah, it's good to be queen! ;-)

And while the photo of the chateau over the town gives some idea of the size, here's a picture of the wall rising above the teeny, tiny cars below - incredible to think of structures like this being built back when they were.

After wandering the grounds, I was ready for more da Vinci!  Good thing because I was off to Clos Luce, the chateau that was given to da Vinci to live in for the last 3 years of his life.  While walking along, I was looking at the sections of wall still standing that appear to have once supported the majority (4/5s) of the buildings that are now gone.  I was rather surprised to see a sign indicating that a special house was private property, one that was totally trashed . . . and then this one that I could get a good photo of.  It appears the French don't only use an existing wall to form the wall of a newer building, but will also build a house directly INSIDE a former castle wall.  There was one with a sign that seemed to indicate you could stay in it like a hotel!  Wish I'd seen that online - I would have stayed in it just for the experience!  In case you're thinking this can't possibly be lived in, note the SATELLITE DISH to the left side of the photo - people live in them alright!

As a side note, my American co-worker and I have discussed the fact that the exterior appearance of the old homes in the area doesn't seem to be a concern for rural French folks, but the interiors are an entirely different story!

PROS: one of the best views of all the chateaus (definitely built the highest of those I saw), da Vinci is buried there, very good & detailed English visitor guide, Orleans apartments were stunning!

CONS: only 8 rooms had much in the way of furnishings, parking was a few small lots of paid city parking only (or scouting for a free spot on the sidewalk . . . yes, they PARK on sidewalks here)

Overall, I spent about 2 hours here and felt it was time well-spent.  It was the 2nd least expensive of the Loire Valley chateaus that I saw (in keeping with the smaller number of furnished rooms); however, I would say that if you're not a da Vinci fan, you could probably skip this one and not really miss much.  The only room that really stood out as unique from rooms I saw in other chateaus was the Orleans music room.

Eating Like The French

When I first saw the Easter pastry with hard boiled eggs & sausage, I was super happy because I never thought I could adjust to a super light breakfast of just carbs.  At home, I typically eat an egg with a slice of bacon or an egg and a small bit of hash browns or bacon and hash browns . . . so not a huge breakfast, but definitely always some protein.  In fact, this was part of why I thought I'd need to pre-pay for access to a breakfast in my hotels, but I'm glad now that I only added it in Belgium and in one hotel in Germany - when you can eat a breakfast pastry for 1 Euro, why pay 7-10 Euro for a breakfast buffet that tends to be croissants, pain au chocolat, fruit and a small selection of ham and soft cheese?

I'm still not convinced that a breakfast lacking in protein is the best way to start your day, but after nearly 4 weeks (and 2 weeks of eating pain au chocolat virtually every morning), I'm rarely hungry before lunch time at noon (aka "midi" in French).  My pastry and coffee seem to get me through the morning just fine and I'm not groggy or dragging (other than very first thing in the morning, but that's always true as I'm a night owl by nature).

The French generally eat a croissant, pain au chocolat or simply skip breakfast in favor of espresso.  And once you get used to it, I rather enjoy my light breakfast!  It also leaves you plenty of room for another French classic - the fixed price lunch!  When I've been out, it seems most of the French around are ordering a starter (entrée), main dish (plat) and dessert; however, I usually go with the fixed price option that is 2 of the 3.  Keep in mind that these are all generally small - a quiche slice or a small tart is common for the entrée or dessert.  The main dish is usually a little bigger, but still on the small side, especially compared to American meals.  They certainly aren't geared towards taking leftovers with you! (BTW, taking leftovers is a serious no-no in France)  Lunch is almost exclusively available between 12 and 2 pm.  Eating outside the set times can be a challenge here!

On to dinner - outside of small rural towns, eating dinner out doesn't seem to be an issue.  Many restaurants open up again with hours starting roughly around 7-7:30 pm.  From what I've heard though, only one meal is large. So, if you have a big fixed price lunch, dinner may be just soup.  Since I'm trying to stay on the smaller side at lunch, one current favorite local place for take-out dinner is O'Napoli (when I want a change from French).  I love the juice drinks with the feisty names and the unusual pizza combos - the choice below is ham, toasted chèvre, honey, baby spinach and a few other things.

More of Life in Rural France
Since I mentioned them, I went back for a close-up of the head-devouring demons on the church.

I've posted pics of housing in the towns, but this is a typical area home outside of the city center - kind of a small split-level.  I think it's interesting to see how the historical styles have morphed into more recent homes. 

Last, but not least, I made fire!  It kept burning all evening too!  Not to say that I wouldn't still need the skills of, say, a former Eagle Scout in a survival scenario, but I'd at least have the fire under control!

Living in a Small Town Instead of Poitiers

Many of the people who work at our plant live 45-60 minutes away in the nearest larger city of Poitiers.  While I can understand the appeal, I am NOT a commuter because, well, I have been a night owl all my life (I apparently slept until 9 easily as a baby) and I like my sleep.

People who do it claim you'd commute to Poitiers frequently anyway, which is likely true depending on your life style; however, I like to shop once a week for the full week and that's it.  Since the French don't really go out in the evening and most things are closed in the area, that doesn't really matter for me either.

Frankly, I don't regret deciding to stay local so far.  The largest store has everything I'd need last minute and 7:30 PM isn't so early that it is unreasonable to go after work (although perhaps it is if you typically arrive at 8:30 to 9 AM and then leave at 6:30 PM or later - not an uncommon work schedule here).  I'll revisit this topic after I've been here a bit longer, but as of right now, if I were to live here for a longer period of time, I would try to find a place in here first, then neighboring towns . . . and would only go so far as Poitiers if there was literally nothing else available closer.

I will say that, once you're in a town, you can likely get by without a car if you don't mind a decent amount of walking; however, if I had no car I might feel differently about being here.  The large supermarket would be quite a walk and it is ~100 Euro to take a taxi to/from Poitiers.  On the contrary, you can park a car on a long weekend in Poitiers for less than 34 Euro.

Nothing to terribly exciting today - realized the gate had bent away from the wall, so parking didn't need to be quite so tight (pic before fix!)

My American coworker also introduced me to this lovely Easter pastry called Pain de Pâques, which just looks like good breakfast food to me (it would not be breakfast to the French)!  And that's it for today!