A Tale of Two Turkeys...

This weekend, Zack and I helped to sustain the turkey industry in France by partaking twice (gobble, gobble) of this American holiday with French friends.

Friday night, we had an intimate gathering chez Charles & Debra with four other French guests. We contributed a green bean casserole and pecan pie. The evening ended with a quite competitive game of Nertz (card game).





Today (Sunday), we had a not-so-intimate gathering with about 70 other francophone and anglophone guests who are members of the English library downtown. The dinner was a "thank you" to its volunteers (I lead a conversation group on Saturdays and Zack does tech support). It was a pretty authentic meal but with some French flair. We began with champagne, then the soup course, then the main course (with wine), then the cheese/salad course, and finally finished up with dessert and coffee.

Before the nearly 3 hour meal, to work up our appetites we went on a two hour walk through cornfields, apple orchards and pine forests, and we met some really nice chaps from England, Ireland and Scotland. There was also a married couple from Appalachian State there that Zack got to talk with briefly. We rode with an extremely nice woman named Beatrice, who, having been to the US only once, spent a week in Raleigh, of all places, since Raleigh is a sister city with Compiegne (not sure where that is). Quelle coincidence!

Both were very lively Thanksgivings. We are thankful for the opportunities to call our families back home, to meet new friends, and to learn different ways of celebrating one of our favorite holidays.

A La Foire

We went to the county fair this evening. There isn't all the country goodness that we have at the NC State Fair, but there were a few rides and games. They do have food, but each booth has the same stuff. Since Elizabeth is coocoo for cheesesteaks, we had to get an "American Steack" (yes, it is spelled like that), complete with fries on top. The also have candied apple: "Pomme d'amour" (apple of love), many flavor choices for cotton candy: "barbe de papa" (beard of daddy), giant beignets (triple-sized filled doughnuts), churros and/or crepes with Nuttela, and your typical sausage hoagie with peppers and onions.
I was amazed at the kinds of game prizes: mini gas powered motorcycles and quads, kitchen appliances, washing machines, cell phones, samurai swords, and, of course, lots of stuffed animals and cartoon characters.
There were the usual carnies, and a good many people that could pass for carnies. The whole thing was packed into a space the size of one of the parking lots around the fair grounds in Raleigh. But it was a good experience. We may go back because it doesn't leave town for another 3 weeks!

Behringers in France

Zack and I were delighted to welcome our first visitors - Kathy, Jeff and Laura Behringer. We gave them a walking tour of Angers and visited the local chateau here (behind them).
Then, we rented a car and visited a French castle "Chenonceau". It was built by the King of France (Henry IV) solely for his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, in the 16th Century. During the German occupation of France of WWII, the chateau was used as a hospital. Since it spans the Cher River, the front door opened up to Nazi occupation while the back door opened up to the Allied Forces.

Next, we drove to the beaches of Normandy to visit the American cemetary (about a 2.5 hour drive). It really is something you should see for yourself.









Then, we drove to Paris and spent 3 nights in the City of Lights. We visited the Louvre, the Eiffle Tower, Notre Dame and drank very expensive tea in a famous teahouse called La Duree.

Zack: While waiting in line to climb the Eiffel Tower with my sister, I noticed a famous actor, Colm Feore, along with his wife, behind us in line. I'm 99.9% sure it was him - we brushed past each other about 5 times while zig-zagging through the line over an hour's time. I didn't say anything, and no one else did either, probably because he's not extremely famous. I'm sure he prefers not to be hassled anyway.




We briefly visited Geneva on our way to Zurich, where my parents and sister were flying out of. There was a cold front last week, but we ventured outside long enough to see lots of picturesque views of the Alps. My camera lost its charge before we went to Switzerland, though, but you can see how charming it was.

There we went to a real fondue restaurant. They also have Raclette (melted cheeze for dipping) for sale in the train station. That is the pinnacle of stinky cheeze. When we got off the train I thought the station was situated next to the city dump.

NC in France

Our local shopping mall has an exhibition this month called the "Far West". I took some photos that include some Frenchmen dressed up like Indians and Cowboys and some flags of the Wild West...like the flag of NC???

But, it was kind of nice to see it hanging up over here.