You decide

Tonight we're watching American Idol like a couple of...Americans. So, in honor of the voice of the people, we are giving you the choice over what to call our next blog entry.
Tomorrow, bright and early, we're off to Turkey. There are so many good titles for our trip... Please help us decide!

1. Turkey - the Other White Meat


2. Turkish Delight


3. Tastes Like Chicken


4. So we went to Turkey, Ist-ain't-no-bul


5. Turkey for you, Turkey for me; Can't believe the Mets traded Daryl Strawberry


6. Turkey - the Other Other White Meat


7. "dinde" is French for "turkey"


8. "baba hindi" is Turkish for "turkey" (we think)


9. Coach Z...is not that cool. Here comes an e-mail.


10. Chuck Norris


11. Sanjaya Malakar


12. Can you repeat the question?

No purchase necessary. Since we haven't actually been there yet, and our experience must dictate the chosen title, all votes will be totally ignored. I am Zack Behringer and I approve this message. And I would not give you any spyware for free, silly.

Castle Country

Last weekend some more of our good friends came to visit us. They started their vacation in Spain, made their way up to Paris and then over to Angers for the weekend. We sent them over to the chateau for a quick look at the tapestry.

After that we rented a car and drove down to Rochemenier to visit a Troglodyte village/museum. Troglodyte is the word to describe a person who lives in a cave or in the ground. The site had a bunch of different man-made caves/rooms where they lived and kept animals and did all sorts of cave people things. I wondered why of all places France would have a history of cave dwellers, but someone explained to me that temperature stays pretty constant in the ground, which allowed people to stay warm without the slower process of building stone buildings, which are extremely inefficient. Even though nobody lived at this site, if you drive along the Loire river, you are bound to see a lot of cliffs with houses built into the side. These are called semi-troglo houses. We even know an American couple that lives in one.
So, enough with the science lesson. We were going to eat there in a cave restaurant, but we got done way too early, so we headed back to Angers and enjoyed some crepes at our favorite creperie. It happened to be St. Patty's day that day, and since Shawn is of the clan MacBrady (he can point out the sun for you on a clear day), he and I enjoyed a few Guinness for the sake of a guy who actually isn't Irish.

The next day we packed a lunch and headed for the town of Loches, on the other side of Tours, about an hour and a half from Angers. Shawn and Lauren read about a medieval castle there. This place was built on a big hill/rock. The main part was called the dungeon, even though it was more of what we would consider a tower. All that was left were walls that went up about 4 stories. The floors were gone, but there were metal grates that we could walk on at each level. There was lots of wind at the top, so it was a little uncomfortable standing on a grated floor so high up. The rest of the castle had a bunch of rooms and passageways that went way down in to the rock. It seemed like it went forever.





It's only a model...








don't let the pitiful looking façade fool you...








In case you don't get it...


There was also a more modern chateau here on site where people such as the woman first given the official title of Mistress of the King, and Joan of Arc and a few other historical troublemakers visited.
On the way back to Angers we meandered around the Loire valley between Tours and Angers. We drove by 3 somewhat famous chateaux. (We drove by because it was too late to go in). Villandry is said to have a very nice garden. Leaving there we got stopped by a DWI checkpoint... at 5 in the afternoon. When I told them I spoke English they got really excited... not sure why. They were then disappointed when I blew a 0.00. That was an interesting experience.

Azay le Rideau is another chateau situated on a river. I guess they did this for defensive purposes.




Then from there on to the Chateau d'Usse. This was said to have inspired some guy to write Sleeping Beauty or something.









Lastly, we drove past Langeais (maybe a picture later).

That night we cooked a French dinner for them, a shmorgasborg of different stuff from around the country. Now you know what you're missing if you don't visit.

The Harris' in France

Andy and Elizabeth Harris paid us a visit in early March after their sojourn in England- we toured the Fontevraud Abbey (largest monastery in France) about 15 miles outside of Angers, and then we drove to Paris for the weekend.



The tombs of Elenor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart at Fontevraud









We were goaded into a Moroccan restaurant one night and then our final evening, we enjoyed a tasty french meal in an underground jazz club. Andy and Elizabeth spent LOTS of time in the Louvre Friday night. Zack and I walked around, learning when monuments and museums close in Paris (as we glanced down at our watches at 8:01pm...)

Then we visited Versailles which was interesting but physically exhausting (a 60 minute walk from the palace to the other end of the gardens...and don't forget the walk back - oy!).




On our way back to Angers, we stopped at the cathedral of Chartres to view their famous stain-glass windows (first time blue was used in stained-glass is what I heard).





There is a wonderful advantage to having a car because you can make so many stops along the way from here to there.

I miss my Honda...

Short trip to the Alps

Last weekend (right after we got back from Morocco) we went to visit a friend of Elizabeth's in a ski town called Manigod. We took a 6 hour train on Saturday morning to Annecy, which is situated on a big lake, and this was some of the best scenery I've taken in since we've been here - better than Geneva and Zurich! There was a crystal clear stream from the lake running through the center of town, too. The town of Annecy kinda reminds us of Strasbourg (see earlier post).

Mélanie (Elizabeth's host family when she visited France when she was 16) and her boyfriend Thomas drove us around the lake to the side of a mountain where Thomas works in the summer providing tandem paraglider flights. I wished it was summer because you get to jump off this mountain and glide all the way across the lake before touching down!

We then drove another half hour to their cottage and enjoyed some bread and cheese, of course. And we got to play with their dog, Chouia. It rained all the way there. I was getting pretty discouraged because I wanted to go snowboarding the following day. That night was the annual reunion for Mélanie and her friends that grew up in that area. They were gracious enough to take us along. We drove over the mountain to the main ski town called La Cluza. As we went up higher on the mountain the rain turned to snow! All hope was not lost. We met up with their friends at one their apartments. Elizabeth got to chat with some girls she met when she was 16. We also met a girl from Oregon who was living in Paris for the year as an aupair. She does not speak French yet, either, so we got to talk to her a lot.

For dinner we enjoyed Raclette, which I had been wanting to try for a long time. Basically they give you part of a wheel of cheese (that is about a foot in diameter) and you stick it under a heat lamp, and when the cheese starts bubbling you scrape off the top on to your plate full of sliced meats and potatoes. You keep doing this until you can't take it any longer. This part of the country is called Savoie, and cheese plays an even bigger part of their diet. We got out of there about midnight, and went back to the cottage and slept like a rock.

The next morning it was raining, but the ski areas up higher had snow. After dragging my butt all morning, I finally got on the slopes around 11. It only cost about $20 for a day ticket there. Everywhere I've been in the States is always over $50 for a Sunday ticket. Unfortunately, most of the chair lifts were closed due to heavy winds. I had to spend all my time on the lower slopes, which only had Poma (téléski) lifts. NC may have limited slopes, but I'm grateful that the majority of our lifts are chair lifts. Platter lifts like these require you to actually do work to hold yourself upright on the way up. And they are definitely not built to carry snowboarders. So I fought with those all day, but didn't have too many problems. At the end of the day I noticed an open chair lift. Oh well. I got to enjoy the fresh, powdery snow, which is something the east coast doesn't get too much of.

For lunch we ate with Mélanie's family. Now I know how Elizabeth felt when she was 16, because I understood very little of their conversations. But the food was delicious, for which I was very grateful.

While I skied, Elizabeth went around town with Mélanie. She bought some regional cheese which we now have in our freezer for special occasions.





We packed it up around 6 and headed back to Annecy to catch our train home. It was too short of a trip, but we are extremely grateful to Mélanie and Thomas for their hospitality and letting me borrow a snowboard! We wish them well!