FRANCE

We will now continue with our originally scheduled broadcast:

I was able to travel to France last this last weekend, thanks in most part due to the generosity of Rachel ... my favorite France person! [and the best out of work journalist/vampire I have ever seen :) ]

I started on Friday meeting Rachel in Paris. She had just gotten back from an extended vacation in Sardenia (lucky dog!!!). We met up and proceded to find a hostel and funny hats to wear to a Halloween shindig on Saturday - more about that later. After procurring our funny hats, we wondered around a bit, found and fully partook of a nice irish pub near the Island, and cominced to take funny pics or ourselves wearing our new hats. Lets just say it was a fabulous evening.

On Saturday, we headed to Le Mans, where Rachel is staying for the year. On the way we stopped off at Chartres to view the important Cathedral. The church was amazing, but the stained and painted glass panels from the 12th and 13th centuries were just unbelievable. I have a truly new appreciation for just how dark and mysterious medieval churches could be, especially on days that were cloudy or rainy [as it just happened to be for pretty much my entire trip to France].

After arriving in Le Mans, we met of with Rachel's great group of friends and proceded to celebrate Halloween in a thoroughly appropriate manner. This included dressing up in silly hats and visiting a great pub for several rounds of pool and good drinks. All in all a perfect evening.

On Sunday, we went shopping at the local weekly food market, which just proved how much more advanced the art of good food in in France. Some of the stuff on sale just made my mouth water: fresh seafood, fresh bread, fresh veggies, pretty much everything you can imagine - just fresher and brighter. Following the food market, we took our spoils back to the apartment, made a great lunch and then had a generally lazy afternoon and evening.

On Monday I had booked a tour of the Loire Valley [where all the really famous French chateaux and castles are] through a local touristic company. Early in the morning, I caught a train to Tours from Le Mans and headed out on my mini-bus tour with several other coupes and families. It was fantastic. I got to see the Chateau de Chambord, Chateau de Cheverny, Chateau d'Amboise [where Leonardo Di Vinci is buried], Clos Luce [where Leonardo lived the last 3 years of his life], and Chateau de Chenonceau. After an all day tour, we ended up back in Tours, where I got a hostel for the night and generally just wandered around and took pics and read historical signs with my limited french.

In the morning on Tuesday, I headed back to Le Mans to have lunch with Rachel at one of the best restaruants in France [ This has got to be one of the top three meals of my life and included a roasted duck salad with goat's cheese on toast and roast beef with fois gras and a heavenly concotion of potatoes, cream and herbs.] After eating we visited the Cathedral of Le Mans then headed back to pick up my stuff so I could catch a train back to Paris. Upon arriving in Paris, I headed to Gare du Nord to catch my eurostar train back to London. All in all, a great exended weekend.

Pics soon - I promise :)