Dinner at the Manoir

Bruce and Steven prepared an excellent dinner for us this evening. Anna leaves in the morning heading back to Milano. The menu included hors d'oeurves by the fire and at the table a salad with apples,pears and chèvre chaud. The main course was roast lamb with a reduced peppercorn sauce and au gratin potatoes. Vegetables were carrots and red cabbage prepared in a delicious way.  Dessert was an upside down peach cake with mascarpone cream. Magnifique!!

Hors d'oeurves by the fire

    Enjoying dinner

    Steven and Bruce with Gene and Joan

Flower arrangement in the foyer

Around Varennes-sur-Loire

Anna, Gene and I took a walk late this morning around the village. Gene snapped a few random photos. The last three photos are of Champfreau. The cross at the start of the road, the gate house, and the back of the barn and apartment.

Tours and Saumur

Yesterday Gene and I drove to Tours to pick up Anna at the train station.  She had journeyed from Milano via Paris and arrived early evening.  While waiting for Anna to arrive Gene and I walked over to the cathedral and took a few photos. A beautiful church. We had planned on stopping for dinner on the way home but the restaurant was closed.  We made it to the supermarket five minutes before closing and were able to get a little dinner. We drove to Saumur today to show the city to Anna and also went to the chateau located on a hill above the city.  The sun is out and the air is very clear, but it is quite windy and chilly.

Cathedral in Tours

Chateau at Saumur

Eat, drink and have a lot more

Today is September 29, leaving us with 12 days to go before our four week stay in the Loire Valley ends.  Here are a few words about the food here.   Needless to say we have avoided starvation in this Land of Plenty.  This is our first really elongated stay in France as compared to Italy so we were wondering what the difference was going to be diet wise.  Did I say" diet"?  I certainly do not mean like in losing weight, that's for sure.

The overall view is that the food, as in Italy, is fantastic, however a bit different.  Instead of pasta, pizzas, etc. we are having fish, various meats including lamb, many cheeses, salads, croissants, bread,various cold meats and, of course lots and lots of pate.  We have had three scrumptious meals so far prepared by our hosts, Steve and Bruce.  They are perfectionists when it comes to serving dinners, starting with salads, the main course and desserts.  Their choice of wines for us complement the foods and the little things like the bread and butter only enhance the experience.  I'm not sure what they are doing with the butter or where they get it but it is the best I have tasted in my life.  This leads to having bread with your butter rather than having butter with your bread.  The actual presentation of all this along with an eloquent description completes the feast.  

When not using Steve and Bruce's culinary skills we have cut back at dinner a bit but still enjoy the many treats of France.  We even found a small pizza parlor close by that served a pizza very close to the quality of Italy.  The lunch menu has consisted of wonderful baguettes slathered with butter and pate and topped with salami and tangy cheese.  No need for potato chips, although a not so small piece of chocolate always satisfies our sweet tooth.

A breakfast of coffee and cereal is quite satisfying but a chaser of a croissant or two only adds to the meal. Of course a little jam and butter is a necessity.

Although we are in wine country I still enjoy the local beers.  I see brands here that are imported to the US.  It is very enjoyable to have these beers at one third the price. A real favorite is called simply "1664". Great flavor.  You can find Budweiser on the shelf also. Lousy beer at a premium price. A joke. Not the selection available in Italy but still quite acceptable.

Now one thing we have been able to stay away from this trip is gelato.  This has been a little disappointing but by practicing this self control we feel we will not gain even an once in these four weeks.  It's nice to know we have personal self control and perseverance.

Coming and going

On Friday night we enjoyed the dinner prepared by our landlords. Attending were Gene and Joan, Mary and George, Sven, Graziella, Nikolas and Carlotta.  The meal was wonderful, lots of good food and wine. Mary and George left on Saturday morning for Caen and the beaches of Normandy. Sven and his family spent the afternoon with us.  Sven and Carlotta even went swimming in the very cold pool.  Yesterday was the best day weather wise since we have been here. More good weather is expected for the next week. We enjoyed another great dinner prepared by Bruce and Steven.  The Becker family left this morning to return to Germany. Anna,our friend from Milano, arrives tomorrow evening for a few days.  Today Gene and I are just vegging out although we will walk to town to get a loaf of bread. We can't live without that.

Photos of Friday night's dinner

Angers

We went back to Angers yesterday with Mary and George. Very impressive tapestries and nice grounds. No crowds this time. Tonight, Friday, Sven and his family arrive from Germany to have dinner with us and Mary and George.  We will be having a dinner at the manor house prepared by our landlords. We really enjoyed the last time we had Bruce and Steven cater and expect great things this evening.  We are having Boeuf Bourguignon as our main course. Photos to follow.

Cathedral

Fortress at Angers

Apple tree within the walls

View from the ramparts

Garden in the moat

More Drama, Lost and Found

Have you ever lost your wallet?  Now think of losing your wallet in France.  My brother Pat and his wife, Leanne arrived Tuesday afternoon September 15 in plenty of time for dinner reservations in Saumur at 7:00 pm.  After a nice meal, drawn out by a not so much in a hurry waiter the bill arrived.  Usually we split the bill when we dine out but Pat grabbed the ticket and insisted on paying the entire amount in exchange for our hospitality.  This was very generous of him and I put my wallet back in my pocket. The next day we headed to the very large supermarket in Saumur and hit the change machine again and did a small shopping. Joan used some of the credit we had left over from the initial money changing. They wouldn't take the new large credit we had because we didn't spend enough.

That evening we had a planned gourmet meal at the chateau presented by our very gracious hosts, Bruce and Steve. Fantastic meal by the way!!  Certainly an extra charge for this treat but very much worth it.

The next morning I got up and made an early run to the Boulangerie (bakery) for some delicious French croissants.   I used some of the still massive loose change I had and all was well.  Well all was well after I slathered butter and jam onto the croissants.

We then pulled ourselves together to go out to visit a few close by towns and chateaus.  Phone. Yep. Keys? Yep. Hat? Yep.  Wallet?  "Hey, has anyone seen my wallet"? No, no and no were the responses. The search was on.  I just knew it was in the house but where?  I have a bad habit of putting things down wherever and at the same time really not paying attention. Either trying to do two things at once, or more accurately just getting forgetful in my old age.  A quick sweep of the likely places produced no results so I called in the reserves and had everyone on the hunt.  After checking and rechecking the likely spots panic began to set in.  Now we were looking in the very unlikely spots (under cushions, in the garbage, behind the toilets, in drawers I hadn't opened since our arrival, in the car under all the seats, in the trunk, in suitcases, etc.)  Now panic was here in all its glory.  Time to make a major decision.   Shall I have my normal meltdown as I usually do in these conditions or shall I man up and act like this is only a slight inconvenience? Very surprising to Joan, Pat and Leanne I actually acted like an adult.  Not easy but I did it.Two big questions arose.  Did I lose it at the restaurant two nights before? Did I lose it at the supermarket, or did I lose it on the croissant run in the morning? It certainly was not in the house, now was it?  A less than one mile backtrack to the bakery was easy but no luck there. Joan wrote down the French word for wallet "portefueille" and I left my cell number in case someone turned it in. All in French I might add.  Nice young girl who understood my predicament.  Back to the restaurant was an eight mile ride and I ruled that out.

We decided to forget about it and head out on our sightseeing day.  We passed what looked like a lot full of buses for sale and I remarked that I think I'll buy a bus.  Joan piped up from the back seat, "l'm afraid  not, you have no money". A hearty laugh by all at my expense.  I cried!!  We saw some nice sights, had lunch and headed home.  I decided to talk to Bruce and Steve about it and knocked on their door.  Bruce answered and after hearing my plight immediately volunteered to come over and join in the hunt.  Again we looked everywhere and a few new places, went out to the car again and searched that.  Back in the house again I sat down in a chair to think about calling the credit card companies and getting new ones somehow.  I was also lamenting the fact that I had over 600 Euros in the damned wallet.  I looked up as Bruce was saying how sorry he was about this when my eye caught the large pile of maps we have and noticed something wasn't right. What is that slight bulge?  I jumped out of the chair and low and behold there was the missing wallet squeezed in the group of maps. A great yell of "I found it" was heard for miles. We had all fingered that pile but never noticed it.  I continue to take a lot of razzing for this bonehead play but I am so happy I found it and equally happy I didn't have a giant immature meltdown.

Again all is well in the Loire Valley, at least until the next catastrophe.

Gardens at Villandry

Villandry and Langeais

Villandry  

Langeais 

Treehouse 

Chinon

Chinon

Counting down the chateaux

Today is Monday the 21st of September and George and Mary arrive tomorrow evening.  Gene and I spent the day visiting some chateaux nearby. The first was Villandry with a chateau and beautiful, extensive gardens. The second was Langeais, not as formal but still very interesting.  Yesterday we drove to Angers,about 40k from Varennes, to see the chateau. It was Sunday and the place was packed.  The line to enter was about 150yds long so we decided we would visit that chateau at a later date.  We found a place to have lunch, Hippopotamus, that was basically a burger place. But since it was Sunday most restaurants were closed.  The place was packed. We walked around the old town after lunch and headed home. Nap time.

Gene still hasn't told the missing wallet story.  Coming soon.

Trying to save a buck

When Joan and I have come to Europe I have always tried to secure some of the currency used in the European Union.  These are called, of course, Euros. It helps to have them for incidental purchases when you don't want to use a credit card.  As you may know purchasing Euros in the United States always comes with a fee, as much as seven percent.  So changing $100.00 will cost $107.00 and then you get your Euros at the current exchange rate whatever that might be given on any particular day.  The seven percent fee has always grated on me.

Enter my "friend" Michael, the money changer I met on line. Michael very conveniently lives in Phoenix and has quite the knack of coming up with lots of Euros and is very willing to sell them without the seven percent add-on fee.   Perfect.  What could possibly go wrong? 

Michael calls me from time to time and informs me that he has accumulated a good supply of money and that we should meet and complete a transaction, dollars for Euros.  

Only one small issue. He only accumulates coins!  Euro coins come in two Euros, one Euro, .50, .20, .10, .05, .02 and .01.   

The most recent phone call included the amazing detail that he had over $500 in Euro coins.  This purchase would save me over $35.  Knowing we would be in France for over a month this time we could do use this amount.  I should mention that this purchase was made months ago when the exchange rate was one Euro for $1.25. He agreed to sell them to me for $1.18, a great rate!  I wonder where he gets them and for what rate.  He has never revealed his source.  Flea markets, maybe.

I met him as the usual place and he handed me the coins and I found to my dismay that they weighed over 60 pounds!! A quick look determined that no coin was over the .20 denomination and quite a few smaller.  I agreed to the deal on the phone so the transaction was made.

Fast forward to travel day about a week ago.  I have a small carry on suitcase that has wheels so no one noticed the weight but the TSA agent sure noticed the "blob" in the suitcase and was quite insistent that he was going to find out what was going on.  Volume wise the case was 80 percent empty with the big "blob " at the bottom.  He found it very important to flatten out each baggy of coins to make sure that I didn't have some contraband hidden in the middle of the coins.  He was stone faced throughout the search while I thought he was a bit overboard.  He probably thought I was an idiot.  On to the plane where I knew I  needed to lift the carry-on up into the overhead bins.  When is the last time YOU lifted 60 pounds over your head?  With a great big heave I was able to do it with no one noticing.  With nothing strained off we were to Atlanta and then to Paris, so, of course, I had to get them down in Atlanta, up in Atlanta and down in Paris. It was a real struggle every time.  

Oh, did I mention that by the time we left Phoenix the exchange rare was down to one Euro for $1.17. I could have secure 500 euros in 100 Euro notes and slid them into my wallet?  Weight? Less that tenth of an once.

Now the challenge of changing the coins to paper money.  Not easy at all.  The banks in France, I find out, want no part of the "blob" .  We did start feeding some of the .20's into the pay tolls, which are quite prevalent on the freeways.  That got rid of a little.  I decided to try to get our landlord to change them in for me but again was told the banks wouldn't take them.  But Steve, our gracious landlord, did come up with a solution. He told me the local Supermarket had a machine that took coins and gave you a receipt that could be used for goods at the store.  I lugged in four baggies, about a third of my pile, and started feeding them to the machine. It worked perfectly and spit out a record receipt for about 150 Euros.  With this huge credit Joan and I began our shopping.  At the cash register the amount came to about 100 Euros.  The clerk apparently had never this scenario where there was still a credit due. A call. to the manager solved the dilemma. We purchased a gift card only redeemable at this store.  A second visit to the store and the same scenario.  We're getting this drill down to a science.  In the meantime I have been dumping more coins at the local bakery, eating out at lunch, etc.  A couple more visits to the supermarket and the task will be finished.

The moral of the story.  Never try to save a few dollars of fees, never lug coins to Europe and make an appointment with your chiropractor for after your trip.  And, oh yeah, Michael, don't call me ever again!!

Champfreau

Sun!

Today is Saturday and the first day without rain.  The forecast for the next while is quite good.  The amount of rain we have endured has been phenomenal. Pat and Leanne left this morning to return home. We had a nice visit with them, the highlight being the dinner prepared for us by the owners of the manor house. They are very gracious landlords who provide great hospitality to their renters. We have visited a few chateaux, one under restoration and another closed between noon and three pm which is when we arrived. So no visit. We drove to another town and had lunch as we watched the rain thunder down. Ah, the French. One day we wanted to have some lunch around two pm. No restaurant would let us in, all were ferme(closed). If you go to a store that closes at noon you must be in the store by 1145 or so or they won't let you in.  The workers have to be finished by closing time. We've had some drama here too.  Gene is going to tell that story as he created the drama.

Azay le Rideau