Our Tour de France

The incredible Mont St. Michel

Hey everyone -

We've had bad internet during this trip (shocker) so I haven't been able to upload the blog as much as I'd like, so instead I've just thrown a few pics up on facebook and now am shooting this update to the world.

Everything is great with us on our own little "Tour de France" - we've had a fabulous trip so far and have been so impressed by this country. The people, food, and culture have all been first class. Rural France had always intrigued me, and it has been very interesting seeing the "real" side of the French people as opposed to the hustle and bustle of Paris and the glitz down in the South of France.

St. Emilion, Bordeaux countryside

Our flight over went smoothly (other than of course our luggage once we got to the budget carrier headed for France.) WHEN WILL WE LEARN! We landed there late on Saturday night and grabbed a hotel. Of course, the hotel we had booked on the internet decided to randomly close on Saturday with no phone number and no one there speaking English, so we audibled and found a decent one on foot with luggage in toe. Sunday we picked up a car and drove 45 minutes out of Bordeaux (the city) to the countryside and found a tiny little village named St. Emilion that came highly recommended. It was heaven... small stone buildings in a valley surrounded by vineyards! We walked the city, tasted free wines, and enjoyed a picnic in the city square before finding our accommodation - a small 18th century farm ran by a nice woman and her husband. It was so incredible, just plopped amongst thousands of acres of vineyards. We relaxed that day and walked through, enjoying what a proper "getaway" should be. That night, we decided to try out French Cuisine and feasted on a ridiculously good (albeit foreign) dinner of eggplant cakes, salmon tartare, fresh trout, roasted duck with sea salt potatoes, and finally Creme Brulee & Chocolate Fondant cake. It really was as good as it could be.

Christie with our lovely host and her dog, Vanilla! We were served a classic French breakfast in the vineyard and enjoyed the sunshine.

Nothing like a purple Vespa

The following day (Monday) we attempted to go wine tasting at a few of the over 860 chateau's in the region, but soon came to find out (after striking out at 5 in row!) that reservations were required. WHERE WERE YOU ON THAT ONE RICK STEVES!!! Can't fault Rick - overall he's been amazing on his recommendations -- so much so that we decided to bolt out of Bordeaux that afternoon, and drove the 300 km up to the Loire Valley where we spent the evening touring a pair of medieval chateaus -- Azey le something and Villandry, which boasts the most ridiculously nice garden I've ever seen.

Late that evening we made our way to the city of Angers (one hour to the west) where we were staying with our friend Aurelie's parents. She is the girlfriend of Swarco Raiders receiver Andi Proeller, and one of Christie's best girlfriends in Austria. They were so accommodating... only they didn't speak a LICK of English. It was so nice of them to let us stay there! However, this meant that even "Hello" in English was beyond them, and we didn't fare much better! It didn't matter, as they were WONDERFUL hosts -- preparing a delicious three-course meal that included a salad comprised of tomato, crab, and egg along with a baked cheese-filled bread. For dessert - in an unlikely yet delicious twist - MORE CHEESE!!! (They said that French people enjoy cheese 365 days per year. Can't argue with that!) We enjoyed all of this while using hand-signals and Christie's French that she hadn't used in years, along with a trusty French-English dictionary and a list of English sentences that Lili had printed out for her parents. Awkward at the time, funny looking back :-) But a serious example of great hospitality - Merci Remi and Paulette!

French for "House"

On Tuesday, we woke up early and headed north to Brittany to catch one of the wonders of the world -- the island of Mont St. Michel. It sticks out into the Bay almost 6 km and is completely surrounded by sand in one of the largest tides in the world. It was breathtaking from afar and made for some incredible pics... however the inside was a touristy nightmare filled with cheap nicknacks and too many stairs. My favorite part was when we walked way out onto the sand to get photos, and upon returning found that the tide had created a large pool that I carried Christie across on my back! Good times! That day we also discovered Rick's two gems in the region, the cobble-stone lined village of Dinan (lunch) and the Castle By the Sea town of St. Malo (dinner). What an incredible day!!!

Villandry gardens - incredible!

Cobbled streets of Dinan, small village in Northern France

Today is Wednesday, our last in France. We had a goal of seeing two more famous Chateau in the Loire Valley on the way to Paris, but in the name of simplicity (and saving a few hours driving) decided to head straight for the City of Light. BIG MISTAKE!!! We arrived to pouring down rain, bad traffic, and our usual disappointment that is Paris. We know we sound completely jaded, spoiled, and snobby, but seriously this city SUCKS for us!!! Ugh... we're laid up now at an internet cafe, where I'm catching up on life (Lakers up 2-1 over the Celts!) Hopefully the weather will clear so we can enjoy the evening... but in the morning we're off to Sicily for nothing but Sun!!! (Oh yeah, a big Sicilian Wedding and the Italian League Semi's too!)

Ciao and Merci,

Jason and Christie