Yesterday and Today

Note: I have decided that instead of saying the unclassy "wtf" it is now either "what the fromage" or "what the FIAP." Only the people on this this trip will ever find the latter to be hilarious.

Yesterday we left Paris for a week of touring about France. Along the way to the Loire Valley, we stopped at the town of Chartres specifically to see the Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral, commonly known as just "Chartres cathedral." Again, I'm proud to have had the education and still-maintained interest in art historical things. With knowledge of Chartres already, this was an almost surreal treat. We were supposedly endowed with an epic 80-something-year-old tour guide of Chartres-filled knowledge who was actually really funny, sarcastic and borderline racist. We'll just blame it on age. Good quotes from Malcom, the tour guide, I recorded:

- “Why are you all avoiding me? Come sit in the front pew. Or you can sit on my lap.”

- “Oh, Japanese…(later on) The Japanese again, let's move ahead here...”

- “Their flag looks like underwear." (referring to "Japanese" group of tourists)

I think that Chartres should just get rid of all of its other 3 cathedrals except for Notre-Dame Chartres; obviously the oldest and most epic one.

We climbed the left Gothic-style tower (so many narrow steps). Gothic steeple detail.

Blois is a quaint, small town in the Loire Valley. When we arrived we immediately visited the town's Chateau, which is situated adjacent from our hotel. "Blois" in French is pronounced like "blah" in English. And honestly, it's quite fitting; the town is quite blah (enter in obnoxious Ke$ha song). For a Monday yesterday, all shops and most restaurants/cafes were closed for some kind of holiday so there was really nothing to do. We are "forbidden" to cross the river to the "other side" for some sketchy reasons but is so tempting (see picture below).

Today - this morning - my calves hurt so much after climbing all those steps at the tower at Chartes plus uphill walks and dragging my suitcase up flights of stairs when moving into the new hotel at Blois. Why any other part of my leg isn't sore - like obvious quads, perhaps? - who knows. It just has to be the calves and I am freaking out. They were bothering me so much today I almost became nautious (sp? this is red-underlined).

Besides the calf freak-out, first thing we set out to do was take a 30-minute bus ride to Chateau Chambord. Interesting nerd points I wrote down while on the tour of:

- Larger-than-necessary map for own residents.

- Fabrics (tapestries) imported for warmth; furniture less important. (The inside of the chateau was actually much, much colder than the outside air temperature, interesting enough.)

- Extravagant roof, simple, ordered façade.

- King’s bedroom faces the east, symbolically taking the place of God.

Then we visited a second chateau. The Chateau Cheverny. This place needs to be reported and/or burned the fromage down. Give me a second to explain after the deceiving frontal picture and a few fun facts:

- You are able to rent the moldy dining room for entertainment purposes.

- French nobility family still lives in the Chateau and occupies the top floor and still hunts...(you see where this is going)

Just to preface, it didn't help much that I was not only already tired, but had that just awake-tired feeling after getting crappy sleep sitting upright on a bus. Anyway, everyone was excited to see this area where the family keeps beagles after the tour of the chateau itself. They ended up not being beagles at all but some kind of hybrid-incest dogs numbering about 100 caged in this tiny kennel. It was just horrid and sad. The peak of it all was when the whole lot of them ended up ganging up on and cornering one dog. I honestly had to walk away before I would cry. It's like here is your "beautiful" estate (obviously not my aesthetic style), with hundreds of acres of grass that is manicured daily with "Do not walk on grass" signs, and the dogs are stuck in what seems to be a 2X4 area in comparison with the rest of the place. Also, directly behind the kennel is a "peace garden" with dying flowers and cut glass which looks like first grade artcraft where you can audibly feel the dogs on the other side.

So much Franco-Italian food everywhere (taglietelle and pizza obsession, caprese, calzones, Illy coffee) and it sucks. Seriously; not.good.pasta. For the most part, am eating healthy. Today's lunch after viewing the Chateau Chambord: locally grown strawberries that are in the shape of mini torpedos (yes), two baguettes, sheep's cheese, a bottle of wine and dessert split between five of us.

Except for newfound desserts! Speaking of, I've finally found my real French eclair! Since in Blois, my new thing now is to stop by the nearest good-looking boulangerie, purchase an eclair and eat it while a group of us goes walking around for what seems like forever to find a place to eat dinner. And of course, more dessert naturally follows dinner anyway with a cafe creme.

That's all for now!