Chambord

Friday I met my buddy, Emeline, at the train station to go to her house in Romorantin, about an hour from Tours, for the weekend. Her family was expecting us so when we got there her father was there to pick us up. On our way back to her house just before an intersection we saw an accident. The first one I've ever actually seen with my own eyes. It was horrible. A motorcycle was making a left turn and the woman in the car I think may have ran the red light and hit him broadside. He hit the passenger-side windshield and flipped off the side of the car and landed on his head on the other side of the car from us. Emeline's dad immediately pulled over and ran to call the ambulance. I didn't get out of the car. From where we were we could see only the legs of the motorcyclist. But he didn't get up the whole time we were there. The ambulance came fairly quickly and began to put him on a stretcher, and that's when we left. I really hope he was ok. It didn't look like she hit him that hard but he flew like she did.

From there we went to Emeline's house and I got to meet her mother and her little brother Vincent. He's 16 but he looks more like 18. He's huge, but a very sweet kid. Their family was so welcoming and I really enjoyed staying with them. I could understand almost everything they said to me. I must really like their accent...it was easy to understand. I had my own room, and we all ate together and of course they used all the English that they knew...which fortunately for me was very little which forced me to speak only French. But I find myself talking a lot about difference in the United States and France. The first night we ate a sort of quiche thing. It was so good and Flan for dessert. I love French cooking.

That night after picking up Vincent from football (soccer) we decided to watch New Moon since it just came out. In French with NO subtitles. I got almost everything and I learned a ton actually. It's an easy movie to understand...and honestly the actors seem better with French voices...lol. Especially that Kristin chick.

The next morning we woke up and lazed around the house. I got ready for the day and then Emeline and I spent most of the day talking on her bed. She spoke English to me and I spoke French to her. She also helped me with my homework!! Then at 1:30 we took her brother to his game and we headed to the Château nearby - Chambord. It took about 30 minutes to get there and it was pouring like crazy. When we got there it had mostly stopped but the ground was really wet and muddy. But this castle was huge, and truly beautiful. I think so far it was my favorite because I liked all the spires and turrets it had. We had to walk around to the entrance to buy the tickets. And just like in Paris students that are apart of the European Union are free...so I just hand them my French ID card and they hand me a free ticket! I love that. We saw every floor and we also got to see the famous double stairway. It's two stairways that wrap around each other but never meet. It was designed so that the wife and the mistresses of François the 1st could cross paths but never see each other. There are windows so that you can see across to the other side so if you walk at the same pace as someone else you can see each other at each window. That's what Emeline and I did. Then at the top of the castle was my favorite. It's the most beautiful part. I really enjoyed how much it looked like a castle from a fairytale. It stopped raining while we were there so we got to spend some time on the roof. Then we went back to Romorantin and spent some time in the park there, but we were both pretty tired so we went home and I ate more Nutella than one person should ever eat in 1 sitting. Mmmmmm!

(Front of Chambord)

(The double staircase)

(Up the middle of the two staircases)

Later that night we ate again with the family. Crêpes with ham and cheese! I also tried the goat cheese....yuck! Never again. And a tart for dessert. I loved eating with their family. Everyone made each other laugh and they were just really fun to watch. A beautiful family. After dinner we watched Oceans Eleven with French dubbing and French subtitles. This one was harder to understand but it was still good. That night I went to bed at like 11:00. I was tired and definitely getting sick. Then this morning I got up and got ready to go. I had a rendez-vous with family friends back in Tours so Emeline came back early with me. I thanked their family and Emeline's dad took us back to the Train station. It was a really great weekend. Especially because I spoke only French!

I walked home after saying goodbye to Emeline and went home to change quickly and unpack. Then I went to my parent's friends' house Noel and Marie Claire Denoyel. They live just 2 blocks from me! My parents stayed with Noel when they were about 25 years old. Now Noel has 3 beautiful children that are just so sweet! I think they are 14, 16 and 18. They invited me in and made a very wonderful lunch for me. It was first an aperitif - Pineau I think it was called which is a pretty strong alcoholic drink. But it tasted really good. I only had a few sips of that. I ate salad and baguette while Marie Claire made scallops for the appetizer. YUMMM! After that we ate magret de canard (duck)...which was pretty good, and some potatoes casserole which was amazing. Then for dessert we ate crumble (I think that's what it's called) and some apple pie with pudding. I was so full I thought I was going to pop! I could literally feel my belt getting tighter. But everything was great.

I stayed at their house for hours telling stories of my family, school and town. They showed me pictures and I showed them pictures as well. I even played piano for them (they have a piano!). Then I think after 5 hours I finally left. But I left my cell phone there so I had to go back to get it. lol

From there I called Romain and him, Alban, and Mamie came to pick me up. We went to a restaurant to watch Alban's Bordeaux game. Everyone got a crêpe or hot chocolate but I was still so full from lunch that I couldn't even get something to drink. We only got to spend less than 2 hours together and they had to take us back to the house so we could eat with the family. There was this really grouchy lady that was there....I didn't like her at all. He was a friend of Genevieve's. So she was quite old but she was just mean. But during dinner I spoke french and told everyone about my weekend and my day and all that I ate. I was on a French roll! haha!

But now I've just spent my whole night writing my blog and I'm exhausted! I'll add pictures tomorrow so be sure to check again! Love from France!!