petit sojourn

Last month we took a marvelous 10-day family trip to France. We first spent a couple of days in Le Perche region, near the town of Alencon, in a beautiful chateau from the 15th century where Henry IV used to vacation.

Le Perche is famous for its lush fields and woods. The countryside was filled with fields of yellow flowers (I'm pretty sure they were mustard), big, white horses called Percherons, and lots of other farm animals. We drove through little villages and towns, visited a chateau or two, and ate a disgusting amount of pastries and breads, which is what the area is known for.

After Le Perche, we made our way to Paris. We spent most of our time walking through parks, visiting museums, and dining on cheese, chocolate, bread, and wine. 

Like five billion other people, my favorite spot in Paris is the Luxembourg Gardens. 

While we were there, a Japanese/French girl band was drawing a huge crowd with their jazzy-pop renditions of John Denver songs. It was kind of awesome.

The Tuileries:

Here's a chocolate Mille-Feuille at Jacques Gegin's chocolate salon in the Marais. While we were there, we also had a giant pot of hot chocolate, which was basically just melted chocolate, and a sampling of some chocolate ganaches. If I lived in Paris, you would find me here multiple times a week.

The Seine, Brancusi's atelier, and an Eiffel Tower wedding party:

I went alone to the Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature), and loved it. It was horrifying and weird and amazing all at once. It was set up in a big mansion, with each room devoted to some different aspect of hunting and/or hunted animals -- guns and knives; dogs and birds used as hunters; taxidermied game; owls; unicorns.