"I Know What You're Going To Say" - France Sept 2019 - Update 1/5 Disneyland Paris, Dinner & Home

Dinner at Chateau de Rochecotte

On our way back to the hotel, our guide gave us varying times to decide on when we would like dinner (7:00, 7:15, 7:30 or 7:45) As we were in food overload & my husband wanted to go for a nice run around the grounds, we picked the latest time. Once we got back to the room, I relaxed while he did 3.5 mile run exploring the various paths. He ran into our bus driver cleaning the bus and the driver pointed out some good trails to explore. He was super thankful for that!

Before dinner, we walked around the hotel grounds as well. They were lovely and with little hidden statues and fountains around corners you didn’t expect there to be stuff.

GMUapKf.jpg

uUXGYwO.jpg

Y0zupGt.jpg

ksjtq91.jpg

k5ETPyC.jpg

sy3XQF3.jpg

VQbvOr6.jpg

1F2JOyR.jpg


About 5 minutes before 7:45PM, we headed downstairs to the restaurant. Apparently the owner wasn’t happy we were even that early and sent us to the drawing room to wait. My husband was annoyed when it became 7:50PM and we hadn’t been sat yet because of the gruffness of the original comment but we eventually were seated and one of our tour guests ate with us, a lovely widow who had a great outlook on life and an interesting background. She became one of our favorite people of the trip as we got to know her now and later in the trip.

OJ7DLTL.jpg

FC8ncdD.jpg

rGU1QrL.jpg

Menu

The amuse bouche was eh but that is ok as it wasn’t like we didn’t have 3 more courses of food coming.

ygjC04k.jpg

Amuse Bouche

My husband had the prawns to start and he was happy with them. I enjoyed the Salmon but the broth was the real star of the dish. I had no problem finishing that off!

YK9LJq8.jpg

Prawns

pmfato8.jpg

Salmon in Thai Broth

My husband enjoyed the beef - I know some people among our tour group didn’t like it much as France doesn’t use tenderizer like the States so it was tougher than what we usually get but it didn’t matter to him. My duck was nice but the skin could have been more crispy.

cwoYFBj.jpg

Filet of Beef

6ZqTtvn.jpg

Roasted Duck

My husband enjoyed his chocolate cake while I loved my creme brulee.

JLroOr6.jpg

All Chocolate Cake

sL8wFVU.jpg

Creme Brulee

hpq8gDn.jpg

After Dinner Treats

During our dinner, our tour guide came to make sure all was ok but we were all distracted by the Aussie at the table next to us. Excuse the horrible photos! One of the things I really loved about France was how dogs are pretty much allowed everywhere and people have trained their dogs to behave in public. Until we acknowledged the dog, he was very polite and stayed quietly by his owner. The owner was polite when we said hello. They were part of a Backroads trip that was going around the countryside.

u3AJINe.jpg

6uH7uQu.jpg

gtyqoi1.jpg


After dinner, we packed up the room and got ready for our next day’s adventures along with switching to our next hotel.​
 
Chateau d’Angers & Apocalypse Tapestry

We woke up around 7:15AM so we could throw the last few things in the suitcases and have them outside of our door by the time required for luggage pick up. Once we did that, we headed downstairs for breakfast. My breakfast was super healthy as you can tell. I love bread and butter.

IgPRq3P.jpg

Massive Room Key

n9fVDHQ.jpg

All part of a healthy breakfast

b9gol0E.jpg

Even more healthy breakfast!

As we boarded the bus, no one was late this morning! It was a win! We headed on the road to Angers where we would be visiting another Chateau. During our drive, our tour guide gave us a history of France to explain the atmosphere that created an environment where there Apocalypse Tapestry made sense to be made. It was made during the middle of the 100 Years War with England.

BuhqUWj.jpg

Book of the Goths

We walked to the Chateau and our guide got us our audio guides and tickets.

ZZagD4w.jpg

u6fLlt2.jpg

DBNM2BK.jpg

Chateau Walls

rMaiHE9.jpg

Guide

The Apocalypse Tapestry was made in the late 1370s commissioned by Louis I to depict the Book of Revelations. It was cut up and spread about during the French Revolution so they don’t have all of the tapestry but that have a good portion of it. Our audio guide corresponded to the various areas of the panels. We decided to pick based off the panels that looked interesting to us as we wanted time to explore the rest of the Chateau.

VCKd1Da.jpg

kyQo5SH.jpg

BXCWls6.jpg

py5NfWU.jpg

OAAZ9F3.jpg

yX65QE9.jpg

ox47vPd.jpg


After walking through the tapestry, we headed to the main house and chapel to explore. They had a museum in the house dedicated to military figures of the region used in popular culture which was cool to see.

m1MptJe.jpg

nE5U4Qb.jpg

HcqdffO.jpg

3PtcruA.jpg

JTNw7qH.jpg

C2t4Iig.jpg

1eSLs0z.jpg

8UjKtEs.jpg
 


Walking Tour of Angers & Lunch

We met with our guide for a walking tour of Angers. About half the group joined as the others decided to enjoy more time inside Chateau d’Angers. We knew we had a lot more bus time this afternoon as we headed into Brittany so we were happy to have a forty-five minute walk. In all these French towns, the cathedral is in the center of town, which makes it easy to try to find your place if you get lost. Our guide used that to her advantage with some of our group members. We were here on a Monday so many of the stores and restaurants were closed after being open all weekend. This made for a very empty walking experience! We were given some history of the town about how it was seen as a great strategic location for the middle ages.

3p7RGtm.jpg

Place of President Kennedy

t1vGK0U.jpg


WX7r4J9.jpg


x4m4m2r.jpg


C4pXcxc.jpg


uu93hmG.jpg

So many of these seen and never a single one running

z7d23ar.jpg


After our walk, we all met on the bus. We thought this lunch was supposed to be on our own but we were surprised with lunch being included. Our guide explained that since so many places are closed on Monday, they changed the tour to include it but never updated the literature provided by Tauck. Our guide also provided each of us with a small sample of Cointreau as this liquor is produced here. We held on to ours expecting to try it later but it ended up coming home with us.

HKMEmkE.jpg


Our meal was on the water so we had a nice view during our meal.

WdSgPGh.jpg


The start of the meal was various vegetables or fruit. My husband and I ended up trading half of our plates with the other. I love cantaloupe and the shredded carrot salad was good once I added some pepper to it. My husband loves beets and hard boiled eggs so he took mine. The cucumbers had a bit too much mayo for us and we all know I don’t eat raw tomatoes.

TnTni9z.jpg

Salad

The main dish had a history to it that was explained to us. The hachis parmentier which is similar to a Shepherd's Pie as it is ground beef with mashed potatoes on top. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier was a French scientist who began promoting the eating of potatoes after realizing during his time in prison in Prussia, it was a good source of nutrition. The French thought of potatoes as only being for the hogs and actually banned human consumption of the starch! We loved this dish as it was so simple but well done. It also was a nice switch up from the fancier food we had been eating.

j7BUHL6.jpg

Hachis Parmentier

Our dessert was French Toast. I’m not sure what it says about us as Americans that we have French Toast for breakfast where they have it as dessert. It was so good as was the sauce used! Everyone had a cleared plate!

iHgbess.jpg

French Toast

Our stomachs happy and full, we headed back onto our bus to head into Brittany. Our guide let us know we would have a break in about an hour and a half to use the restroom along with stretch our legs in a bit but she would talk more about the history of Brittany in the second half of the drive as she knew we all may be sleepy after that meal!​
 
Loving this trip report so far! I’m totally fascinated by the salmon in red wine sauce. It doesn’t even look like fish! The tardy couple is making me angry on your behalf. I’m shocked that Tauck doesn’t have some sort of three strikes and we start leaving you behind rule.
 
Loving this trip report so far! I’m totally fascinated by the salmon in red wine sauce. It doesn’t even look like fish! The tardy couple is making me angry on your behalf. I’m shocked that Tauck doesn’t have some sort of three strikes and we start leaving you behind rule.
Glad you are enjoying it! The salmon in red wine sauce surprised me too. I was really surprised at how well it worked but I won't go doing that myself anytime soon.

I made comments about the couple on my evaluation I had to submit to Tauck. Hopefully things will be noted for future trips! I wish they would have left them behind too but it could have probably caused another set of problems as well...
 


Port de Crouesty Arrival & Dinner

After a nap and a bathroom stop, our guide began talking to use about the region we would be heading towards. Port de Crouesty was created to be a tourist destination in southern Brittany but the area also includes a significant amount of Neolithic monuments. While we would be visiting a more famous one later, we did get to see a burial mound (cairn) on our drive into town. This area was also used as part of the Atlantic Wall during the German invasion of France during World War II. Our guide also discussed how this area is well known for their salted butter and caramel and we were given a sample of the caramel along with cookies made with their butter. We were also told about how our hotel will have a gift of cookies and caramels in our room! We ate the caramels and I saved the cookies to bring to work later. We also had to pick our time for dinner where we selected the latest time again.

RtTsDbZ.jpg

Burial Mound

We headed to our boat shaped hotel and headed to our room.

WMT5rDj.jpg

Cookies & Caramels Inside Those Boxes

BfXHryb.jpg

bn8ZyS4.jpg

w5PkOTx.jpg

jPVmE1C.jpg


We had a few hours on our own before dinner. This afternoon had a cold drizzling rain which made us not really want to go anywhere. My husband wanted to run outside along the path of the Atlantic Wall but opted to head to the hotel gym instead where he got an amazing view onto the Atlantic Ocean. I opted to relax in the room, play on my laptop on the balcony and do some laundry in the sink since our room had a heated towel rack which we used as a dryer along with sending a couple pieces out to be laundered or dry cleaned by the hotel.

A little before 8PM, we headed upstairs for what would probably be one of the worst meals of the Tauck Trip. We were eating with the couple where the husband was so attached to his phone and working that I’m not sure he ever enjoyed any of the trip (and when Saudi’s had that drone attack - he screamed so loud into the phone we all knew about it before the news had even reported on it)

VZHIcqQ.jpg

Menu

I’m still not sure what this amuse bouche was but I remember it being one of the most repulsive things I had ever eaten. I was happy there was bread there to get the taste out of my mouth.

Ic5b4Im.jpg

Amuse Bouche

My husband’s appetizer was more an issue of misordering than a fault against the dish. When he said he was going to order this, I questioned him since I didn’t think he would like it. I was right. I knew my husband wouldn’t be one for thinly sliced pieces of raw prawn with grapefruit.

le8vSan.jpg

Prawn Carpaccio with Citrus Fruits & Crispy Fennel Salad

We ended up having an issue with my appetizer. When our table’s appetizers showed, mine did not. The runner said nothing and then we couldn’t find our waiter. The person we could find didn’t speak english nor cared. Eventually we figured out they never put in my order so I got to quickly eat it after the rest of our party was done with their first course. It actually wasn’t a bad dish I was just annoyed.

gs6F8cN.jpg

Duo of Tuna Fish, Pressed Watermelon

My husband went with the filet but the sauce and potatoes tasted off. It also was severely overcooked for his medium request but no way were we going to send it back after the appetizer issue.

IomG7a0.jpg

Beef Filet, Bordelaise Sauce, Potatoes and Pan-Fried Vegetables

My cod, the sauce and the rice all had zero flavor to it. I really wish we had pepper or salt or something at the table that I could have used to give it something but that wasn’t an option either.

mJwoFNL.jpg

Pan-fried fresh cod, tarragon Beurre sauce, saffron-flavoured rice

For dessert, my husband and I got the same thing. The muffin tasted exactly like the muffins you get from the grocery store in foil packets. My husband was happy with that, I was eh. The ice cream portion was my favorite part but I left over half of it behind.

tFHy9H7.jpg

Chocolate-flavoured Assortment with a hint of passion fruit

These were also tasteless which is a shame for French pastries.

mWcHfnC.jpg

Goodbye Pastries

Overall dinner was a bust but honestly, that is ok. Not all meals can be amazing. We headed back to the room where we relaxed and fell asleep with the patio door open listening to the ocean!​
 
Your hotel room looks fantastic. That bed looks really comfy!

What a fantastic meal! Other than the salmon and the olive bread I would have loved every course!!

Your day at Versailles sounded quite full! It was over 30 years ago when I visited! :eek: I think we didn't even see as much as you covered. I hope you enjoyed most of the people on your tour. After reading your updates about the beginning of your journey with other folks, I realize there is no way Fran and I could do a Tauck tour. She would be so fed up with other people that I would be listening to her complain the whole time and she would hate being subjected to someone else's schedule!

Lunch looked delicious, and that room is huge!
 
Almost caught up! I started a France file and put that winery on that list. When we are close to having enough miles to fly First Class to France, I'm going to have to look into private tour operators who work with handicapped folks. I wouldn't want to be those people.

You make a great point about how even if the meals aren't the greatest, most likely they are better than what we all eat at home! And for the next week, I will be eating even worse than normal to save time as I lead up to my WDW trip. :laughing:
 
That dinner looked lovely! I think I would have followed your husband's choices, except the lamb sounded quite good as well!

It sounded like a busy yet relaxed day switching hotels. That Hachis Parmentier sounds delicious! I found a couple recipes that I want to try when I come back from my trip!

I'm sorry that the other dinner wasn't up to your liking. But as you said every dinner can't be amazing.
 
Your hotel room looks fantastic. That bed looks really comfy!

What a fantastic meal! Other than the salmon and the olive bread I would have loved every course!!

Your day at Versailles sounded quite full! It was over 30 years ago when I visited! :eek: I think we didn't even see as much as you covered. I hope you enjoyed most of the people on your tour. After reading your updates about the beginning of your journey with other folks, I realize there is no way Fran and I could do a Tauck tour. She would be so fed up with other people that I would be listening to her complain the whole time and she would hate being subjected to someone else's schedule!

Lunch looked delicious, and that room is huge!

Yay for catching up! The rooms at the Waldorf had to be our second favorite of the trip. I loved how comfortable the bed was and the decor of the room!

That meal was awesome. I'm very glad we gave up some of our Disneyland Paris meals to account for it too.

We did enjoy the majority of the other folks on the trip. There were some that we didn't like but my husband's sarcastic comments throughout made it a bit fun and towards the end - other people were making comments too blatantly as we all were fed up! When I was out last night with my girlfriends talking about the trip - I think they may laugh if we end up running into that couple on one of our girl nights at charity events. The schedule wasn't too bad - I feel we saw most of what we wanted to see within reason. Can't do it all as shown in Versailles but at least we got enough to really get a great feel of a place.

Almost caught up! I started a France file and put that winery on that list. When we are close to having enough miles to fly First Class to France, I'm going to have to look into private tour operators who work with handicapped folks. I wouldn't want to be those people.

You make a great point about how even if the meals aren't the greatest, most likely they are better than what we all eat at home! And for the next week, I will be eating even worse than normal to save time as I lead up to my WDW trip. :laughing:

Don't blame you at all for wanting first class to France! Doing it couch even in the duo seats was rough. I think I ended up going to bathroom a couple times just to work on stretching my legs a few times. On my flight home, I ended up standing for at least 30 minutes due to my seat mate but in the end, I was happy with it as it helped get the blood flowing.

I would absolutely work with a private operator especially given your needs with Fran. There were places we went that were not handicapped friendly especially in some of the smaller towns or chateaus or like Mont St Michel - old worn spiral staircases, no elevators, cobblestones everywhere. Paris was pretty welcoming and rather flat with lots of ramps in walkable areas as was the World War II sights and museums. The hills can be steep as well. I don't think we saw any ECVs there outside of 3 at Disneyland Paris. I believe Sage Traveling has a lot of resources on European Accessible Travel.

Yay for almost WDW time! I look forward to your report. My husband doesn't get to go until January but at least I go in about 7 weeks for a weekend. I'm about to cook my Kraft Mac &Cheese for my lunches for the week as I prep dinner tonight.

That dinner looked lovely! I think I would have followed your husband's choices, except the lamb sounded quite good as well!

It sounded like a busy yet relaxed day switching hotels. That Hachis Parmentier sounds delicious! I found a couple recipes that I want to try when I come back from my trip!

I'm sorry that the other dinner wasn't up to your liking. But as you said every dinner can't be amazing.

I think all the dishes there sounded pretty good for the entrees. No one seemed to have any issues with their meal there either which is good. They always made the hotel switch days easy for us! Kept us busy until we could get to where we would be going and the rooms were always ready upon arrival. You would probably love that Hachis Parmentier! I would probably try it myself if my husband didn't decide to go Paleo for a bit to help kickstart some weight loss.

Not all dinners can be amazing and at least having that attitude helped not dwell on the bad. I had more fun finding amusement in annoying people than focusing in bad food. I may be a terrible person.
 
What a shame. Everything look good. I went to Italy in July and one of the beach shacks had on the menu that some items were previously frozen. Blasphemy!!!!!
 
What a shame. Everything look good. I went to Italy in July and one of the beach shacks had on the menu that some items were previously frozen. Blasphemy!!!!!

Oh that would be so sad about the previously frozen, especially on the beach! That should have some great fresh seafood instead!
 
Petit Mont

This morning after I woke up, I headed to breakfast alone as my husband didn’t feel like eating anything. Breakfast was just ok - I had my normal cured meat, bread and butter selection that became my standard of the trip.

sti8FmM.jpg


Our group met in the lobby of the hotel to meet with a local guide in addition to our Tauck guide who would walk us to Cairn Petit Mont. It was about a mile away from our hotel. The temperature and humidity this morning was perfect for the walk!

wl0qKfj.jpg


The Petit Mont dates from somewhere around 6000 to 7000 years ago (5000 to 4000 BC!) It had multiple megaliths and expanded a couple times over the next 2000 years. It’s also well known by being taken over by the Germans during World War II as they built a bunker into the mound (destroying some of the chambers in the process) but the bunker also exposed one of the earlier chambers that had been hidden in the ancient expansions.

N6acf5U.jpg


Once at the site, our group split into two groups of 10 to split our viewing of the German Bunker and of the Burial Chamber. We headed to the bunker first with our Tauck guide.

S7JG0bj.jpg

ocYRQ0P.jpg

HAhA54y.jpg

Or1OgDb.jpg

GAjhT9T.jpg


After about 20 minutes, we switched to the burial chamber where we weren’t supposed to take photos but my husband didn't listen so here is one of his photos (taken without flash) so you could see the ancient carvings in the stones.

ntWBKUv.jpg

6pqWgWp.jpg

SolbLlU.jpg

440410
440411

Once done, we were allowed to walk back to the hotel on our own as we would be meeting again around 11AM to head to Golf de Morbihan. We took this time to freshen up in the room before heading back to the lobby.​
 
Cruise around Golfe de Morbihan

We boarded our bus heading to the port where we had a private chartered boat for our group’s enjoyment. Golfe de Morbihan is a natural harbour that had multiple megalithic monument including Gavrinis. As the mouth of the harbor is small (1 km), the currents during the tides can be swift up to 11 mph.

QoRYCbr.jpg


We headed to the top level for the first thirty minutes of our journey to look at the various sites around the harbor. There were multiple megalithic and cairn sites along with the general landscape of the islands. We were told about the sailing regattas that occur each year here where you have to make sure you pay attention to the tides or else, you won’t be able to come back in against the current.

BPriGre.jpg

aOJZjCm.jpg

nW4srwJ.jpg

ocwjvpv.jpg

zN9QpUH.jpg

F5wcbvu.jpg

hHfhT13.jpg

Dbwk27o.jpg

dHU6GMB.jpg

MM704Gk.jpg

alPq713.jpg


We were eventually sent downstairs to enjoy our three course lunch with unlimited wine. (Who doesn’t love wine?)

YSIli6U.jpg
z42Rn8s.jpg

Wine

The appetizer was decent and we had no problem clearing our plates.

RiODNom.jpg

Salad, Pate, Cured Meat

The sauce they had for this monkfish was amazing. I could have kept dipping my bread into it as it was everything I hoped the sauce at the previous night’s dinner was going to be. The fish was well cooked and the potatoes were perfectly fluffy.

nKFlXmn.jpg

Monkfish, Potatoes and Vegetables./i]

The real star of the meal was this chocolate square mousse. Inside was the creamiest salted caramel mousse. I could have eaten three of them and still had room for more! Indulgent but light at the same time!

iMJ6YT0.jpg

Chocolate Caramel Mousse

LM5gbm5.jpg

zqPGvca.jpg


We eventually docked in Vannes and boarded our bus to head to our next destination!
 
Rochfort-En-Terre

It wasn’t too long of a drive to reach Rochfort-En-Terre. This village is known as one of the most beautiful in France. Apparently France has a contest each year around for villages for their use of flowers in the decorations of the town. Rochfort has won in recent history but at this point I don’t remember the year but they are continually given the highest 4 Flower rating for this contest. The town only has around 650 inhabitants but its location was a strong hold for the High Middle Ages. It is popular with artists and painters due to its architecture and beauty.

05Jo8ae.jpg

Vvr2n2w.jpg

kN8akds.jpg

hOjG8et.jpg

SVN3F8U.jpg

RSIhrNt.jpg

5qao1xy.jpg

e0E76Pp.jpg

BDdAH3N.jpg

58ssGy1.jpg


The American paint Alfred Klots purchased the ruins of the old chateau and rebuilt it and only the facade remains of the old castle walls.

After our walking tour with the guide, she offered to take those that wanted to walk up the hill to the old chateau or the free time in the village could start. Only 7 of us joined in on that walk. It wasn’t as bad as what we were led to believe it to be but I also realize we aren’t the normal Tauck guests.

uNbJORo.jpg

Gq0Lh4v.jpg

hWGywnq.jpg

AduRyi0.jpg

CYswYK5.jpg

TUg7qrp.jpg

wIAXN1e.jpg

R1Z9y7Q.jpg


The views from the chateau were beautiful!

IwFMXGo.jpg


After we were done, we headed back to the village to wander the shops where we got some sweets and then a small bottle of each of the type of liquors from the region. We weren’t quite sure what flavors we were getting but oh well! At least we can say we tried them all eventually. We had a few during the trip and ended up bringing two of them home.

We still had about 30 minutes to kill before we headed back to Port du Crouesty so we stopped by a local bar to get a class of cider and use the restroom. I liked how it was served in a tea mug even though it was definitely alcoholic.

QNVDcgD.jpg


Everyone got to the bus on time so that’s a win. We asked our tour guide a question about the ferrets were were seeing everywhere in the shop and she hadn’t a clue what I was talking about. After some talk with the local guides - they figured out we meant the Ermine which is the local animal symbol of Brittany.​
 
Evening on our own in Port du Crouesty

When we got back to the hotel, we were on our own for the rest of the evening. Our Tauck guide had given a selection of restaurants that she knew were good but the thought of eating a real dinner just didn’t sound pleasant to my husband and I.

We opted to walk along the waterfront and head into a local supermarket where we picked up some prosciutto, french bread and butter. We also shopped around the stores at the waterfront where we picked up my husband a shirt and some socks and the local pasterierre that still had some baguettes left despite the time of day so we got one of those as well as who doesn’t love bread?

dxJsi4Z.jpg


Once back in the room, my husband headed to the gym for a quick run. When he came back, we had our dinner on the balcony watching the water and a lady playing fetch with her dog in her backyard. We opened a bottle of rose we had purchased the other day & this is when we discovered the maids had taken our wine glasses! As the glasses were free, I decided to not say something so instead we drank out of coffee mugs like the fancy people we are.

bJteJKL.jpg

yWoEbGM.jpg


After our dinner, I watched some more 13 Reasons Why off Netflix while my husband watched his youtube channels before calling it an early night.

szp5LiF.jpg

After Dinner Liquor In Espresso Mugs
 
I've been working like a mad woman lately so I fell massively behind, but I'm loving all the wine and bread (my 2 favorite food groups)

Guess what I did that evening with our unmentionables or my husband’s running clothes.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: I so would have done the same. I can only fathom what a French hotel would charge

We went downstairs for breakfast where I had some french bread, granola and prosciutto. You know, all parts of a good breakfast.

1GLv1WW.jpg
Breakfast of champions!!! Sans the granola I'd be eating this every day too

We knew they had a wine tasting at the local wine store so we stopped by there first. We figured it would cost some money but it was actually free and the wines in the shop were reasonably priced (5.90 to 14 Euros)
Wow! I'm shocked to hear this

We then were led to the courtyard where we got to try the Rose they make along with eat some cheese and puff pastries. I really enjoy their rose! I think I ended up with 4 glasses of it.

VH6MNEh.jpg
I'm surprised they only took you to one winery the whole time. I think I'd be ready to drop some chateaus in favor of some chatwines :earboy2:

We ended up being more interested by the little things in the house like their fountain in the kitchen, the disturbing art work or their bathtub.
They may have a chateau but that is some strange decorating going on there. Our brains would have been exactly where yours were and loving the "bad" goodness of it all

One of the things I really loved about France was how dogs are pretty much allowed everywhere and people have trained their dogs to behave in public. Until we acknowledged the dog, he was very polite and stayed quietly by his owner. The owner was polite when we said hello. They were part of a Backroads trip that was going around the countryside.
That is so cool. I can just see our 150 pound Newfoundland lounging in the chateau restaurant right now :P

The French thought of potatoes as only being for the hogs and actually banned human consumption of the starch! We loved this dish as it was so simple but well done. It also was a nice switch up from the fancier food we had been eating.

j7BUHL6.jpg
Yum this looks so good and I'm sure it was a more than welcomed change after everything else you'd been eating. Though I cannot fathom a world that bans starch

We headed to our boat shaped hotel and headed to our room.

WMT5rDj.jpg
Interesting...

opted to relax in the room, play on my laptop on the balcony and do some laundry in the sink since our room had a heated towel rack which we used as a dryer along with sending a couple pieces out to be laundered or dry cleaned by the hotel.
Ingenious

knew my husband wouldn’t be one for thinly sliced pieces of raw prawn with grapefruit.
I love prawns and I love grapefruit but I'm not sure I want to eat them together or raw

Overall dinner was a bust but honestly, that is ok. Not all meals can be amazing. We headed back to the room where we relaxed and fell asleep with the patio door open listening to the ocean!
Ugh sorry you all had such a bad experience. You certainly took it more in stride than I would have given how much you are paying for everything

So cool! And even cooler that they are illegal photos

We were eventually sent downstairs to enjoy our three course lunch with unlimited wine. (Who doesn’t love wine?)
No one I know!!! You had me at unlimited

nside was the creamiest salted caramel mousse. I could have eaten three of them and still had room for more! Indulgent but light at the same time!

iMJ6YT0.jpg
Yum, this looks and sounds amazing. I'm not always a big dessert fan but give me salted caramel any day of the week

When he came back, we had our dinner on the balcony watching the water and a lady playing fetch with her dog in her backyard. We opened a bottle of rose we had purchased the other day & this is when we discovered the maids had taken our wine glasses! As the glasses were free, I decided to not say something so instead we drank out of coffee mugs like the fancy people we are.
This seriously looks like a perfect evening to me. In the midst of all of the amazingness you all are experiencing a night of down time with bread, prosciutto and wine sounds divine
 
I've been working like a mad woman lately so I fell massively behind, but I'm loving all the wine and bread (my 2 favorite food groups)
Work just likes to get in the way sometimes doesn't it? Wine and bread are two of my favorite food groups too although I haven't been having a lot of bread since getting home which is probably a good thing as it won't be as good here.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: I so would have done the same. I can only fathom what a French hotel would charge
We sent out some of my husband's shirts during the trip due to his post vacation work vacation - 16 euros a piece! Socks and undies would have been 6 to 9 euros a piece. Those were the cheapest places too - I'm glad we only sent out laundry in Port du Crouesty and at Disneyland Paris.

Breakfast of champions!!! Sans the granola I'd be eating this every day too
The granola wasn't repeated after this day although I did start adding fruit later into the trip.

Wow! I'm shocked to hear this
When you don't have to pay for shipping and customs, it saves so much!

I'm surprised they only took you to one winery the whole time. I think I'd be ready to drop some chateaus in favor of some chatwines :earboy2:
Yes! We were sad about that but I guess that means we need to go back and travel on our own and go to the wineries that my husband's work will take us too. We probably would focus on Burgundy or Champagne though.

They may have a chateau but that is some strange decorating going on there. Our brains would have been exactly where yours were and loving the "bad" goodness of it all
I knew I liked you ;) Gotta enjoy the weird!

That is so cool. I can just see our 150 pound Newfoundland lounging in the chateau restaurant right now :P
How did I not know your dog was a Newfie? My husband grew up with those. It was too much hair and drool for me with that size so instead we have the 90 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback. I bet the Newfie would have been easier to train since it doesn't have that hound independence!

Yum this looks so good and I'm sure it was a more than welcomed change after everything else you'd been eating. Though I cannot fathom a world that bans starch
It was such a welcomed change! I mean I like fancy food but who doesn't love a simple meal from time to time.

I love prawns and I love grapefruit but I'm not sure I want to eat them together or raw
It was probably the oddest thing we were served during the trip.

Ugh sorry you all had such a bad experience. You certainly took it more in stride than I would have given how much you are paying for everything
I did mention it on the end of tour survey but who knows if that will do anything.

So cool! And even cooler that they are illegal photos
With no photos, how could we prove what we saw? It really was one of the highlight of the trip and it wasn't something I was expecting to do at all.

No one I know!!! You had me at unlimited
Yeah..I had a lot of wine that lunch!

Yum, this looks and sounds amazing. I'm not always a big dessert fan but give me salted caramel any day of the week
I could go for one of those right now. You would love Brittany as it loves it salted caramel and its so good too!

This seriously looks like a perfect evening to me. In the midst of all of the amazingness you all are experiencing a night of down time with bread, prosciutto and wine sounds divine
It was! It was a nice way to reset at this part of the trip since it was a week into the trip and we knew we had lots more to go!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top