"Castles are not for crying."

Yesterday was my last day of classes, and I'm going to miss all of my classmates so so much! Now I have an excuse to visit Spain, Ireland, Ukraine, and Australia just to visit them! We had the final group dinner at a restaurant called Nos Ancestres Les Gaulois, and it was absolutely delicious. Here's the menu:

appetizer-a huge basket of raw vegetables, sausage and a veal pâté , and coarse bread.
Main dish-I chose côtes d'agneau which is like lamb cutlets but you either had a choice of some form of beef or lamb.
This was followed by a cheese course to cleanse the palate (kind of a foreign concept to me but it was so great).
Dessert-chocolate mousse that I traded to Molly because she didn't like the caramel crème brûlée.

The whole restaurant was set up like a huge old tavern complete with animals skins adorning the walls and a giant barrel of red wine where you served yourself.

Today we went to Chambourd, a GIANT castle about two and a half hours away from Paris, and I took my final final for 3126 (and got credit!). There was a festival going on so we didnt really get to explore the open fields nearby, but the castle was absolutely beautiful and we got to explore most of it. I also found Gracie's long haired French cousin. Kelley, Molly and I decided we will be coming back to Paris next summer for the music festival and then we'll get ball gowns and pretend we're royalty at Chambourd. We ended the excursion at a winery that has been handed down through five generations of the same family. The whole operation seemed so personal and cute, and the wine was wonderful! It was a lot more flavorful than the three euro stuff we occasionally pick up. I got a bottle of a floral white to bring home (if I can find a way to get it through customs), just because it has such a unique taste.

I leave for Nice tomorrow so this may be my last post for a week depending on wifi. A bientôt my faithful readers!

Things the French do:
-drive like maniacs if they've got motorcycles. They essentially create their own lanes in between each lane of traffic on the highway
-pink toilet paper.
-man-on-man bises

Things they don't:
-seats on public toilets
-have any qualms about PDA or excessive wine consumption in public
-American bear hugs. I always mistake bises as the start of a hug and things get awkward quickly.

Ps Griff has successfully made it to Paris! The photo is really dark, but here's proof: