Pardon My French, Chapter 2: A Day In Angouleme

Our plan of action for day one of exploration was to hit the nearby city of Angouleme. I use the term "city" rather loosely as there are approximately 52,000 inhabitants of Angouleme. A city by European standards, but perhaps not so much by US standards. You say tomahto I say tomayto.

We started the day off right with coffee and cold cereal followed by toast smothered in Sue's delicious homemade jams and some of the most gorgeous creamed honey I'd ever tasted! Apparently happy French bees make yummy honey. Colin declared he wanted to start some hives. We had a discussion on my vast knowledge of bees. I think it amounted to "my dad used to raise bees and he made this big plastic tub thingy with a motor that spun the honey out of the comb". I'm sure Colin was impressed.

We had to make a pit stop in the nearby town of Chasseneuill-sur-Bonnieure (Chasseneuill for short) before heading off to Angouleme. I was having some sort of allergy attack and I needed a pharmacy (pharmacie - yeah, tough to figure that one out) desperately.

We found a pharmacie and said a polite "bon jour" to the lady behind the counter. The lady who didn't speak English. I told her "allergies". I mimicked sneezing. She held out a box of something for colds. I told her "non" and tried desperately to come up with anything that might describe WHY I was having symptoms. "La Chat" (the cat), I said. She stared at me blankly. "La Fleur", more desperately now. More blankness.

After going on like this for some time, she finally conferred with a colleague and they decided on another box. This one marked "Allergie" on the top. I swear I rolled my eyes. Maybe I should have faked a French accent with my "allergy".

Allergy meds in hand we headed toward the next desperate stop, the boulangerie (bakery). Top on my list of must-try experiences in France was a real, honest-to-goodness French croissant. It was yummy, but not that much better than the ones back home. Note to self: must try more French croissants. You know, just to see.

And, of course, a stop at the chocolatiere was a must. I think you can figure out what that was. Sadly, I am not impressed with French chocolates. Even though they put chocolate in practically everything, they really haven't got the gift of the Belgians.

Allergies settled and croissant and chocolate trials satisfied for the moment, we headed to Angouleme, map in hand.

The city is beyond beautiful, spread over hills and valleys. Glowing in the late morning sun, it was like something out of a novel. Tree line boulevards spilled into sunlit overlooks. Little old ladies swung open their shutters and poked their heads out to peer at passersby. And everywhere that cute Frenchness of which I have become so inordinately fond.

One thing we learned quite quickly was that in Angouleme, everything is shut on Mondays, too. Also, the entire country of France is closed for "refurbishment". There's scaffolding on almost every chateau and half the museums and most of them are closed until some time next year. Others leave no explanation at all. They are just simply not open. Ah, well, when in France.

So instead of moping about, whining about how things AREN'T like the UK, we stroll about, soaking up the ambiance and enjoying all the new sights, sounds and smells.

One thing to note about France: Lunch is served between 12 and 2. If you want lunch after that, tough. Dinner is at 7. Cafes, restaurants, even bars stop serving food between 1:30 and 2 and don't start up again until 7. Fortunately, France is not immune to fast food, so we were able to find a burger joint open once we learned this lesson the hard way.

Also, there are very few public restrooms in France. The ones that existing are unbelievably clean, but they're not that easy to find in some places. We spent over an hour just trying to find the one McDonald's in Angouleme. Apparently that is the closest thing to a public loo they have. There's not even one in the shopping mall! So, beware!

After hours trodding up and down hills, getting lost and unlost, we decided we were Angoulemed out and headed for the car. We'd one more stop to make before we headed home for dinner.

Next stop: Chateau de la Rochefacauld!