Uh, je ne comprends pas?

Our weekend trip to France went a bit awry. Instead of Grenoble, we accidentally arrived in Rodez, which was not at all close to where we wanted to be. But that was okay. We hitchhiked to Séverac le Chateau, which was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and by the time we got there, and due to the lack of outward bound traffic (and therefore no more hitchhiking) we ended up having to stay the night there. We initially couldn't find a place to stay. But while searching, Andrew and Juliette walked into a hotel at about 11pm and found a key to a room just sitting on a desk by the door. It was pretty sketchy, but we were desperate and considered just taking the key and the corresponding room for the night for free. There was no reception to talk to of course at this hour, and the lobby and halls were completely dark.

Instead, we walked along a back road and found a hotel and bought a room for the night. Not nearly as cool as sneaking into a hotel room at night, but it was more legal.

The next morning when we left, a random donkey came up from a hill beneath to greet us.

We all harass the poor donkey with our cameras.

Our hotel, the donkey on the left, and Séverac le Chateau, which this town is named after, back in the distance.Nice was nice.

With a few hours to kill before taking us to Montpellier where we could catch the main railway, we went uphill and eventually to the castle. There was a splendid view.

Lost, France.

Atop Séverac le Chateau. Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.

Another location from atop Séverac le Chateau. Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.

St. Martin Vésubie in the French Alps. Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.

Food Diary: Day 5

Sunday 10/5/08

We did a bit more traveling to get us into the French Alps. Before leaving Nice, we found, much to our surprise, an actual supermarket that had quite a variety of food (the first of its kind we found in France). We bought some sliced pepperoni, a couple varieties of cheese, and crackers, which we enjoyed on our train ride north. Cheese and crackers and pepperoni I have always liked as a snack food, and also sometimes as a complete meal (which, this time around, it was). I also bought some Le Petit Ecolier crackers for later (a delicious chocolate and cracker combination that I have enjoyed from time to time back home in the international food section of our local Wegmans grocery store).

Prior to leaving for the supermarket, we ate a complimentary breakfast our cheap hotel provided for its customers, which included a croissant per person, butter and hot chocolate. At this point we had managed to procure jam again so we also had that as an option for spreading on our croissants.

Later that evening, we decided to try an actual French restaurant and, for the first time in France, to eat an actual meal. The three of us shared two bottles of red wine, and I had a generous slice of steak with some unidentifiable (French) dressing coated over it. This came with some green beans wrapped in a strip of bacon, a baked potato with butter, and another side dish that I couldn’t identify (but it had a bready outside and seems to be filled with some cooked vegetables and perhaps some meat, but I really had no idea – it was okay). For dessert I had an overpriced brownie that I thought would be bigger. All in all, dinner was a success, and it was nice to say at that point that we ate at a French restaurant. We certainly felt a bit out of place though. We arrived a bit earlier than most French people go out to dinner (in our defense, we hadn’t eaten well in days) and our French language skills weren’t too great. Undoubtedly we were unaware of some customs that probably go along with eating at a restaurant, although nothing we were aware of – we just felt like we were probably doing something wrong.