decadent living

we are staying tonight too, at the chateau. we had a delicious breakfast and walked in the park across the street. the “jean jacques rousseau” park, was created by the marquise who owned this chateau. he was revolutionary in his approach because he created a park that felt “natural” and not formal. rousseau liked it so much he decided to stay and eventually was buried in it. unfortunately, at some point the french govt decided that he should be in the pantheon, so they moved his remains there, next to his arch enemy, voltaire! i think that was very rude of the govt. anyway, the dog LOVED the park. there was only 4 other people in the park and there were a lot of yummy smells for him. he sniffed excitedly in frenzied circles which got bigger and bigger and finally he disappeared into the distance ignoring our calls. it was funny to see how excited he was. we finally had to put him on the leash. we investigated a few other mellow tourist attractions around. there is a “mer de sable” (sea of sand) amusement park, that was closed. didn’t really look interesting. run down rides and a really big field of sand... we went across the street to the abbaye with church ruins and a beautiful chapel. there was also a museum in a mansion. they run workshops here where you can learn about and make your own perfume! jj would like that. we went back to the chateau and hung out a bit. we then went for an aperitif of champagne, in the lounge. this chateau is not as upscale as our honeymoon spot (abbay de cernay). it was at one point a retirement home and sort of has a run down feeling in spots, but all the same it is a nice spot and has a very impressive marble staircase in the entryway. we discovered that there is a veggie menu available (at a very much more reasonable price to the other menus) if ordered in advance. so we put in our orders. we had the same first amuse bouche with our champagne. then there was a layered appetizer of smoked eel and herring. then the same watercress/tomato amuse bouche. our main dishes were a vegetable tempura french style. light and delicious. followed by the cheese course, with some new cheeses mixed in: mont d'or (vacherin du haut-doubs),reblochon and munster. then we had another dessert appetizer – passionfruit with whip cream thing. our dessert was again impressive. it was a 4 inch diameter hollow chocolate sphere filled with creamy crumbly mush of peeled citrus sections inside, skewered with a gold leaf covered chocolate stick, and cup of sesame flavored whip cream on the side. and of course, there was the coffee, macaroons and fruit gelees. but tonight everything was a little bit lighter. we both went for a last walk with the dog.

Print this post