Oh yay...an English keyboard!

Oh, I shouldn't get so excited but I can type more than a hundred words in English, and less than 50 in French.  So yeah, I'm a little excited.

I have stories to tell!  And I only have until Martin comes to find me to tell them.  Where to start, where to start?

I could tell you about the beautiful mountain views--and the amazing, and somewhat frightening precipices we saw on our way from Greoux en Bains to Grenoble, where we are today.  Wow, it was stunning.  It was also lovely to pull over and have a little picnic with local cheeses and bread and wine.  We found a table of sorts, watched birds that are unknown to us and spent a nice hour there.  It is brisk and a bit chilly up there, but still our weather is holding at about 15-20 C. 

I could tell you about how my French is starting to fail me.  Yesterday it didn't seem that I could be understood by anyone.  The accent is different here and my ear is not so tuned.  I felt stupid too actually, because I am missing the hard questions like "d'ou venez-vous?"  (where do you come from?),  But I can make a hotel reservation, make small talk with the friendly servers, and some of the harder things.  Oh well.

I could also tell you about how we found a place that let us have a spa for 10 euros each.  We had private use of a whirlpool, a steam room and a sauna, as well as some lovely chairs to relax in and some full body COLD showers.  At home, it costs around $50 for a visit...so this was a treat for us, and very relaxing.

We haven't really done much shopping, but the markets are great fun.  We have found a few small treasures, and there is one thing that I wished I picked up but didn't.  I saw them before I knew what to do with them...small creme brulee dishes in the most gorgeous shade of red.  There was something different about the glaze.  However, we learned how to make creme brulee two days later, and as soon as we did, I wanted the dishes.  Unfortunately, there was not another opportunity to go there, and I've not found anything else as nice.  Ah well.

Oh, I SHOULD tell you about Joel Durand chocolates.  Now, it is true, I am a chocolate lover, but this man has taken it to a whole new level.  He has combined flavours like szechuan pepper and dark chocolate, lavender or thyme or rosemary and chocolate, and they all work brilliantly.  It's complex and interesting...he is my new favorite chocolatier (sorry Bernard!).  I'm going to try and order some more.

Well, that's all the time I have...but I have appreciated the chance to share some things.  I fear that I will forget all about it by the time I get home, and there is so much more to tell.   For example, I think my mom would be quite surprised to learn that I have butchered my own rack of lamb, handled the cleaver and still have all my fingers...but that is for another day.

bye for now...we are on our way to Geneva.  Can you believe it?