Yesterday afternoon Meredith and I took another trip up the Loire to a little town called Clisson. Clisson is a hilly hamlet with a couple of historic churches, the ruins of a castle that was constructed in the 1300s and houses with Spanish tile rooves and architecture reminiscent of Provence. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day; just cool enough so that the sunlight felt really good on your back. We spent a leisurely day wandering the town and seeing the sites with one of Meredith's colleagues (Michelle) and her sister and sister's husband(Anne-Claude and Jean-Renee). We had a long lunch in the sun on the terrace of a cafe that overlooked the chateau and the little valley that the town is nestled in. We discussed French and American cuisine, Italian coffee, and regional diction typical of different parts of France while I enjoyed a delicious, inexpensive carpaccio de boeuf.

Meredith's friends were very friendly and welcoming. They were very patient with my French (they didn't really need to be patient with Meredith's French). Anne-Claude and Jean-Renee live in Paris so they gave us some detailed descriptions of things we should do and see in Paris that most tourists wouldn't know about. Jean-Renee really enjoyed reading to us out of his guidebook or any other touristy brochure he got his hands on. He had a bit of a cold so our guided tours were frequently interrupted by sneezes. His wife and sister-in-law seemed completely disinterested in his historical recitations, but I listened; though I think he would have carried on whether I had or not.

It was a great day for pictures so we finally have some evidence that Meredith and I are in France together. I'll post a couple of the good ones.