French Word of the Day: chateau (shat-oh)- castle

Today was our chateau day.  We went to Chateau d’Azay-le-Rideau and Chateau Villandry.  The former was nice, but the latter (pictured below) was a mighty fine piece of castle.  I’m not the type of person who could live in a castle (I would lose my keys and never find them again), but I would consider living in this one.  An American woman and her Spanish husband were the last ones to live there in the early 20th century, so I think it probably misses having an American owner.  Really, I’m doing it a favor.

I mean, just look at those gardens!  I didn’t bring my camera because we had school this morning and I don’t normally bring a camera to school, but other people took pictures for me.  Mostly Roanne, so when they finally go up on facebook it’s going to look like Roanne is my only friend.  I promise I have more.

We went to a bakery for pain au chocolat and found a bag of 8 that were a day old for 2 euro.  For the record, that is 1/4 of the normal price.  The French refuse to pay a lot for day old bread.  I must say, their day-old pain au chocolat is equivalent in taste to the pain au chocolat I’ve found in America.  We need to work on that.

I’ve become the pain au chocolat guru.  I’ve dazzled everyone with my ability to tell how good a pain au chocolat will be just by looking at it.  As I’ve been proven correct several times, no one buys it anymore without first asking me if it looks okay.  I feel this is a skill that will get me far in life.

After getting back two “quizzes” (more of let’s-see-if-you-know-this-because-you-aren’t-really-being-graded papers), I see that my French grammar leaves much to be desired.  My teacher informed me that my problem was that I directly translate from English.  Oops.  I’m so glad I’ve already graduated from college and don’t have to stress over my GPA.  Although I must admit, I spend more time on my homework each night for this one class than I ever did while I was in real school.  One French class takes me 3-4 hours a night.  How did I ever get through high school?

I do remember not sleeping.  I’m glad I only have one class.

Pain au chocolat count: 7