Two days in the saddle

On Friday, Debbie, Bill, Dan, and I went to Angers to a tour of the Cointreau plant. It is only made at this plant in Angers, and while it was interesting, they have a tasting at the end. Thumbs up for that. The process is interesting, and it's been made basically the same way since the 1800s. The clear liquid is made from peels from both bitter and sweet oranges, and the entire factory smelled like orange. It was glorious. We learned about the history and the family; Dan wanted a photo with Monsieur Cointreau:

We also learned about the advertising, how they find their oranges and where they come from, all about the unusual bottle, blah blah blah, and then we got to the tasting. 

Yum.

Below is a recipe for what could be your favorite summer drink.

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Cointreau Fizz

50 ml Cointreau
Juice of 1/2 lime
Sparkling water

Fill a long-drink glass with ice. Add the Cointreau and lime juice and fill to the top with sparkling water. Stir and drink. 

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The second tasting drink was a Margarita, and Dan volunteered to be a bartender. 

After that, we were able to sample the Cointreau Noir, a blend of Cointreau and cognac, I think. 

We didn't have time to go to the chateau in Angers, but we did have time to make a stop at the patisserie and the chocolatier in St. Georges des Gardes before heading back to La Giro for dinner. 

On Saturday, we decided to hit the Saturday market in Cholet and then drive to Clisson to see the chateau there. 

Debbie & Bill

They had an extraordinary toilet system that involved using sawdust that I've never seen before. Bet you didn't expect to see photos of a toilet!

After the Chateau, we walked to some old dead dude's house to take a look around. It was lovely but jeez, was it hot.

Back in town, we met up with a young man named Saber. A Frenchman of Moroccan and Spanish heritage, Saber seemed to be someone who never met a stranger. We had seen him at the Chateau and then again at a bar where we were stopping for a cold drink. He and his girlfriend, Lucy, were in Clisson for the day before going home to Nantes. He suggested that we go to Nantes to check out some huge mechanical elephant that people can ride. So off we went to Nantes. After many, many navigational adventures including closed streets, driving in bus lanes, and missing roundabout exits, we finally found a parking garage new Les Machines. Of course they closed at 7 pm and we arrived at 6:50. But we got to see the elephant.

Not deterred, we made reservations for dinner at a restaurant in Vallet, a village not too far from Nantes. Once there, we could not find the freaking town center because of deviations (detours) all around town. Once we finally got to a parking lot, we discovered why the roads were blocked: There was a metal music festival in the town square area. 

And the bands were awful. AWFUL. In spite of the terrible music, we had a lovely dinner and made it home around 11 PM. Moi, being the driver for the day, I was wiped out from trying not to get hit and trying not to hit (both vehicles and people). And Nantes is not the town for me. Been there. Done that. Never again. 

Emily Thrush was at La Giro when we returned. She said that Charles de Gaulle was swarming with Americans. I guess people are tired of being cooped up. I hope that they are nice and polite to the French. I feel like we have to work extra hard to try to make up for the Trump years.