J'ai mangé des escargots!!!

My camera situation has been fixed (thank you very much, Mom and Dad!!), so now I have some pictures to post!  I already put some of these up on facebook, but I'll post them here anyway. :)

Last week, Mathieu and I took a walk through Grenoble.  He brought his very nice camera, so the pictures were bound to be quality!  I explored the inside of a church, where a cherub statue was crying.  I don't know why, but I thought it was beautiful.

We walked along the river, where my host parents and Mathieu had all told me (on separate occasions) that there are dozens of Pizzerias that are legitimately owned by the Italian mafia (Grenoble is the closest and largest French city to Italy).  The restaurants are functional, but they are quite unappealing from the outside and are just a front to the actual Italian Mob that runs behind the scenes.  It was quite thrilling to just meander down the street and discreetly snap pictures!

Then we walked near the river (not sure of the name, though).  It was lovely and so pleasant out for a walk!!!  We asked an elderly woman and her daughter to take some photos of us, and I think they turned out quite well!

Now, it is a lazy Sunday afternoon here in Grenoble. When I say "lazy", that is because the family I live with invited me to a restaurant 40 minutes into the mountains, where we gorged on a delicious 5 course meal, and I drank enough wine to make me very sleepy.  My host parents, Jan and Amélie, encouraged me to get the full 5 courses so that I could try escargot.  I was a bit alarmed to try snails (especially since my last memory of them is of my mom squishing one on her garden patio, lol).  But I was also curious, so I decided to do it!

They look pretty good, huh?  They were baked in an oven with a garlic/parsley/butter sauce, so that was very tasty!  I guess it's customary to eat the remaining sauce with your bread, which I have sitting nearby on my plate. :)

Then after my snails, salad and lots of bread, it was time for the 3rd and 4th courses, which arrived at the same time.  One was roast duck, and the other was some kind of creamy, cheesy potato dish.  I really love the duck here.  While the potatoes were good, I was really starting to get full when I ate them, lol.

So that was my past week!  I know this post doesn't really have a theme (like last week's post), but I just wanted to talk about topics that revolved around the pictures I took with my new camera!!!  Hooray!

À bientôt, mes amies!!! bisous!!!