Stained glass, good food and French keyboards

Oh, the joys of French keyboards...Judy had an American computer so my first interaction was last night.  Being the girl that can type with my eyes closed, it is a pain in the ass because I keep making the same mistakes.  Hello, my name is Rachel becomes  Hello; ,y nq,e is Rqchel:  if I don`t remember to look at the keyboard.

We drove to a town called Chartres that has the most amazing cathedral.  It is the town of light and stained glass so at night, they project light to look like stained glass on the outsides of all the big buildings.  It is hard to explain...but very beautiful.  Google search it for images and you can see the cathedral, I can`t upload my pictures right now.

On our way to Chartres, we stopped at the French National Park and zent on a walk through the animal park.  We saw lots of birds like eagles and owls, a family of deer running through the woods, tiny little horses and buffalo.  It was a nice walk through the forrest.  

We had dinner at a tiny French resturant last night that Harriet`s sister recommended.  We continued on our veal kick and I of course had creme bruelle.  Harriet joked that by the end of our travels, I will have found the best in the country.  

Today we got up early and drove to another one of her friends houses.  They knew each other through business (Harriet makes fences, they make gates).  The elderly couple-- Madeline and Micheal, do not speak English so there has been a lot of smiling and hand gesturing, Harriet does her best to translate for all three of us.  Micheal does have an iphone and the biggest computer screen I have ever seen (bigger then Papa`s, mom).  They are very nice and going everything they can to help me.  We had a lovely homemade meal of frois gros, fish, cheese, salad and two desserts.  I was so full I wanted to fall over but I couldn`t say no to such a lovely meal.  After all that eating and having no idea what was going on in the conversation (I don`t think I have ever sat through a whole meal without talking) I mentioned I was tired so Madeline hustled me out of my chair and into the guest bedroom to nap.  At first I didn`t realize what was going on but once I figured it out, I happily laid down.  It sounded like it was much easier for Harriet to talk with her friends without me and I was pleased to be horizontial. We are traveling with Madeline and her husband tomorrow to the beach (yeah sand, surf and seafood!) so I think I a, going to allow them to visit and I am happily going to sit on the beach  and read my book.

Once we leave the beach, we will be going to another cathedral on an island before stopping to see another Madeline- this one was a good friend of Deanna`s from when she lived in France.  Sunday I am released into the world without Harriet`s companionship.  I will be stopping again in Paris to see Odile (one of Deanna`s work friends who stayed with me in Chicago last fall) and then most likely heading to Germany to meet Rider.  After Germany, Gigi and I will be meeting in Italy-- it will be interesting to see how we all find eachother without cell phones.

Miss you all--- xoxoxo Rach