Today has been a rainy day so indoor painting for everyone; still life. Everyone painted a bouquet of flowers on top of a wooden chair with a French hat sitting on it. Ok, it is not a real French hat, it is actually Joan’s hat but everyone agreed that the still life with her hat looked very French. Below are a few pictures of our guest painting.
Judy Painting
Joan Painting
Nancy Painting
Anne Painting
But France is not only about painting but eating and drinking. Therefore, we went to the Chartreuse cellar, the longest liquor cellar in the world. We learned about the Chartreuse monks making the Chartreuse liquor. We know it is a mix of 150 herbs but they keep the recipe secret. I guess we don’t need to know, as long as it tastes good. They make 9 different types of liquor, from the elixir of long life at 75% alcohol to the fruit liquor at 21%. You can’t find them in the States. You can only find the green Chartreuse (55% alcohol) and the yellow one, called the liquor for ladies, because it is only 41% alcohol. We also got a chance to see the life of the monks in a 3D movie wearing great glasses…. Very good day after all.
Drinking Chartreuse liquor when traveling to France
Watching a 3D movie at the Chartreuse cellar
Jackie Grandchamps obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in Belgium, and then moved to the U.S. in 1995 to conduct cancer research at Stanford University in California. Her heart has always been in travel however, and she turned her passion into a full time job in 2003 when she launched her travel business, French Escapade offering an authentic travel experience to women.
She says, “I wanted to make my dream come true: sharing my love of traveling and giving people the opportunity to really experience a different culture. Instead of the traditional ‘tourist’ sightseeing trip to France, I wanted to immerse very small groups of women in the culture, let them meet locals, eat authentic cuisine and ‘live’ an authentic experience. That’s how French Escapade was born.”
