Chestnut party and dinner with Gérard

After our day in the mountains, we headed to the next town over to visit Yann's biker friend, Gérard. They ride Harley Davidsons together.  We came for the small town's chestnut festival in the sideyard of the church. There was all you can eat roasted chestnuts and chestnut flavored wine. A lot of people from the town came out for it and stood around talking and eating chestnuts until the sun was disappearing and the street lights were turning on. 

They were busy the whole time cutting the tops of the chestnuts off and roasting them.

Here I am with Yann and Gérard.

Everyone was engaged in busy conversation as they cracked the shells of their chestnuts.

So many people in one little place!

We wanted a little break from all the talking, so Isabelle and I went out front of the church to where one of the locals had tethered his horse. He and I became fast friends.

After we had eaten more chestnuts than any normal human-being should, we headed back to Gérard's house for dinner. His wife had cooked a wonderful traditional French meal for us.  This meal included Boudin and head cheese.  Those are two things I hadn't ever imagine that I would like, but they really weren't too bad. I actually liked how the Boudin tasted, but I'm not sure if I'll ever get over it being pig-blood-sausage...we'll see.

Afterwards, I played violin for them until 11pm. Gérard requested Amazing Grace (and I was told that he cried) as well as John Denver, Rocky Mountain Roads.

Yann enjoyed pretending that he was playing violin too!

When Gérard and his wife heard that I had never tasted frog legs it was decided that we would return to their house (this time in Aix-en-Provence) on Thursday to have frog legs for dinner. That'll be tonight, so stay tuned for a blog post on my reaction to frog legs!