Chantilly

I went to Chantilly (France) with some of our family: my mom, Tate, Grandad, and Zorka. We were in France for four days. William and Findlay were both still working at camp, so they came to England with my dad one week after we arrived. We had a lot of really good food in France, including: steak tartare, pizza, and foie gras. We got to Chantilly at 5 p.m. and I had my steak tartare for dinner! Steak tartare is uncooked minced meat and it was amazing! When they brought it to the table, they had me choose what I would like to have mixed in. I chose onions, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, mustard, capers, pepper, and a raw egg.

The first morning, I ran a mile at a park while my mom walked. It was at an easy walking distance from our place (I’d say a 600m). We had to wake up fairly early and it felt really early because I was waking up to run. After that, we had breakfast at the hotel and then walked to a castle, which was cool. After that, we walked to lunch, where I got a burger. We ate outside and it was so windy and waspy! Next we walked around some of the castle’s stables, and on the way home we got gelato! I got coffee gelato, and so did Tate, but Tate dropped his and then got a new one. For dinner, I had an enormous steak (cooked, not tartare) and ate everything but the fat, which my grandad helped cut off. The next morning, I ran again, and it felt a lot better than the first time!

We also got to go see a couple of my grandad and Zorka’s race horses which were boarded at a stable close to our hotel. We got to meet their trainers and pet one and give it carrots. Then we went to see some more animals at a “petting zoo”, but there were signs saying not to touch them. The bunnies were so cute! We had dinner with some other trainer friends of Grandad and Zorka’s at an Italian restaurant called Prego. They were so nice. I had spaghetti carbonara with raw egg yolk on top. It was so good! The next morning we had our last breakfast at the hotel, followed by the six hour-long drive back to Langham. France was so fun! Au revoir!

below: eating steak tartare

below: more eating… me with my huge steak and Tate’s turn with steak tartare, Thai style

below: Château de Chantilly

below: the library inside the Château de Chantilly

below: Princes’ Garden

below: bunny neighborhood and one of its residents

below: bunny race track!

below: on one of my runs, eating ice cream, and meeting one of Grandad and Zorka’s horses!