Provins

Yesterday the CIEE program embarked on a short day trip to Provins, a medieval city about a 1 hour train ride Southeast of Paris. If anyone else is an devout fan of Game of Thrones, picture Westeros. Long winding cobblestone streets, houses leaning onto one another as if they could collapse at any moment, and large hilltop eglisses (churches) that you can see from any point in the small village. It was pretty adorable, and I found myself humming Beauty and the Beast while strolling through it. We ate at a small cafe, where they had set up a large banquet table for our 30+ person party. The group ate duck, smotherd in a whole grain dijon reduction and roasted potatoes, which looked pretty fantastic. But i enjoyed this:

It was haddock, smothered in a citrus-y butter sauce and parsley pesto. On the side are potatoes, leeks, and roasted carrots and turnips. It was one of those meals that if you ate everything mushed together it still tasted good. Kind of like chinese food, ya know? Where it doesnt really matter if your fried rice mizes with your schezuan veggies or egg roll. It all kind of works.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a tarte des pommes (apple tarte), that is NOTHING like your mama's traditional apple pie. Traditional pie has a savory crust, to balace out the ever-sweet apple filling. This was very different. The crust was sweet and flakey, probably dowsed in butter, and sweet enough that if not for the tartness of the apple, one wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the cooked apple and the crust because they were both so tender. Alongside was a creamy vanilla bean sauce that I could have bathed in if they'd let me... simple and delicious.

We strolled the castle and took a guided tour of the city later in the afternoon so if you're interested in pictures, check out the "photos" tab at the top!