Road Trip around the Region

Paul and Lauren have a car, a great asset if you want to get going on a picnic, which was our plan for the day on Saturday.  After some research by Lauren, we decided to drive to the nearby town of Vizille, where there was a chateau housing the Musee do la revolution francaise and a park, and also a nearby lake.

Driving in France felt unproblematic (although I was not the driver).  Parking more so.  People park anywhere, but Paul is very good and we slipped into a tiny spot with ease.  The grounds of the 17C Chateau de Vizille were lovely; part manicured and part woodsy and we had a relaxing walk around the large grounds:  small waterfalls, sculpted gardens, rose gardens, fish hatcheries... all there.  Even a guillotine.

The musee itself was in the chateau and filled with artifacts from all different components of the revolution.  The beautiful furniture of the bourgoisie, the cookery, the swords, the paintings.  The entire chateau was converted and displayed. It was so well put together and the museum was free. 

We followed that up with a short drive to Lac de Laffrey, where we had a wonderful picnic lunch sitting by the lake.  It was a hot afternoon and although we were a bit short on time, Paul managed to add in a dip in the lovely water.  Our picnic was as expected... a flute, which is a larger baguette, several french cheeses, a salad prepared by Lauren in the morning, a duck sausage Paul and I picked up at the marktet, and two delicious tapinades.  How French, how delicious.

Unfortunately, our stay at the lake was limited as I had a train to catch to Paris at 5 pm, however we fit in some lovely memories and had a wonderful day.