The tournament was in a little town called Chantilly – famous for cream, porcelain, and lace. I decided to explore the town rather than hang out at a paintball tournament. This bakery is so adorable and also had the best pain au chocolat I have ever eaten. Ever. And I have eaten many. There was also this great pastry with cream and chocolate chips in the middle. Yum.
I loved this town. There were so many cute little shops. I love these flowers I found outside one of the many florists in town. The florist shops were all absolutely beautiful. I should have taken more pictures, seriously, they were my favorite shops.
I also love doors, and there were some huge beautiful doors. This is on the church that was near the paintball field. The paintball tournament was at a huge beautiful chateau with museums and gardens and I planned on going there, but when I walked out of the church I saw a sign pointing the other way that said Office of Tourism and City Center, so I decided to walk to the tourism office. It turns out it was really far. On the opposite end of the town. Past city center. But I am so glad I did, because I got to see the layout of the town, a lot of great shops, got some good advice and maps from the tourism office, and found the train station. It turned out to be a very productive walk.
So Chris and I went to Portugal years ago and tasted these pastries called pasteis de belem. They are like a custard filled pastry shell. SO GOOD. I have never seen them since and we have often said we should try to make them. I went to a little pastry shop next door to the Tourism Office in Chantilly (that the tourism office worker recommended) and THERE THEY WERE! I took a picture so I could show Chris because he loves them. I took one bite and it was so rich that I ended up saving most of it for him. Which is probably better than a picture.
I started to walk back toward city center because there were a few museums I wanted to check out and I found a cemetery. I love cemeteries. Especially old ones. They are beautiful and peaceful, so I decided to go in. I took some photos and sat down to read for awhile.
I love this spider web that I found while walking around.
I took this one for the kids. Have you ever seen a baby snail? I have never seen one that small before. It is actually kind of cute, in a slimy sort of way.
I checked out some more shops and found a café that I wanted to try for lunch. It wasn’t open yet, so I went to a chocolate shop, bought some truffles, and went back to the café. There were a lot of local people there, so I figured it would be tasty. I don’t speak or read French. I’ll just say that right now. I always make Chris order for me. I knew I wanted hot chocolate, but there were two kinds on the menu, and one said viennoise – which reminded me of Vienna, so I ordered that one. And this is what I got. The chocolate on the bottom is thick chocolate syrup meant to be stirred into the hot milk which is above it, all topped off with tons of cream. I did not realize this and tried to use the straw before stirring an clogged it with super thick, dark, chocolate fudge. Oops! How in the world do you drink that? I figured out to stir it, but I still had to eat tons of cream so I could drink the hot chocolate. Not that it was bad. Just hard to drink!
Croque Madam! Yum. And the very nice waiter figured out I spoke no French after trying to talk to me, but still brought me water and bread with no extra charge. Yay! Café success for the day. I felt like such an ignorant backwards tourist. Next time I am bringing a French dictionary. I forgot I would not have Chris to translate for me!
I walked around the town for awhile because the museum I wanted to see didn’t open until later in the afternoon. There are machine water works in all the canals that used to pump water to elaborate fountains that were part of the gardens of the chateau. During the revolution the owners of the chateau fled to Englad and the land that had been their gardens was sold off in parcels to people who built homes. So this whole town is located in what was once gardens for the estate. The old waterworks are still there, but now only pump water to a couple fountains right near the chateau.
I went to the waterworks museum, which was SO interesting. This room was a laundry drying room (it was huge, I did not take pictures of the whole room). There were big racks along the walls to hang clothes, and vents all along the floor that let in hot air from a furnace that was in the basement. Then this machine was basically for ironing. It was also used for glazing fabric.
The main water works had been destroyed, but a historical society built a replica about ten years ago. The one below is a mini model of how the waterworks used to pump water to the roof of the building and then from there mostly gravity helped the fountains work.
This is from the laundry room in the basement. The machines were from the 1700s and quite state of the art. They were later used by the townspeople who did not have washing machines. The people would bring in their wash to this room and use those SAME MACHINES from the 1700s up until the 1970s when the laundry finally closed because people started owning their own machines. This machine is an agitator where the clothes were washed.
This is a spinner, used to get most of the water out of the clothes.
These are the wash basins. I thought this museum was SO awesome, I am so glad I went to the tourism office or I would not have known it was there. It was totally worth the visit, and the staff member who was there was very knowledgeable and obviously interested and excited about the museum, so she was great to talk to. I can’t say enough good things about this museum, I loved it.
I went shopping on my way back to the field. I bought a few dresses and came across this store where I did not buy anything, but I thought it was so cool that these are edible chocolate boxes. That you could buy and fill with chocolates. So fun!
Back at the field! Should have stopped at another café on the way back, the guys worked late!
