France: Ice Cream!

My trip is winding down and this is the first hotel where I've had free WiFi.  Currently we're in the city of Dijon in the Burgundy region, and we've had a few ups and downs with this city.  But it's ending on an up note!  You get what you pay for with hotels.... a 33 euro a night hotel may look tempting for the sake of your pocket book, but it's NOT a good idea.  Just say NO!

Regardless, we've been eating quite well on this trip.  After all, one of my main goals with this trip has been to experience as much of the food culture as possible.  That being said..... we've also made it a goal to consume as much ICE CREAM as possible!

Starting in Paris......

Even though it was quite chilly, and nearly raining.  I just couldn't resist some pistachio ice cream in the Tuilleries garden while I waited for my companions to finish touring the Louvre.

Yep, I'd totally eat ice cream for lunch any day, especially if it's pistachio!

Then, when we went to Nice, we discovered the wonder of Fenocchio: maitre glacier!

They have 96 flavors!  Oh my!  

And the flavors range from the normal to the abnormal, including savory flavors, like Tomato Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Olive etc! One flavor that really intrigued me was the "Vanilla Pink Peppercorn Rose" but I didn't get a chance to try it before we left.....

We frequented Fenocchio, many, many times.  But we have no shame!

Kelli's first flavors: Pamplemousse (Grapefruit) & Ananas (Pineapple)

My first flavors: Speculoos & Nougat

Laura T's first flavors: Rose, Violet & Jasmine

Fenocchio seriously has the best ice cream I've ever had in my life! So smooth and creamy.  Great consistency.  True, pure flavors.

In fact, it is so good my camera and my shirt wanted to have a taste!   Camera's still a bit sticky, but no worse for wear!

Fenocchio round two later that night after dinner.  Kelli (left) had Mandarin flavored, Laura T (right) had Cactus, Baileys, and Abricot (Apricot).

I had Rhubarb & Poire (Pear)

And Fenocchio round three (the following day.... no, we didn't eat ice cream three times in one day!)

Laura T's (left back) were Coconut & Chocolat Orange, Kelli's (left front) were Pain d'Espice (spice cake) & Lait du Caramel (milk caramel) and mine (right) Banane (Banana) and Nocciolato (Nutella)

Needless to say, we've been a bit spoiled on this fabulous ice cream!  So our dessert the following day in Monaco was a bit disappointing....

Plain-jane Vanilla with hot chocolate poured over it? hmmmm.... could be really good, but not very memorable.  At least it photographed well....

Then our final ice cream experience thus far occurred last night in the town of Beaune in the Burgundy region.....

We ate very traditional burgundian food and I decided to have a very traditional dessert as well: Pears poached in red burgundy wine, Cassis sorbet (black currant) and a raspberry/currant sauce!

Then Laura had profiteroles with chocolate sauce.

Stay tuned for more sweets from France!