Cost: On request
Single Supplement: On request
Tour guides; all meals and wine on tasting menus at restaurants listed on the itinerary; private coach transportation to/from airports, restaurants, events, cooking classes, and hotel accommodations as indicated in the itinerary International and domestic airfares; excess baggage charges; airport arrival and departure taxes; travel insurance; meals, wines, or sightseeing not included in itinerary; personal expenses such as laundry and communication charges; gratuities, email/fax/telephone charges, and hotel minibar.
Join our tour guides Kathryn Morton and Debra Fioritto, who are winners of the 2006 Culinary Trust’s Julia Child Endowment Fund Scholarship. Kathryn and Debra specialize in travel and tours to France’s 71 government-designated gastronomic taste monuments, “The Sites of Exceptional Culinary Taste “(Les Sites Remarquables du Goût).

This uncommon epicurean adventure is a gourmet's dream journey through Brittany and Normandy. Our culinary adventure begins like royalty - we'll be guests at a grand celebration, "A Taste of the Countryside" held in Versailles, home to Louis XIV's Kitchen Garden, Le Potager du Roi. This first annual fair will provide a unique introduction to France's Sites of Exceptional Culinary Taste. After the fete at the King's Kitchen Garden, continue on to the Normandy countryside to stroll through a pear orchard and visit a cheese making dairy farm. On the coast of Brittany discover an oyster farm. Meet the local people and discover their methods of production using time-honored traditions. Talk with producers and growers. Prepare local cuisine. Be welcomed by great chefs of the region. Savor the quality of exceptional products from Brittany and Normandy as you journey through the mythical coast and lush countryside.

Six Sites of Exceptional Culinary Taste in Normandy and Brittany:
• Potager du Roi, Louis XIV's kitchen garden at Versailles
• Domaine St. Hippolyte, home of livarot, pont l'eveque and pave d'auge cheese
• Cancale , seaside port of Cancalaise oyster farming
• Bocage Domfrontais, countryside of Poire (perry)
• Cavados Domfrontais, Normandie's secret calvados
• Palais Benedictine, liqueur made from a Monk's recipe

Arrive in Paris and transfer to the Trianon Palace, a luxury hotel and spa. Occupying seven acres in a tree-filled park and bordering Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles, the Trianon Palace has always been a magnet for fashionable society and lovers of cuisine. After settling into the luxury hotel, the afternoon is yours to explore the garden, the palace or the town. You may want to book a relaxing massage in the spa. In the early evening, a welcome reception of champagne cocktails and amuse bouches is followed by an exceptional gourmet dinner that begins our epicurean adventure.

A stroll in the King's Garden is a perfect way to shake off our jet lag before we make an invited appearance at the 1st national "Taste of the Countryside" Fair, "Un Gout du Paysage." Like King Louis XIV and his courtiers, we'll be feted with the absolute best products from the Sites of Exceptional Culinary Taste all over France. The Fair will feature tastings, cooking classes, specially guided tours of the King's garden, and a theatre troupe performing short plays based on the fables of LaFontaine. The garden, le Potager du Roi, a Site of Exceptional Culinary Taste, open to the public since 1991, is exactly as Louis XIV would have known it. Not only does it provide over 300 varieties of fruits and vegetables, it's aesthetically and artistically pleasing to wander through the immaculately cared-for rows. A team of 30 gardeners harvest over 80 tons of fruits and vegetables each year.

Departure for the Bocage Domfrontais, another Site of Exceptional Culinary Taste. In the heart of the Andaines Forest, we'll enjoy a panier, a picnic basket brimming with local lamb, sausage, Normand cheese and even a mushroom sandwich. We'll be in the forest and former stomping grounds of that old heart-throb Sir Lancelot du Lac. But we won't be looking for the Knights of the Round Table. Instead, we're accompanied by a mycologue, a scientist who specializes in mushrooms. These perfect mushroom specimens will grace our dining table in the restaurant gastronomique of our hotel, a luxurious hideaway in the only spa town in western France. The lakeside belle-Žpoque town is like no other you'll find in France.

A morning visit to the market in Bagnoles de l'Orne is just the beginning of this exceptional day. Our meeting with a local farmer includes a degustation of pommeau - the local aperitif made from apple juice and calvados, hard cider and, of course, the local specialty, calvados. We'll be introduced to the regional cuisine and learn why the trou Normand, a digestif of flavorful brandy, distilled from apple cider, is offered between courses of Normand cuisine. In the afternoon, starred chef Franck Quintin takes us into his kitchen for a hands-on cooking course. Using the fresh, autumnal products of this corner of Normandy, Chef Quintin is an inspirational master with his recipes. We'll come home with lots of cooking tips and use our morning's abundance from the market, including the mushrooms we collect.

An introduction to the farm of an artisanal cheesemaker offers the opportunity to learn about the making of livarot , pont l'eveque and fresh pave d'auge cheeses, made exclusively from the milk of Race Normand "happy" cows. We'll stroll through pear and apple orchards and taste the AOC-labelled Poire Domfrontais (sometimes called "perry") along with the unique Calvados Domfrontais. And, to top it all off, a horse-drawn carriage ride will take us through the Bocage and give us an incredible view of Mont St. Michel before we depart for St. Malo and our boutique hotel just a few steps from the sea.

Cancale, a Site of Exceptional Culinary Taste, is known the world over for the special oysters harvested here. At the small port town we'll visit La Ferme Marine and have a cooking class with Chef Michel, a former student of 3-star chef Olivier Roellinger. He'll present a meli-melo of hot and cold oysters, variations with lemon/lime or vinegar, and a gratin with Comte cheese. As he explains local culture and cuisine, he'll show us how to make and enjoy local specialties, even using seaweed. The day is complete with a sail along the beautiful blue Brittany coast in the bay of Mont St. Michel on a Bisquine. This unique type of boat, used to harvest oysters during the 1800's, has been recreated by the passionate Bretons.

On our way to Honfleur we'll stop for lunch and visit the town of Villedieu-les-Poeles, home to the well-known Mauviel copperworks. Watch the artisans at work and visit village stores with owners who make and sell "anything" copper. Gourmands will be happy to save packing room for a pot, pan or copper souvenir. Our stay in Honfleur, one of Normandy's best-preserved ports, will be in a luxury "old farm" hotel - of course with a spa and beautiful pool. The evening is free to stroll through the town that was a favorite retreat of 19th century artists. The Honfleur sunlight enchanted Monet, Sisley and Courbet, among others.

Morning excursion to the seaside town of Fecamp. Walk under and around the bell tower and shop in the busy little town. Our tour of the Benedictine Palace, Site of Exceptional Culinary Taste for Benedictine liqueur is a lesson in the creative use of 27 herbs and spices. Get your camera ready for shots of not only the palace, but the uniquely-designed array of fresh spices. More widely recognized today as B&B, Benedictine, a rich amber liqueur, was a favorite of King Francois I, the first King of France. Like royalty, we end our tour just as we began - dining comme un roi, like a king, in the refined restaurant of our seafront hotel. Our farewell dinner will include Normand specialties like seafood prepared with mustard and tomatoes, and le demoiselle de Cherbourg, small lobsters with a sauce of white wine. Normandy apples weave their way into in many of the dishes offered by the Boelen family, along with a fine selection of calvados. This final royal feast of fresh products from the Pays d'Auge tops off a grand adventure!

Morning transportation to the Paris Airport. Or, choose to continue your stay in France.

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