Celebrating 5 years - Day 2

The morning after the most wonderful meal I have ever laid eyes on was followed by a perfect breakfast of breads, croissants, meats, cheeses, fruit and coffee.  We looked through our brochures, searching for a vineyard to visit that would be on our way to our next destination....a B&B in the country.

Before leaving, though, we roamed around the town and visited the old church.  The tour of the underground church was in the afternoon, so we decided to just view the church above ground (besides the fact that Lyle isn't a fan of caves!)

 

We left the remains of the old city wall and headed out to visit a vineyard.  The problem was, though, that very few were open on Sunday....and finding one that gave an English-speaking tour was an added challenge.  After driving by several chateaux, we gave up and decided to just head on to the B&B, past a windmill and a beautiful tree filled with wisteria....

 

......and through the small town of Gensac to an old home that was once the center of the surrounding vineyards.  When we came upon this driveway, Lyle wondered where I was taking him to THIS time!

 

What a relaxing and enjoyable place!  A delightful British couple greeted us to their recently-renovated inn and let us unwind in the yard with a glass of wine.  

 

We enjoyed the stories of how they had a busy restaurant and deli in the heart of London, then decided to sell and buy a place in southern France.  Their love for fresh and home-made cuisine was shown to us with another wonderful 4-course dinner, designed just for us!  It began with an oriental ginger-spiced soup, then shrimp and scallops, followed by a huge breast of duck that tasted like a steak, and then a yummy flan.  It was hearty and another memorable meal.  I heartily recommend it if you are ever in southern France: www.closdessaveurs.com/

 

The rooms were beautifully decorated and spacious.  We woke up to the sounds of the birds chirping in the flowering trees, views of vineyards, and another breakfast filled with home-made jams, breads, and cereals.  She even had rhubarb sauce, which I hadn't had since my mom made it!

 

 

It was hard to leave that next morning as I could have stayed another few days to relax, but we had Day 3 in Bordeaux ahead of us.

Celebrating 5 years in the wine country-Day 1

Lyle works for a wonderful company that has rewarded hard work......and he works hard!  Five years ago, he earned a week-end trip to New York City.  It was a time when we were searching for a place to get married. Voilà!  Why not do it there?

And that is what we did.....in Central Park....with my two dear friends Larry and Jan to support us and marry us....

You would think just celebrating 5 years in Paris would be enough, but we had been holding on to a Relais & Chateaux gift certificate for over a year to use somewhere special. These are special hotels!  Begun in 1954 with chateaux from Paris to the Riviera, there are now over 500 hotels around the world that include castles, resorts, and 5-star hotels....the places we dream about but are out of our price range.  Our time in Europe was running out...this seemed a perfect time. And again, complements to his company.

We have visited a lot of areas of France, but one place we really kept our eyes on was the wine region of Bordeaux, home of some of the greatest red wines of the world.  I searched through our book of hotels and chose one in St-Emilion, a village famous for the wines of the same name.  Medieval.  Walls. Narrow streets.  Perfect.

But it's a long way.  After checking trains and rental cars, we decided on driving there and taking the fast TGV back, a decision that worked out perfectly.  It is a 6-hour drive through the yellow colza (safflower) fields south of Paris, through the Dordogne Valley (where the prehistoric caves were discovered), and on to the beautiful rolling hills filled with over 100,000 vineyards (just beginning to sprout their leaves).

We arrived at our hotel in the heart of St-Emilion, a 200-year old stone building standing on the foundations of an underground church, built by monks during the 9th to 12th century.

This hotel is THE place where wine tasters and buyers from around the world stay.  It felt luxurious, but was not ornate.  Just beautiful.  Though we weren't in the most expensive rooms in the hotel, our room was spacious and comfortable, with an incredible bathroom and toiletries.   The view from the terrace of the hotel looked over the town below us, filled with cafes, shops, and narrow streets.

But what was the most incredible about our stay was our dinner, also included in our gift certificate.  As Frommers puts it, "This cuisine served here is the best known and most praised in the area."  The dinner was amazing, probably the best I have ever had as far as unique, delicious, and beautifully presented.  Most of the time we did not know what we were being served, but at each course a waiter explained in English what it was.  Sometimes that didn't help, as I had never heard of some of the foods.  Jabuga 5 jotas?  Tobiko with wasabi asparagus?  Poached egg in a serving plate made just for it.  But when I tried to cut the small parmesan cake with a knife, the famous chef  Philippe Etchebest came over to our table, grinned, and told me to use my fingers!  "We are simple here!", he said.  Then he asked if everything was to our taste and went to greet others.  Totally amazing.

The courses that followed included red mullet looking like a small boat, with citrus fruits, coriander, fresh mint and pureed lime and nut-brown butter.  Then free-range duck, somehow cooked as a mousse, with sugar peas, turnips, dates.   Followed by a pre-dessert and then chocolate.  And each course, naturally, accompanied by a local wine.  How do I even remember?  Our personalized menu was given to us on our way out onto the moon-lit terrace to enjoy a cup of espresso.

C'est magnifique!

Our last trip home.....

We had a quick trip home for Easter and it was like a whirlwind.  Trying to juggle seeing our kids, grandchildren, and friends proved to be difficult in just 10 days.  Throw in a holiday and some birthdays and it really gets tricky! Time was precious and the calendar was full.  But this was our last trip home and we knew that some things would have to just wait til we were home permanently in July....

Highlights of our visit......

Easter began with coloring some eggs with Ava and Katelyn

......and then an egg hunt and Easter dinner......

....Easter dinner now fills two tables!

Six of our seven grandchildren....what a feat getting them to all sit for a picture!  Ava is holding brother Jude, Anna with brother Emmett, and Katelyn and sister Amanda

Patrick and Tanya arrived a few minutes later with Tyson

But the week was full of many other grandparent moments, with Lyle putting together a bike for Anna, celebrating missed birthdays with Amanda and Katelyn at the Mall of America Nickelodeon park...

and going to the circus for Ava's upcoming missed birthday....

The week was full of other fun times with our own kids, family and friends, but it wore us out just a bit (an understatement?).  Three of our kids are in the process of moving, which involves their putting up places for rent and sale.  With sadness I will be coming back to Minnesota with one son who has moved to Lincoln for a job change.  That will be a huge change for me!  I guess that's why I tried to spend so much time with them while I could....

So we left the wild turkeys in our yard, heading to the pigeons of Paris, for one last trip back.  The next few months are already getting filled with small and huge (Greece!) trips out of Paris.  But we are also going to savor each and every day that we have here, trying to take in the cafes, a few museums, and walks through the neighborhoods.