Thursday 10.21.2010


Down in Duras


It is a day of rest for us. We recovered from our diplomatic mission of last night and have a late breakfast with trusty Tom, the white boxer, doing his best to play the role of the downtrodden half-starved victim of abuse who could be saved if only he had a touch of our croissant with perhaps a spread of cheese on top. We don't fall for it and he suddenly recovers on his own and wanders off. We haven't taken a quiet day since early in our week at Arles so we think this is the time and place to do it.

There is some frost on the ground this morning but the sun is shining so we think we should at least be outside. Alison suggests the town and chateau at Duras, about a 45-minute drive up the road to the northeast. She days there is nice restaurant across from the chateau which puts an easy tour and lunch onto our agenda. There are a few old farmers out in a field near our B&B who are hustling to pick their grapes this morning after the frost last night which proves to be a great "French" sight with the old codgers throwing grapes into old baskets that that they then throw into their old trucks. They're probably younger than us but we choose to not keep score.

It's almost noon when we reach Duras which means the chateau will be closed until two which means we have some time to kill. It is an untouristy little village with not much to see. Of course all of the shops are closed at this time of day so we just enjoy the sunshine and a nice walk. There are a couple restaurants across from the chateau and we aren't positive which Alison was referring to, but neither seems particularly interesting to us. We find a good looking little Italian place up one of the streets and there seems to be a nice gathering of locals inside. Mary surprises John when she chooses the pizza and John has discovered the wonders of having an omelet for lunch stuffed once again with ham, cheese and mushrooms. Our service is pretty good as well and Mary gets half of her pizza packed up to take with us.

We hit the Chateau right at two. It really is pretty interesting poking around in all the worker rooms on the lower levels with the big log-fired cooking areas, bakeries and shops. There is the "secrets" room where one of us can stand in one corner to whisper something and the other in the opposite corner can hear it perfectly. We've seen these before, but this one really works. The upper floors are all about the Lords and Ladies of centuries past, wars won and lost, revolution and restoration and finally the recovery of the building for elderly American tourists and young French school children. There are great 360 degree views from the top of the tower of the farms and villages for many miles around. We even find a "Ghost Room" where you can sit in a circle in the dark so the ghosts that light up can scare the heck out of you with their eerie tale (all in French so we weren’t too scared). Apparently the lineage of the former residents stretches over a thousand years down to the current King of Monaco. There you go.

We stop at the supermarket in La Reole on our way back and pick up a salad and some cheese to go with Mary's leftover pizza for dinner in tonight. We are taking a break lounging around the great room in the house when a young couple from Singapore show up who introduce themselves to us and ask to be shown to their room. John tries to entertain them for a bit while Mary gathers up Scoobie, Fudge and Tom and tells them to go find their mother. They lead her out in the garden where Alison is hacking away claiming not to have any more guests--oops. It gets sorted out after a while (Alison forgot to write it down but now finds their email) and Mary and John and the dogs now entertain Audrey and Will (on their honeymoon) while Alison quickly cleans a room. It is all so stressful that Alison quickly pours Mary and John a glass of red wine and pretty soon the pitcher comes out. Oh Oh!


Aundrey and Will head to La Reole for dinner (Alison doesn't cook on Thursdays), Claude (Gordon) returns from his day's work with pizzas for the family, Johnny has returned to London for his next shift, Alison heats up the leftover pumpkin soup to go with J&M's pizza and salad and they lay claim to the big table in the great room while Alison, Claude and the kids and dogs go to the private digs to eat their pizzas and watch "Master Chef France" and all is right in the world of LaTuilerie B&B. Could this be a show on BBC or what?

We're in bed reading at 10:00 tonight so a much softer landing than the night before.

Today's weather: Sunny and cool. Low 32, high 58.

Wednesday 10.20.2010


Striking Out


The French general strikes are growing in intensity today and to get with the program we throw a couple rocks at each other and light a tire on fire. Our plan was to spend the day in Bordeaux, the area's major city, but since the most active protests are in the larger cities we opt to stay rural. It's a lovely cool sunny morning and Mary produces a collection of wrapped cookies and cakes and an apple for breakfast. Nutrition at its finest. We check with Monique, GPS chick, for our ETA at our next destination and it will be less than an hour from our departure so we decide to hang out in St. Emilion until after lunch.

We explore all of the town's back streets that we haven't seen before and wind up with some pretty cool views and places to poke our noses into. We stop at the Maison du Vin and pick out a couple bargains that we think will be good for us. We can't taste anything here so we look for the bins with the most bottles missing thinking that somebody must have like these choices. Very scientific.


Since we liked lunch yesterday we go back to the same place again today and find a similar table outside in the sun. Mary has the Galette today with chicken, tomatoes, basil and cheese and John picks the ham, cheese and mushroom omelet. Both are good again so we don't mind repeating.


We still have time to kill since our checkin for tonight is 3:00 PM so we do the slow back road drive looking for some reason to stop. When we get to La Reole we are only ten minutes from our destination with two hours to kill. We walk the town from bottom to top, check out the big church and try to find a different way back to our car. Fortunately we get lost on the twisty riverside streets and it takes forever to find the car and we arrive at our B&B, Le Tuillerie, at ten-to-three. Voila.


This is an unusual stop for us. First of all, we're out in the country miles from anything and surrounded by sheep and goats. Secondly, we are immediately absorbed into the family of Mom Alison, Dad Johnny, Son Ben, Daughter Georgie, and dogs Tom, Scooby and Fudge. John gets a kiss on both cheeks from 15 year-old Georgie and Mary gets the same welcome from 16 year-old Ben. They are all transplanted Brits and all naturally bilingual. Alison tends the B&B, kids and dogs, and Johnny flies an ambulance helicopter in London with a few days on - few days off commute. The property is exactly what you would hope to find with a couple outbuildings, plenty of garden and a pool through an arbor off the kitchen. We take a long walk up the local road stirring up a bunch of neighbor dogs twice, once going and again coming back, and then it's down for a long nap.

Alison prepares dinner tonight (pumpkin soup, Moroccan chicken, cheese plate, chocolate gateau) and joins us and French guest Claude (who we keep calling Gordon (?) at the table. We have a raucous evening of slurping multiple pitchers of wine with Alison translating for us to and from Claude until Claude goes to bed, and then we are joined by Johnny which gets the political discussion rolling well into the evening. We tend to agree mostly, hopefully dispel some misconceptions (why is everyone in America over-religious, gun-toting homophobes? Hmmm!) and will forget it all tomorrow. International relations are hard work.


An easy blog on an easy day. The crisp country air and pitchers of wine makes for a coma like sleep.

Today's weather: Sunny and cool. Low 38, high 60.