Sancerre and Owls

From the hilly Auvergne we drove north to the plains of the Eastern Loire. We stayed the first night at a charming B&B near chateau La Verrerie and the second night in Sancerre itself. The weather was not co-operating at this point with intermittent rain and cool temperatures. After dinner the first night at a small commune style restaurant (only one menu choice; take it or leave it!) we settled in to our room when Lisa suddenly noticed movement at the window. Peeking through the curtains she spied two Barn Owls perched on the window ledge. The next hour was spent watching them fly through the night and perch on the window/porch or barn across from our room. What nutters us city slickers are for wildlife!

The next day it was off to Sancerre with a quick stop at a local chateau (Henry IV of France spent a night in it according to our guide) and visit to marketday at a small town (where we purchased an entire grilled chicken!). We wandered the town of Sancerre for a few hours under cloudy skies. We tried a few wines, buying two bottles, but at this point we were a bit "wined out" so when we discovered a Pub that served Guinness we stopped for a pint, returning after dinner for more pints of the same and some watching of the local Saturday night action. The next morning it was off to our next and last European destination ... Paris.

Chateau De La Vigne - Snails and Ruins

We drove from Ferme des Soulies up to Chateau de La Vigne in the Auvergne near the pretty town of Salers. After a stop in Bergerac we arrived at the chateau in the early evening and were a little surprised as to the actual state of the chateau (a little rundown) versus the appearance on the website (shiny and new!). The couple that ran the chateau were also a bit odd, while the lord of the manor was quite nice, convivial and engaging there was just something a bit off about his wife. Nevertheless we put our misgivings behind us and decided to stay three nights. The first night we had dinner at the chateau with two other guests; food was decent but nothing overwhelming. Our first full day was a bit of a waste, we visited the town of Salers but it was a cold and rainy day so after lunch we retreated to our room, lit a fire and watched TV on the computer all night as it rained. The next day the weather improved and we went for a visit to a snail farm which was awesome. We learned all the facts about snails (such as their two day cycle of mating and that they are hermaphroditic) and then bought more snail victuals than should be permitted! Lunch was at the snail farmer's recommendation; a tiny restaurant up on a hill overlooking the valley; nothing fancy but a real locals place and the beef was the local Red Salers beef; suffice it to say this lunch happened to be the best steak we had all trip! After lunch we drove to the ruins of Branzac castle where we puttered about for a bit before returning to the chateau for our last night ... although the Louis XV room we had was a bit odd, for some reason we had the best sleeps of the entire trip at Chateau de La Vigne; whether it was the bed or the bordeaux we were slurping back is hard to know!

Sylvie and Ferme de Soulies!

Our next stop was a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere! (Actually close to the town of Casteljaloux) The farmhouse also had a pottery studio; Sylvie was a potter. They had two dogs, (Nene and …), three black horses, two cats and three chickens that wondered freely around the farm. The farmhouse was fabulously decorated and our room was great. Saturday night the B&B was full but we were the only ones for the rest of our time. Our hostess guided us to a good restaurant for dinner and afterward we took a walk around the little town. We came upon the town pub and the live music of “L’histoire d’a”, a local band. Their families – the wives singing along and the kids all dancing and sporting band t-shirts – made up most of the crowd. We really enjoyed the performance!

The next day at breakfast it became apparent that Sylvie was fabulous!! She served carrot/orange juice and lots of home baked goodies. Everything was organic and tasted great. We had lunch in town and then lazed around for the rest of the day, feeding horses and chasing the chickens. Another great meal on Sunday night in the cave of a castle where we were one of three tables in the whole place. Surprisingly, the service was fantastic!

Monday was pottery day!! Sylvie taught us both to do pottery, it was a long and tiring day. Lisa loved it – working the clay on the pottery wheel was much harder than it looked and managed to complete two pieces. Ctos had a harder time getting the hang of it but managed to create a fabulous bowl. That night we ate dinner with Sylvie. She was alone most of the time at the farmhouse as her husband worked on an island off Spain and was rarely home. Dinner was great – Sylvie took great care in the food she prepared.

On Tuesday it was time to leave, after a brief visit to the town market where a fine selection of veggies and veal stew were acquired. It was kind of sad to say bye to Sylvie, we enjoyed her company so much and I think she enjoyed ours. But… another adventure awaited us!

St. Emilion and beyond…..

We ventured from Camarsac to St. Emilion to explore more of Bordeaux. St. Emilion was nice but very touristy and pricey. We climbed the tower in the middle of the town square. The tower was quite high and the stairs skinny and worn. Probably why there was no one else in the tower! The view form the tower was amazing in all directions.

We decided to leave the actual village in search of a better deal on wine. It was Saturday so many of the wine chateaux were closed but we managed to find one. The proprietor was hosting a tasting for others and didn’t have much time for us. However, he had a young American that was working at the winery who was helpful and walked us through a small tasting. We bought only one bottle – tres cher!

We drove through a smaller town called “Montagne de St. Emilion” and stopped the only person we saw to ask if she knew of any wineries. She said she’d make a call. After the call she gave us very clear directions to a winery that we should visit. Turned out the winery belonged to her parents! They were absolutely delightful and were trilled to have us visit. We did a tasting and then they gave us a tour. Their vineyards were very small, only about 4Ha. We bought a few bottles and they gave us a bottle and a wine opener to remember them by. The wine wasn’t the best so we decided we would drink it on our travels. (We are currently drinking the last bottle!)



We had a long drive ahead of us so we said goodbye and headed to the countryside!

A day in Bordeaux - World Cup Madness

We drove down to Bordeaux and stayed in a small town (Camarsac) just south of St Emilion for the night. On the way in we picked up some wine from Fronsac (a region to the NW of St Emilion) for a reasonable price and had quite a bit of fun chatting with the vendor and listening to his laments on wine making in the region (Summary - the expensive wines are mostly marketing and the art of wine making is being lost as big companies buy up production for sports events and ignorant bankers). At Camarsac we stayed in a nice but expensive B&B (everything in Bordeaux is expensive) and enjoyed dinner prepared by the owner (Dominique) consisting of White Asparagus starter, Magret entree and Tiramisu dessert. It was all excellent. During dinner we popped into the living room on a few occasions to watch the France vs Uruguay game. Dominique's children were done up in their best team France outfits (see picture). As Lisa has a fear of horses and there were several on the B&B grounds (it is a small farm) it was Ctos' intention to make her confront her fears head on. After feeding the horses some carrots and old bread it seems that Lisa is starting to think that perhaps horses are not so bad after all!

Chateau De Forges

We spent four nights in a medieval castle in a very small village (Forges, a “suburb” of the village of Concremiers) in ‘no where’ France. It was unbelievable. The hosts were wonderful – Alexandra and Hugues (and Orly – the dog). It was a castle that was built in the late 1400’s by an ancestor of Hugues who served as the winemaker for Charles VII and has been in the family since then. The family lives in the main part of the castle and they have a guesthouse with three rooms that they rent out. We were lucky enough to be the only guests for all four nights. Our first day touring was a Tuesday and it quickly became apparent that most of the sights were closed but we didn’t mind so much as we just walked around the castles, churches etc instead of walking in them. The day ended with a wonderful experience; hearing evening Vespers sung by the Benedictine Monks at the Abbey of Fontgombault! We were so moved we ended up buying some lovely pottery made by the monks; all Ctos’ fault. Our second day of touring we visited the Abbey of Villesalem but it is closed until July so we just walked around it, and saw a pheasant on the road nearby. We then drove to the church at Antigny which has amazing paintings on the walls and the nearby abbey of St Savin which has amazing frescoes on the ceiling; all very awesome. Our third day we tried to go for a hike in the nearby Parc Brienne but about an hour in the rain started and did not stop! So we hustled back to the Chateau de Forges and played some Carcasonne and relaxed. Had two amazing dinners while here; one at the Swan (escargots, fresh fish and steak) and one at a one star Michelin rated restaurant called Christophe Cadeua in St. Savin (how is it French towns with a population of 2000 have such amazing food?).

Ahhhh Paris!

After our tour of northern Italy, we had had enough pasta and were ready to get to France. We were so excited to get to Paris and enjoy it with Anna and Adam. We flew from Milan to CDG and then taxi to the lovely apartment where we spent the next four nights with the ‘Lewingreens’. It was located in the 9th, a district of Paris we had never stayed in before. It was perfect.

The long weekend we spent in Paris was full of walking (and I mean a lot of walking), drinking, eating and more fun than should be allowed. We actually ate in a few nights as there was a chacuterie just around the corner that was fabulous. We walked up to Montmartre, did the obligatory (really expensive) drink at “Les Deux Magots”, walked by but didn’t visit many (due to ridiculous lines) of the major attractions in Paris. We did visit the Cluny museum, which houses a series of tapestries that are breath taking.

Our last night in Paris we ate at a really good restaurant and then wandered the streets, stopping for drinks a few too many times. It was an extraordinary time in Paris mostly because we shared it with great friends!

After our last night, we ventured out of Paris to the chateaux de La Loire. The Lewingreens came with us to get out of the city. We drove for far too long but finally arrived at one of the prettiest chateaus in the region. After a quick visit we dropped Anna and Adam off at the train station in Tours and continued to the French countryside.

The next phase of our adventure…..

Paris!!!!!

Too busy having fun to blog.

Ciao Italia!

Our last night in Italy (Lake Maggiore) and we returned to our favourite restaurant; El Camino. The pasta was just too darned good! We ordered the lasagna, the ravioli (as starters) and the penne arrabiata (as the entre). Had a nice bottle of wine as well (Melchior 2004; nebbiolo and 5% merlot) ... now its off to Paris and some fun with our friends Adam and Anna.

Ciao Italia!

Sailing Lake Maggiore

Today was spent visiting two islands in Lake Maggiore; Isola Bella and Isola Madre. Both were previously homes of Italian noble families and both had sumptuous gardens surrounding them. It was a great day! The palaces were filled with all sorts of interesting things from paintings to old dolls and old puppets and even an ancient (Roman era) small boat that had been preserved in a bog. The best part by far was the gardens which were filed with exotic plants, trees and birds. Lisa fed one bird a small piece of bread and it practically charged her demanding more. Now we are just about to head off to dinner at a restaurant in an old monastery.

Awesome Pasta!

Had dinner last night at a restaurant called Camino. Great view of Lago Maggiore and awesome pasta. We ordered the Penne Arrabbiata and the Ravioli Riccota and after finishing our plates we ordered the Ravioli Riccota and the Penne Arrabbiata! Woke up to another beautiful day on Lago Maggiore. Off to see the islands today!