The Last Week - A Cliff Notes Version

Day ? - Well, this is officially the time in the trip where we loose track of the days. They all start running together and it becomes harder to keep up with the blog on a daily basis. But for now know that we are all well. We have spent the last week in the Bordeaux region of France in a little house we rented through VRBO. Ironically the person who owns the house lives in California, so after contacting them online  with some initial questions about the rental Tim was able to contact the owner directly via phone. About 2 hours later we had a rental for this week. Once we made the confirmation we read articles about some rentals in foreign countries being a scam and people showing up having rented a house that did not exist. So being able to call someone in the states was a bit of a relief, although we suppose it could still have been a scam.

Our Bordeaux adventure started with a quick plane flight from Milan, Italy to Bordeaux France. We said goodbye to Italian and delicious cappuccinos and prepared ourselves for cafe au lait and crepes. The flight went well and we were able to pick up our rental car with only minor hiccups. Brenda and Greg both had international drivers licenses so that they could switch off the driving duties as needed. Brenda started as the navigator with Greg behind the wheel. Just getting out of airports sometimes required a PhD to do it right, so after one wrong turn in the parking lot we were off. It had started raining as we arrived, so Michelle was a little nervous about the car ride. It is hard enough to know where you are going when it is not raining, add in the rain, the foreign city, the stick shift (which Greg had not driven in a while) and it could have been a recipe for disaster. Plus, our house was 3.5 hours outside of Bordeaux. The GPS system in the car was a life saver. Brenda would double check the car's suggested directions as we went and Greg was an excellent driver. Thankfully, once outside of the city we were able to navigate easily without impatient drivers around us. And during the entire week we were only honked at once and yelled at once. Success!

When we arrived at the house we were instructed to meet the neighbors, Rinnie and Ton who were Dutch transplants to the area and the caretakers for the house. They were a sweet couple who invited us into their home for a drink. Their home was the old parish for the church next door. They had renovated much of it during their time there and were happy to give us the tour. The house was originally built in the 1600's and had various parts added on over the years. The stone steps up to the second floor had deep wear marks where many feet had walked up before. When they bought the house they said it was a mess. It certainly isn't a mess now! They quickly became friends over a glass of wine and had some great suggestions for wine tasting and restaurants in the region.

After drinks Ton took us over to the house. It was a charming property, perfectly suited to our needs. The main house had a small kitchen and dining room attached to a larger living room. There were also a set of stairs that lead up to the second floor where there was a large bedroom, full bath and toilette. There was no door to the upper floor though, which was not an issue for us. There was a porch off of the dining room that offered a wonderful view of the valley and plenty of chairs to use for the 4 of us. Outside there is also a separate room from the house called the chambres des amis (bedroom for the friends) that had its own shower and toilette. Michelle and Tim were in the main house and Brenda and Greg were outside. One of the other amenities was the fast wireless internet and the phone which made free international calls. The latter were especially nice for Tim and Michelle who enjoyed many good FaceTime calls with Alexander.

The week was spent with various drives through the region and seeing the local attractions. We spent one whole day doing nothing but reading (the house had a great library with lots of English books) watching movies on our ipads, napping and eating good food we had purchased from the local grocery store and bakery. It was the perfect lazy day.

Another day we took a 28km canoe/kayak ride down the Dordogne river. From the river you could hop out and explore some of the local villages and see 5 great castles. It was a fun and exhausting day.

Another day was for wine tasting. Ton and Rinnie had a few recommendations in the area which were excellent. If anyone ever sees wine from the Clos des Verdots label or Montballziac type wine buy it for Michelle. She will pay you back. It was delicious.   We were able to make it to 4 wineries, which was great since we didn't leave until around 1 in the afternoon. The French still often do close up shop around lunchtime, so it is hard to find places that are open between 1-3. And since we were in such small towns, they often closed by 5 or 6. The kitchens of two of the dinner recommendations we tried were closed when we came around 8pm. And the grocery store also closes from 1-2:30. So hitting things when they were open was always a bit of a challenge.

One whole day was just spent driving, which was so much fun. We are sure that Michelle's mom is just dying laughing at that since their family used to go on "drives" all of the time. The parents thought it was the best thing in the world. The kids thought it was SO boring. My how the tables have turned. What made it to enjoyable were all of the hidden surprises around every corner. In this area of France there are a lot of random roads that weave you in and out of the various small towns. None of the roads are named, they are only numbered, and there are signs for the towns that are coming up. But you could take 15 different roads to get to a specific little town. Some of the roads look like the driveway to a house, but around the curve you see that it skirts by the house and continues on. Again, love the GPS, have no idea how people lived without it. Add to the roads all of the houses (new, old, old refurbished, old falling down, houses for sale) and you have a veritable candyland for the house lover. Brenda joked about buying something. At least I think she was joking. I did see her looking at places online . . .

One of our final days was spent touring two castles. The first was famous because within the last hundred years it was Josephine Bakers former residence. Before that it was the second castle for a number of former French kings and queens. Josephine Baker was an American born entertainer who came over to France and became a huge superstar. She fell in love with the castle she bought when a friend of hers (the former owner) described the residence. When he decided to sell it she bought it, sight unseen. She and her 3rd husband adopted 12 children from all over the world (eat your heart out Angelina Jolie) and they all lived at the house. Towards the end of her life she ran into money troubles, lost the house and was taken in by Brigitte Bardot. The current owners turned it into a museum complete with 15-20 of her original stage costumes. It was quite the collection!

The second castle was one that was not taken care of, so many of the walls had fallen in, there was no furniture or stories of life in the castle. This castles main purpose at the time it was built was for defense, and you could see that in its placement on a high hill, the high walls and the small spaces for archers to shoot arrows at any who would attack it from below. On one side was a sheer cliff with the Dordogne river below. In the various rooms of the castle they presented the tools of war and described how it was made and used. Arrows, hatchets, swords, cleavers, trebuchetts, battering rams, you name something used in war it was likely there. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

On our last day we had drinks again at Ton and Rinnie's house. It was a great place to visit and rest for a time. We would definitely come back to this area if we were looking for rest, relaxation and a more intimate time with the French people and culture than a big city can bring. Our next stop is Paris, which will be a very different experience than we have had. Next is Paris, last is Brussels and then we are headed home. Looking forward to our last week, it seems like it has gone too fast!