Dear Friends and Family,
WE have arrived! Sorry for the delay, but locating a wifi station has not been easy. To that in a few minutes.
The flights all went well. We left about 10:45 from PDX for SF
With just a bit more than an hour to catch a bit of breakfast, we were on our United Airlines 10 ½ flight to Frankfurt, Germany. It was long, but relatively uneventful (just the way we like it). We were impressed with the staff on the flight as there seemed to several on duty for the whole time. With our arrival, we were faced with a 5 ½ hour layover! Not fun, but, with books and some active people-watching the time crept by.
All was still going well. We caught our flight to Toulouse, France, picked up the rental car with barely a hitch and started toward the little village of Puy L’Eveque, a drive we have done a number of times. No problem. Wrong! At a major freeway interchange, we took the wrong motorway and for an hour or more, headed toward Bourdeaux., to the west. We were supposed to be going north. Finally, we caught on to our error and needed to backtrack and cobbled together an alternate route to our destination, however, we were an hour and a half late to our hotel. Their restaurant was just closing down, but they did manage to get us a half litre of red wine before turning in. From the time we first arose, in PDX, until we settled into our hotel bed, it had been a 36 hour trip!
We rose quite early on Friday, getting just 4 hours sleep, what with the jet lag, time difference, etc. I got a nice walk in and was pleased to find that Puy L’Eveque had changed very little. We had a couple of "petit cafés" at the hotel and turned to more practical matters – getting some supplies in. We visited the local Carrefour Super Marché, grabbing the important staples: coffee, cheese, pate and wine. We then stopped at a local hotel, the Hotel Bellevue, for some more substantial coffees. While there, by coincidence, our hostess, Ann, stopped in with some friends who were just checking out of her place. She was running them down to Toulouse to catch their flight back to England. We chatted briefly before they were on their way as we headed up to our new accommodations (pictures in the next couple of days).
We enjoyed a very traditional French lunch and then found ourselves wearing down. A good 3 hour nap helped us to continue to catch up on some valuable lost sleep. Following that we settled in by the pool (a mere half a dozen steps from our apartment)
and enjoyed a lovely late afternoon in the water and on the deck.
Ann, back from Toulouse, was kind enough to have us to dinner Friday evening. We were joined by a Belgium couple, Mario and Carine, who we had met 4 years ago. They are very nice and we had a lovely time, catching up. Unfortunately, Carine (she and Mario are serious bicyclers) had taken a tumble on her bike in the south of France in July and had broken her left shoulder and right wrist. She was hampered by a cast on her wrist and a shoulder harness. Adding Polley to the mix and it looked liked the canteen of a hospital ward!
During our dinner, we were entertained by a terrific thunderstorm. Quite spectacular. However, after running about grabbing umbrellas and stray towels, it had passed through and was gone, nearly literally, in flash. Good show!
So, it is now Saturday morning. Polley had a good night’s sleep, finally getting up about 8:30. I awaked around 5, but was content to just lie-in and read. Ann’s is so comfortable, it is like coming home, but without the yard work! More later.
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