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| Lunch in Saint-Emilion |
We had the car already packed and ready to
go by about 10am but our hosts Laurence and Yvan were not showing until around
11am. Bev in the meantime went
wandering.
Laurence and Yvan arrived early so I told
them about the issue we had with the washing machine being unbalanced. He acknowledged that he already knew about it I also commented on the rubber mattress cover
and how it was really uncomfortable from an overheating point of view while
trying to sleep. Unfortunately I did not
have the French to explain it so will have to figure out how to write it in
French for them. They were lovely couple.
On our way to Saint Emilion we got caught
in a traffic jam as we went from one motorway to the other. It appears that a truck had broken down at an
intersection. It blocked a lane which caused a huge number of trucks to back up
along with a few cars (the number of trucks on the motorways is astonishing and
given the wonderful rail network I wonder why more is not transported this way).
Eventually we got through and duly arrived
at Saint-Emilion where we went for a bit of wander and our usual hunt for the
elusive public toilets. We had lunch at
a little restaurant where I had Moules Frites and Bev had an
omelette(apparently the best she has had in a long time). Both were
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| Part of the Main Square Saint-Emilion |
rather delicious. In fact I got an extra serve of mussels which
I really did not need.
It is a very picturesque medieval village
with virtually no modern buildings tacked on so it is quite unique being
preserved as an entity. They also make
some rather nice wine from the region.
Our next stop was Chateau Carbonneau, which
is on the border of the Begerac wine region, but part of the Bordeaux wine
region as the larger entity. The GPS got
us there quite well until it sent us up an incorrect street. However
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| Contemplating wine offerings |
a couple
of kilometres on we found it.
The owners of the Chateau have a New
Zealand connection in that the owners for the past century have been born in
New Zealand and kept coming back to the chateau. It used to make wine but had become run down
and the couple who now run it have spent the last twenty five years developing
it, including planting new vines . A rather lovely place it is, with a luxury
bed and breakfast business to go with the wines and the farming operation.
When I walked in the owner greeted me as if she
knew me. We had never met! I apparently
looked like someone else. She was very
hospitable and explained that this was their first day open after doing a lot
of work to the tasting and tea serving
area. There were some Aussies from
Wahroonga and Mosman staying in the B&B who came and had a cup of tea at
the same time. The piece of chocolate and guiness cake we got was huge. We chatted with them for
a while before purchasing a bottle or two of their wine and heading for Agen
via the backroads of rural France.
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| The church helps orientate |
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| That is far too big to eat |
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| The Chateau |
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| The pond |
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