From Paris to Aquitaine!

Had a hard time sleeping last night...too much beer, wine, champagne?? Got up at 8am, made coffee, cleaned the apartment for Bill, and set off for the TGV train station. The TGV is the bullet train that you can get from a handful of train stations in the Paris area. (I think they also have non-bullet trains, but who wants to ride those?)

Took Rue Saint Maur metro (3?) to Montparnasse Gare. Bought pastries at the Paul bakery and had my first rude encounter with a Parisian boy with a unibrow. I asked him if the croissants in the back were "Pommes" (ie, apples) and he said "oui" and tossed one into a bag. Well, John came down from the train station and wanted something different. It was near impossible to tell this boy that I no longer wanted the apple croissant. He rolled his eyes at me, sighed loudly, and mumbled about me to his coworkers. He was so impatient.

Grabbed a sandwich and slice of tart for the train at another place near to Paul. We're seated in 2nd class so the seats aren't as roomy, but everyone says it's not worth it to travel first class.

As the train went through the tunnels it created a pressure vacuum that caused my ears to hurt intensely. Usually I can open my eustachian tubes rather easily, but with my cold (?) I found it near impossible to equilibrate. This is something we weren't warned about at all. The ear pressure is more severe than ANY plane ride either John or I have ever experienced before.

We arrived in Agen without delay, and right at the train exit was our friend who lives with his wife and two children near to Agen in the town of Villaneuve. (They'd like to remain private in this blog so I'll just refer to them as Mr. and Mrs. "L"). Mr. L took us to their home on the outskirts of Villaneuve and then ran off to retrieve his children. I was rather exhausted and took a short nap while John read downstairs. Their home was simply stunning and dates to the late 1600's. The oldest reference to the house was in 1693 or 1694, but it might be a tad older. The land was conveyed in about 1500 to the builder of the house, so he could have commenced thereafter....such intrigue! If I owned such a house, I'd have a hard time not studying every nook and cranny and would likely take a shovel to excavate as well. :))

That night Mr. and Mrs "L" had a friend over for dinner, and so we dined with the family, a friend of the children, the house caretakers, and the family's dinner guest.

Menu:
1999 Chateau Duluc Bordeaux
Veuve Cliquot Champagne
Pommery Champagne

Chicken, mashed potatoes, tomato surprise (very luscious tomatoes), cauliflower with onion sauce (I could have eaten the whole plate of it!), carrots, and a lovely homemade gingerbread pudding with a creamy sauce to go atop.

Talk about being spoiled.

After dinner, it was off to bed with the lot of us. I swore I'd sleep in until 1:00PM the next day.