Road Trip - Days 16-17-18-19-20-21

09-16: Road Trip! We got an early enough start to make it to our Citadel Gin Tour at 11:30a. The roads were narrow most of the way until we got to the toll version of the trip. We were a little unsure about the toll but what you do is take a ticket and then at the end of the toll you scan your ticket and it tells you how much to pay. One can pay with cash, so we did that and received change. Along the way today we had the narrow roads I mentioned, farm equipment and at least 2 dozen traffic circles. It is amazing how GPS can be so accurate in these smaller, remote areas. Alas, we found the Citadel Gin place, but now where do we enter? If we had not seen a delivery person to ask, we would still be looking. They had one of their own work trucks parked in front of the entrance sign. Finally, we made it in only to discover we had booked the tour in French. That part was okay. However, where it said online, we could have a picnic lunch there, was not okay. They only do that as a special order, of course, we did not know that. It was a lovely place inside and the people were nice enough… but we decided to on for lunch in Cognac. We didn’t really want to taste gin on an empty stomach. They did say we could come back at 2p for the tour in English but the tickets weren’t much and we just decided to skip it. We drove to the heart of the City of Cognac and found a nice place for lunch outside just by the city center. A burger satisfied our hunger, but now what? Who wants to be in Cognac and not taste Cognac? We quickly looked on Get Your Guide and found a tour at Remy Martin Cognac starting in 30 minutes. It was a 10-minute drive, so we hurried to our car and got there with time to spare. I bought that on my phone as Stuart drove to the destination. The tour was interesting, but honestly, I don’t care for Cognac. It is very strong. Our tastes include a cocktail that had Cognac in it but still was refreshing and tasty. The actual Cognac tasting was a bit much. This is the area where cognac is made, it can only be called Cognac if is from this area. After that, we drove to our “room for the night” and settled in there. It was a nice room and only €40 for the 1 night, so a good deal that Stuart found on Airbnb. Later on, we ventured out and actually found a Pizza Place! We enjoyed our choices and shared ice cream after the pizza. We went back to our room, played Phase 10 and off to bed.

09-17-19: The rest of the road trip was a bit of a flop. We got to La Rochelle and found Casa Papilles for lunch. It was pretty good but our med/rare steak was almost raw. The wine and the desserts were good! On we went toward our destination. We were under the impression it was a beautiful place out on Ile de Ré. This is an island at the Atlantic Ocean and off the coast from La Rochelle. So, we drove there and the drive was nice most of the time I think Stuart said there were at least another two dozen roundabouts or traffic circle whatever you want to call them, and a handful of crazy drivers. We got a bit off track when arriving to our hotel but we finally found it. There are bicycles everywhere! This area is quite flat with a lot of ponds that are salt marches. There are trees in a few campgrounds where they have been planted. They seem to have a little café place also. We ate at such a place our first night and it didn’t set well with me. This is the extent we found for places to eat. We did have more of a restaurant near us, just a 15-minute walk. We at there on our last night. Stuart ate there a few times but I was back in our room with a touch of the flu for the 2 full days we were there. 

09-20: Now we are headed to Angouleme, where we have 1 night booked. As we left and headed toward home, we drove to the sea wall and saw the ocean and took a few photos. The drive was uneventful. In fact, we stopped at a restaurant in Rochefort called Cap Nell for a late lunch, it was quite delicious. We found our room for the night; it was ok but a little challenging. The older places are refurbished the best they can, but steps of 3 different sizes at each doorway can make navigating at night interesting. There was that but the bed was the worst we have experienced; quite the valley in the middle that one much attempt to climb out of, and also work at not rolling down into that valley all night long. Of course, we survived and headed out the next morning for Bourg. 

 09-21: It was a short drive back just 1.5 hours. We arrived in Bourg in time for lunch somewhere. It is Monday so a lot of things are closed. We thought to check Restaurant de Jéroboam and to our surprise it was open. We have been wanting to eat here but online it says it is closed for lunch. The waitress said they are open everyday for lunch! We each got a different Fixe Prixe from the daily menu. Stuart was more adventurous than I, he had the octopus and I had the chicken. Both were good. We also had a starter, Stuart’s was a paper wrapped shrimp in bisque, mine was a pork patty with thin sliced zucchini on top. Dessert was called Baba Cognac and it was good but way too much Cognac. The dish had a bread-like, large muffin soaked in Cognac with a spurt of whipped cream on the side. It could have fueled the next rocket to the moon it was so strong. We had some nice wine with this meal as well. That meal saw us through the rest of the day. Back at the apartment we unpacked, played 5 Crowns, and caught up on laptop items.

Bourg - Day 14-15

09-14: Another quiet day. Under the weather as something I ate didn’t agree with me again. We are reconsidering our plans to stay here the full month. I did reach Cousin Rene today by phone. I was glad of that. I will email him when we will be near Perpignan since we are somewhat changing our plans. We played a lot of 5 Crowns today. A lot of things are closed today since the “big” Sunday market must make people want a day of rest on Monday. We did all the usual... We are somewhat bored here. Looking forward do our road trip.

09-15: We did laundry and packed for our road trip tomorrow. Stuart fixed a nice late breakfast and an early dinner. Tonight's dinner was a bit like a Chopped TV show. What do we have in the fridge? A half jar of pasta sauce, a handful of green beans, two pork chops, and radishes. Stuart did have use of our Very limited pantry. Now, from the pantry he used garlic, red onion, butter, cayenne, left over cheese, and leftover green olives. He did an excellent job! It was delicious. He did not get "Chopped"! We are looking forward to a change of scenery and something new for the road trip!  

Bourg - Day 10-11-12-13

09-10: Today we spent about 7-8 hours working on a Grand South America cruise starting in January 2027. Some good friends are going on the same cruise so that is exciting for all of us. We have several excursions booked together. They have been better about booking than we have so we really needed to catch up, and we did. A few of our stops have nothing to book. Several more have nothing that fits my ability or interest for either of us. Anyway, it was a big job but our calendar is current as of today. Yes, there will no doubt be changes. However, now the majority of decisions have been made and we don’t need to spend time on that during our 6 weeks at home. Instead, we can enjoy our time with family, our garden, and catching up on things at home. Stuart made some pretty large sandwiches, Croque Monsieur for our lunch. We ate half and ate the second half for dinner! Great games of Rummikub tonight as well.

09-11: Today we slept in after the late night of Rummikub. We researched and booked a little trip up to the La Rochelle area for next week. We will also stop in Cognac for one night. We had a very filling late lunch with chili baked potatoes. Some housekeeping, dishes and laundry, and the rest of the day I worked on the album. Stuart did a variety of things on his laptop too. I had a call from Steven, which was nice. 

09-12: Stuart walked to Carrefour today. It isn’t far but he doesn’t want to lose our perfect parking place so he didn’t want to move the car. He only got a few things. He did get a nice bottle of white wine, which we sampled with a bleu cheese toast for our happy hour. For dinner I made a potato dish today using Tartiflette - recette au reblochon cheese that we bought at the Blaye market. I added zucchini to give us more vegetables and also some minced ham. Fanny said put bacon in it but the bacon we have found this time has not been great. The ham worked and we didn’t need any salt because it is really salty. It was really good. It was sizzling as the Tartiflette - recette au reblochon cheese melted into a creamy delight. We put together a little trip up to La Rochelle and surrounding areas for next week.

09-13: Sunday is market day here in Bourg. We were really looking forward to the pizza truck they had here last week. NO – It was not here today! We do seem to have a hard time finding pizza! We got a few things at the market. The produce was beautiful. After that we stopped at a snack place and got a few things. As we walked along, we noticed the Thai restaurant was open so we had Thai food for our lunch. It was good. Now things are being packed up and it isn’t even 1p yet. Two food vendors are done for the day, good thing we ate at the Thai place. We wanted a pastry or 2 for our breakfast but at a quick glance the cabinet was empty. We went to walk along home but the proprietor called us back, it was French but with motions I was sure that’s what she wanted. Then we saw the small baguette with raisins, nuts, and apricot. We bought that and after we paid, she gave us a regular baguette. They really had very little left but that was such a nice gesture. The rest of the day was cards, I worked on photos, Stuart put more in place for our road trip next week.

Bourg - Day 6-7-8-9

09-06: Awoke terribly tired today. Stuart was up and Paul & Fanny had texted him from the Farmer’s Market downstairs. He went on to meet them and I stayed back. He had a nice time; they met at the wine bar right near the center square. About 1p we walked back to the market but everything was closed down. Snooze you lose on Sunday Market in Bourg. We stopped at Bourg Joie for a cold drink and split a plate of pasta (chicken parmesan) that was ok. I guess I need to get in gear next week if I want something from the pizza truck! The rest of the day was spent with me working on the album and reading the John Grisham book. Stuart did other things on his laptop. Some more Rummikub, a nice happy hour with our cheeses, and leftovers for dinner. A quiet but nice day.

09-07: I finished my book and worked on the album. Meals in with all our groceries. We’ve washed all our towels as they seem quite stiff and scratchy. However, that didn’t help. They are the same because of course; there is no dryer to fluff them. You can see we have little to think about if that is our biggest problem. Cheeses and baguette seem to be our go-to right now. Certainly NOT low carb with all the bread.

09-08: Stuart went to the bakery early for a Danish and baguette. After that he got groceries. I am trying, with little results, to keep my feet up to reduce the swelling. Rummikub, laundry, and BLT for lunch.

09-09: It got pretty cold in the night and we have few coverings that are not feathers (which make me itch and get a puffy face). Colder weather is predicted. We may need to ask Fanny for something that is not stuffed with feathers. Today we planned lunch and wine tasting nearby. We ran into the same issue for lunch and timing. We should have watched the clock more closely. Stuart did manage to find Les Goûters d'Alice open until 8p so we went there. It was very close. Most of the food was sweets and snacks but they also had a hamburger on the menu, that works! After that we drove directly to a local winery for wine tasting. Chateau de la Grave was the name of it. The photo below shows the majesty of the property. However, the wine tasting is near the back of what is obviously a working farm. We did not see inside the Chateau but I read it is a Bed and Breakfast as well. We met another couple wine tasting there when we arrived. They were from Holland. They specifically came to the area to stay in this Bed and Breakfast called Maison Groleau. It also serves all meals there if you wish. They raved about it as a destination, not just a place to stay. I will try to check that later. Back to the wine tasting. It was a very quaint and nice place. The woman serving us spoke very good English, not that it is necessary, but it helps us understand. We tried 6 different, tiny tastes for €10, per person. The most expensive wine on their list was €39. Most were under €20. It was a nice experience even if we didn’t care that much for the wine. We did buy 2 bottles, 1 to give to Paul and Fanny and 1 for us. After that we drove down to the river and walked around a little bit. It wasn’t much fun as they have a small carnival going on right now. One river boat was in and we saw a lot of them coming back from a tour. Back home and a few games of Rummikub, album work, dinner and that was the end of our day.