Oct 1 - Bourg to Paris

10-01: Today is departure day. We wonder if we will ever come back to this area? Never say never, we shall see. The drive to Bordeaux was uneventful. We returned the car as planned and we were sitting in our assigned seat on the train in plenty of time. We arrived in Paris with no delays and made our way to our hotel by Uber. We will be here just one night before boarding our Riveria Seine River Cruise. After our long and filling lunch we weren’t very hungry so we just walked to a nearby café for what we thought would be pizza. It was really focaccia bread with a variety of toppings, so it was fine. Back to the hotel and we played cards in the lobby area and had a glass of wine. The Hotel de Sévres is a decent hotel; clean, friendly, local vibes, and a good price. Yes, the rooms are small but that is what you get in Paris. 

Bourg - Day 28-29-30

09-28: My back pain has become progressively worse. Today I will be laying low for sure. We played cards, had a nice BLT using our heirloom tomatoes from the market yesterday for lunch. Stuart fixed the precooked ribs for dinner and I fixed the Romanesco. A very quiet day.

09-29: Today we are prepping a little bit for our departure on Oct. 1^st. The things we moved around need to be put back in place, cleaning out the fridge will be tomorrow, but laundry was today. It doesn’t seem like we have been here a month, even though some of the days dragged along a bit. We each got a lot done on computers, etc.

09-30: Today was spent packing and more. One has to look in all the little areas around the apartment to be sure nothing is left behind. I am struggling with some back pain. Stuart is very gracious to help do things that bother me. We ate the last of our leftovers from dinner day before yesterday. We really did our best to be sure we are not wasting food or throwing it away. We will leave a few things for our hosts to pick up later. By 8p we are having a huge thunder and lightening storm. The goal is to get to bed a bit early tonight so we can rise early and put the last of the things in our suitcases and leave the apartment as we found it. I love the sound of the thunder and rain is comforting when you are inside and nice and warm.

Bourg - Day 25-26-27

09-25: I did get my nails done this afternoon. The lady did a nice job. She spoke no English. I speak so little French it is useless. However, with Google translate and a few phases I wrote down, we managed just fine. After that I met Stuart at Le Boudoir and we shared a sandwich but had a huge sort of sundae to follow. It was breathtaking and also delicious. If you have ever had Afogato, it was like that only huge! We planned to eat at a new restaurant tonight but we were too full after that and just had some cheese and chips. Stuart went to the store today and got a few things. Our time is growing short here and we don’t need too much. We also did laundry and played cards, that was it.

09-26: We did the usual things today but tonight we went out for a nice dinner at Cuisine Dépendance. We were headed to a tapas place but it was closed. This seems to be the case in many places that we go. Anyway, the dinner we had was delicious. Fanny says it is considered the nicest place to eat in this area. Other than the hike back up the hill after dinner, it was a perfect evening! We heard music from the organ in the church today. Even though they don’t have regular services there, they will have a service there tomorrow. It is some mass from the Pope they are streaming in to the church.

09-27: Today is farmer’s market day in Bourg. This is one of the most exciting days of the week here. Not only is the market wonderful, but the whole vibe of the area seems lively and entertaining. Our first stop was the boulangerie for some sweets. We are meeting Fanny and Paul at the wine bar at 11a and we wanted to get something to share. While Stuart waited in line there, I went to the produce and took my place in line. Here you do not wander about and pick what you want. You wait in the queue and then one of the staff picks what you point to and give any amount you want, but you do not touch the produce. It is just a different way of doing things. After that I headed to the wine bar where Stuart was waiting. We picked bottle of wine with the owner’s help. It was something to go with the pastry. Soon Paul and Fanny arrived and we enjoyed all these treats together. Paul wanted to go to the boulangerie to get something else. It was a baguette hot from the over with chorizo chopped up inside. It was very good and actually too hot to eat at first, that’s how fresh it was. They also invited us to their home for lunch. I was not feeling good with my back but we went and it was nice to see 2 of their 3 children again. They have really grown up in 2 years since we have been here. Paul cooked an entire fillet of salmon on his flat-top grill and then sauteed rice on the same grill along with onion and garlic. Their daughter made a delicious Hollandaise sauce to go with it. It was one of the best I have ever tasted, the lemon in it was scrumptious. By late afternoon we finished and bid our friends farewell. We wonder if we will ever see them again … Perhaps. We played some cards. I took a brief nap after all the wine we had today! Later we ate our leftovers from last night for dinner. It was a lovely day.

Bourg - Day 22-23-24

09-22: Today is Stuart’s day to be under the weather. In the night he had a lot of heartburn or something. Hopefully, he will feel better today and sleep well tonight. We laid low most of the day. Of course there was laundry to do. I fixed a baked potato for lunch and grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. We are very low on groceries. Neither of us felt like going out, so we were accepting of what we had here. I worked on photos and the album. Stuart did laptop things for some of his clients. I’m so glad he is feeling better tonight.

09-23: Another quiet day. Stuart was going to go shopping but we still have enough here to eat well today. He fixed fried potatoes with an egg on top, orange slices, and toast. We played Phase 10 for a few hours. Tonight we had the last of the pork chops from the freezer and the Romanesco we got at the farmer’s market. We are really looking forward to some of the changes we have put in place on our itinerary. The only real changes are after staying in Avignon. After we leave there, we will take the train to Dijon and board another river cruise from Dijon to Arles. We will see a few new places we have not seen! This shortens our time near Perpignan but we will still have plenty of time to see my cousins if it fits their schedule.

09-24: Today I was going to get my nails done. However, I walked to the place, actually found it, but it was closed. Darn. The waitress serving us at Jéroboam told me about the place. I went online and booked an appointment online for tomorrow at 2:30p. Hopefully, that will work out. Tonight we went to Blaye for dinner with Fanny and Paul. They picked us up and took us to a lovely place. It is some sort of private restaurant; I didn’t really understand what they told us. It was something like friends of the owners come and it they bring someone; those people can come again. I guess there is no advertising. As I said, I am really not sure at all. It was a very nice evening. First, we went to a separate little bar area by a pond and waterfall. There we had a spritz and an amuse bouche with some sort of fish pate, I think it was salmon. After that we went to the restaurant itself and had both starters and main dishes followed by 2 different desserts to share. Stuart and I had the steak and it was very good, but there was so much food we could not finish it. Fanny said taking the leftovers is just not done (even though we have done it many times) so we left it. I wasn’t really sure what Fanny ordered, it looked like tartare and maybe it was. Paul had the pork. Anyway, we had a delightful evening thanks to their very good English, not our poor French! Even though we probably will not come back to this area, we appreciate them and will always feel they are our friends, not just hosts. Fanny felt asleep on the ride back to Bourg. Stuart offered that they come up for a digestive, but of course Fanny has an early morning, was already tired, and they declined. We made arrangements to meet them at the wine bar at 11a on Sunday. Our last Sunday market in Bourg.