We went to the market early this morning. I wanted to take our guests there because I think the market is such a quintessential slice of French life. It being Saturday, the market was crowded. We bought cherries, apricots, nuts, sprouts and falafel. Peter bought some tiny dried sausages which resemble Slim-Jims.
Back from the market, we put up our purchases and hopped the tram for the Odysseum, where we were to meet our rides to a French country estate for a picnic. We were to meet in the McDonald’s car park, and I was not quite certain where the McDonalds was located. We looked around a bit, then I approached a man, asking him in French if he knew where the restaurant was located, and he gave me instructions, also in French. Victory – I understood most of what he said, and I was able to follow the directions! Small victory, perhaps, but then we take my victories where we can get them.
Our group of five was split such that Alicia, Peter and Jamie rode with someone called Sunshine, and we rode with Victoria. It took 30 minutes to get to our destination. We were greeted by our host, an Englishman who is a barrister in Britain. His claim to fame is that he represented two gentlemen who asserted that Dan Brown plagerized their work or their ideas in writing The Davinci Code. He lost the case, but apparently got rich off it – I am quite certain he did not take it on a contingency-fee basis. He bought this country estate several years ago and grows several varieties of grapes, producing three levels of wine. We began the visit with a wine-tasting – probably not a good idea on an empty stomach, but c’est la vie! The wine-tasting was fascinating, including discussions of even such details as corks and labels. We sampled two of the three levels of wine – three varieties of each, or six glasses of wine each. Not full glasses, but more than enough to make some of us tipsy!
Once the wine-tasting was complete, we went out into the park surrounding the house, where there were picnic tables and a serving table set up. Our host made available the third level of wine with lunch, and of course we partook of it as well. Hmm – it’s a good thing we weren’t driving back! The food was delicious, the dessert wonderful, and the wine – well, it was wine. I still have not developed a sophisticated wine palate after almost a year in France.
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| Picnic in the park |
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| Our host for the picnic |
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| Peter naps with one eye open, waiting to be shot by another of the picnic attendees |
It was a fabulous picnic and a wonderful afternoon!
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