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Mike, to mine and Mat’s surprise, actually made it to our rendezvous point day before yesterday. We said goodbye to Paris, took a night train to Dax, and arrived at the chateau at 6:00 yesterday morning. Patrice, one of the chateau staff, picked us up from the train station. Paris was wonderful, but also a bit overwhelming. You could spend years wandering the streets, the history, the monuments, and the museums. The only places I managed to visit were the Eiffel Tower (to meet Mat) and Notre Dame, whose grandeur still inspired hushed awe despite the throng of tourists surrounding the cathedral’s walls. I begin to wonder what the Parisians do besides eat, work in restaurants, and hang around, since the city seemed to be filled with little more than streets upon streets of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, restaurants, historical landmarks, museums, and restaurants. It is, however, nice to be out in the country, away from the bad attitudes of snobby Parisians and recurring whiffs of urine in the metro stations.
The chateau is magnificent. Indeed, a certain otherworldliness overtook me as we sat down to a sumptuous meal prepared by Alain, who is the primary caretaker. Literally, it was storybook (or Jane Austen) material, except instead of well dressed 1800’s aristocrats it was us in our shorts and T shirts sitting down to goat cheese croutons, local mushrooms sautéed with onions, bacon, and chestnuts, steak, a warm apple crisp, and, of course, fresh bread and Bordeaux wine I lack the vocabulary to describe. After dinner, we retired to the smoking room for cognac and lounging, pool, and ping pong. As the evening drew to a close, we climbed the stairs to the roof, where the stars shone beautifully on the moonless and cloudless night.
Today we head to Biarritz, which should be on your maps and is about an hour from us. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing, but I doubt I’ll be disappointed.
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Zencholy
Lily Chiang
Hi
Hi, The talks of your travels are inspiring. I enjoyed your description of the French meal (local mushrooms, eh). You are a foodie. Only one thing missing though, Where are the pictures?