This blog will not be of as much interest to anyone but family because we didn’t go see anything that was sightseeing. Also, we have been home for a week but I was too tired to finish up my blogging for this trip until now.
Originally, John had wanted to drive from Bordeaux to Paris without stopping, but that was over a six hour drive and we had carefully planned this trip (originally) to not ever have more than three hours of driving……and, since I do 99% of the driving — well, you know, I got to choose!
So I found this really nice property near Poitiers, France — and it was a spa!! Perfect “almost ending” to our trip — Chateau le Clos de la Ribeaudiere. We were to arrive there in the evening, spend the night and then have two spa procedures the next day, then spend that night and off to Paris the next morning.
We had our morning massages. John was able to access the spa for an hour beforehand, but that included a pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. I couldn’t do the wet part and wasn’t so interested in the dry…..so I skipped it. You can see from my hair below that I had gotten an oily massage. Then we stopped for lunch and then John got to do our second treatment — the royal hammam! He told me it was fabulous and I only hated him a little since, again, too wet for my leg. The lunches were beautiful and tasted great!
John was pretty proud of his packing; we don’t travel light and getting it all in was like a jigsaw puzzle!
Then we arrived in Paris to visit again with Campbell, Autari, Calder and Aalto. This was a highlight of our trip, especially spending time with our grandsons! Spoiler alert: family photos coming.
Puss (in the foreground) and Rospo
You who know me know that I cannot go to Paris without going to Le Relais du Venise L’Entrecote. So we went for lunch and Campbell was available to join us. Calder was in school and Autari at work and Aalto with the nanny. It is so yummy; nobody’s steak and frites can compare! We arrived about 11:40 a.m. for a noon opening; the crowd was really large by opening time. Luckily, I found a seat while John and Campbell held out place.
On our last night there we went out for really good Thai and met Kate there. Kate is one-half of Campbell’s best friends.
Autari decided he needed a haircut on our last morning and Calder wanted to help!
We had a pretty grueling trip home. We left Campbell’s home around 10:30 a.m. for a 3:00 p.m. departure, dropped the rental car at the airport, flew through Minneapolis, had a 3 hour layover there, and arrived in Austin at 11:59 p.m. We got to our house by 2:00 a.m. — 9:00 a. m. the next day Paris time. It was a long day and we were vegetables on the couch for two days following. Not going anywhere for awhile!!! Ready for home….
Fondly,
Beth
