Category: Europe Fall 2021

I uploaded my third video of the trip. You can see it here. I may not always link to new videos so you may want to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can more easily hear about new videos.

Our drive from Labastide to Bordeaux was relatively easy. But driving onto the center of a city is always a challenge. We are staying at a hotel in a great location right in the city center. The hotel had told us that we needed to book a parking spot at a parking garage in advance. We booked and paid yesterday so that when we found the entrance to the underground parking garage we just needed to show our QR code to get in. From there it was about a ten minute walk to the hotel.

After checking in we went for a walk. Bordeaux is beautiful.

We stopped for a break at a sidewalk cafe.

I have said this before but our dinner was perhaps the best of the trip. Coincidentally we are at Bistro Reno!

We are staying two nights at La Villa de Remparts. Our host there, Bertrand Garry Folzant makes beautiful kimonos.

It was really nice not to have to pack up and move on this morning. At breakfast our host recommended several places in the area that we might want to visit. We chose two and they turned ou to be fantastic.

Our first stop was the ruins of the Gallo-Roman villa of Séviac. The ruins of the Villa owned by a wealthy Roman were found in 1860 during the building of a farm. The site has been excavated and extensive mosaic floors have been discovered.

While we were at the site the farmer in the field next door was harvesting his grapes. we got a close up view of the grape harvester at work.

From Séviac we drove to the Abbey of Flaran. On the way we stopped for a picnic lunch next to a village church.

Flaran is a Cistercian Abbey initially built in the twelve century. In addition to touring the abbey we got to visit the art collection housed in what was the monk’s dormitory. The collection included a couple of works by Monet and one by Cezanne among others but the highlight for us was the collection of works by a painter I was not familiar with, Ken Paine. There were at least 50 portraits done by him. They were powerful and intense. I very much enjoyed seeing them.

For dinner we drove about three miles from where we were staying in Labastide-d’Armagnac to the next village, Saint Justin. We had an excellent dinner at a restaurant called Le Cadet de Gascogne.

I have said it before, but I love French breakfasts! Our breakfast this morning at Villa Marambat included the usual things like croissants and coffee but we also had homemade yogurts and figs from their tree.

After breakfast we went for a walk nearby.

Our drive today was short, only about sixty kilometers. Even with driving the back roads and a stop for a snack it only took us a couple of hours. We are in wine country. We are seeing lots of wineries and vineyards.

Labastide-d’Armagnac is a small town. We are staying in a wonderful Chambres de Hôtes, Villa des Remparts. It right next to the main square.

We had coffee on the square, walked around a bit and then sat by the fire and read.

For dinner tonight we sat outside overlooking the square.

I uploaded my second video of the trip. You can see it on YouTube here. I’m about two weeks behind in creating videos. I already miss playing cards with Brian and JoAnn but I guess I can use that time to edit videos. I do enjoy creating them.

I received my French vaccination passport!! What a relief! I sent my paperwork in September 3 so it took a little over 3 weeks to get. Without it I would have had to be tested every three days while we are in France. I had a covid test before I left Barcelona so I could ride the train. While we were on the train my QR code arrived!!

We took a taxi to the train station and had coffee there while we waited for our train.

We took the high speed train into France and then changed to a local train to Toulouse where we rented a car and drove about an hour west to the little town of Marambat.

We have seen many fields of sunflowers over the last two weeks but for the first time we finally saw a field being harvested.

We are staying in a wonderful old French house, Villa Marambat. It was used by the resistance during the war. The owners Aline and Jean Pierre have been very welcoming.

For a casual dinner Aline suggested a restaurant, Lou BAR’ataclau, in the nearby town of Vic-Fezensac. It was perfect. The waiter recommended a bottle of wine and offered to make us a charcuterie to share. As we watched the lady across the street close her shutters for the night I thought that except for the kinds of cars the street probably hasn’t changed much since WWII.

After 25 tries to get just the right selfie I finally got this one.

Today was a busy day. We started out with Brian and JoAnn getting their covid tests. they cost €35 each.

The lab people told them to come back in an hour for the results so we went to find some breakfast.

Even though we expected the results to be negative it was nice to get confirmation.

Next we got tickets to the Barcelona Bus Turístic hop on hop off bus tour.

We got off at the Sagrada Familia with plenty of time to walk around before our 11:45 tour. The tour guide told us that although they had planned to finish the church by the hundredth anniversary of Gaudy’s death, because of the pandemic the goal is now 2030. In the model in the picture below you can see what is still to be done to finish the church.

When we left the Sagrada Familia we finished out bus tour. We sat outside on top. When we were in the sun it was quite hot.

For dinner we ate at El Salon. We have eaten there once before on a trip a few years ago. Our meal was excellent then and was this time too.

This is our last night with Brian and JoAnn. We have had so much fun together. The adventure was a wonderful experience we will always remember.