Home Again

The next day we got up and had a hearty trucker breakfast, then began our drive south.  

It was uneventful except for the jet lag.  After a few hours on the autoroute we had to find ways to stay awake.  While I was driving I tried talking, which promptly put Val to sleep.  Sadly, this reminded me of a few of the dates I went on back in the day.  Ok, most of them.

About five o’clock we rolled into the driveway of our rental, the same place we rented last year.  It was almost like coming home!

The proprietors were there to greet us and gave us a few tasty treats as housewarming gifts.  Actually, it wasn’t a few; it was more like a cornucopia.  They gave us homemade jams and jellies made out of pear, plum, fig, apricot, orange and quince.  Plus four jars of homemade tomato sauce, a bottle of local olive oil, two bottles of water and three bottles of wine.  We may not need to shop for a while, except for wine – you can never have too much French wine.

After a light supper we conked right out and slept the sleep of the dead.  The next morning we got up bright and early and did what anyone would do on their first day in Provence – we logged into ESPN.com and watched the Stanford women’s basketball game.  Gotta keep our priorities straight.

KVS

Nice digs

Val already drank the rest of the wine

Allez Stanford !

Back in France

The flight to Zurich was uneventful.  We picked up our car at the airport and hit the road.

We always like to spend the first night of our trip in France.  We’re so excited about going to France that we just want to get there as soon as we can.   And one of the things we most look forward to is that first meal. 

Some our most memorable meals have been on our first night, like that dinner in the Place des Herbes in Uzes, with music playing in the background.  Or sitting outside one hot August night in Puyricard, drinking pink wine and laughing with the people at the table next to us.

We usually pick the hotel for our first night based on whether it has a nice restaurant.  But the last few years those places have been pretty out of the way, so this year we opted for convenience – right off the autoroute and easy to find.  And the food would still be terrific, right?

When we got to our hotel it was nice, simple but comfortable.  It was easy to find and the parking lot was big.  Funny, though, there sure seemed to be a lot of 18-wheelers parked there.

We started to get nervous when we walked into our hotel’s restaurant and had to squeeze past the drinkers three deep at the bar.  They were very friendly, but still. 

As we sat at our table we looked around and noticed that every table was filled with men.  Oh, there was that one other couple of the far side of the room but otherwise, no women.  Hm, what’s up with that?

Then the server came to our table and announced our dinner choices.  We could have hamburger with mashed potatoes, hamburger with fried potatoes or hamburger with rice.  Nice touch, the rice. 

Then it dawned on us – simple hotel, convenient to the freeway, nothing but men…we were staying at a relais routier, a truck stop!  Not quite what we had in mind when we were dreaming of that great first dinner in France.

The hamburger was good, though.

KVS