Return from Dordogne

We just returned from a long weekend trip to the south of France. Saturday morning, the family, Brianne and I piled into a van to get to the local train station (Fontainebleau), to get to Gare de Lyon, then on to a bus to Montparnasse (where we met Bob), to catch our TGV to Bordeaux, where we picked up an upgraded rental car, and drove to Montazeau to our converted barn rental. It was a long train ride with the kids, especially since Tao and Edo were deep in conversation with Bob (who came from Shanghai for business). We arrived to find beautiful weather for the weekend, despite forecasts of rain. The kids immediately stripped and jumped in the pool.

We took a day to see the Chateau de Montaigne, including his bedroom and work area where he wrote a lot of his essays. Montaigne is basically famous for popularizing the modern essay. You can read his work online through the Gutenberg Project. I think Bob really enjoyed this part of the trip - as we could tell as he waved from the window with a huge smile on his face. But the wine tastings were a close second. The chateau really did look like a place a princess would live - it just seemed to pop out of a fairy tale book. We kept our eyes open, but only spotted an old woman walking her dog and our guess of the gatekeeper's daughter playing with the cat.

We also enjoyed the greenery, had a 2.5 hour multi-course lunch, and enjoyed some casual badminton in the yard. Brianne and I spent a lot of time talking about high school and rehashing old memories. I don't often think about high school, but there's something about being unemployed and having a lot of free time that lets you google random people every so often. It's funny who you can find a profile for (MySpace, Friendster, Classmates, etc) and who you can't. I can remember my elementary school teachers names, but as time goes on, I realize I can't remember my classmates' names or even picture their faces - people from college and post-college life tend to blur in. The name that just popped up in my head is JoMal. Whatever happened to JoMal? Bri tells me he's now a chef in New York, for his own restaurant, specializing in a trademarked burger of sorts. How random is that? [post-edit]

But back to the trip -- we had 4 bedrooms in the house, which had other rooms where the owners, Peter and Tracey lived. They were happy to see us, gave us wine and bread, and told us a bit about the area. They're Irish but sounded British - he used to live in Boston and worked as a hairdresser - my sister even got a complimentary cut. We had lunches out and dinners at home - and enjoyed entirely too much bread, cheese and wine.

Brianne being a princess in our shared bedroom. The rooms were all very nicely decorated, and her bed looked incredibly plush and fit for a...

This was the sound chamber Montaigne had built so he could hear the sermon without going down stairs because of his kidney stones.