An Amazing Day!


 Wow!  What a day!  (Am I becoming repetitive?!)  First of all, a truly wonderful night’s sleep!  Ten hours for me, which is really rare these days.  Up leisurely around 8:30 am and, wonder of wonders, R was able to find a way to get WiFi on the computer.  Not sure how he did it, exactly, except that it goes through my cell phone – meaning that I’m not able to use my cell phone, but I was able to get two blogs posted, R was able to catch up on the accounts, and we were able to get through all of our email.  So!  Success AND a great night’s sleep!  Also, all the clothes that I had washed last night were now nice and dry, thanks in large part to a very nice and hot towel warmer in the bathroom!  Showered in our toasty and warm bathroom and we were set for the day.   Turns out, also, that this place is right next to a very nice Carrefour grocery store – it’s very large and has a great selection of items!  So, we went over there around 10 to pick up a few items – sparkling water, some fruit and things for breakfast tomorrow, as well as a new highlighter, as R hasn’t been able to mark our route on our new Michelin 2024 country map, as our last highlighter has apparently run out of ink.  Back to the apartment (which by now is very warm, considering that the outside temperature was above freezing and the sun was shining brightly!) and Nathalie was so kind to pick us up to take us to their house for dinner today.

 

SO nice of them to host us!  And WOW!  What a dinner!  First off, it was so good to see Julia and Pascal once again and be able to meet Julia’s fiancé, Caleb, from Wisconsin.  He is an absolute sweetie, and they make such a lovely couple!  Hopefully Julia’s visa paperwork will be approved sooner rather than later, enabling her to stay permanently in the U.S., because right now she is only able to stay for a period of six months, without having to leave the U.S. for some period of time.  Nathalie and Pascal have two floors of a very old building, that Pascal has beautifully renovated into a very modern apartment!  There are three very large bedrooms, with beautifully high molded ceilings, a very large living room with a huge flat screen TV (great for watching sports, I’m sure!), an even larger dining room and again, a very large kitchen, all beautifully painted and decorated. 

 

We visited in the living room for a while with wine, cider and snacks – nuts, sausages and some cookies. Then, we moved into the dining room for raclette dinner – which was nothing short of amazing!  There were several kinds of meats, including ham and sliced cold cuts, and then four different kinds of cheese – smoked, classic, peppered and white, as well as roasted potatoes.  You put a slice of cold cut and a slice of cheese in a compartment and put it on the heat for a few minutes, and voila, they melt together – truly yummy and fun!  Then came a true highlight for us, as Nathalie had four (FOUR) 4!! different kinds of Roquefort!  There were two different kinds of Societe, and two different kinds of Gabriel Coulet, which we’d never even heard of.  As it turns out, the second Coulet Roquefort was truly incredible.  Not sure if we’ve ever had anything quite so good as that in the way of cheese before, but we’re definitely going to try to find some of that tomorrow to take back home.  Then, on top of everything, Nathalie had made wonderful mousse au chocolat … unfortunately, I had eaten so much by then, that I wasn’t able to finish mine, and I wasn’t sure how to ask if I could take the remainder home!  It was WONDERFUL!  And Nathalie says she doesn’t like to cook!  But I definitely agree with Caleb – Nathalie may say she doesn’t like to cook, but she certainly turns out a wonderful meal, that’s for sure!  Thank you, Nathalie, so much for a truly memorable meal!!

 


The loving dining room; Pascal and Nathalie and me!

Pascal, Julia, Nathalie and me

Caleb, Pascal, Julia, Nathalie and me!

Pascal, Nathalie, Robert and me!

Beautiful living room with Pascal, Nathalie, R and me!

All this was followed by coffee back in the living room, and finally, Nathalie brought us back to our Gite about 5 pm.  I know we stayed way too long, but the day was just so much fun, and it was SO great to see them again – we really didn’t want it to end!!  Hoping very much that we will be seeing all of them in Tucson sooner rather than later!!!

 

So, now back in our apartment, still with WiFi (via my phone!) and the heat is getting things really warm again.  As Robert says, we’ve had so much to eat today, we’re not going to want to eat for a week!  Tomorrow, we’re moving on to Nimes and an apartment for the next five days.  We’ve arranged to meet the landlord, Philip, at 2 pm, but as it’s only two hours from Saint-Affrique, we’re thinking of doing some Roquefort shopping in the morning and taking our time getting there.

 

So!  More tomorrow!!

m

xxx

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