'Well I managed to squeeze in a vacation in July. I was lucky enough to head overseas to France. I had friends who were celebrating their recent marriage by renting a castle in the South of France and inviting a bunch of us along. Work prevented me from being able to stay the whole time at the castle but instead I arrived a few days early and spent time in Paris. I hadn't been to Paris in a while and it was so much fun to be there again. My hotel was right on the banks of the Seine and across from the Louvre. I could walk everywhere and had access to several subway stations. I prowled around the city eating my heart out. Cheese, bread, chocolate, croissant. My first night in the city I was a bit jet lagged so I grabbed some food and sat along the banks of the river and had a little picnic.
I met up with friends and we toured the catacombs under Paris. Interesting to see but talk about creepy. It's certainly not a place you want to linger. You have to walk down this very long spiral staircase and back up an equally long one. You just go around and around until you think it wasn't going to end. They do check your bags when you exit, in case you felt the need to steal bones. It was funny to watch as everyone pulled out their Purell when they were done. Even though you don't touch the bones, it's enough to make you feel like you need a shower.
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I always love going to Sacre Coeur. It's just so cool to see it rising up the hill as you climb towards it.
While it was great just to prowl around the city with no set schedule I did have to catch a train on Sunday night to head to Cahors on the way to the castle. It was a great train ride on the high speed rails and the time flew by as I chatted with my friend and we watched the scenery.
We arrived at the castle at night and it was pitch dark. The road leading to the castle was one lane and dirt and we were surrounded by farms. It was such a cool experience to sleep in something so ancient. Dinners each night were outside under the trees at this huge table for 30+ people. The food was incredible and I gorged on the cheese course each night. It was so nice to sit and relax with no regard for the time.
The very first day in Promilhanes a big group of us headed out early to go kayaking and canoeing down the Dordogne river. It was quite a chore to get all of us into as few cars as possible for the drive to the river but we did it! My kayaking partner was a bit distracted by the beautiful scenery and I had to paddle for both of us, which resulted in my rubbing the skin off my left thumb from the paddle. But it was a great day! We ended up covering 25 km (15 miles) and the weather was perfect. This part of France has a lot of castles and we saw them perched on the banks of the river as we floated by. We also floated under four stone bridges as part of our journey. You have not truly lived until you have picnicked with the French. I am still not sure where all the food came from but when we stopped for lunch it was a flurry of amazing things to eat. Apricots, tomatoes, sausages of duck and pork, cheese, bread, amazing fennel cookies, and wine of course :-)
On the day of my birthday we headed on a road trip to see some local sights. We got to tour the Roquefort cheese caves and see how the incredible cheese is made. It was heaven. We saw the amazing Millau bridge which is the tallest bridge in the world. To see it from a distance it's quite a stunning bridge. It's when you drive underneath it and realize that you can't hear any of the traffic driving above that you get a sense of the massive scale.
The weather was perfect so after a busy day and lunchtime, we spent some time swimming in the Tarn river and relaxing on the shore. We had to make our way to Belcastel and the most amazing restaurant for dinner. It did require some creative changing to transition from swim suits to dressier clothes for the night but we managed! The town was beautiful and the meal was stunning. We toasted my birthday with champagne with saffron syrup. It was followed by course after course of food, amazing cheeses and both desert and petit-fours. The meal took hours and was certainly a birthday dinner I will never forget.
The next day I had to take the train back to Paris and then the plane home. I ended up being up for 24 hours in a row between travel and time differences. I was happy to get back but certainly would have loved to stay longer.
