Day 12 – Toulouse, Angouleme

It seemed like we had just lay down to sleep, and already our alarm was going off.  During our usual workdays we get up at 4:30 am, so it wasn’t crazy for us to get up at this time, but it was not easy.  While we were getting ready we heard a knock on the door, and it was my dad saying that it was raining pretty hard outside, and maybe we should order a taxi.  Good idea!  I ran downstairs and asked the staff to order up a taxi for 5:30 am.

At 5:20 am everyone was in the lobby, in various states of consciousness, ready to go.  Outside it was dark and wet, but it seemed like the rain had stopped.  With a train departure at 6:05 am we didn’t want to make the wrong decision, so we waited for the cab.  Unfortunately it didn’t show at 5:30, and everyone was starting to get a little nervous.  I walked outside looking for a cab to hail, but at that hour they were few and far between.  The hotel clerk called several other taxi companies, and finally around 5:40 a cab showed up.  We piled our luggage into the cab and she drove like a madwoman to the station.  What a relief!  I noticed while riding that the fare meter was running much faster than normal, so they must have a special rate for desperate tourists in the wee hours of the morning.

So we made the train on time, got our luggage in a good spot, and everyone settled into their seats.  The first hour of the TGV journey was pretty dark, but soon enough the sun came up and the rain disappeared.  We rode for about two hours, and then changed trains at Bordeaux.  We had ten minutes to change, and it turned out to be barely enough time.  Once we got to our seats we opened up some supplies and had a simple breakfast.  It was one hour from Bordeaux to Angouleme, and the time went by quickly.  The French countryside is always nice to watch, and we could always take a nap if we needed it.

The station at Angouleme was where we were to meet Fabien, who was my parents’ first intern years ago.  We dragged our suitcases down the platform, carried them down the stairs, went across to the main station, carried them up the stairs, and then went out front to look for Fabien.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t there.

We waited a few minutes before starting to look around for WiFi connections and double check our communications, but suddenly he appeared and everything was OK.  It was my first time to meet him, and he seemed like a really friendly guy, with excellent English.  He took us over to his car and miraculously all of our luggage fit in perfectly.  We drove through Angouleme and on to Cognac to our first sightseeing stop of the day, Hennessy.  On the way, we passed through so many vineyards, I felt like we were driving around California.  This time we were traveling in a completely different wine country.

Fabien sells most of the cognac that he makes to Hennessy, so it was a natural choice for a tour and tasting.  The tour was very nicely done.  We took a boat ride across a small river to where they age some of their cognac in barrels and casks, and then enjoyed a movie that explained the process without words that was very nicely done.  They had a lot of nice dramatic effects during the tour, and we learned a lot about the process that they go through.  Of course, Fabien had arranged the tour in English.  He thought of everything!

At the tail end of the tour we were led to a tasting room, and we could try several different brands of Hennessy cognac.  Fabien advised us that we would taste some of his own very old cognac at his house later, so at Hennessy we tried only some of the younger ones.  The guide suggested mixing some of the younger cognac with either ginger ale or tonic water (which I think they called “Indian tonic”).  One of the cognacs that they were selling in the tasting room was more than 700 euros a bottle – for the big spenders!

After spending time tasting the cognac we walked a little bit around the old historic town, which was pretty much empty.  The buildings were all bleached white, and made a nice contrast with the blue skies and green trees nearby.  It was a really nice area to spend some time.  From here we left town and drove a ways to go have a riverside picnic.  Once we arrived we met Fabien’s mother, sister and an intern that is working with him.  His sister, Letitia, was really friendly and cheerful and she spoke a little bit of English with us.  Gautier, the intern, spoke even more English, and he had a goofy sense of humor that made me laugh all the time.  Fabien’s mom was very serious about hospitality, and she kept laughing at the funny situations that we got ourselves into throughout the day.

For example, just as we sat down to have a picnic a cloud came by and started dumping rain on us.  Ten minutes ago it was blue skies, but the weather changes fast in this part of France.  We threw everything back into the cars, and drove into a tiny town nearby.  There was a post office building that had a small alcove, and it looked like it would make a perfect shelter for our picnic, so we appropriated it.  Everything was spread out, cognac and grape juice cocktails were poured, and as we got started the sun came out again. Figures!

The food that Fabien’s mom had brought was delicious – snail pate, bread, meats and cheeses, potato chips and tomatoes, along with a great rose wine and an even nicer red wine.  Fabien really knew his wines, and poured some very high quality stuff while we were there.

After the picnic we were leaving to get some tickets for a boat ride down the river, but there was apparently a car accident down the road a ways.  Two firemen walked up and blocked the road going the other way, using a sign that showed a car flipping over.  The firemen had interesting helmets, too – they looked more like they belonged on a medieval knight than a fire fighter.

Once we picked up our boat trip tickets we walked out to the river.  As we approached a bunch of young people were getting into canoes and kayaks, and I suddenly thought that this is what we signed up for, but as we turned the corner we saw a big flat-bottom boat docked nearby with passengers waiting patiently on board.  Once we got on and settled in, the captain gave us some history and information, but since it was in French we could only kind of guess at the meaning.  But the real attraction was traveling up and down the river, and following some of the branches to different scenic areas.  It was very relaxing – almost too relaxing after the wine and big lunch.  One of the interesting parts was passing through a water lock system that raised and lowered the boat to travel on different parts of the river.  Watching that operation up close was something I had never done before.  The river had fish swimming around below, and plenty of dragonflies up above.  There was even an awning that they could open and close to protect the passengers from getting too wet from sudden squalls.  The trip was a little more than an hour, and somehow we made it without falling asleep in the warm sunshine.

After disembarking from the boat we all drove a ways down the country road to a park that was located outside an old abbey, at Bassac.  First we stopped at the park and had a quick picnic with grape juice, coffee and a tasty chocolate cake that Letitia had made.  We kept forgetting important stuff in the car, so Fabien’s mom was clever enough to drive the car closer to us instead of sending us back and forth out to the car.  The park was deserted and we had the place to ourselves.  I really enjoyed walking around on the green grass in the sunshine, enjoying the sunny weather, and not being all sweaty like we would have been in back in Japan.

Once we demolished the cake we walked across the street to take a brief tour of the abbey, and it was quite beautiful.  The stained glass was especially striking, and the design of the place was really well done.  There was a tiny group tour walking through and getting explanations in French, but other than that it was just us.  Out back behind the abbey were some gardens, bordering a stream that held lots of fish and plant life.  While we were enjoying the view a couple of people in a kayak went gliding by, and they had a tiny dog sitting on the bow of their boat.  It looked like a very peaceful adventure they were on.

Since we finished up with the abbey, Fabien took us to an old castle on a hill overlooking the greater part of Cognac, with green vineyards stretching to the horizon.  The castle itself was being restored so we couldn’t go in, but this was another place that was completely empty and left all to us.  Our last stop before heading to Fabien’s home was the “Table of Orientation”, a platform on a hill in the middle of some vineyards that showed famous landmarks in a 360 degree view.  It was interesting that in almost every vineyard we saw in Cognac there were no fences separating them, and anybody could just walk into whatever vineyard they liked.  I don’t think that would go over well back in California. I was again struck by how similar the views were to Sonoma Valley, and we even took some touristy shots of us next to some green grapes a month away from harvest.

We were dead tired by the time we headed over to Fabien’s place.  It may have been by design, but when we arrived we were ready for dinner and bed, I think.  We arrived there around 8:30 pm and it was still light outside.  Fabien’s family has a building that they have renovated as kind of a bed and breakfast.  It was quite large and clean, with four bedrooms and a big living space and kitchen down below.  It was nice to put away our bags and get comfortable for a little bit.  I could tell I was going to sleep well that night. But before sleeping we went over to the main house to have dinner.  On the way I met one of their dogs, Baya, who was very friendly.  She was locked up while guests were around, but I had a chance to pet her for a little while.  So cute!

I was really looking forward to a French farmhouse meal, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Fabien, as head of the family, served us cognac cocktails and put out some snacks, and we talked for a while.  I can’t speak for everyone else at the table, but I was ready to drink.  The pace of the drinking slowed considerably, maybe because Fabien was in charge of drinks and he was busy talking most of the time.  But the food kept us busy, and it was really delicious.  There was lots of shellfish (langostinos, scampi, mussels, tiny shrimp), a superbly roasted duck that was the best duck I’ve ever had, local wild mushrooms that rocked my world, and roasted tomatoes with garlic.  After dinner they served a homemade plum tart, and Fabien broke into his stash of very old cognac and served us a healthy dose.  It really was smooth – this was cognac that his grandfather was involved in making so it was very well aged.

As we were leaving to go back to our rooms a bat suddenly swooped inside the room, and flew around in circles looking for the exit.  It made for a bit of a wild ending to the day, but I guess they eventually got it out the door.  We went to bed well past midnight, and it took only moments for both Kuniko and I to fall into a deep sleep.


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