It seemed like we had just lay down to sleep, and already our alarm was going off.\u00a0 During our usual workdays we get up at 4:30 am, so it wasn\u2019t crazy for us to get up at this time, but it was not easy.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Good idea!\u00a0 I ran downstairs and asked the staff to order up a taxi for 5:30 am.<\/p>\n
At 5:20 am everyone was in the lobby, in various states of consciousness, ready to go.\u00a0 Outside it was dark and wet, but it seemed like the rain had stopped.\u00a0 With a train departure at 6:05 am we didn\u2019t want to make the wrong decision, so we waited for the cab.\u00a0 Unfortunately it didn\u2019t show at 5:30, and everyone was starting to get a little nervous.\u00a0 I walked outside looking for a cab to hail, but at that hour they were few and far between.\u00a0 The hotel clerk called several other taxi companies, and finally around 5:40 a cab showed up.\u00a0 We piled our luggage into the cab and she drove like a madwoman to the station.\u00a0 What a relief!\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
So we made the train on time, got our luggage in a good spot, and everyone settled into their seats.\u00a0 The first hour of the TGV journey was pretty dark, but soon enough the sun came up and the rain disappeared.\u00a0 We rode for about two hours, and then changed trains at Bordeaux.\u00a0 We had ten minutes to change, and it turned out to be barely enough time.\u00a0 Once we got to our seats we opened up some supplies and had a simple breakfast.\u00a0 It was one hour from Bordeaux to Angouleme, and the time went by quickly.\u00a0 The French countryside is always nice to watch, and we could always take a nap if we needed it.<\/p>\n
The station at Angouleme was where we were to meet Fabien, who was my parents\u2019 first intern years ago.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, he wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 It was my first time to meet him, and he seemed like a really friendly guy, with excellent English.\u00a0 He took us over to his car and miraculously all of our luggage fit in perfectly.\u00a0 We drove through Angouleme and on to Cognac to our first sightseeing stop of the day, Hennessy.\u00a0 On the way, we passed through so many vineyards, I felt like we were driving around California.\u00a0 This time we were traveling in a completely different wine country.<\/p>\n
Fabien sells most of the cognac that he makes to Hennessy, so it was a natural choice for a tour and tasting.\u00a0 The tour was very nicely done.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They had a lot of nice dramatic effects during the tour, and we learned a lot about the process that they go through.\u00a0 Of course, Fabien had arranged the tour in English.\u00a0 He thought of everything!<\/p>\n
At the tail end of the tour we were led to a tasting room, and we could try several different brands of Hennessy cognac.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The guide suggested mixing some of the younger cognac with either ginger ale or tonic water (which I think they called \u201cIndian tonic\u201d).\u00a0 One of the cognacs that they were selling in the tasting room was more than 700 euros a bottle – for the big spenders!<\/p>\n
After spending time tasting the cognac we walked a little bit around the old historic town, which was pretty much empty.\u00a0 The buildings were all bleached white, and made a nice contrast with the blue skies and green trees nearby.\u00a0 It was a really nice area to spend some time.\u00a0 From here we left town and drove a ways to go have a riverside picnic.\u00a0 Once we arrived we met Fabien\u2019s mother, sister and an intern that is working with him.\u00a0 His sister, Letitia, was really friendly and cheerful and she spoke a little bit of English with us.\u00a0 Gautier, the intern, spoke even more English, and he had a goofy sense of humor that made me laugh all the time.\u00a0 Fabien\u2019s mom was very serious about hospitality, and she kept laughing at the funny situations that we got ourselves into throughout the day.<\/p>\n
For example, just as we sat down to have a picnic a cloud came by and started dumping rain on us.\u00a0 Ten minutes ago it was blue skies, but the weather changes fast in this part of France.\u00a0 We threw everything back into the cars, and drove into a tiny town nearby.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Everything was spread out, cognac and grape juice cocktails were poured, and as we got started the sun came out again. Figures!<\/p>\n
The food that Fabien\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Fabien really knew his wines, and poured some very high quality stuff while we were there.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Two firemen walked up and blocked the road going the other way, using a sign that showed a car flipping over.\u00a0 The firemen had interesting helmets, too – they looked more like they belonged on a medieval knight than a fire fighter.<\/p>\n
Once we picked up our boat trip tickets we walked out to the river.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But the real attraction was traveling up and down the river, and following some of the branches to different scenic areas.\u00a0 It was very relaxing – almost too relaxing after the wine and big lunch.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Watching that operation up close was something I had never done before.\u00a0 The river had fish swimming around below, and plenty of dragonflies up above.\u00a0 There was even an awning that they could open and close to protect the passengers from getting too wet from sudden squalls.\u00a0 The trip was a little more than an hour, and somehow we made it without falling asleep in the warm sunshine.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 First we stopped at the park and had a quick picnic with grape juice, coffee and a tasty chocolate cake that Letitia had made.\u00a0 We kept forgetting important stuff in the car, so Fabien\u2019s mom was clever enough to drive the car closer to us instead of sending us back and forth out to the car.\u00a0 The park was deserted and we had the place to ourselves.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Once we demolished the cake we walked across the street to take a brief tour of the abbey, and it was quite beautiful.\u00a0 The stained glass was especially striking, and the design of the place was really well done.\u00a0 There was a tiny group tour walking through and getting explanations in French, but other than that it was just us.\u00a0 Out back behind the abbey were some gardens, bordering a stream that held lots of fish and plant life.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It looked like a very peaceful adventure they were on.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 The castle itself was being restored so we couldn\u2019t go in, but this was another place that was completely empty and left all to us.\u00a0 Our last stop before heading to Fabien\u2019s home was the \u201cTable of Orientation\u201d, a platform on a hill in the middle of some vineyards that showed famous landmarks in a 360 degree view.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
We were dead tired by the time we headed over to Fabien\u2019s place.\u00a0 It may have been by design, but when we arrived we were ready for dinner and bed, I think.\u00a0 We arrived there around 8:30 pm and it was still light outside.\u00a0 Fabien\u2019s family has a building that they have renovated as kind of a bed and breakfast.\u00a0 It was quite large and clean, with four bedrooms and a big living space and kitchen down below.\u00a0 It was nice to put away our bags and get comfortable for a little bit.\u00a0 I could tell I was going to sleep well that night. But before sleeping we went over to the main house to have dinner.\u00a0 On the way I met one of their dogs, Baya, who was very friendly.\u00a0 She was locked up while guests were around, but I had a chance to pet her for a little while.\u00a0 So cute!<\/p>\n
I was really looking forward to a French farmhouse meal, and I wasn\u2019t disappointed.\u00a0 Fabien, as head of the family, served us cognac cocktails and put out some snacks, and we talked for a while.\u00a0 I can\u2019t speak for everyone else at the table, but I was ready to drink.\u00a0 The pace of the drinking slowed considerably, maybe because Fabien was in charge of drinks and he was busy talking most of the time.\u00a0 But the food kept us busy, and it was really delicious.\u00a0 There was lots of shellfish (langostinos, scampi, mussels, tiny shrimp), a superbly roasted duck that was the best duck I\u2019ve ever had, local wild mushrooms that rocked my world, and roasted tomatoes with garlic.\u00a0 After dinner they served a homemade plum tart, and Fabien broke into his stash of very old cognac and served us a healthy dose.\u00a0 It really was smooth – this was cognac that his grandfather was involved in making so it was very well aged.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 It made for a bit of a wild ending to the day, but I guess they eventually got it out the door.\u00a0 We went to bed well past midnight, and it took only moments for both Kuniko and I to fall into a deep sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It seemed like we had just lay down to sleep, and already our alarm was going off.\u00a0 During our usual workdays we get up at 4:30 am, so it wasn\u2019t crazy for us to get up at this time, but it was not easy.\u00a0 While we were getting ready we heard a knock on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOpl7-KB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}