Week In Review
Family vacation in Saint Calais - wine, antiques, & repeat
I come from a big family and love to spend vacations with a group, so I’m thrilled that our house in France can sleep a good number of friends and family. I come to France a fair amount, I was just here a month ago, but a good portion of those trips are work related. This trip was strictly vacation and it was perfect spending it in our little town with a full house of people I love.
Saturday - I land at CDG Saturday - arrive in Paris at 12:30 pm then take taxi to Gare Montparnasse. I have 2 hours to kill before my train, so I walk around the neighborhood of the train station in a jet-lagged fog killing time - peruse Monoprix, shop for beauty products at the pharmacy, eat a baguette sandwich from the boulangerie. The TGV is a 45 min trip to Vendôme. Thierry picks me up and we drive the 20 mins to St. Calais. I arrive at the house just before 6 pm, and after showering and settling in for a little bit, Simon, Thierry and I have dinner at a local restaurant we had high hopes for unfortunately, the food wasn’t great…but the wine was good!
Sunday - We get up and go to the flea market in Couture Sur Loir. It’s not my fav, but I manage to find some random little things. When we get home I clean the house and do a ton of laundry getting rooms/beds ready for all the guests coming tomorrow. We go to dinner at our favorite restaurant Jour De Fête.
Monday - Wake up and clean house some more. My sister Ann (and her husband Thom) arrive around noon. Her three adult kids and some of their partners, Frannie (with hubs Aug and bb Quincy), Sophie (fiancé Alex), & Paddy. In the afternoon, we go visit a small chateau in the region scouting wedding venues for Sophie. That night we have BBQ at the house. Merguez and duck, with a frisée salad, and obviously cheese and bread.
Tuesday - In the morning I mention to Thierry that we need a patio to eat on in our backyard. We had a table and chairs on the grass and it was too uneven and chairs would sink in. He is always in search of another project, so he jumps right on it. He’s in luck - he’s got house full of people to help level a patch, fill with sand, then lay tiles. When you stay at our house you may be asked to pitch in to improve this or that at our old house. Strangely, a lot of people like that. For dinner we eat spicy fusilli made by Ann & Paddy on our new perfectly level tile patio.
Wednesday - It’s very hot so we lazily hang around the house during the day playing with Quincy, etc. In the afternoon we go to an antique store. The only thing I buy is a first edition, 1938 Larousse Gastronomique book for 2 euros. From there we go to two wineries: Les Gauchers and Brendan Tracy - two stellar winemakers in our area of the Loire Valley. Then we head to dinner at La Ginguette restaurant in Trôo where we would’ve had moules frites, but we were informed when we sit down that they are out of mussels, so we eat steak frites instead.
Thursday - On Thursdays there is the Farmer’s Market in our town so we wake and go. We buy potatoes, zucchini, melon, radishes, and fresh Sole from the fish monger. When we come home, Sophie, Frannie and I make videos for Clare V. in the backyard. That afternoon we visit another chateau for Sophie. Then, in my opinion, what was the best night of the week, we have dinner and do karaoke at Jour de Fête (my first time! A Prince and a Whitney Houston song were my choice).
When we get home, some of us play a few rounds of Telestrations. August, my nephew who is also our digital marketing consultant, and I check in on the progress of our end of season sale. Then I take a call with Molly, president of Clare V. at 1 am, and go to bed.
Friday - When I wake, I do not partake in watching the debate which we had taped the night before. Some of our crew cringed through (for as long as they could take it.) Paddy made me a fried egg and then I go back to bed until 11. I wake up and sit in garden writing employee reviews (much overdue) while Thierry and Thom, my brother in law, make a lunch of the fish and potatoes we bought the day before at the market. That evening we go to my sister in law’s house for apéro, visit her painting studio, then come home and barbecue. Late at night, my sister, niece & nephew, and I sit in the table outside, listen to songs mom liked and cry.
Copy, paste, redo. Love every minute.
Lovely!! Just perfect! I love France!
Reading about your week was the perfect morning escape