It's now Tuesday, and I'm back home,
but I decided to write up the last few days of our trip while on our
flight back to the United States.
On Saturday morning we packed up and
left our gite in the Dordogne to head towards the Loire Valley, where
we were staying for one night. It was a long drive to the house in
Montrésor where we were spending the night, and we arrived a little
after 3:00 p.m. and were met by Brigitte, the house manager. The
place we were staying at was small but absolutely beautiful, with
stunning views of the Chateau de Montrésor from several windows.
Brigitte left us a bottle of local wine, a baguette and some macarons
from a bakery in town, and a jar of pork rilette.
Views of Chateau de Montresor from our House |
Shortly after checking into the house,
we drove off towards the village of Monthou-sur-Cher, where we had an
appointment to visit Vignoble Dinocheau, a small family-run winery.
The wines of Dinocheau are imported into the U.S. by Laurent Bonnois,
a small importer who grew up in the Paris area, moved to New York and
ran a wine store there for awhile, then left the retail business and
started importing French wine into the U.S., first distributing only
in New York, and then in Maine. Laurent, who moved back to France
several years ago and now lives in Paris, set up our appointment at
Dinocheau. Although I had the address, finding the winery was
difficult, even after we called Laurence Dinocheau and she gave us
directions. Eventually she drove out to look for us and directed us
to the winery, which she runs with her brother with some help from
their father. Despite being late for our appointment, Laurence gave
us a two hour tour and tasting, showing us first their small
winemaking, aging and bottling facility, then taking us for a drive
through some of their vineyards, and finally letting us taste the
entire range of their wines. The wines were impressive, and we
bought what little we could, given that our vacation was nearly over
and we had little room to pack any more into our luggage. But at
least I should be able to get some of the wines in Maine, hopefully
including the 2015 rosé,
which we particularly liked.
Dinocheau Wines Safely Home |
On Sunday morning, before leaving our
house we took a walk around Montrésor and along the Indrois River, which runs through the
middle of Montrésor. There's a walking path along the river, and
among other things it affords great views of Chateau de Montrésor
from a different angle than we had from our house.
After leaving Montrésor we drove
towards the Loire River, and thought about stopping in or around
Amboise to have a picnic. However, as we drove through Amboise we saw
that there was a huge fair and a market in the center of town, and
clearly no parking anywhere in the area, so we continued on. We
finally stopped in Chaumont, along the Loire, right by the Chateau de
Chaumont. We had a picnic along the river, then took a brief walk in
Chaumont before continuing towards Senlis, our final stop on the
trip.
Senlis is about 20-25 minutes from
Charles de Gaulle Airport, making it a good place to stay the last
night before flying out. We had stayed in Senlis twice before for
that reason, and found it to be a lovely town. It's a moderately
large old town with an imposing cathedral right in the center, and
also lots of places to stay and to dine. We had stayed at a small
hotel the 2 previous times, but this time I had booked a room at a
newly opened small B&B, Fab House. It turned out to be a
fantastic place to stay. Fabien, the young man who owns it (hence,
Fab House), had converted an old farm and stables into a lovely B&B
with just a few rooms. Fabien told us that he's a native of Senlis,
and lives right across from the B&B. Our room was beautifully
decorated and comfortable, and there was a kitchen for guests to use
and an excellent breakfast. Because it was Sunday, not many
restaurants were open for dinner, but we found a creperie that served
excellent crepes. We also spent some time walking around the old
part of Senlis both before and after dinner.
Senlis Cathedral |
Senlis Cat |
Monday morning we took another walk
around Senlis before leaving for the airport, and bought some bread
and pastries at a boulangerie. The drive to the airport was
uneventful except for the fact that I got on the A1 highway
(equivalent to an American interstate) going the wrong way, and had to
drive to the next exit to reverse direction and head towards the
airport. But we had plenty of time to spare, and arrived far earlier
than necessary. The rest of the return trip was uneventful, and no
more miserable than usual. And our cat was very surprised, and
happy, to see us again.
Glad you made it back safe and sound. What a wonderful trip you had! And how nice that you got to see Ken and Walt. Thanks again for letting me travel vicariously with you and Ann. One of these days, it's not going to be vicarious.
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