May 25 - Comings and Goings

Sadly, we had to deliver Clark and Janis to the train station in Angers as they start their way home. They'll spend the night in Paris and fly out tomorrow. We also had to buy a ticket for Judy for her trip back to Paris in a week.

The train station is easy to find in Angers and there's a handy 15 minute parking zone out front for delivering and picking up passengers. That part is no problem. However, the tracks the train will arrive on isn't posted until just a few minutes before boarding. So our getting there early isn't all that helpful, as we end up standing around with a few dozen of our nearest and dearest unknown passengers who are likewise waiting for their track to be posted.

So Judy and I make our way to the ticket sales area - the one with people staffing it - ignoring the dozens of ticket purchasing kiosks. Lovely lounge area with comfortable chairs for waiting one's turn once you have taken a number. And the number is chosen based on whether you want to travel today or at a future date. There's a reason for the comfortable chairs, as civilized as it is, because after 20 minutes, we're still waiting. Once the number was posted, we got up to be served but a little old lady decided at that moment that she needed help. We suspect she had missed when her number was called as she was sitting when we came in. But she had a long and complicated ticket purchase, and now we'd been waiting a half hour and are in danger of not being able to say good by to Janis and Clark. So I interrupt a different ticket seller, whose job was only handling tickets for today, but when I explained the issue, she took pity on us and sold Judy a ticket. That part when very smoothly. But in the middle Janis and Clark and Dave came in to say a quick (and inadequate) good-by as their track was posted.

So we got the ticket, but missed a long good-by to our travel companions for this past 7 weeks. Bittersweet parting.

Janis and Clark at Amboise

But not everyone is leaving us.

a walk 10 days ago

Judy's here for another week, our Belgian friends Dan and Paulette arrive tomorrow, and my sister Nancy arrives Saturday. Dan and Paulette leave on Sunday and our English friends, Ron and Chris, arrive the same day. One week later, when Ron and Chris leave, our New York friends Tom and Terri arrive. We are really excited to see all these fine folks. Except for my sister, these are not people we get to see regularly, so it's a treat to spend vacation time with them.

neighborhood horse

stone wine grower's hut

So now that you know the upcoming schedule, you can guess the remainder of our day. Groceries, market, and a bit of cleaning and laundry. Not a castle-storming kind of day, but an absolutely gorgeous day - sunny and warm, hot even - to be enjoying the house we've rented here in the Loire Valley.

The wine collection as of May 24

We ate lunch outside in our garden, with a bottle of rosé. Dave and Judy took a hike around St-Jean-des-Mauvrets where we had attended the wine fest just a few days ago. And we grilled salmon for dinner with left-over ratatouille, salad and a red wine after a some bread and cheese aperos with white wine.  So, Clark, are we keeping up? 3 bottles today - one of each color.

Photos today are from hikes around the area. Seems fitting for a day at home.

Buffles near Vauchrétien

No entry! buffalo, horses, electric fence

baby grapes