Cates' Visit

Wednesday, May 4 Allan and Eleanor arrived from their month-long driving trip through Spain and Portugal after arriving Barcelona by cruise ship.  We had a good visit includingWednesday night’s caprese salad and some local wine.  Thursday we had a drive around a couple of the hill-top villages in the Vaucluse, Oppede and Menerbe where it was market day.  Lunch was at Le Chene.   Friday we drove through the mountains and valley to Lourmarin for the wonderful market.  We enjoyed breakfast by buying sweet rolls at the bakery to eat at Cafe Gaby where we had their coffee.  Then we walked through the market making a few purchases as we went.  Lunch was today at one of our recent favorites, Le Petit Ecole (The little school) where we enjoyed the menu of the day and some local rose wine.  Saturday was a treat.  One of the local wineries, Aureto, put on a “Fete du Vigne and Vin” (Festival of vines and wine) including a little market where we bought some escargot and tapenade, tasted several of the wines then chose some of our favorite rose to really enjoy, 3 bottles.  They had a Dixieland Jazz trio, pony rides for the kids, lamb BBQ with potatoes and big baskets of a variety of breads.  It was a most enjoyable day and we bought a Provence melon before we left for our breakfast the next day.  Sunday we drove to Isle sur la Sorgue for the Sunday market arriving later than usual but were able to find two parking spaces at the train station.  We walked around the market and along the Sorgue river that runs right through the market.  We had made phone reservations in our best French at the Bellevue Restaurant for lunch for a table for four on the water.  We were identified as “Robert from Roussillon” but they did seat us on the water at a very nice table and we enjoyed lunch before making the long walk from the south end of the market back to the north station parking lot.  We said our goodbyes to Allan and Eleanor here as they were driving to Marseille to turn in their rental car and fly from Marseille to London where they would take a taxi to Southampton to board their Queen Mary II for their crossing to New York.  Don’t feel sorry for them as they will quickly get back to San Marcos, Texas, their home.  

Allan and Eleanor are what we refer to as “our dancing buddies” as we have attended lots of dances over the years at a variety of venues around Texas and New Mexico.