Saturday, 13 June

We have an earlier breakfast which is a pretty decent smorgasbord.

We have a very full day ahead of us so start out relatively early at 10:00. A smaller bus picks us up – the driver had lived in Brisbane for 19 years. It is another gray day but the weather generally held out.

The Caviare Farm

The first stop is a water farm where Sturgeon are raised to eventually produce caviare. It was a little difficult to find but definitely worth it.

A worker arrived and was to be our guide, a very good one although his English was limited. We walk down to where the fish are. Greeted by 4 German Shepherds barking away.

We were at tanks that had smaller Sturgeon at first and we tried to take photos of them jumping our of the water but in general they were too quick for us.

We moved to another part of the farm where there was a different kind of Sturgeon.

That was the end of the tour. Colin had wanted to buy some of the fresh caviare but the shop was still not open even though it had agreed to do so on Wednesday. We try a shop in town but there was none there either.

Aussie BBQ

The next event is a BBQ at an ex-pat Australian’s “small” farm house. Kate had moved here about 9 years ago with her husband only for him to die a short time after wards. She stayed on and manages the whole thing by herself, including horses, goats, chickens, etc. The house has two separate sections of 3 bedrooms each for guests. Colin stays here every Christmas.

Near the end I met up with some of the animals – the Goats, a Horse and some chooks. The weather was stunning and I believe that I got a bit of a tan. It was a sad goodbye to depart. Colin had left some clothes from last Christmas which he brought back on the bus.

St Emilion

On our way back, the bus driver took us to the bus depot. There waiting was his wife who had managed to buy caviare and passed it over to Colin. Alls well that ends well.

The bus then drove on and stopped in St Emilion. Most of the troops got off, including JV, to have a look around. I went back for a snooze, of course.

A sad event occurred in town. One of our troops, Nonna, cut her leg open. There was lots of blood, she is on blood thinners. The local Pharmacist came out and did what she could but said that Nonna should really go to a hospital for stitches. So Nonna, Robbie and Mouse caught a taxi to the next town where they were there for much of the evening and hence missed out on the wonderful meal we were to have that night.

The following are photos JV took after the dinner.

The Duck Rescue

JV was going to walk back but Colin and her grabbed a cab instead. Back at the Chateau, JV found a lost little duckling in the hotel.

Naturally, the duckling needed to be rescued. JV with help of others carried it to the pond. It swam out there gratefully and eventually was joined by the Mother.

The Mistress

We catch taxis into town albeit with a screw up of meeting times. When we get there, people, mostly in sits, are everywhere with Police blocking off roads to where we wanted to go. It turns out that the ex-Presidents Mistress was in town for some function with lots of people attending. Ah, the French.

Hostellerie de Plaisance

This is a two Michelin star restaurant for tonight. The Police have blocked off some roads so we had to walk a ways to get the.

It is then that we learn about Nonna’s accident and the reduced numbers. We go to our private room which is set-up with two round tables of six.

The Head Waiter asked if we had any food problems. I told him that I could not do the Egg course, as did Simone and did not eat desserts. That was no problem, he said.

We go to catch the taxi back to the farm. We are in the first group and the taxi “is waiting for us at the pharmacy”. Of course, it is not there and we wander around for ages until eventually our old favourite van shows up. It takes us back home and then heads to to collect the rest of the group.

A stunning day. The next morning, both Jeremy and Colin compare this against the 3 Star Per Se we did in NYC last year. Their view was that the building, the room, the view, the service, the food and the wine were better than Per Se. I remain sitting on the fence with that comparison and the Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London 10 days ago. Suffice to say, all were great.