Day 10--I think I found my true calling

Isla woke up at about 7:30 and we let her play in bed for a bit because we were exhausted. Somehow we must have fallen back asleep because we didn't get up for breakfast until around 9 or 9:30! I was embarrassed to realize that all the other guests had already finished their meal and were on their way with the day. Oops.

We'd packed enough clothes for about 10-11 days with the intent of doing laundry here at the B&B since it was the approximate midpoint of our trip. It was SO nice to have a washer available for guest use! After starting a load of wash, we sat down to a breakfast of strawberries, kiwi (Isla's first!), melon and banana, most of which was fresh from the farmer up the road. We also had croissants with various homemade confits (fig, strawberry, green tomato, kiwi and orange). The jams came in these adorable little white dishes with personal-sized mini chalkboard labeling their contents in French cursive. What a neat touch! (Can you tell yet that I loved everything about this place?!) We also had delicious espresso/coffee from Monique's Nespresso machine (this is important...you'll see) and yogurt. Of course all of this was enjoyed on the outdoor, stone patio. Divine!

When we'd finished eating, Monique pulled out her maps and suggested a local route to explore for a taste of Provence and its local vineyards and hilltop villages. We went to our room to finish getting and of course Isla decided to fall asleep. So, we postponed our departure and I started another load of laundry and hung the other on the clothesline to dry (The Provencal French winds dried our clothes! Can it get any more romantic than that? Ok, I'm obsessed. But seriously, I really do think they smelled better and felt softer as a result. It was awesome).

We finally got on the road around noon which is French siesta time so everything was closed. Our first stop was a highly praised vineyard, Domaine de Durban. We had to travel up a narrow windy road to get to it. It was up on top of a hill a so the view was amazing! The following photos were taken on the drive up the hill. Notice some of the rocks/rocky hills. I was surprised at how dry the area was. Oh, and it's important to note that the air smelled absolutely incredible. We drove with the windows open just to soak in the sweet scent.

We arrived at the vineyard to find that it was of course closed with this sign posted on the door:

We have no idea what the sign said, but doesn't it make a cute picture? Graham thought he read something about a "terrace" and so was really worried that they were serving some fabulous multi-course meal, complete with wine pairings on some hidden terrace and we were missing it. He wanted to wander around the back of the buildings "just to be sure" but I was too embarrassed and kept telling him that we couldn't just bust into a private luncheon uninvited. Who knows? He could have been right and we could have missed an experience of a lifetime. I guess we'll never know.

We finally gave up on the terrace lunch idea and headed onward to Gigondas where we figured we'd find our own lunch to pass the time until the tasting rooms opened again at 2 PM. We stumbled upon one very busy and overpriced tasting room off the main square and sampled a couple of wines. The place was too hoity toity for us so it wasn't long before we headed back to the main square area shaded by these gorgeous old trees.

We wandered by a few restaurants and settled on this one, Gourmand. Don't you love the real chalkboard menus?

It was bustling and busy but we were able to snag a patio table after only a short wait. The waitress didn't speak much English but kindly accommodated Isla and her stroller. Graham ordered ravioli with greens and I had a mesclun salad with jamon, sun dried tomatoes, pate and olive oil and was served along with bread and tapenade. It was a great meal the we loved the setting. The only downer was the probably-retired German couple that kept giving Graham (who was holding Isla) the eye. Apparently our baby was disrupting their lunch. And she wasn't even doing anything! How can you not love an adorable face like this?

Following lunch, we stopped in at the Caveau de Gigondas where they offered complimentary pours from little glass bottles. We tried probably the most fragrant wine I have ever tasted. It smelled just like coconut! I'd never smelled anything like it--it was like sniffing a pina colada, not a glass of red wine! Why we didn't buy a bottle is beyond me. Oh yeah, I remember why. It was at least $50 and you know, we're not big spenders. I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I wrote "Jean Pierre Cavee" in my journal but I'm pretty sure that's like saying "From Chateau Ste Michelle Vineyard." It doesn't say a whole lot and my Google searches keep coming up empty. Maybe Graham will remember...

After trying a couple other wines, we drove on and parked at a lot near Seguret, another cute hilltop town. We made the short but steep hike up the cobbled path (I love the stone buildings!) to a viewpoint.

We we able to look down into the valley and admire Provence spread out before us. Don't mind Isla's hand placement in this shot. I'm must be used to it because I didn't even feel it to reposition her...I must admit, it is sort of comical.

The best self-portrait family shot we could come up with...

The next stop on our "Wine Road" tour was Domaine de Mourchon. The staff there spoke English which was really nice and we learned that much of French wine is aged in cement, not in oak barrels! How crazy is that!? Graham and I were shocked to learn this as many of the wines we'd been trying had what we would have termed an "oaky" flavor. Apparently the soil over here (or terroir as we liked to call it) is so rich over here that the oak is not needed to make a flavorful wine.

Our final stop for the day was the tiny town of Suzette. It looked pretty cute but Isla had finally fallen asleep in her car seat after being awake the entire afternoon and we were both getting tired so we didn't get out of the car and decided to call it an afternoon. We headed back to our B&B just as the clouds were starting to move in. Graham made use of the pool and took a quick dunk while Isla and I played in the grass outside.

We opted to eat in, since we had a kitchenette available and so Graham offered to take Isla with him to the store to allow me a few minutes of alone time to relax and blog. Of course, he forgot about the no shopping car/no grocery bag rule at the French grocery stores....that must have been interesting, carrying a baby and groceries!

Shortly before dinner, it began to rain and so I ran out to retrieve our laundry from the clothes line only to discover it was missing! We were out in the middle of the country so I was pretty sure it had been rescued by Monique before the rain started.

Chef Graham prepared us Alsatian pasta with olive oil, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and shrimp and a mesclun salad with tomato, gouda (we figured out that's what our mystery orange cheese from the day before was), olive oil and balsamic. Monique provided us our evening glass of Rose which we saved and sipped with dinner.

I did the dishes while Graham put Isla down for the night. It felt really weird to have to wash plates after 10 days of eating out. Graham and I sat in the pool lounge chairs and enjoyed a nice conversation while Isla slept. Monique appeared with our laundry and we had a great chat about how she and her husband had come upon this lovely-old-farmhouse-now-completely-redone-B&B. Apparently, when they first saw the place, it was completely overgrown and the grass was at least 4 feet high. To this day they aren't even sure how old the farmhouse is but they estimate between 150-200 year. She shared with us that they didn't even know the room we stayed in existed until a while after owning the place. They just happened to be outside counting windows when they realized their was one that they could not account for. They ended up punching a hole in the ceiling and discovering the huge space we stayed in. Sounds like a book, doesn't it?

Here is one of the lovely windows in our room, a port hole!

A closer look at the view out our window. Pretty great if I do say so myself!