A week and a half after we arrived at Chevanceaux, my mum and dad came to visit for a week. They flew into Bordeaux airport and I drove down with the kids to pick them up.
The first few days the weather was still really hot, so we didn’t do a lot. There was pool time, grocery shopping, chilled pineau and wine, barbecued dinners eaten outside.
On Saturday we decided to get out and see something, so we drove to Blaye, on the coast of the Gironde estuary. There’s a fort there, and on Saturday afternoon there was a market. We wandered around a bit, explored the fort, and ran across rehearsals for some sort of Three Musketeers production with full costumes, horses, and sword-fighting. It was fun to sit and watch for a while. I couldn’t understand much of what they were saying, but then I’m not sure I would’ve been able to make it out even if it was English!
Eric and I were able to go out for dinner on Saturday evening, to the local restaurant. It was interesting, the food and wine were good (and the company of course!), but I was surprised how very large the portions were and I was rather uncomfortably full on the walk home.
The weather really cooled down on Sunday. On Monday we visited Jonzac, one of the bigger local towns. It has a chateau, and was a nice place to walk around for a bit, but on a Monday lots of things were closed and it felt a bit deserted. We walked down a long medieval alley which seemed to go on and on and on, under buildings and around corners. Apparently it was one of the only ways into the city itself, apart from the gates, and it was useful because it was easy to defend, with so many twists and turns where it could be blocked off.
The last day of their visit was pretty rainy, and they encouraged me to go to the local coffee shop with them in an effort to interact more in French. I’ve been generally disappointed with how much speaking practice I’m getting, but part of that is not getting myself out there and into situations that require it. I really will have to try harder.