After an early cab ride and a plane trip next to a urine soaked passenger I got to Tours where Louise was waiting to pick me up. We took the hour-ish drive to her village of Saint-Mathurin sur Loires slowly, arriving at noon for a home cooked meal. After the food I took a coma like nap…. playing catchup on sleep after the weekend in Portugal.
In the afternoon Louise walked me around the extensive garden in the back yard and I got acquainted with the cats of the house; Zazou, Edda, and Charlie. Charlie recently had surgery and doesn’t seem like the brightest bulb but he happily followed us around the garden in search of scratches.
Afterwards we walked a loop around the rural block which took a half hour. Louise explained in her extreme boredom growing up in the country she took this walk many times.
For dinner we had a vegetables pie from the garden and an assortment of cheese.
Today we woke up early and after a quick breakfast spent the rest of the morning getting our India visas organized. The indian site was quirky depending on what browser you used and getting through the system took more than three hours. Eventually our payments got processed and we’ll have an answer on the e-tourist visa with the next three days.
For lunch we had a delicious beef stew with carrots and a side of fresh garden vegetables. Afterwards Louise & I drove to Vueve Amiot, a wine producer in Saumur, for a free tour of the cellar and tasting. The guide explained that the “cave” was founded in the mid 1800’s by a widow (Vueve means widow in french). The lady was far ahead of her time, providing an on site school for the children of employees and hiring women to work alongside men.
The guide also explained the process for producing the Champagne-like sparkling wine. White wine is purchased from local producers, bottled, and then sugar and yeast are added before sealing the bottle with a cap. The bottles are then stored horizontally anywhere from 6 months to three years as they carbonate. Once the second fermentation is complete, the upside down bottles are frozen at the very tip to solidify the residual sediment from the process and the carbonation forces out this mini ice cube before a machine corks the bottle for sale.
On the way back from the winery I remarked to Louise that it seemed like France doesn’t really have any major highways. She explained that there are many in France, but several years ago the government sold the rights to the highways to a private company. In exchange, tolls are extremely high and most people opt to use country roads unless they’re traveling cross country.
While we drove, a Louise’s parents SD card pumped out tunes from Mylene Farmer, the “madonna of france.” This 80’s tune talked about a girl growing up wanting to be a boy. For some reason it reminded me of Die Antwoord.
Unfortunately on my second day in Portugal my iPhone pooped out. RIP. Because of this there will be fewer photos in the next couple posts.
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