France: Thursday Sept. 3

The first morning, I woke before Charles (yes, this was highly unusual) and peered out of the bathroom window. I began to tear up again at the site: a warm and lush country hillside scattered with houses here and there. The Tower of Crest finishing the scene to the left as it lorded over the town. It was quiet, calm and peaceful.

I went upstairs to have my breakfast which consisted of local bread

s and my aunt's homemade preserves and some tea. I still couldn't stop smiling. I still couldn't believe I was finally here. I got ready, but Charles was still sleeping. Apparently, I got over the jet lag much sooner than he. So I made him some coffee with which to wake him. Shortly after, lunch was served by my aunt who is an amazing cook. The meals were simple, yet full of flavor. She served in an old-fashioned manner with separate courses. You don't think you're eating a lot at the time, but by the end of it all, you're quite full. The topper to the meals were usually a variety of cheeses (4 or 5) on a large platter. Just one or two bites of each was enough to suffice as they were quite rich. 

In the afternoon, we fetched our rental car in town from a very amicable man with a handlebar mustache by the name of Albert Sorin. We rented the only car with an automatic transmission he had. (We figured driving in a foreign country was not the best time to learn how to drive a stick-shift.) As soon as we had the car, we went into town and started looking around. My mother showed us the old church in the town square and we eventually made our way up the winding, narrow cobble-stoned streets to the house were she used to live on the Rue Cote Chaud. We already knew from my uncle that it was currently closed off for renovations and has been for some time now. We could not see inside the courtyard where many families lived in several apartments of the one building. We went up further and saw the house where my uncle was born. This was in much nicer condition.

It was getting late in the afternoon, so we returned to the house for dinner. I wish I could remember each meal Suzanne prepared. The vegetables and meat were always locally raised so they were essentially organic. A gourmet restaurant could not have fed us much better. Sometimes we had ice cream for dessert.