Travels with Claire and Clayton....

The second week of my past trip to France saw the arrival of Clayton and Claire from Saratoga Springs, NY. It was Claire's first trip to Europe and she was about as excited as a 6 year old on Christmas Eve. They flew directly into Montpellier Airport after an overnight flight to Charles De Gaulle, something I have never done but it worked out very well. Air France has so many connections for very little extra money that it perhaps makes sense to do this versus taking the train.

I got them settled in Christian and Corinne's charming Gite de Montlaur just steps away from the farm and after getting refreshed we hit the wine tasting trail (a rather short trail because wine tasting places are frequent and spitting is so gauche). But we visited Chateau Peuch Haut just minutes from the farm where one can see one of the fastest rising stars of the Langeudoc region in action, as well as St. Jean de L'Arbusier, an older and more tradtional family concern with chickens in the courtyard and Granpa peeking out at you around the doorframe, while you're tasting the wines his son and daughter-in-law make, both of whom are respected oenologists in the region.

Needless to say with their jet lag and more wine tastings we were planning on calling it an early night. But they had other intentions. Heading off to the market we bought a selection of foods and wines and made for the Farm to cook ourselves dinner. We tried many wines and much excellent food before capping off their first day with a wonderful selection of cheese and a fine glass of port by the fire.

On Sunday Claire & Clayton slept in a bit while Christian and I and his ister went to the antique flea market in Montpellier. It is a huge affari and they sell every concievable thing I could imagine. I was looking for a teapot and some chairs which I found easily as well as a bunch of other stuff for the farm. There were some beautiful antiques there but I didn't think the farm was ready for them yet. After returning to the Gites and waking Claire and Clayton we all went to an equine center, owned by a friend of Christian's where we had a barbecue picnic featuring a variety of meats traditional to the south of France and northern Spain, a region that still very much influences the tastes and culture of the Languedoc. The horses there were beautiful and i found out that riding could be done almost any day and lessons were available at very reasonable rates.

Sunday night we toured Montpellier, a beautiful southern French city, reputed to be the youngest city in France due to its large student population. The University of Montpellier, whose medical school was founded by Jean, the 1st, de Montlaur in the 1100's, has today 85,000 students in a town with an overall population of 400,000. As a result it is vibrant and vigourous with old and young alike walking the wide avenues and winding streets of this medieval town.

(more in Part Deux)