Saturday found us not at all jet lagged and we prepared for the onslaught of the grandchildren and their parents. A pleasant morning was spent at the market in nearby Cordes Sur Ciel. Cordes is a medieval bastide- a town planned and built for the peasants who worked the land for the nobles of a particular geographic region. The market was held in the town square at the base of the bastide and was charming. We purchased fresh produce, tasty crepes, outstanding foie gras and paella for our evening meal. We took the sightseeing train to the top of the precipice , explored the preserved city, marveled at the panoramic vistas and then ambled down to the bottom. Negotiating the market was not too difficult even with limited French but figuring out exactly how to pay for parking proved to be more of a challenge. OK, so we made the maximum and didn't have to. Actually we did the same thing the day before on the toll road from Toulouse to Albi because we couldn't totally comprehend the directions quickly enough at the tollbooth.
The remainder of the day we settled in with a visit to the supermarket i.e. Super U where we were entranced with the displays of beautiful cheeses and wines. The most perplexing decision was what milk to choose for the children. The milk is all packaged without need of refrigeration until opened ( the Europeans are so far ahead of us ) and there were copious choices. We laid in yet more fruit, special cereal "Petales" which was rice flakes and chucks of dark chocolate, Kinder eggs, cheeses, breads, wines and the ingredients for pasta sauce so that the Sunday evening meal could be staged before the airport run. All the planning ahead was fortuitous as Sunday arrivals did not exactly conform to plans!
The weather at this point was not as we had hoped and I rapidly learned to wear my jersey pants, teeshirt, jersey hoodie and socks to bed. We didn't know how to turn on the heat and the stone house was just plain cold. Sometimes it was warmer outside than in and the smoking group : Paul, PE and Idanna spent a lot of time on the terrace area by the pool. Admittedly the only time I felt really warm for the first few days was when I was taking a shower.
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