Sunday, May 28 – Canal du Midi: Ramonville-St-Agne to Baziège
(Including all the pictures that were to be included on the last attempt).
Martine continued her thoughtful service today with a lovely breakfast tray:
At 10:30 we headed out suspecting it would be a grueling day. 13+ miles later, we’re sure. Luckily, we found Donostia, a restaurant in Montgiscard about 10 miles in where we were able to spend a short while before continuing to Chateau Lamothe, our BnB.
Donostia (the Basque name for San Sebastian, Spain)
Château Lamothe
Our room at Château Lamothe
Our Curious Night at Château Lamothe:
Fred and Laurent purchased the château 14 months before our visit. Fred, a former bartender, and Laurent, a former law professor, had been living in Switzerland but wanted to move closer to Fred’s daughter and do something new in life. After viewing several properties, they settled on the château, purchased it, and began minor restorations, aided by friends and family. Their intention, as far as we could tell, was to create a place where they could entertain friends, family, and guests, all the while making a decent living.
Upon arriving, we were impressed with the château’s symmetrical brick façade. We rang at the gate, and Fred appeared, dressed in bathing trunks and flip-flops. Greeting us enthusiastically, he showed us around the main building, the dining areas, our room, the pool, and the spa. He explained that if I didn’t have a bathing suit, not to worry, a bra and panties would do!
At 6pm we headed to the terrace to enjoy a cocktail, having been informed dinner would be served at 7pm. At 7:30pm, we requested something to snack on since dinner was clearly delayed. At this point, Laurent explained that we would be dining with our two hosts, some of their friends, and other hotel guests. The hosts and their friends had been drinking and smoking at an adjacent table for several hours by this time. After a quick consultation with Dave, I decided to risk offending my hosts and ask to dine separately. Laurent initially said “no”, but I explained that we were exhausted and wouldn’t be good company. He then consulted with Fred, and an agreement was reached. We could dine apart from the smoking, drinking, fast-talking French group. Thank-goodness; we were not in the mood for a raucous dining experience.
Having decided on a red wine for dinner, we asked for the wine list, and were presented with:
We chose the one on the right.
At 9:30pm dinner was served. You can imagine everyone’s condition by then. The food, prepared by a mysterious “partner” was excellent and included a vegetarian “parmentier”. A parmentier is simply a potato dish and is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737-1813) who devoted his life to promoting potatoes, having learned of their nutritional importance during his experience as a POW in Germany.
The appetizers… yes, they burned some.
Admittedly, it doesn’t look pretty, but it was good!
Jury is out on this one, but we wish them luck!
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