Bonjour!
I am
finally here, after what was the absolute worst trip of my life. My plane to Boston was delayed because of storms there, so I was rerouted to JFK. Mid-flight they announced we would land in Baltimore because of storms in NY. We refueled there, and then took off again for JFK. Turns out there were still storms, so we circled the airport for a while, which was very nauseating. After landing 5.5 hours after take-off - it should have been a 2 hour flight - I had 10 minutes to run all the way across the terminal (which was
huge) and up a broken escalator roughly the size of Mt Everest in order to catch my plane to France......it ended up not taking off for another 2 hours. By this time it was 1 am. I slept some on the plane but not well...I awoke once around 2 because they were serving us chicken or lasagna - just exactly what you want in the middle of a restless night of sleep, non? - and again for croissants. My train was leaving at 1:37...and I arrived at 1:35. Customs wasn`t a problem but my bag didn`t make it, despite the fact they had several hours to put it on the plane. I spent a while with the baggage people, and eventually found my way to the train station. I spoke with an agent, who said that I could have changed my ticket to a later train..... but only up to an hour after the train left: I was 15 minutes too late. Thankfully, the agent was very kind and helpful, and I got a new ticket for later in the afternoon. I tried to call my parents but, of course, I couldn`t make my French phone work. I was SO GLAD to say the least when my dad called me. It got better from there: I got a delicious sandwich (saucisson, pickles, & butter on a delicious mini baguette), because I hadn`t eaten since the croissant, and everything with the trains went smoothly! Finally.
I was greeted at the train station by a friend of Jonathan`s (my contact here, who owns Le Moulin Bregeon) and her friend, who reminded me a lot of my mom. We chatted in French on the way to the
trés petit village. They complimented my French and said I spoke with "
les mots justes" (roughly `just the right words`), which I was very happy to hear, especially coming from a native speaker. We arrived at the Moulin during dinner, which included lentils with some kind of very soft pork and pretty green & white gourds (or some kind of vegetable), roasted chicken (yes, Mom, I enjoyed it) with some interesting white cylindrical vegetable ("something between a potato....and something else," according to Jonathan), and a glass of wonderful, probably local rosé wine.
Then, since it was Jonathan`s birthday on Friday, we had cake, which was made by some friends of his who own a patisserie (pastry shop, basically) nearby. The cake said, in French, "Happy Birthday Jonathan! 20 years". I told him that it was neat that we are the same age.
Aside from the owners of the patisserie, Jonathan, the two women who picked me up, and myself, there was also Bernard and Pascal - co-proprietors of the Moulin - and the Moulin guests. The wife of the director of Heroes is here with her kids, as is a man (and his wife and kids) who used to write for the Conan O`Brian show (is that his name? I don`t watch it) and for the Curious George movie. Apparently the creators of the Simpsons were here earlier in the week, and Barbara Streisand was here a few years ago. Jiminy cricket! I know. I sat and talked with them for a while and then helped clean up.
Eventually, Jonathan and I went back to the village and he showed me the building where we stay. It seems really old - maybe 1800`s?....Jonathan gave me his room for the evening, because he hadn`t yet figured out where we all would sleep because his nephew and a friend are coming tomorrow morning. My bed was made with beautiful linens - literally: "we only use very very old French linen here," Jonathan told me. The building - I think it used to be a dry goods store - has more rooms than I expected, and several different staircases. The view out my temporary bedroom window included a very old barn and the beautiful house of one of Napoleon`s mother`s descendants. Unreal.
I woke up this morning around 8, and I was surprisingly refreshed, despite the fact that it was still only 2 am in NC. I looked around the house and didn`t see or hear anyone, and I had heard a car leaving earlier, so I figured everyone had gone to the Moulin for breakfast. Since there didn`t seem to be food there, I decided to walk to the Moulin. It was a very pretty walk. When I arrived, Bernard was surprised to see me...apparently Jonathan and Pascal sleep in late, and they all expected that I would, too. Mais non! I ate breakfast and helped clean (the guests were gone somewhere).....cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing floors and bathrooms, hanging laundry. Being here is like being Cinderella, but living in both of her worlds at once. Tonight they`re having a party and some very famous wine makers (vinters?) are coming - so well-known that I "would
never be able to get in to see their vineyards," Jonathan told me. Sounds interesting.
One side of the 'front yard' of the Moulin. Just beyond the bridge (not in the picture), the creek goes under the Moulin (mill, in French) which is where it turned the water wheel [which is now raised up into the dining room so it can be appreciated rather than rotting uselessly in the water].
The front of the Moulin!
I think this is where the flour was ground.
