Carole and Claude come to Provence

Yesterday was bit of a blur. We zipped into Avignon with Tony and Jackie - in separate cars - and did both Tissus Gregoire and Auchan. Needless to say, they were suitably impressed with Auchan and it’s vastness. We actually got Jackie underwear shopping. Then Tony and Jackie returned to Cairanne and we went to the TGV station to pick up Carole and Claude, who were coming down from Paris. I was impressed by the size of this train station and the speed of the trains zipping through Avignon that weren’t stopping. It was quite exhilarating!

Carole and Claude arrived shortly after 5:00 pm on a huge train that was continuing on to Marseilles. We were very slow getting out of Avignon due to the hour and arrived in Cairanne at 6:30 where the festivities began. This = wine consumption. We had a great duck dinner with great Cairanne wine and that was pretty much it for the day.

Today was market in Vaison la Romaine and off we went. There were fewer people here this week which was nice and because this was Carole and Claude’s first Provencal market, we ambled from stall to stall.

Thank goodness the sun was shining, because the wind from the north got pretty brisk and chilly and we weren’t particularly dressed for it, but we prevailed.

I accomplished my goal with my “tomato lady”, who I can now call Vivianne. I told I’d been stalking her since 2002. I didn’t really say that, but I did say that she had the best sun dried tomatoes in the world and we’d been enjoying them since 2002 when we first saw her at the market in Bagnols sur Ceze. She was flattered and asked for my name and phone number. She actually only asked for my name, so now we’re on first name basis.

We left the market with chickens and potatoes and of course sundried tomatoes and had a great lunch back at Chez Pigeon with a magnum of white Chateauneuf du Pape.

After lunch, we did a fashion show of the underwear purchased yesterday. Sort of.

Then we took Carole and Claude on the two cent tour of Vieux Cairanne and took the requisite photos.

After a quiet remainder of the afternoon, we headed off to Serignan du Comtat for dinner at the one star Pre du Moulin. Our meal, as usual consisted of multi courses: champagne cocktail and amuse bouche to start; crab salad next; either gambas or foir gras next; pigeon or sea bass for main course; a cheese course from a wide selection of cheeses; and dessert, either Grand Marnier souffle or cherry shortbread melange.

We all agreed that we'd had a fabulous meal at a relatively fabulous price. The two white Cotes du Rhone wines we had were the cheapest part of the meal, at 54 euros for the two - Domaine la Janesse and Santa Duc. We arrived back at Chez Pigeon pretty late so it was lights out fairly quickly.