Winter is here! A visit to Nantes and Bordeaux and holidays in Kerdruc!

2017 Christmas Tree

It has been much colder this Fall and Winter so far and now it is almost New Year's Day and it has been rainy for days and will continue for days….Maybe we're getting the wet weather through the jet stream from the East Coast.  

Car window broken

In November, we had a visit from Wayne and Peggy from Denver.  They were heading to Spain for a longer vacation, but we have always wanted to see Bordeaux, so we headed south.  The first night we stayed in Nantes and arrived in time for lunch where we parked in a huge parking lot in front of the restaurant with people coming and going all through the lunch hour.  When we got back to our car, it was a disaster with small side window broken, and lucky for Tom and me, only our luggage was riffled through.  What we did lose was a backpack with Tom's expensive work computer and my iPad.  Wayne and Peggy lost everything including cash, kindles, Peggy's passport and a laptop.  Their luggage was taken with ALL of their clothing.  So, we spent lots of time searching the area around the restaurant looking for possible places where our things might have been dumped and visiting the Police to make a report.  Our computers were not locked so we had to cancel our bank accounts and credit cards.  We were not the only car broken into….lots of broken car glass around.  The next day we went to a Carglass garage and a temporary plastic piece was taped and a replacement was ordered to be sent to Bordeaux for replacement on Monday.  Bordeaux was a beautiful city and we especially loved a trip to St. Emilion for lunch.  Wayne and Peggy left a day earlier to go to Paris to get a new passport and then they flew on to Rome where they met their daughter and her husband who had planned their trip long ago.  They were able to tell the kids what things they needed for the rest of their trip.  What an awful experience!  Also read recently that Rick Steves had his wallet stolen this summer in Paris….a first time for everything….even one who has travelled his whole life!  

St. Emilion

Pretty Bordeaux

Christmas was very quiet for us and considering the wet weather, a nice rest indoors.  Calla is loving her new Mimo (cat) and enjoying the quiet in Washington while all the out of towners are away! She can commute to work in half the time!!!!!  We are now looking forward to seeing Calla in April/May for a 2 week trip to Stockholm and Oland.  We have also set a date for Jambalaya #40….July 28th.  Calla will be here with us for 10 days!  She is a wonderful daughter to help us with the big day!!!!!  

Red and green seaweed for Christmas at the beach