Week 2: Allons Explorer!

Day Dix

Our intent had been to celebrate our wedding anniversary (one absolutely must distinguish between an anniversaire – the word for birthday – and anniversaire de marriage – wedding anniversary, otherwise comical conversations can result) with a trip to Dune de Pyla and dinner out, but oversleeping and confusion with our host’s plans demanded a recalculation – and turns out we’re pretty good at coming up with a Plan B! As Heather worked, the rest of the family set out to explore the local castle. Not 6 kilometers away is the Chateau de Rauzan, one of the many fortresses in the area established by the English in the Middle Ages when the entire region (along with several neighboring regions) were in constant dispute between the English and the French. Perhaps your grade-school history class mentioned “The Hundred Years’ War”? This is where that happened! This one was built some time in the 12^th century, and was granted in 1225 to Rudel the Elder (a Rauzan) by King Henry III.

After hiking up the many castle tower stairs, the kids and Brian enjoyed lunch from a nearby casual restaurant. And a pretty drive home.

Day Onze

At long last, we made it to the Dune de Pyla (or Dune de Pilat – we have yet to find an answer to what determines when one uses one or the other spelling)! This giant sand dune is about a 90 minute drive from our part of the Gironde, and about 30 minutes south of the major city of Bordeaux. And, of course, as we pulled into the parking lot after the lengthy drive we discovered that we had forgotten the baby carrier. Time for a bicep workout!

Wilson may have been more excited for this than for any part of the adventure so far. After the march up the (new since 2016) stairs, our boy was off and running faster than we could keep up. He zoomed down the sand mountain to touch the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in his life. Fortunately, Brian caught up to Wilson before too much panic had been induced in the hearts of these poor parents, and Felicity got to play in the world’s most impressive sensory table while we waited. After we’d had our fill of sun and carrying a squirmy baby uphill through slippery sand, we paused for a picnic lunch from one of the (also new) food vendors at the base of the dune, then had a pleasant drive back to our retreat among the vineyards as the children napped.

 

After some meetings and work for Heather, we headed to the town of St. Emillion, one of the most formidable wine centers in the world, for a dinner to celebrate our anniversaire de marriage. It was our first dinner at a restaurant, and we were quite nervous about how they might react to children. Fortunately, the server was lovely, as were the people (also tourists) at the neighboring tables, and except for a bit of fussing at the start from Felicity, the children were on their best “restaurant behavior.” The adults each had two glasses of St. Emillion wine, from the same chateau de vignobles but two different years (2018 vs 2015) for comparison. Wilson’s special treat was a dessert (the size of his head!) of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and poached pears. It was a quiet, day-late, and lovely way to celebrate 15 years of a marriage full of fun adventure.