Chagnolet

Well, it turns out the airbnb I booked wasn’t actually in La Rochelle, but in a small village called Chagnolet (Shan-you-lay). … near … La Rochelle. That’s what I get for using those little tiny maps that shows all of France. Mais oui, Je suis ici. The lady was super nice when I go here and ushered me in to her home. She insisted on carrying one of my bags upstairs for me too. She offered me tea. Lovely. We ran into one snag… internet. We managed to get the code entered correctly on my i-phone, all TWENTY-SEVEN digits of it in a random order of mostly capital letters interspersed with numbers - go try that one day, OMG. It only took about 17 tries and I didn’t cry even once. Then I found out that intent doesn't work in my room, the signal won’t go through the old stone walls so well. Oh well, it works great in the kitchen.

The next morning Ghislaine took me to the grocery store and I spent a few minutes looking for feta cheese before it dawned on me that d’uh, I was in France… Ok, Emmenthal for the salad and chèvre for the bread. She risked when I went to buy the cheaper Spanish strawberries, ‘no, no, no, those are Spanish, the French ones are much better”… Did I need to hear more to know for sure that Spain and France still have a love-hate relationship after more than 1000 years!

Ghislaine had to go to the doctor and I went out and walked around the village soaking in the rustic beauty of it all. So relaxing.

We came back and both made delicious salads for lunch and ate them with french bread and french cheese.

Ghislaine offered to take me into La Rochelle in the afternoon and show me around. It was the most lovely afternoon I have had since I have left home, and maybe for a long time before that too, strolling through parks and history and eating crepes on the waterfront.

Ghislaine put up with me and all my crazy questions “comment dite vous this and comment site vous that. .

The house is lovely, my host is lovely. She has now offered to drive me to the train station this morning. I love airbnb for connecting me with wonderful people. She is making lemon cake this morning with lemons from her own tree and Canela her sweet little cat is purring in the corner.