In the middle of January, I drove to the South of France to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. I was not the only one to make this very special trip as you will see later.
I decided to leave early (on Friday) and male a first stop in the best wine growing town in the world (obviously my opinion that can be disputed by many, many people). Indeed I stopped in the heart of the Cote du Rhone, in Chateau Neuf du Pape.
I arrived early and therefore decided to enjoy the local culture – I stopped at Chateau Mont Redon, Chateau La Gardinne and Chateau Fortia. When the trunk of my car was full of 84 bottles, I decided it was time to stop and went to the restaurant where I had booked a room. It is a common practice in this region for top quality restaurants to also offer rooms so that guests do not have to drive after a really good meal and La Sommellerie is one such restaurants.
They are located cose to the Rhone River, about 4 km out of town in an old farm house. Since I was too early for dinner, I decided to go for a walk and discovered, quite accidentally that Chateau Neuf du Pape has a “River Stop”. I had to investigate.
It is just a place for ships to moor – I wonder what ships and when as all this looks very new. However, I am enjoying the sunset and, as you know, I like to take photos of good sunsets, so I spent a few minutes there …
A sunset panorama is new for me. With the river, the sky, and everything else, I decided to experiment. You may have to scroll right to see the full effect of this one.
One more before I go for a really good meal.
On Saturday, I stopped in Beaumont for old time sake.
I later drove to Cassis and decided to take the scenic road.
We were supposed to meet my parents in a restaurant in Cassis at 7:30. My mother did not know exactly what was happening, but she suspected something because my father received lot’s of SMSs during the day, and they usually do not go to dinner on Saturday evening.
We reconnected as we were waiting in front of the restaurant. Anne and Tyl here.
Antoine was having fun – he probably did not expect me to actually post this one…
Marco was there, or course, after paying cash for a their ticket…
My mother arrived and was indeed surprised to see how many people were there.
with Anne Marie, who lives in Cassisand was in on the surprise, of course. I stayed with them and they helped me getting most people from the train station to the hotel.
Guy and Mimi …
A table full of friend and family.
On Sunday, we had a buffet lunch at Guy and Anne Marie’s house and had the most incredible conversation I can ever remember. With three generations and 14 people around the table, we de-constructed and re-constructed the world, Europe and Belgium in a continuous debate that really taxed all our intellectual skills. I was tired by the time I got on the road at about 15:30. Fortunately, I only had to drive to Lyon where I was planning to spend the night.
A wonderful week-end once again…
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Great party for your mother. 80 is a big milestone for anyone, but especially for her, I think! 😛 The sunset panorama is actually pretty good although I think the last sunset pic is the best. Looks like the Monday nights are paying off…
Pierre, multi-generational reunions are always a blast, because there’s always so many perspectives on the same world. Your family looks to be doing well (with the younger ones becoming more mature … not unexpectedly, but always a reset of mindset).