Walls in France: Eating, drinking and being merry!

We were thrilled to have the Muir visit to look forward to after Christmas. Besides being excited about hanging out with friends and showing them our town, it was a great excuse for me to go ahead and take down the tree and put away our (minimal!) decorations! They took the TGV from Gare de Lyon in Paris down to Avignon on December 27th. I had given them some hints about train travel (like making sure to stamp your ticket at the yellow machines before boarding) and their trip was easy. Since they had been so busy sightseeing in Paris, and we had spent a couple of days there with them, we decided that during their visit to Eygalieres, we would see a couple of the required tourist attractions in the area, but spend most of our time being lazy and eating and drinking and being merry. So, we showed them our town (the oohed and aahed at the views from the hill), Glanum, the ancient Roman ruins in St. Remy, and St. Paul-de-Masoule, the hospital where Vincent Van Gogh stayed. Then, we focused on being lazy, eating, drinking and being merry. We played Scrabble and Spades, visited local wineries, shopped in Avignon and St. Remy. Hank worked in the yard (getting rid of the yucca – yeh!), the girls (after Kathleen recuperated - she had the stomach flu for a few days) played in the yard and hung out in the fig tree, and Barb, Bucky and I chatted. We focused on what to eat for the next meal and what wine to pair with it. We went through the Julia Child cookbook and Barb made a fabulous batch of onion soup (I was the sous chef) and Bucky attempted a chicken recipe that used a casserole and it was less than successful – although it did make for lots of laughs in the long run! We rang in the New Year with champagne and a strange French TV show and continued to be lazy, eat, drink and be merry on the first day of 2010. The Muirs left on the 2nd and after much adieu in various airports across Europe and the US, made it safely home. Their visit was wonderful and we are so glad they came to see us in Eygalieres after Christmas. Lots of memories were made as we ate, drank and were merry!