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| A warm welcome. Wine and a cozy fire. |
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| Norma have always had these 7 orange cats |
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| where I stayed inside the gite (a restored old barn that is their winter house) |
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| Norma and the chateau |
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| Years and years of restoring this 15th century chateau |
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| Norma collects French antiques which fill the chateau |
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| very old champagne bottles |
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| the banquet hall across from the chateau |
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| Christmas market in town |
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| these geese marched to the music! |
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| we got to visit with Coco and Gary! |
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| they breed Friesian horses! |
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| this cow is what Limousin is known for, it produces excellent beef |
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| love the stone work! |
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| these steps have been walked up and down for over 500 years, there is a groove in the center from all the inhabitats |
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| can never get enough duck! |
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| Norma |
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| Rini put this fencing in for the horses, it's gorgeous! |
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| they also have an old chapel they turned into a home |
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| Rini, one of the most incredible contractors/artist/builder |
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| inside the chapel |
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| Rini built us a Christmas bonfire, we drank champagne and watched the moon |
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| just when I was thinking "we've had everything but oysters, Pierre pops by with oysters and lobsters he just brought from the sea! |
France. A long awaited trip. It'd been 3 years since I was last here and I was so miserably heart broken that I didn't really soak it in. Ever since, I have been longing to be back at Chateau Montautre.
I've had so many thoughts and so many reflections that I don't know where to start. I ended up at this bed and breakfast in central France 10 years ago. I had fallen in love with a French man on the camino pilgrimage in Spain and to be closer to him, I took a nanny job in Belgium but was promptly fired in a day. I went to him and we lasted a week. Such is life. But I was determined to stay in France so I decided to look at my bucket list and find something to do. I had always wanted to
WWOOF so I started sending e-mails to all the farms that peaked my interest.
I had always wanted to run a bed and breakfast and when I saw a picture on Norma's website of a long table outside filled with people eating in candle light, I knew Montautre was where I would land.
And now, I see how much this place has shaped who I was to become. It lead me to the life I lead now in wine, agro-tourism, hospitality but also style and grace.
Immediately upon arrival a quote from Nelson Mandela popped up on my Instagram feed:
"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
It could not have been more fitting. Of course, Norma and Rini and the animals have changed but so much of Montautre remains as it was. I was flooded of memories of being a bit lost, being young, being poor, lacking confidence, not having the best wardrobe ;) I found the older Lacey calmer and confident and grounded. Many of my little OCD neurosis had faded, I have learned to let it go to some degree.
But as I looked at the cats all arthritic with old age, I also mourned the passage of time, I mourned youth, I mourned being free on the open road. One definitely misses a lack of stability when being a gypsy but there is nothing as livening and inspiring as learning new things, being immersed in new cultures, seeing new visuals- new designs and styles. Just a week on the road and I was reunited with my creative self and I miss her immensely. But for me, it seems, I need the road for creativity.
I was an early adopter to blogging, starting in 2004. I started instagram the 3rd month they started, it took another 7 years for friends to join. Social media has always been my thing and the entire time I was in France, I was blogging about it. I will save more about the connections (like meeting meeting a man who has read my blog for ten years in Paris!) for the next post but what I found so odd was that this time, now that everyone is into social media, everyone is following along. I rarely had visitors to my blog when I wrote all those years ago. To my friends this France fairytale is new but for me it's become an age old tale.
I also noticed with technology how easy it is to travel now. My very first trip, I went to Paraguay and you had to exchange mailing addresses and if you needed to talk to family, you found a pay phone and used an international calling card. Now, I pull up Google maps to navigate Paris, call an Uber in seconds, use Google translate, text Norma that I bought the wrong train ticket, it's all so incredibly easy (and I am totally aging myself...). It was harder before but you were forced to immerse, you were forced to connect. With technology I felt I could be in my American bubble more than ever.
I was sick when I arrived, they lost my luggage for the entirety of my trip and I bought the wrong train ticket and had to sweet talk the conductor to letting me on first class for the completely sold out train. So, what does Norma do? She makes me chicken soup upon my arrival. She has always been a nurturer through food.
I was so happy to see Norma and Rini. Since the bed and breakfast no longer runs, this trip was the trip of my dreams, I had countless hours of just spending time with them- by the fire, eating, walking, talking. I took photos of what they have created. Rini is one of the most masterful carpenters, creating these romantic, cozy, European spaces in a matter of days. If I ever do open that wine bar, he's the man I want on the job. And Norma, her love for French antiques has created this dream that takes you back in time. I remember when I first met her she told me she only wears silk and wool, natural fibers and since, I have become the same.
We ate duck confit, duck magret, pate, limousin beef, lamb, lobster, oysters, cheese all the lovely things.
I almost didn't go to France as things have been hard on my family and I missed them immensely but they said I should go and if I wasn't going to be with them there was no other place more perfect to be than in Limousin with Norma and Rini.
There was a time when I first moved to the Bay Area that I regretted my life. I regretted not being career focused and all the galavanting over the world. I no longer regret that. I led a rich life which turned me into an open, interesting human and gave me the most incredible connections and friendships all over the world. Those years on the road always come back to me in so many ways- through people, through knowledge, through being able to connect, through making new friends, through seeing old friends- there is so much.
Je ne regrette rien.
