Orpierre

We picked up the rental car last night (Our family is now too large for the civic!) -- A Renault Espace with seven seats. This afternoon, after taking care of some work things, we loaded up the "BIG CAR" (as Zoe calls it) with mostly baby things, and a few of our own. Next came the drive south to Orpierre, and the location of the Gite, which is *fantastic*. It is in a building in the center of the medieval town, next to vaulted stone arches and century old fountains. There are quite a few rooms, a big well lit dining room, and about twelve beds. The owner is very friendly, and after we had shuttled in all of our gear, we used the Jedi mind trick on Kenji and Gail to take care of kids while we ran up the hill to the Chateau crag to get in a few routes. We warmed up on C Sake Bon and then moved on to Les Ailes du Desir. There were a lot of wet holds on this one, and I actually had water dripping off of my hands several times, but I got the on sight. Yay for non-negative progress, I guess. It was a real fight, though.

Dinner was delicious: everything was organic, and included a delicious salad, a frittata and a salmon tarte.

There were also home made cookies and fromage blanc for dessert. Also: giant loaves of bread:



We had loaded up on wine from HEIDSIECK ET RASCLE in Place aux Herbes, and finished a bottle, but I can't seem to remember which one! We had an excellent Pelardon as well.