Waking up this morning I was so excited as we were off to lunch with Jacques, Delphine & Pascale who we'd met when we'd stayed in Gordes for 2 weeks on our last trip.
The drive there was hair raising to say the least as the closer we got to Gordes the narrower the roads seemed to get (Aggie & I aren't into flat hair & love height on top, but alas this wasn't the look we were going for). Boy o boy if we could have driven in a straight line we would have been there in 15 mins!
Apart from the usual bruising of the knuckles on the left hand as you reach for the gearstick & smash into the door, the constant changing from 2nd to 3rd to 2nd gear (I changed into 4th at one stage & actually did a fist pump - felt good), not quite knowing exactly where you're sitting on the road together with the fear of not knowing what's going to greet you on the other side of the bend (even cyclists scared the bejesus out of us), Pierre Pierre saying turn now as you've sailed past the turn (again), well all up it doesn't make for a relaxing day out, but we pushed through. I would have loved a huge Europcar sticker plastered across the front of Petit Henri to make it very clear that this is a rental car & please beware i.e. shove over & give us more room.
Needless to say we arrived intact & parked Petit Henri up the hill near where we'd stayed last time. It was fun walking down "our" hill into town & we almost felt like rock stars. Would the 2 ladies in L'Encas Restaurant remember us, the lady in the post office who gave Aggie the cut throat sign when we'd gone in to post yet another box back to Australia that exceeded the 7kg limit (I'm sure she thought we couldn't count), but more importantly would Jacques remember us? We'd gotten to know Jacques after reading a review on Trip Advisor for his restaurant, La Pause, & we'd eaten many delicious meals there last time. We'd even named him Monsieur Cherub as he was so kind to us & made our stay in Gordes very special. Aggie & I have such fond memories of the village & the people, however were we just some more, dare I say it, tourists to them?
We had some time up our sleeve & decided to do a lap of honour. Eek...where had all these people come from? There were tourists everywhere in "our" little village (it's probably clear by now we regard ourselves as French & not tourists) - what would it be like in peak season?
Situation averted...they remembered us...yay!!!
It was so lovely picking up where we'd left off 18 months ago & we had the most fabulous lunch sitting outside La Pause. Delphine had really excelled in the quiche department & I couldn't stop at one slice (how gorgeous is she?).
The village folk kept dropping by to see what was going on & Jacques being the perfect host as always made sure they were all fed too. It was quite a celebration & if we weren't really feeling like rock stars before we certainly were now.
Even at Delphine's store Jacques made sure we didn't go thirsty & delivered a cuppa to us while we shopped. Bless.
We took off for one last wander before heading home & it truly did feel like old times (especially when the wind picked up..whoa Nellie!).
Did I mention we may have done a little more shopping than expected? Gulp.
Luckily the post office was closed as I suspect the post office nazi would have remembered us & it may not have been a joyful reunion!
Jacques, Delphine & Pascale we love you very much & thank you again for such a wonderful day. x
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