May 20th - Another French Holiday

Apparently today is another French Holiday - Pentecost Monday or Whit Monday depending on your flavor.  As always for French Holidays everything is shut down.  No stores, restaurants, gas stations, banks, etc.

It is amazing the number of Holidays that are celebrated here.  In addition to only working a maximum mandated 35 hours per week and taking 6-8 weeks vacation time, they celebrate an indeterminate number of unknown holidays.

Oh well, I guess another day of hanging around.  Not much else we really can do.

After a little investigating, we found a market nearby and discovered to explore. There wasn't much there but we did discover some 'fresh' chicken....aka, ALIVE!

After market we ventured to the village of Duras. This area is known for its wine in this region and has a chateau to discover. Due to the holiday, there was very little open but we managed to find a small Casino (equivalent to 7-11) and our newest visitors stocked up on wine for the house due to a shortage. ;->

In Duras we found some of the prettiest flowers and had to stop for some photos.

Then we found a little cafe for lunch. They didn't have a menu for food or wine. You could only select Sausage or Fish and Red, White or Rose wine. We kept our fingers crossed. But in all true French form, the food and wine were both good and we were pleased to have discovered something both open and good.

Once we were done with lunch we thought about exploring the Chateau. Unfortunately the weather was changing and it was getting very cold and windy. We ventured over to the chateau and found a horse drawn carriage.

London made friends with the daughters of the carriage family but we opted against taking a ride that day. But that didn't stop London from sharing her Cinderella stickers. Apparently Cinderella has fans in all parts of the world!

Weather rolling in....BRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr!

Once we arrived back at our Chateau, London & Pappy practiced bike riding quickly followed by London joining Steve & Jean feeding the horses.

We did manage to find a grocery store that was opened later today and we headed out for a few additional items for dinner. I really had to laugh at Grammy's list-making skills in the car on the way to the store. That's one way to make sure you don't forget anything!