The Amazing Race

We've never watched that show, but I understand contestants have to get from here to there, managing to overcome all the obstacles in their way. Well, if they ever encountered the RER suburban rail system on a holiday weekend and managed to get where they were going, they deserve the prize. Oh wait, then I guess we win...because we did manage to get to O.'s lovely country house after all.

A short description of our Saturday morning:
Wait for the 10:38 train until 11:40. Get on the train. Hear the driver announce that this train isn't going to where the sign says it's going. Get off the train. Wait for another train. Ask the frustrated looking lady standing next to you if she's waiting for the same train, at which point you learn she's been waiting THREE HOURS. Hear the announcement they finally make telling you that you can't get there from here.

It went on like that, with phone calls going back and forth between the still jetlagged Americans and our waiting hosts. (Lucky we got those phones yesterday!) We finally got on a train going somewhere in the general direction, O. and G. drove 30 minutes to pick us up at wherever the train was taking us, et voilà, we're there. And it's worth it.



O.'s house is a gem, hidden behind a stone wall, covered with vines and roses. We have lunch in the garden. We're happy.