On the Road to Nomandy, on my own. . .

Susan filleting a fish while Denise looks on

Our first dinner together in Susan's dining room

Susan's home taken the following morning. Smaller building houses the dining room

Sunday at Noon, I dropped Bri at her host mom's house to take what was supposed to have been a 4 to 4.5 hour drive to the tiny village of La Londe, the location of my B+B for the next 5 days while at a cooking class in Louviers, a 20 minute drive away. All went pretty much according to plan once I found my way onto the autoroute until I was about 25 minutes away from the B+B and I lost the road I was to follow. They just disappear in France. One minute you're on it, and you know you're on it because it's marked with a letter and numbers and the next minute while in one of France's roundabouts and this time there were no road numbers but just signposts with unfamiliar towns, you have to make a selection, sometimes after going completely around the roundabout more than once. It was a Sunday, a sprawling city, larger than I expected and the only people seen are others driving in their cars. No attended gas stations, no pedestrians, no GPS. No lunch. Bad situation, but let's not dwell on it. I eventually located the missing road and entered the dot of a village La Londe, but where was the B+B? I saw a couple walking their dog and asked them if they knew of La Londe B+B which they did and the man said he would ride in the car with me to show me the way. He didn't speak English at all but we managed to communicate fine. It was very generous of him. I offered him a ride back to his home but he said he is a runner and would enjoy running back and he told me the number of kilometers he runs daily but didn't catch it. The drive had taken me 6.5 hours instead of the 4.5 I was anticipating. Next I needed to get cleaned up, get directions to Louviers for the "On Rue Tatin" welcome dinner. It was dark and the thought of driving on more unfamiliar country roads in the dark  wasn't appealing but it was worth it. On Rue Tatin is an old monastery built in the 1400's and renovated by Susan Hermann Loomis and her husband. It's a very warm welcoming home with a great kitchen for cooking classes. She had numerous candles lit, wonderful food and wine. There are 4 women in the class, two investment bankers from NY, a woman in fashion from Chicago and myself. The dinner went longer than advertised, so after 11PM I made the drive back to La Londe. I turned off the main road a little too soon and found myself in the same tiny community of the dog walkers. Well, I had been lost here earlier in the day so I was able to wind around and find my way back to the La Londe. The B+B has a locked gate to the driveway which requires a key. Managed that. Drove into the driveway, parked and walked back to close and lock the gate. The motion had come on and I thought the stresses of the day were done but I managed to drop the single skeleton key to my room on the gravel near the car. The motion light went off and I was suddenly in the dark grappling for a flashlight.  I found it and then the key which was under a leaf! Another set of keys was needed to enter the B+B home. So many keys to keep track of!!