Not being in Paris today, as originally planned, was made somewhat less disappointing with the hours and hours that I spent last week rescheduling our trip for the fall.  And believe me, I did do hours of research.  But I loved every minute of it.  And now.......everything is arranged, booked and actually, it's only 5 months away.

We decided that since we spent so much time in Paris last year, in March and again in October, that we'd explore a new area.  We'd been to Normandy and southern Brittany years ago.  Another trip took us to the Jura area, on the Swiss border.  When I wrote for Bonjour Paris, I spent a few days in Provence with my friend, Karen Fawcette, the owner of Bonjour Paris.  And on another trip to France, Ray and I spent a week in the northeast region of the Languedoc.

So this time we've decided to visit the southwest area of the Languedoc, very close to Carcassonne, and also very close to the Spain border. 

We will fly to Paris Monday night, September 29, arriving at Charles de Gaulle on Tuesday morning.  We've booked the Ibis Hotel at the airport to stay for Tuesday night.  So I still get a taste (and I do mean that literally) of Paris, because we'll take the RER into Paris after settling in at the hotel.  We'll change our dollars into Euros (and oh yeah, I'm hoping they'll be a bit better by then) and I'll do some shopping.  There's certain things I can't leave Paris without.  And we'll have a late lunch in Paris.  Then back to the hotel to get over jet lag.

Wednesday morning, we'll be booked on the TGV (high speed train).....which we get right at the airport......and 4 hr. and 17 min. later, we'll be in Montpellier, where our rental car will be waiting.  We'll browse around that area and wing it that night for a place to stay.  Although I am an organizer, I also love to be flexible and go with the flow.  Besides, you just never know what you might come across.  So we'll look for a place to stay outside of Montpellier. 

On Thursday, we'll drive from there about an hour and 45 min. to Caunes Minervois, which is just 20 minutes north of Carcassonne.  We've rented a charming and picturesque house there for a week.  It also happens to be owned by an author and her author husband.  "La Gaillarde" is a lovingly restored house in the medieval heart of Caunes Minervois.  Walls are original stone with century old beams, complete with a fireplace in the second floor country kitchen for cooking and our own garden accessed from the living room. But the house has 21st century conveniences, like WIFI.  (Yes!  I can blog from there) The house is furnished with local antiques and looks delightful.  Here's our entrance.

And our kitchen...........

And our garden.........

I'm already enchanted with the medieval village of Caunes-Minervois......with twisting, narrow streets and sand-colored stone buildings, it's surrounded by the great 8th Century Abbey that lies at its heart.  Although the village is small, with only about 1000 inhabitants, it has two restaurants, two bistros, a pharmacy, two grocery stores, bakeries, a butcher and a gas station.  Wineries are everywhere and I discovered in my research that some of the local wines sell for under $10 per bottle.  This particular one that I researched looks very good........

So I definitely plan to visit this winery.

Spain is under a two hour drive from our village, so we'll plan a day trip over the border.

I'm very much looking forward to this trip and the way the days seem to whiz on by, I have a feeling that September 29 will be here before I know it!

See you here next time.................