La Vézinière

I just spent two days at the country house of the de l’Espinay family, my old host family in Nantes. It is about an hour outside of Nantes. To get there I caught a ride with Emma, the American they are hosting this year, because her mother was visiting her and had rented a car. They stayed for lunch and a walk through the village of Beaufou and then were on their way to Bordeaux and Spain. But I was lucky enough to be able to stay until the next afternoon.
I met the fiancé of Alexia, the oldest daughter, and got to hear all about the wedding in June. It will be there at their house, and there will be over 500 guests. Alexia showed me the design she wants for her dress, and Maïlys, the next daughter, showed me the design she’d drawn for hers and the material she was using. We did a lot of playing cards and reading by the fire and talking and sipping tea and coffee. It was a nice vacation.

When I visited the family a few weeks ago in Nantes, I had said that I missed Béatrice’s cooking, and she asked me what I had liked and I said her quiche. So she had bought all the stuff for her quiche and she had me make it, telling me how much of everything to put in. Everyone said I did a great job! For dessert, we ate Angers cake that I had brought them.

My favorite part of the visit was when they dropped me off at the train to go back to Nantes. They said to come back soon, and I thanked them and kissed them goodbye. Even after I found my way to the platform, they honked and everyone in the packed van kept waving until it was out of sight.