Aquitane, "South of France"

I've always wondered why it's called "The South of France", instead of "Southern France". I feel like I should be dressed in linen drinking a fancy drink in my villa covered in bougenvilla before saying, "Yes, and then we meandered through The South Of France and made our way to Bordeaux." But we did meander through the South of France and Bordeaux, although I am not in a beautiful villa with fancy drinks. (I'm next to some really annoyingly loud Spaniards at a internet cafe in San Sebastian, finishing a day of semi-fasting - more on that later.)
Aquitane:
When I lived in San Diego, I worked for Paul and Maybeth Rothery. Paul's parents, Clive and Diana, live in a little town called Cambes, in the region known as Aquitane, in the middle of the rolling countryside of France. They graciously agreed to let Jordi and I stay at their home, even though they had never met us before!
We got to the train station in Paris very early, but not early enough. Although I had printed out E-tickets, you still have to go to the window to get a regular ticket printed out for you. There was only 1 window open and about 10 people in line in front of us, and our train left in 20 minutes. Of course there was not a single other person to ask for help, and each person in line was at the window for at least 5 minutes. At this pace we were definitely not going to make our train! We didn't speak any French, which didn't help matters any. We tried to ask the lady in front of line if we could cut in line since our train was about to leave, and she seriously started yelling at Jordi!! I got sooo mad!! I ran out to our train that was about to leave and tearfully begged the conductor to let us on the train with our piece of paper. He finally relented, and we plopped into some seats. Later the same conductor came by to charge us again for the train (we had already paid 180 euros for our tickets, but hey, why not pay another 180??) So we paid because we really had no choice, and we couldn't explain ourselves at all, which was extremely frustrating. Anyways, we had a stopover in Bordeaux, and there was a very kind and compassionate lady at the window who printed up all the tickets we needed, as well as refunded us for the extras we bought!
When we arrived in Marmande (the closest train station to Cambes), Clive and Diana were both there to greet us. They took us back to their pretty and quaint house, complete with red shutters and a view of the countryside :) Parts of the house were over 300 years old, and you could see how the huge wooden beams were held together with wooden pegs. We hung out with Clive and Diana for a bit, and got a tour of the house and garden. Diana had prepared a French feast for us that night, so Jordi and I decided we had better go for a run! It was so nice to finally go for a run again, and the hills were so pretty to run through. It actually reminded me a lot of the Central Coast, with lots of rolling hills and vinyards.
After showers, we came down the stairs to a perfect evening and sunset, and an amazing dinner!!
The first course we had was pate with a special salt paired with applesauce, and also french bread. We also had a little amuse bouche, or "Amusement for the Mouth", like an appetizer :)
Our next course was a true "Coq-au-Vin", with little white onions and delicious little mushrooms in a wine sauce. We also had fresh steamed veggeis and mashed potatoes - it was all seriously so good!!
The next course was cheese! And grapes from their garden. All that was really good also, of course!
And last but not least was dessert - ice cream, with cooked cherries from their tree out front.
We had lots of fun getting to know Clive and Diana and learning about their interesting life, and how it is to live in France.
The next morning, after some coffee and croissants, they drove us to a local Farmers Market nearby. It was such a gorgeous little town square, and the market was photogenically selling fresh vegetables, homemade pastas, cheeses, and gorgeous baskets that I really wanted!
For lunch that day, we had a French meal of fresh quail cooked with onions, french bread, and strawberries, all fresh from the market!
Clive and Diana took us to see some extremely beautiful little towns, and we also went to see an old castle in the area. Jordi and I took the tour, which was really fun, and the panoramas were amazing. You could easily pretend you lived in the castle and were looking out upon the land, because probably nothing much has changed!
We went to another little cobblestoned town with a pretty little square and a fountain in the middle, where they took us for dinner at their favorite Italian place. The food was really good, and it was a gorgeous evening!!
The next morning we went for a walk, packed up our stuff, and Clive and Diana drove us back to the train station. It was such a great little time in the countryside, and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to visit it! I'm also so appreciative of the open hospitality and generosity shown to us by Clive and Diana - even though they had never met us, they treated us like long lost relatives!! Now on to Bordeaux....