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Villa Pouzols-Minervois: We like our new home

Nobody has ever heard of this place, including us. But now we are here in the Languedoc and happy to be. A short hop from Orly Airport to Toulouse and we are united with Jim and Jane, who have been sick in Portugal and are ready for a rest. A short negotiation at the Hertz counter, and we are on our way.
villaThere are six of us and two cars. Close to our village, we stop for groceries. We buy too much but not enough, and annoy all of the locals with our produce-weighing infractions, lack of French, and all around slowness. Leaving the grocery store, we promptly lose each other. None of us can figure out our AT&T phone plans, but Charlie manages to call Jane, who is in the other car. Our solution? Drive around the roundabout 20 or 30 times until the lost ones show up and can follow us.

We meet Monsieur at the Place Monument and call to let him know we are in town. He speaks no English. We speak no French. Jim does a creditable job of communicating, and we are in business. We park in two impossibly small spaces, and in we go.

The villa is lovely, with many rooms arrayed in no particular order, but all arranged with care. You can recognize a woman’s touch. Madame has been kind enough to leave a bottle of homemade mint water in our fridge.

The pool is inviting, and we are all hot and sweaty. Jim tries, but can only make it a few minutes before he is up and out again. Mike is happy to float forever in the frigid water.

A long slow evening works miracles. We drink wine, draw straws for bedrooms, haul our bags upstairs, and are soon out like lights. For some reason, the bells ring on the hour all through the night. And then, after a pause, there are two more bell clangs. Jane thinks this is “just in case you didn’t hear it the first time.”

 

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One comment

  1. Jude
    #1

    Beautiful photos and looks like a lot of space and light.

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