I had escaped the worst heat wave and arrived in Europe just as it was coming to an end… but the second arrived just as guests arrived. This time we had 6 lovely ladies (2 of them repeats from Retreat 1) and our creative in residence was here to teach ukelele!
I did three pickups on Day 1 (Tuesday) of the retreat. As we were headed to get the second arrival from the train station we came across what looked like a pretty horrific traffic accident on one of the many twisty windy country roads. One car was overturned in the ditch and the other pretty crunched up in the middle of the road. Fortunately, it looked like everyone was being attended to and it wasn’t too far out of town, so the emergency services could get to them. But a stark reminder that these roads are not to be taken lightly!
There were two guests who did yoga with me every morning, one who was a yoga regular and her wife who was a yoga novice. It was fun to see the difference between them and test out my cuing skills to get the novice into poses that her wife was more familiar with. I definitely went back and reviewed a couple of poses and how other teachers cue them to get better at it! Love that the learning continues on and on 😉
I also got the opportunity to offer my own workshop this week called “Building Your Intuitive Toolbox” where we talked about Oracle and Tarot Cards, pendulums, muscle testing and other external validation tools to build intuitive muscles. The wine excursion was another highlight of the week. I didn’t go with the group to the thermal waters – the owner of the retreat took a turn to lead that excursion and get a little rejuvenation of her own.
We took a new excursion this week to a Buddhist temple which I have heard is the biggest one in Europe. We didn’t do the tour this time, so I will have to verify on a future visit. It was a beautiful temple and stupa and the monks also operate a chocolatier and creperie nearby that they use to fund the monastery. We stopped by for a snack on our way back to the chateau. I taught the monk working the counter what an Affagato is – espresso shot poured over gelato! YUM
The volunteers/staff and a couple of guests went to a street party in a nearby town on Saturday night celebrating July 14th holiday (Bastille Day). We timed it so that we would be there by the fireworks and dance party, but they cancelled the fireworks due to the heat and fire danger. The tradition is that these parties are hosted by the local fire stations in each small town and the revenue they bring in from the concert ticket (earlier in the day), the beer and food will go toward funding them for the year. Also, the firemen/women are the ones to handle all of the big fireworks – super smart! I expected some small gathering but literally everyone from the surrounding town comes out – people of all ages party until 4am. We lasted until 130am with the DJ playing a range of American, French, Italian and Latin music.
Four of the guests were facing early train departures on Sunday with a long connection in another train on Sunday which was also going to be the hottest day of the heat wave, topping out at 100 degrees. Because France transit frequently cancels trains due to heat, we thought it safer for me to drive them to another station 1.5 hours from the chateau to catch a train directly to Paris. I got to have a road trip adventure! Because there is no AC in the VW van it was a sweaty 3 hour round trip for me. I jumped directly into the pool afterward.
Monday is our day off so we watched Project Hail Mary until midnight Sunday and all slept until 11am since the heat had abated and it was a cool and cloudy morning. This week, without guests, we have a to do list of things around the chateau – some grounds work in the garden, etc. We will also be cooking our own meals because our chef has the week off. The fun part will be going to the shops to grab our supplies and deciding what each of us will make for the group. This week the two South Africans are here (until July 22nd) and we have been joined by a lovely new volunteer originally from China who is studying in Italy. We are also planning a day on the river to do some canoeing and standup paddle boarding to stay cool as we drop down into the 90s for the remainder of this heat wave.
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