Alex's European Tour, 2011: 8/21/11

My Angelic Hosts in Conflans-Ste-Honorine

My Angelic Hosts in Conflans-Ste-Honorine
When I arrived at the gate of la famille Dusautoy in Conflans-Ste-Honorine, I had no concept of the generosity, humor, companionship, fantastic cooking, instruction in la langue française, and kindred spirits that awaited me.
Within minutes we were discussing gardening, travelling, dogs and history. For the many days that I stayed, we had conversations late into the night, and, of course, solved most of the world's problems.
A beautiful garden surrounds their home, which sits in the old center of town. Looking across the little valley from the dining porch you see a jumble of rooflines and hear the quiet murmur of people working, children playing, dogs barking and birds singing. In addition to their three children, who visit often, Katherine and Hugues host two young women from North Africa. Theirs is a home bustling with activity, life and many interesting stories. Their elder son, Mathias, spent 6 weeks on a solo walking trek in central Mongolia two summers ago. Mieszko, 23, who connected us all through WarmShowers, just completed Euro Velo 6, riding from Provence to Budapest. Last summer he was in the U.S. hiking the Appalachian trail. The day before I arrived, Hugues and Katherine had returned from a long holiday in Poland.
I was given La cave du dormir for my stay. Dark, cozy, and warm, it was the perfect location for sleeping ten hours at a crack in preparation for Paris-Brest-Paris. Bob and Lola, their two recently adopted Pointers, made sure that I was never off the radar, allowing me to sleep easy.
By the time that I was off to test my mettle on P-B-P, we were all fast friends.
And, after the arduous event, I returned to a Hero's Welcome. Hugues had even bought three "Paris-Brest" pastries to celebrate with, and Katherine cooked a divine steak dinner. As if that were not enough, Katherine drove me into Paris (which was much harder than finding my way to Brest and back!) to catch my train to Amsterdam.
Merci Beaucoup, many times over!