Chateau in the south of France?

Sitting on the patio of a private chateau in the south of France, drinking wine produced  from grapes grown in the surrounding vineyards, I looked out at the Pyrenées and pondered the peaks and valleys of life. It occurred to me that life is a lot like the stock market. You really have no idea what the future holds, but you know it will be variable and almost impossible to predict. The more risks you take, the higher the peaks will be and the lower the valleys, but there are ups and downs even if you play it relatively safe. Either way, if you persevere through the rough patches, things do get better and the overall trend is upwards. I may have been a bit tipsy.

The tipsy-ness culprit was this locally-produced Jurançon wine served by our host. I was too busy drinking it to realize it bore the name and picture of the chateau on whose patio I was sitting at the time. Ray pointed that out to me on the drive home.

Before we left Canada, I did some research online, found an anglophone walking group in the area, and signed us up. This week’s walk was hosted by the Australian couple who recently bought this chateau. Built by one of Napoleon’s Generals, it has 9 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a pond, a pool, a hot tub, a caretaker’s cottage, and a separate building with a gym, sauna and home cinema. When the owner mentioned that the noise from the heat pump made it hard to hear the home cinema, I suggested that might qualify as a “first-world problem”.

Buying a chateau in the south of France might seem like a pipe dream, but prices are surprisingly reasonable. This particular chateau, fully renovated and furnished, went up for auction with no minimum reserve bid. According to Google, it sold for $1.6 million Canadian. Not everyone has that kind of money lying around, but compared to what you pay for housing in Toronto or Vancouver these days, it’s not as pricey as I’d have thought. We’ve been told that places often go for much lower than the list price, especially in cases where the house has been inherited or is vacant and the owners are paying for upkeep.

Ray’s been reading a book about a British guy who buys a property near the Pyrenées. Occasionally he stops reading and stares into space with a faraway look in his eyes. I suspect he’s fantasizing about buying a place near the mountains – likely one with “beaucoup de potentiel” or “plusieurs possibilités” – that we could pick up for a couple hundred thousand dollars and fix up. Not happening.

And, of course, since the tragic fire at Notre Dame, our visits to cathedrals have been more poignant. They’re awe inspiring today, but it’s almost impossible to imagine what it must have felt like to have walked into one of these magnificent buildings centuries ago in the days before cranes and skyscrapers.