There was an opening in the wall at the foot of the staircase leading from the upper floors to the entrance. A serving hatch. ln the early afternoons it held fruit flans on white plates for the guests.The smell of the fresh flans took us by surprise as we came down the stairs, and kitchen noises issued from the half-open door of the opposite room.
After a day or two we knew our way around.There were deck chairs stacked along the side of the hotel, which adjoins the meadow. A little way away, in the half shadow at the edge of the wood, we noticed a woman sitting in a deck chair, reading.We picked up two of the chairs and looked for a spot of our own. During the day we usually drank our coffee at one of the wooden folding tables on the narrow veranda at the front. They were hinged at regular intervals along the front parapet. Good places to sit, these small tables clinging to the edge of the veranda; the sill was just the right height for use as an elbow rest.