Meeting Perigord Noir!!

Sunday August 18th
I had decided to take the scenic route to Plazac in the little Clio...unfortunately I missed a turn, which made it more scenic, but really much longer! When I started out, the GPS said I would arrive at 2:30; by the time I was continuing my route, it said 4:30! I arrived later, but mostly because I decided to ignore the Garmin. So I arrived at 6:30!
Ginger, my Couch Surfing hostess, greeted me very graciously to her delightful home, built in the 1700's in a bucolic setting, overlooking

a peaceful valley. She has lived there for thirteen years and had had to do EVERYTHING to it! Each couch surfer has to write a profile, so I knew that Ginger was a reader, writer, and gardener....I had been SO looking forward to meeting her, and I was SO right!!! Our first dinner was outside in her "summer dining room"!
Monday August 19th
As luck would have it, Ginger lives very close to some of the many famous caves of the Dordogne. So I decided to visit some of the caves my first day in this beautiful region.
First stop was Grotte de Lascaux II, www.semitour.com discovered in 1940 by four boys (who swore never to tell-until the next day!) The original paintings, which are no longer shown to tourists, are between 15,000 and 17,000 years old! After Picasso first saw them in 1940, he muttered, "We have invented nothing!" By 1948 they realized that human breath and body heat was ruining the paintings, so they were closed from 1963-1983 so the 20 painters could recreate the original in two rooms, which are still quite amazing!
En route to Lascaux, I had passed the Chateau de Losse, so I decided to stop on my way back for lunch and a visit. They had lovely gardens, www.chateaudelosse.com/en

One view of the Chateau de Losse

Salad in the garden at the Chateau de Losse

and the only way I could see inside the chateau was to take the French tour, which I did.  
Next stop was Le Village Troglodytique de la Madeleine, a cave village, built 10,000-14,000 years ago, above the Vezere River. www.la-madeleine-perigord.com This too was very interesting to see! This reminded a lot of Mesa Verde in Colorado.
Last stop was Grotte de Rouffignac, a cave, which plunges 10 km into the earth. www.grottederouffignac.fr You take the tour on  what the Lonely Planet describes as a ramshackle electric train, but it does the job and was also interesting to see! The tour was in French, so I was literally just "along for the ride" and to see what I could see!!

NOTE: I know that these links take you to sites in French; if you are interested, you might be able to get them translated through the Google website.

That night I went back to Ginger's, where three guests were coming to dinner. She had invited Nada, an American who owns a gite and teaches painting. She had lived in Nepal at one time, and Durgha had worked for her for quite a while. She had just come to Plazac, as Nada had found a man who wanted to marry Durgha, so she would be getting married very soon. (Durgha had been in a bad marriage in Nepal; this was her first trip out of India.)   Rebecca Merry is an Englishwoman who lives in Cambridge, and she was staying at Nada's and painting. This interesting group made for an invigorating discussion over a tasty dinner in Ginger's garden!