...Off to La Belle France: More Experiences in Perigord Noir

Tuesday August 20th
Ginger generously offered to show me some of her favorite places in her area. "I don't do anything I don't want to," she commented during our delightful tour! This is really beautiful country! We drove along the Dordogne River which is very near Josephine Baker's former home/chateau. We parked along the river, where there were many people canoeing as well as tourist boats, in the town called La Roque Gageac. There is a very nice walk up above the pretty little town; we had some company-but not TOO much!

These 3 pictures were from our walk above La Roque

Gageac

There were a variety of couples, families with carriages, people walking their dogs, and us! Our next stop was another pretty scenic town, Domme, where Ginger was surprised there were not more people, as so many people should have been on vacation. We walked about the hilltop town, and into a crystal shop inside an old cave!


Inside the crystal shop in the cave

On our way back to Plazac, we stopped briefly at the medieval town of Sarlat-la-Caneda. (It used to be Sarlat and La Caneda, but the two towns combined, thus the new name. This is still not too common in France with 20,000+ towns.)
At 5PM, we went to the Marjolane, the only cafe in Plazac, for the writers' group, which meets weekly.
There were seven participants including me. Each week they meet and someone suggests a topic. Then they take however long it takes to write about that topic. On this occasion the topic from a 30ish man named Olivier was "I Am Afraid to Die"!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!! Each person writes and then reads out loud what he or she has written. Everyone but John and me wrote in French; we did read ours, but Ginger translated ours as well. Attendees were both male and female and maybe from 30 to 70-ish.
Afterwards we drove out to Sophie's, who was hosting the weekly potluck. She lives way out in the country in a charming hide-away home. She rents a house, which has very nice enclosed pasture for her horse. We sat outside and had cookout of sausages, feta-pasta salad, baked potatoes, and the delicious tart which Ginger had made from mini-prunes from her garden. It was another very interesting chance to meet some new people and get to know them. I NEVER would have found my way home!

Next 3 are at the cookout

Sophie and Ginger

Wednesday August 21st
Well, I had visited the Sevres Museum in Paris earlier; I had to go to Limoges to visit the Limoges Museum! So I was out the door about 7:30, as it was an hour and half trip north. The museum has a very large collection of pieces; the tour starts by showing a video of how they make the porcelain, which I thought was a good way to begin.


View from inside the Sevres Museum

My next stop was the interesting Resistance Museum. It was filled with many pictures and while all was written in French, I had the English audio guide to better understand what I was seeing. The bravery of the many members of the Resistance never cases to impress me! It was a very good visual presentation of a dreadful time.

I needed to pick up some train tickets before I left Limoges, so I went to the train station, which was, in fact, an old monastery, another interesting building.

When I arrived back at Ginger's, she was having tea with Rebecca (whom I had met Monday night) and Phillipe, an artist and jewelry maker, whom Ginger had met twenty years ago! Rebecca showed us some of the paintings she had just done; Phillipe showed us his jewelry website. We all had dinner in the garden; later that evening, Phillipe entertained us all as he played his scimitar!

Thursday August 22nd
Earlier in her time of living in Perigeux, Ginger had owned a shop where she had sold products from India. During that time she made many friends and learned much about what was happening there! One of her daughters had dated Michel, who had managed restaurants for many years. NOW he runs a (shhh! clandestine) exclusive lunch restaurant in the section of the city. About 12:30PM, we parked on a dirt road and walked about

fifteen minutes to the "hideaway"! There were four men there when we arrived. (There are usually no more than ten attendees.) We walked down the hill, past the vegetable garden, and on the plank out to the "floating" restaurant off shore on small pond. (Sort of stationary Tom Sawyer big raft!)


This is where the food is prepared.

WHAT A TREAT!!! Michel had picked a wide variety of mushrooms-the likes of which I had never seen! He had sauted some, and some he had mixed with eggs for the first course. Next course was a vegetable medley of zuccini, carrots, and leeks, followed by Osso busco, cheese plate and fruit....And, of course, wine! ALL this for 10 euros!!
It turned out that earlier that week, the local paper had run an article about Michel, but said it would not list the address!

Then Ginger and I went into Perigueux for a short tour. We walked around the archeology museum and along the canal, before we walked to L' Atelier, the restaurant which her daughter and son-in-law own.
Shortly after we arrived, Rebecca and her friend Marcus joined us for very delicious dinner. It was a wonderful day to a terrific visit with Ginger in Perigord Noir.