Behind the steering wheel in France, even though it is on the right side of the car, I am not the wimp I am when I drive in England. I don’t know whether to chalk it up to many years of experience driving in France, or the disorientation of driving on the left side of… Continue reading Into the home stretch –
Month: June 2007
Perigord
DOMME Perched above the Dordogne Valley, the views from the village of Domme sweep over rolling hills patched with cultivated fields and dotted with the fully leaved trees of summer. The river snakes around the edges of the valley far below, metallic in the noon day sun, black at twilight. The Hotel de l’Esplanade stands… Continue reading Perigord
Cave Artists
Font de Gaume Perigord Les Eyzies, Limestone caves filled with prehistoric paintings abound here, including the famous Lascaux Cave. All but one have been closed to public viewing of the original art to protect it, although some, like Lascaux, have been beautifully reproduced. The Font de Gaume lies about a kilometer outside the village of… Continue reading Cave Artists
The Venice of Perigord?
Brantome The Dromme River runs through the town, right past our hotel, the Chabron. The double French windows on our second floor room open onto tiny balconies where we can lean out for the view and the fresh air. Across the river a monastery stands, with part of it built into the limestone cliff opposite,… Continue reading The Venice of Perigord?
Celles sur Belle
Ghost City By lunchtime we are south of Niort and north of Angouleme, and don’t recognize anything in between, so we stop for lunch at a little town just off the main road called Celles sur Belle. Clean, light colored stone buildings line cobbled streets, and a few trees stand behind walls brightened with the… Continue reading Celles sur Belle
Back to Tourrettes
Brantome, Dordogne, June 7, 2007, Hotel Chabarron The Journey Crossing the Channel, Disembarkment We rolled onto the “Bretagne”, a Brittany Ferry which leaves from Portsmouth to cross the channel to St. Malo ,at 7:45 PM, and by 8:00 we were in the ship’s sit-down restaurant , Les Abers, sipping a cold glass of Macon… Continue reading Back to Tourrettes
Cultural Expectations
According to Expedia’s 2007 Best Tourist League survey, the French took the title of the world’s worst tourists. Some people will not be surprised by this. Some years ago I had to act as the buffer between 10 French technicians traveling to Washington, D.C., and the hoteliers and restaurant managers upon whwhom they descended. It… Continue reading Cultural Expectations