DAY 264

Saturday 31 March 2012

Two great sequoias donated to the monastery

EXTRA! EXTRA! TRIP TO PARIS POSTPONED! Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men... When we awoke at the crack of dawn for the 6:45 mass which was sung in Latin and French by the monks we felt like we had all our blessings. After mass we had another silent meal with the two sisters. We tried not to gulp down the fromage blanc which Father Basil concurred was made even tastier with a sprinkling or so of sugar. The instant coffee was a let down though. Oh how we missed the italian cappuccinos. 

A photo from the monastery gallery

We packed up and changed the linen on our beds. The service preceding lunch was brief but again synchronized in perfect harmony. After a delicious silent lunch of breaded chicken, scalloped potatoes, mango and lemon jam plus WINE, we gave a donation to the monastery and bought some of their cheese and black raspberry jam. We gave a hearty thank you to Dian's dad's brother, also a Trappist monk for giving us the lead on the Abbey.

As we were pulling out we decided to buy more brake fluid for the squishy brakes. When we put it in it didn't help so we called and left a message for Sebastian. While we waited for his reply we bought groceries and contemplated taking the van in to a local mechanic. Soon Sebastian was on the line telling us that the brakes were good and the sound we heard plus the squishiness was not a big deal..."not dangerous" As we drove along later we joked that those would be the last words we heard echoing as we flew over the cliff.

The decision to drive the 9 hours to Frankfurt/Cologne area where Sebastian worked was unanimously agreed upon and we covered 5 of the 9 hours that afternoon. We pulled into an Auto Grill where campers and trucks were already parked for the night.

DAY 262

Thursday 29 March 2012

Dian's art

The Blanco River in Texas where the family of Dian's sister lives had a similar aspect to the River Vezere where we awoke. The quietness was added to by the chirping birds and while Charles went to shoot hoops on the court nearby, Dian and Nicole played guitar and painted. We had fried eggs ala Nicole and after stowing got on the road again. 


Our first stop was the nearby 12TH century chapel adjacent to the small cemetery that Richard the Lion Hearted had built in recompense for his murdering Thomas Becket (remember Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton's version in the film "Becket"?) After that we tooled around the towns of note such as Cadouin with it's abbey and La Roque Gageac - a town built into a mountain near the river. Tulips were blooming everywhere and they accented the butter yellow houses with the soft turquoise shutters. Ah France.

Chapelle Saint Martin

Because the church was closed, Nicole put her camera up to a chink in the door to get this shot.

Ceramic flowers were a common site on the graves

The best find was Josephine Baker's old estate also known as Chateau Des Milandes. We were there two days before the official opening of the tourist season so we could only look from the outside but it was on those beautiful grounds that she raised her family of adopted children from all races and escaped the spotlight of Paris.

We stopped at a free campsite that had roosters, chickens and toilets but it looked like some of the campers were LIVING there so we moved on.  

Chateau des Milandes from afar

Josephine and Dian 

The tine town of La Roque Gageac, built into the side of the rock

Around 5:30 PM we saw (angelic chorus) a bowling alley!!! We stopped in to play a game and use the Wi-Fi. Nicole trounced Charles but Dian was the real coward (she didn't even try to bowl). When the joint started jumping with poker players, bowlers, patrons in the restaurant and at pool tables, Dian and Nicole went out to the parking lot to make up the beds. We snacked on left overs and when the place closed, Charles came to bed too.

 

DAY 260

Tuesday 27 March 2012

The camp owner's massive dog

Charles called a local mechanic with camp owner Andy's help to try and fix our squawking car wheels, but the tiny garage was booked solid, so after a quick, reassuring call from Sebastian we checked out of the camp at 1 PM and drove to Lourdes, praying for an automobile-miracle.

Charles and camp owner Alex

We hate to compare to another sacred site, but it was our family's consensus that Lourdes was more peaceful and purer than Fatima. True, we were visiting in the off season, but we were in the off season for Fatima, too, and the vibe was different. There were a lot more accommodations for the blind, the handicapped, and other disabled people, and pictures of painted tiles with the "Our Father" in 62 different languages.

We brought bottles and filled them with holy water from the spring in the grotto where Bernadette once stood. Dian was reminded of the book "Red Shoes For Nancy" that her grandmother (Gammy) let her read. It was a true story about the faith of a catholic mother and her physically challenged daughter and their journey to Lourdes.

Pilgrims who bring a cross with them on their journey may place the cross in this section. We were happy to see
there was one from the homeland!

Braille and raised representations of art pieces were below every
station.

This is what the raised square represents

Note the nun at the bottom carrying a cross

One of many "Our Fathers" in different languages

The grotto

Departing from Lourdes, we drove by d'Bastard  hotel by way of Condom. We drove until evening and stopped finally, as per Dian's desire to sleep near the river in Bergerac, gazing right at the Dordogne river. Charles befriended a Frenchman who had totally designed the inside of his campervan to be run off of solar energy. We chatted with a few other free-campers from Belgium then had risotto and broccoli for dinner.
 

Our sleeping spot. Not a bad place for free!

DAY 261

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Even though through the night two times some jerks were DRUMMING (rather well), we slept passably near the Dordogne River. Charles was out and about early and brought back croissants (chocolate and plain) plus baguettes from the local baker in Bergerac. We listened to the church bells while sitting on a park bench and watched a boat repairer working on his little sailboat sitting on the grass.

American army surplus store? Right, that's why the flag is incorrect.

The first stop we made was at a store called "Cyrano and Roxanne" where we had a taste of six wines with the informative and charming Emile and ended up buying a bottle of sweet wine from the Bergerac region and a tin of duck foie gras. Dian spotted some discounted ceramics and everyone voted to get them though where we'd put them we couldn't say. As we were leaving, the good English speaking Emile came out to say good bye and gave us a very special gift. Dian ran back in with a CD of her music as a reciprocal gift and we were on our merry way.

Trying to explain where the best fat comes from

The next stop was a picnic in the little town of Lalinde. There seated on a bench on the grass near the church overlooking the Dordogne, we had sandwiches and finished with our first chocolate eclair bought at the local patisserie. Wow, they really packed the filling and we thoroughly enjoyed the indulgence. (Charles by the way has lost about 25 pounds!)

Pure joy.

Nicole said her parents could finish the eclair since she had
had her fill. There was not even a half a second pause before
the two simultaneously ate their last pieces.

A girl sketching

Following Rick Steves' advice to get lost and meet the locals (especially in the Dordogne region - one of his recommendations) we asked where the ducks and geese were fed for the foie gras. One lead led us to a farm but the man only had tins and jars of the stuff so he sent us to the town of Saint Alvere where the tourism office gave us a flyer for an english speaking farmer we could visit.

We found Patrick and Maggie's farm and were greeted by their daughter, Amy. Patrick (from Ireland) had been at that location for 18 years and enjoyed the south of France but admitted the foie gras process was very hard. Since the feedings had already happened and we were told they never let outsiders watch we were disappointed but he was great and shared his stories about raising lambs (Dian took two shakes of a lamb's tail but didn't keep it even though Patrick offered to find her another somewhere in the sheep's yard.) Nicole couldn't get over him apologizing for how messy the farm was - which it wasn't - and none of us could remember ever hearing that come from a farmer's mouth. We bought some goose foie gras (NEVER call it pate said Emile).

Farmer Patrick

Les canards

Explaining the ducks' portion of food

We'd live in the beautiful Dordogne region in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Literally!

With the recommendation of Patrick to see where the confluence of the Dordogne and Limeuil Rivers came together, we drove to the picturesque site and found free camping right on the riverside. We brought out the guitar and Charles pumped up his basketball to shoot a few hoops nearby. After Nicole made chicken soup and we taste tested the two foie gras we went to sleep listening to distant celtic flute music emanating from somewhere.

Life is good.