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.
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.
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!)
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).
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.
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| American army surplus store? Right, that's why the flag is incorrect. |
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| 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!)
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| Pure joy. |
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| 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. |
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| 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).
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| Farmer Patrick |
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| Les canards |
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| Explaining the ducks' portion of food |
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| We'd live in the beautiful Dordogne region in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Literally! |
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| Life is good. |
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