ira

Hi Stu,

Touche'.

third week in Sept.


Thanks, Michael.
I must be having a slow day.

StCirq

Hi, all. Regarding canoes, I don't know which ones close when, but the usual one we use in St-Vincent-de-Cosse couldn't guarantee us the " traditional" kayaks - the kind with a big hole that you stick your body into, as opposed to the newer kind that are just sort of flat-bottomed river skateboards, which we tried last year and hated, so we changed outfitters this year and went with the outfit in Beynac. There are dozens of outfitters - I doubt you'll have a problem finding one. The cost for the three of us for a 12-km run with one large container was 44 euros. Thr trip takes about 2.5 hours if you do nothing but paddle, about 4 if you take time to savor the experience, stop off for a snack o=r a swim. Happy paddling and watch out for adders (and pirhanas, apparently, though that was the least of my concerns).

Thursday, August 11, cont'd

After our river excursion we're exhausted and ravenous. At home we unpack, shower and change and head into Les Eyzies for yet another family tradition, dinner at Le Mentalo. This is decidedly not haute cuisine, but rather a mom and pop place that definitely explodes with tourists in high season, but what around here doesn't except for a few goose farms hidden in the hills that serve you a homemade meal on demand if you can locate their phone number.

Anyway, Le Mentalo is a good bargain and a great place for families. We have a "carte de fidelite" too, which means every 7th meal is free, so so much the better. We're not looking for refinement tonight, just a hearty meal at a good price. The place is packed, but we are given a table inside and are soon brought a basket of good bread and the menus. I choose the 13-euro menu: a bloc de foie grois mi-cuit sur toast et gele de pecharmant (the bloc was 2.5 inches in diameter and more than ¼-inch thick; magret de canard (8 pieces perfectly cooked a point) and a mound of pommes de terres sarladaises (even the three of us couldn't polish them all off); salade de cabecou aux noix (two cabecous, a mound of frisee, vinaigrette and a handful of walnuts); and choice of dessert or cheese plate (dessert being a choice of walnut cake, chocolate cake, strawberry or lemon tart or two scoops of ice cream or sorbet). With a large pizza, two other large salads, a large bottle of San Pellegrino, a half-bottle of Bergerac, a pression, and a coke, the bill came to 43 euros.

Back home we're too stuffed to play ping pong, so it's Boggle under a full panoply of brilliant stars in an indigo sky.

Some random notes:

1. Absolutely everyone is wearing shorts and sneakers - people of all nationalities, including especially the French, Dutch, and Germans. British women seem to favor woven garden hats and floral sundresses; British men are in shorts and short-sleeved shirts. It IS true that you just don't see a lot of overweight people in skimpy clothes. In my mind I compare the people thronging the streets here to the folks I saw two weeks ago thronging the Costco in Manassas, and I do have to say the picture here is a lot prettier overall. Very large people here, and there aren't all that manhy of them, do have the sense to drape themselves in sufficient fabric so as not to be alarming.

The Brits have no color; everyone else is nicely tanned. The shorts worn by Europeans tend to be dark brown, green, or black, with lots of pockets and zippers. Lots of men are wearing multi-pocketed capris, too, and loads of women in pastel capris. Of course, we are out in rural France here, and many of the people I come across are camping and hiking, not on shopping and dining trips to Paris. And the shorts and capris seem to be prevalent when you see people at market or on their way to canoe or just walking around town. Go to a nice restaurant in the evening and you do see the guys in shorts being steered toward the tables at the back of the restaurant. Taylor and I had a fabulous meal last night at a new restaurant in Le Bugue and we were seated in this lovely greenhouse-type structure that jutted out into the garden, while the Brits with the too-tight shorts and the Germans with the walking sandals were sent out of sight into the dark recesses of the dining room near the kitchen door. So let it be known that shorts and sandals and capris and casual wear are just fine anywhere in France in high season, but if you want to have a lovely meal in a lovely restaurant, try to look lovely yourself.

2. Supernanny has hit French television, and it's hilarious! It's also a clear testament to the differences in cultures - Supernanny Francaise is absolutely fixated on food and the fact that no child should leave home in the morning without a solid FRENCH breakfast and should never snack and should always have dinner with the parents at home, spending " un bon moment a la table avec la famille."

3. Hot Pockets are now available at your local Intermarche - but why? YUCK!

4. The Jardin de l' Epicurie outside St-Cyprien is open again, or open (it had been all boarded up when I was last here last fall). This is good news, particularly for Stu Dudley.

annieladd

I'm just loving your writings. We've been pondering a trip to Dordogne or Tuscany, and I'm leaning toward Dordogne now. If you come across a house for rental with at least 4 beds and 4 baths, let me know! annieladd

StuDudley

>>>The Jardin de l' Epicurie outside St-Cyprien is open again, or open (it had been all boarded up when I was last here last fall). This is good news, particularly for Stu Dudley.<<

I will book it tomorrow for our anniversary dinner on Sept 5.

What's the name & location of the new place in La Bugue??

Stu Dudley

StCirq

Well, annie, I'm living in my own rental house with four bedrooms and two baths, but as I'm about to begin some major renovations on the place this fall that may last well into next year, I don't know if the place will be presentable for renters for awhile, but I do know a bunch of people around here with properties to rent, so I'll keep my feelers out.

Friday, August 12, we did nothing of real note. It was my daughter's last day here, and we pretty much catered to her whims, knowing we wouldn't see her until she came back from college over Thanksgiving, unless Jet Blue has a good sale on fares to California between now and then. We slept late, we swam in the pool and played the game we've played since the kids were in elementary school - throw a handful of euros into the pool and see who can dive and get the most. M says it's like living a 17th-century life when we're here, then notes that she's read four books in six days, and says maybe she should take a few weeks off from college next year and just come over here and read. T points out that he's finished his summer reading in the past week. I've read four books myself. If nothing else, St-Cirq is a great place to read, and that's a good thing.

For M's last night here we go for dinner at l'Oustalou in Le Bugue. We can't quite figure out what's going on between le restaurant Les Trois As and L'Oustalou. It used to be that Les Trois As, considered the best restaurant in town, used to install itself in the Royale Vezere hotel ground floor every summer, and then move back to its usual spot at the end of the rue de Paris in September and happily inhabit that spot until late May or early June. But now we have Les Trois As in its spot on the rue de Paris all year round and the Oustalou at the Royale Vezere apparently all year round, too, so who is the chef of what?
Anyway, we have a good meal by the banks of the Vezere for a total of 53 euros - salmon in lobster sauce for both T and me with a starter of tartare de legumes, and a large salade cabecou sur toast for M, with a demi de vin rouge, a large San Pellegrino and two cokes.

Here we are having a delicious meal overlooking the Vezere in our dear town of Le Bugue, about to send my firstborn off to Berkeley. So many years of saved-up memories of this town, this region, our house, these foods, these people,these traditions. Looking at my kids and the food before us I feel like one of the luckiest people alive.
Back home in the pitch dark. The Toyota doesn't let you turn on the brights without keeping a finger on them, so it's finger on the brights all the way back to St-Cirq because the road is so dark and desolate even though there's a bit of moon above. The air is fresh and cool, cold even. Our bodies are tired from our exertions on the river but we've eaten well and are now contemplative about losing a member of our family soon. T is suddenly aware he's going to be the only kid at home and much as he's railed against his sister, now that she's leaving he's desolate.
We pull into the driveway in St-Cirq with a half-moon shining over us filled with emotion over so many things - the scary kayak incident, M's leaving for home and then college...I think we all fall asleep thinking heady thoughts of what the future holds while a large white moon hangs over the Vezere valley.

Ronda

THIS was a nice installment. Enjoyed this one a lot. I didn't realize Berkley started this early. Your daughter must have some time before she actually leaves. We live in San Jose and have been up to Berkley a couple of times to help "deposit" children. Great school. Beautiful campus.

I've been trying to access the Gites site without much luck so would be interested in how to find a rental as well.

StuDudley

Ronda

You are probably having trouble with the Gites de France site because the Dordogne department has chosen to use the RESENFRANCE software service - which does not work. We've rented 22 different Gites, for 32 "stays" in France, and the people running the Dordogne office in Perigueux are the most inept of any office we've dealt with.

Anyway, you can't reserve a Gite that is rented through the Perigueux office for '06 yet - it's too early. About early Sept, or mid Sept, or late Sept, or early Oct, or mid Oct, or late Oct is when they are ready for renting (this was the run-around we got one time).

I would suggest that you send away for the book that lists all Gites in the Dordogne, choose a gite, and if it can be rented directly from the proprietor (many can), then do so. If it is rented through the Perigueux office, send them a FAX with your choices of properties.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

Saturday, August 13

Mothers really do always know best. When I told M it was market day in Perigueux on Saturday and we needed to get going early even though her train didn't leave until 12:18, she thought I was being overbearing. Nonetheless, I make sure she's packed by 10 am, and after a brief stop in Les Eyzies for a cafe creme and pain chocolat, and a run by the blanchisserie to leave off a pile of dirty laundry, we're on the road to Perigueux by 10:15. It's only 41 kms, but there's already a lot of traffic. We move quickly until we get to Boulazac, the huge commercial zone 11 kms outside the city, and then it's bumper to bumper all the way in. I've got "clutch foot" after the first 45 minutes, the toes of my left foot aching from holding the clutch down and letting it out every ten seconds. The clock ticks and it's noon already as I nervously cross the bridge into the centre ville. It's precisely 12:10 when we park at the station. Race to the composteur machine, down the stairs under the tracks and resurface at Voie D, where the two-car train awaits. It's 12:15 when M boards the train and just three minutes later it pulls out of the station and there goes my first-born, off to Paris for two days by herself, then home and off to college. I am consumed with a conflicting sense of pride and wistfulness as we wave goodbye to the train.

Back into unrelenting traffic most of the way home. The Intermarche is overrun with Dutch families, their famous tolerance extending to allowing their children to race about the store causing havoc. We stand in line interminably to make our few purchases then retreat to the sanctuary of St-Cirq for a quiet afternoon by the pool.

We've made reservations this evening at the Velo Rouge, the new restarant at the Domaine de la Barde just outside Le Bugue on the road to Perigueux. We arrive promptly at 8:00 and are steered into a kind of greenhouse structure that juts into the garden. It's so quiet you have to whisper - no music, and the six other people in the room are mute. There are no waiters, just the husband and wide proprietors. There is just one menu to choose from, at 36 euros, then a list of appetizers at 15 euros apiece and main courses at 23 if you wish to order a la carte. The 36-euro menu looks lovely, though, and we each order it.

I order a half bottle of Pecharmant and a large bottle of San Pellegrino. With these comes a plate of amuse-bouches, a thin slice of cucumber with a small piece of smoked fish with cumin seed on a rondelle of bread, and another rondelle sandwich filled with tomato and a creamy salmon-flavored mayonnaise.

Our first course is a cauliflower soup, served in a small white oval terrine. It has a much richer flavor than just cauliflower - chestnut, I'm thinking - and it's delicious. Next, I have a carpaccio of beef, infused with ginger and lime and coriander and garlic, topped with a melted goat cheese en croute. T has a filet of rouget and carrot and zuchini en croute on a bed of fava beans with a kind of walnut pesto. Everything tastes vibrant and incredibly fresh, and there is just enough in a portion that you are ready for the rest of the meal.

My main course is confit de lapin with a coulis of red berries over roasted slices of eggplant and zuchini and figs. It falls off the bone and the combination of flavors is fascinating. T has sea bream roasted with fava beans and eggplant - light and airy and delicious. The whispering in the room has given way to a normal level of conversation as palates have woken and wine has loosened tongues.

For dessert T has a dark chocolate crepe and I have the cheese plate - four strips of brie and camembert infused with various flavors and of varying degrees of aging. Divine.

Our bill comes to 92.50 euros. We'll definitely come back here. On Tuesdays and Thursdays in July and August they offer the same menu with a jazz accompaniment by a "well-known" musician for 43 euros.

StCirq

Sunday, August 14

The valley is completely shrouded in mist when I wake this morning. Hard to tell if it will burn off or remain a cool and cloudy day. By 10 am the mist has cleared but the clouds remain, so it may be our first less than perfect day in the Perigord.

I leave T sleeping and drive the 4 kms to Campagne where there's a small brocante in progress on the chateau grounds. Everything seems terribly expensive. There's a small Quimper pitcher, exactly like one I bought six years ago for 200 francs, with a price tag of 185 euros. And there's a small walnut table with one drawer, identical to one I have in a bedroom that I paid 350 francs for some years ago, going for 235 euros. Can prices have gone up so much in six or seven years? At any rate, no one is buying, or even negotiating. A stream of tourists passes by each stall, looks and moves on, then heads back to the parking lot, as do I.

I wake T and we go into Le Bugue to check out the festival going on at Le Bournat. It looks rather feeble - a demonstration by a wood turner, a quartet of Occitan singers, a cheese maker explaining the secrets of cabecou - not something we care to spend 12 euros to see, so we go sit at Le Snack and have a green salad and a pizza savoyarde, and then we play minigolf at the area's most frustrating course. T is a good golfer, and I've got decent hand-eye coordination, so it's a good match, but I'm felled by the hole that requires getting the ball across a "bridge" about 4 inches wide to the green on the other side, and lose to him by two points in the end.

There's no point in going home on a cloudy day, so we decide to wander. I drive and T tells me when to turn left or right, a game we've indulged in since he was a very young boy. We take a route through Audrix, a detour to some Parc a Loisir, then on to Souillac and south along the Dordogne and then across to St-Cyprien and on the route to Beynac again. There are signs for another brocante being held in Vezac, so we aim for that, and as a cold drizzle begins, we park outside the Capeyrou campground in Vezac and race to the cover of the brocante stalls. The chateau de Beynac is shrouded in a brooding mist above us.

Like the smaller brocante this morning, this one has nothing special to offer, and the prices seem astronomical, so we just bide our time moving from stall to stall as the rain lets up, then back to the car, where we notice that traffic is at a standstill heading back into Beynac. I really don't ever want to vacation here in August again, and if I ever move here permanently will make sure to vacate in August.

We try heading to Sarlat, which would be the really long way home, but there's a traffic jam in that direction, too. T says "take this side road," so I veer off up into the hills with absolutely no idea of where I'm headed. Before long we are incredibly high up, above La Roque-Gageac, on the narrowest lane imaginable, with the most lovely secluded manor houses and private chateaux, with long cedar-lined driveways and tall iron fences, and an air of centuries-old privilege and luxury. From below, when we make it down again (not without several hair-raising encounters with cars coming in the opposite direction), this hillside just looks like a deeply forested cliffside, with no hint of what lies within it.

Unfortunately, our side trip hasn't relieved us of the traffic jam, and we proceed from several kilometers past La Roque-Gageac to St-Vincent-de-Cosse in first gear again, taking almost two hours to return to St-Cirq, where we vow not to set foot in the car again today.

Dinner is pate de foie gras de canard on toast, salad of chene and radishes and tomato and boiled egg with walnut dressing, ham and Gruyere omelettes, and Greek yogurt with miel du Perigord for dessert. We're tucked in reading in our beds by 10 pm, with the house martens tucked in above us and a fine mist descending on the valley.

JulieVikmanis

This is so nice. A daily dose of the Dordogne. A trip report almost as it happens. Wonderful. And your writing and description is terrific. Thank you.

One question--I've always wondered, is St. Cirq and St. Cirq La Popie, the same place? Thanks.

ira

Hi Julie

>...[are] St. Cirq and St. Cirq La Popie, the same place? <

No.

You can find them both at www.mappy.com or www.viamichelin.com

Nikki

There are several different villages named St. Cirq in the area. The one StCirq writes about is between Les Eyzies and Le Bugue.

StCirq, I really enjoyed the description of dinner at the Velo Rouge at Domaine de la Barde; it made me very hungry. When we stayed there last month, I thought the restaurant was very good but I hadn't seen anything written about it and it didn't appear on the lists I had culled from Fodor's. It sounds from your description as if that is because it is new.

I'm looking forward to your (and Stu Dudley's) reports after visiting Le Jardin de l'Epicure.

hopingtotravel

What a wonderful report! I would say you should write a book, but then everyone would vacation in the Dordogne and ruin your beautiful setting. I can't wait to tell my husband about the $120 cheese! I'm very glad I didn't encounter any adders.

It looks like I won't be affording to add any to my 20 year-old odds and ends of Quimper. I liked the rotten eggs in the Limoges. It reminded me of Karen Blixen in 'Out of Africa' on the back of the train yelling to be careful of 'my Limoges'.

ThinGorjus

Loved the part about the French drugs!! Sounds like you had a good time, even without a Muffy (although you had an M). Is there a such thing as a French carpet salesman??????? Probably, but he sells wall-to-wall.

Gesax

Great stuff again from my favorite writer. Let us left coasters know when you come west to visit M.
George in San Fran

toni

St Cirq, thank you for your wonderful report. We were there in July and your writings are making me very nostalgic. One question, why are there so many St Cirqs in the Perigord?

Michael

To keep the brights on in your Toyota, try pushing downwards, the opposite to flashing the lights.

annieladd

St. Cirq, what's your favorite time of year to visit the Dordogne? Looking forward to your next chapter! annieladd

sfowler

Moooooreeeeee plllleeeeeeaseeeeeee???

SharonG

Love this trip report although it's more like a daily diary. I just want to keep reading and reading. And my aunt used to have a little fur thing that she called her "stone martens". Are they some kind of rodent?