Dordogne and Paris - April/May 2013
 

We've been home for months, now, and it's past time to share some details of another great visit to our favorite European country. My husband and wonderful travel partner and driver, P, and I, have made many trips to France over the past nearly thirty years. Lately our plans have been to spend half the time exploring a region new to us, and the other half in Paris. This time we chose the Dordogne for our new region and loved it.

After spending a first night in Paris, we took the train to Angoulême where we picked up a car. Then drove via Brantôme and Bourdeilles to our rental in St.-Crépin near Sarlat. At the end of our stay there, we drove to Toulouse where we returned the car and spent the night before returning to Paris by train. Our second week was spent in Paris.

Thank you all who took the time to post trip reports or beautiful photos, or answer a question about visiting the Dordogne/Périgord region. It was unknown territory for us and your generous contributions to this forum were very helpful.

DAYS 1 & 2

Our trip started mid-morning with the drive from our home in southern Maine to Portsmouth NH where we left our car and took the bus to Boston Logan Airport.

We used almost all our remaining frequent flyer miles and flew Delta to Paris with a connection in Amsterdam. In the past we had always been able to do this using the Air France non-stop to Paris, but this time, with the limited miles we had, only the connection through Amsterdam in both directions was offered. It was a terrible schedule, leaving Boston at around 5:30 p.m., arriving Amsterdam at 5:30 a.m., then a 4-hour layover before the Air France flight to Paris. But it was free, so I won't complain.

The Delta flight to Amsterdam was pleasant enough on a newer Airbus. At Schiphol we found a quiet corner where we waited for our gate to be posted for the AF flight to Paris. That flight was delayed for over an hour then cancelled. I was impressed that KLM agents walked the waiting passengers over to an area where at least a dozen agents were rapidly rebooking everyone and after about 30 minutes we were given boarding passes for a flight leaving very shortly. We arrived at CDG and our checked bag was already going around on the carousel when we got to the baggage claim area.

We walked to the RER station where we bought tickets to Paris and a Metro carnet for future use. I also went into the Relay store there and bought a €5 Lebara recharge ticket for our phone. Then we took the RER B to the Port Royal station, a few blocks from our hotel.

By the time we reached the Hôtel de la Paix Montparnasse, those few blocks had turned into a good 20-minute walk and we were pretty hot, tired and wondering why we hadn't had the good sense to take a taxi.

After a short rest in our very nice, air-conditioned room, we set out to find somewhere to get something to eat and walked into Chez Fernand on the Boulevard Montparnasse. The waiter was friendly and the food good, although I don't remember the details since by this time all I wanted was to get back to the hotel and a good night's sleep.

Tagging along! We are doing 1 week Dordogne/1 week Paris in June. Can't wait.

I'm in...

Love Paris (headed for our 10th on June) and the Dordogne was a real treat in Sept.'12.
Our 1st trip to Paris in "01 we stayed in the Montparnasse area.

Needless to say I'm along for the ride!!!

Me, too, MaineGG. Another fellow traveler!

Count me in.

I will also be following as we will be there for two weeks end of April into May. Have been before in different areas so looking forward to your experiences.

Thank you all for your encouragement!

Day 3 -

We liked the Hotel de la Paix Montparnasse. The staff were all pleasant and helpful, and the room very comfortable. Our rate for the night was €120.
http://www.paris-montparnasse-hotel.com/en/

The wake-up call was right on time, we got up, got organized, went down for breakfast, and ordered a taxi.

We chose this hotel mostly because of its proximity to both the RER B line and the Gare Montparnasse. But, as I've already said, we were not quite close enough to the RER, and, as it turned out, we were not far enough from the station.

The taxi arrived, bags were loaded, we got in and told the driver that our destination was the Gare Montparnasse. What??? You called a taxi for such a short trip??? Why don't you walk??? Even though I understood exactly what he had said, I decided my best tactic would be to act as if I didn't have a clue what he was saying and sit quietly. Eventually he drove off and muttered all the way to the station about his bad luck in having to do such a short run. (By the way, this is the second such taxi driver rant we've experienced in Paris. What's with this? What's their minimum acceptable distance?)

We arrived at the station 30 minutes prior to our train time and went to the waiting room where I was interested to see a small bookshelf with both adult and children's selections for passengers who needed something to read. At exactly 20 minutes prior to departure, the platform was posted for our TGV to Angoulême. After a very long walk out the platform, we found our car, boarded, and settled into our 1st class seats, singles, face to face across a table. Since I knew that this was the train we needed, I had gone online three months before and bought our tickets for €42 each.

A few minutes after the scheduled departure time, the announcement was made that there was a "problème technique" and we would have to disembark and move to a different train. After our experience the day before with the cancelled flight, I was starting to wonder if we were in for ongoing transportation issues, but we boarded the alternate train and left, 30 minutes late.

I'll say more about this later, but this train ride provided my first experience with my new Nexus 7 tablet and its GPS capability offline. I had saved Google maps for offline use for the area between Paris and Angoulême and it was fun to see where we were along the route. It was also useful to see when we were nearly to Angoulême so we could prepare to get off quickly.

A highlight of the train ride was the sight of a small herd of tiny roe deer in a field. I had no idea there were deer that small. Beautiful.

In Angoulême we walked out to the taxi station and were fortunate to get into the taxi of a lovely woman who knew the Europcar location where we were to pick up our car. We had chosen a location other than the rail station to avoid the €39 fee for rail station pick-up. Our taxi fare was €6. The Europcar people were ready for us, and soon we were off in a little diesel Hyundai i20 that we liked very much. We had, as usual, booked the rental with AutoEurope. It came to $179.32 for a week plus a €39 additional driver charge. Insurance was covered by American Express for $24.95.

Our first stop was Brantôme for lunch and a look around. We wanted a light lunch and found just the right place, Au Nid des Thés - http://www.au-nid-des-thes.fr/en/au_...on_de_the.html . I had a tarte chèvre with tomatoes and courgettes, salad, a glass of rosé and a scrumptious dessert. P had a gratin of potatoes, mushrooms and beef, salad, a glass of artisanal beer and a different scrumptious dessert. The total tab for all this was €28.

After our very satisfying lunch, we walked around this picturesque town for thirty minutes or so. We needed to get to our rental in St.-Crépin-et-Carlucet around 5:00, so we had to move along in that direction. Our next stop was in Bourdeilles, another beautiful small town, which we reached after a pretty drive along the Dronne River. Again, just time for enough of a look to be glad we had taken the short side trip there. Then we headed for Périgueux, the autoroute, and our apartment at Les Granges Hautes - http://www.les-granges-hautes.fr/en/...ages/index.htm

Our apartment (the one on the right in the picture on the website) was perfect for us. It's one of two on the grounds of a beautiful B&B whose owners, Béatrice and Jean-Yves Fauste are very welcoming and helpful. The location was very convenient for Sarlat, and for getting to all the other villages and sites we wanted to see along the Dordogne and Vézère, yet it was tucked away in a very quiet spot away from any noise. The apartment is what the French call a "duplex," meaning two-story. The ground floor has an open living room with comfortable seating, and a beautiful kitchen with a dining table. Under the stairs is a tiny room with a toilet and a washing machine (no dryer). Upstairs is a large bedroom with a vaulted ceiling. The king bed is very comfortable and the bed linens are high quality. The bathroom consists of a large, nicely-tiled walk-in shower, a large pedestal sink, and a large dresser. There is no toilet upstairs, which was a bit of a surprise. It didn't really bother us, but might be a concern for some. Bedroom and bathroom lighting were good. The only other small concern was occasional WiFi problems. Early mornings were always OK, but late afternoon into the evening was sometimes iffy. We really enjoyed our stay there and would certainly go back.

After checking in, we went to the small Intermarché in Salignac and stocked up on some essentials. Had a light supper, unpacked, and went to bed. After three heavy travel days, I was happy to be settling here and looked forward to a week of exploring a new (for us) part of France.

I've had the chastised-for-too-short-distance-thing happen before. I was with my mom and it was hot, and she absolutely wanted to take a cab to lunch. Good idea on pretending not understand. My mom had no clue, that's for sure.

Roe deer! What a thrill.

Leely2, glad I'm not the only one. To be fair, we have had some great taxi drivers in Paris and elsewhere, but it's hard to bite my tongue and remain silent when one of these guys decides a couple of seniors with baggage should be walking. I wonder if they are required to take passengers no matter how short the distance. Yes, the roe deer were a thrill. At first I thought they were large dogs, then realized they were deer.

Now on to Day 4 -

This morning we set off for Beynac and La Roque Gageac on the Dordogne. Driving south through Sarlat, we enjoyed the springtime scenery of blooming fruit trees, redbud and wisteria everywhere.

In Beynac we drove up to the chateau, looked around, but did not do an inside tour. We've been traveling in Europe for years and nowadays, unless there is something specific we want to see in a castle, we pretty much don't spend the time to go in. After going back down to the river level, we spent some time walking around the town before heading for La Roque Gageac.

There, we left almost immediately on a Gabares Norbert boat tour - http://www.gabarres.com/us/gabare-boat-trip.htm . The guide was excellent, but the commentary was in French. I speak French, P doesn't, so he was given a headset with English commentary. Our friendly guide was quick to point out to me some of the additional information he was giving that wasn't on the English recording. Lots of history of centuries on the river, plus stories of terrible floods. You can see marks on some of the buildings in town where the water rose, in some cases, up to the second story level.

During the last few minutes of our boat ride, the sky looked increasingly threatening. After disembarking, as we walked along looking for a lunch spot, the heavens opened and we ducked into the first restaurant we came to, L'Ancre d'Or. They have a large terrace, but a very small indoor space and we got the last open table. One very hardworking waitress took good care of everyone and we enjoyed our lunch of salade de gesiers for me and confit de canard for P. This restaurant has mixed reviews, but we had no complaints and the price was reasonable.

After lunch we headed up the road to Les Eyzies. I wanted to visit the Font de Gaume ticket office to chat with the people there about a strategy for getting to see that cave during the next few days. They recommended we come Sunday morning and arrive at the ticket office before 8:30.

On the way back to St.-Crépin, we went to St.-Geniès, a lovely old village.. Someone on this forum had mentioned a special bread that was made there, but the boulangerie was closed when we got there, so no special bread. Had a light dinner chez nous. It was a good first day.

Really enjoying your trip report so far - we are going ourselves in May so it's of special interest.

<<They recommended we come Sunday morning and arrive at the ticket office before 8:30.>>

I hope you got in, because they "recommend" lots of things, depending on whom you talk to, but very often, no matter what time you get there, you don't get in. If you did, you were lucky indeed!

We stayed in a property adjacent to Les Granges Hautes and enjoyed that area very much. Thanks for bringing back some good memories.

Late getting on here and loving the KLM service on rebooking!

I always love seeing wildlife....gotta look up roe deer now!

StCirq - Stay tuned for Day 6.

francebound - Hope you find something helpful here. It's a wonderful area with so much to see.

denisea - I was really impressed with KLM's efficiency.

bon_voyage - We really liked that location. Where did you stay?

Now it's Day 5 -

Since it was Saturday morning, we headed into Sarlat for the market. Found a good parking spot near the tourist office and went there to pick up a walking tour map. Sarlat is a beautiful old town and the market was busy. P was thrilled to find beautiful garriguettes strawberries. We bought our first rotisserie chicken of the trip, and some veggies. There are some nice shops and I bought some little ceramic garlic graters to take home for gifts.

After an hour or more, we left and stopped to shop in the large Carrefour on the way back to our apartment. We also made a note of the posted times their fuel station attendant would be there since our chip and signature credit card didn't work at the pump. After a good lunch with the rotisserie chicken and potatoes, we then headed over to La Roque St.-Christophe, a very interesting site in a shelter of a cliff high over the Vézère river - http://www.roque-st-christophe.com/ . This site was occupied in prehistoric times, but it was truly amazing that an entire town was built up there in the Middle Ages, and most of the exhibits are about that era.

Next we stopped in one of my favorite places of the trip, St.-Léon-sur-Vézère. What a beautiful village on the river with its little romanesque church and two châteaux.

We then decided to go to Montignac to get tickets for a tour of Lascaux II for Monday or Tuesday, and were happily surprised to find tickets were available for the next English tour in thirty minutes. So we headed out of town to the site. Our guide was excellent and provided us an in-depth and interesting introduction to cave art, as well as a thorough explication of the art at Lascaux II. Although some say it's better to visit Lascaux II after seeing other caves because its art is more impressive, we thought the information we took away from Lascaux II gave us much more knowledge and context for what we saw in the other caves we visited.

This had been a busy day, so it was early to bed after a glass of our landlord's delicious homemade vin de noix and a very light supper. We have an early start tomorrow for Font de Gaume.

We spent a week in Sarlat a couple of years ago, brings back lovely memories.
Enjoying the trip report!

MaineGG, the rental was named Chantepierre, located behind Les Granges Hautes, off the little road to old St-Crepin. When our landlords were called away due to the birth of a grandchild, they gave us the names of the owners at LGH to contact were we to need anything.

bon_voyage - Chantepierre looks lovely. I love all the beautiful golden stone buildings around there.

Thanks, aussie_10.

Day 6 -

Up very early, breakfasted and out the door at 7:30 for the drive to Les Eyzies. Months before I had emailed Font de Gaume for reservations and been advised that they were not going to allow advance reservations in 2013, and, furthermore, they were cutting the number of daily visitors to 80. Tickets would be available daily on a first-come, first-served basis. We arrived at the ticket office at 8:15 and there were already at least 25 people in line. Since it was drizzling, we stayed in the car until quite a few more people arrived, then queued for the last 30 minutes before the ticket office opened at 9:30. By that time, there were more than 80 people in line.

We took the first available tour at 10:00, in French, since the first English tour wasn't until 11:00. I am fairly fluent in French, and P understands a little, so we were fine with this. I was happy, though, that we had all the background information from Lascaux II before this visit. The guide, a woman who had been a guide here for many years, was wonderful. She obviously had great love and respect for the cave and its art and communicated a thorough knowledge of her subject. For me, the iconic painting of the male and female reindeer was a highlight. What a thrill it was to see these beautiful works of art from 14,000 years ago.

Going back into Les Eyzies, we stopped at the Pôle International de la Préhistoire and were glad we did. First of all, they have very nice restrooms (always important). But they also have some interesting exhibits about prehistoric man, and a lot of information about all the prehistoric sites in the Vézère Valley.

We had coffee and a snack at a nice boulangerie on the main street of Les Eyzies. They had some great looking baguette sandwiches there, so we got a couple and left for the Jardins de Marqueyssac where we had a picnic in the company of a gorgeous strutting peacock.

I'm not really too interested in gardens, generally, but the setting of these gardens atop a long, high plateau is stunning. We walked the Promenade des Falaises along the edge of the cliff to enjoy the wonderful views over the Dordogne and countryside.

Then we headed across the river to the Château des Milandes. I've always been interested in Josephine Baker and wanted to see her home and all the memorabilia in it. What an interesting life she had, moving from poverty in St. Louis to New York, then Paris, where still in her twenties she became an enormously successful entertainer. She was awarded the Medal of the Resistance, Croix de Guerre and Légion d'Honneur for her work during World War II. Having no children of her own, she adopted 12 children of various races, nationalities and ethnicities. There is much of interest here and it is well displayed. We stayed for the birds of prey show in the garden. It was very well done and we enjoyed it.

After another very full, but very satisfying day, we went home to St.-Crépin, had a light supper and went to bed. Tomorrow, the Gouffre de Padirac and more beaux villages.

What a great day! It sounds like you planned well for a chance to see Font de Gaume.
Hopefully the drizzle held off for your picnic in the gardens.
Can you recommend some good background reading about Josephine Baker's life?

francebound - It was a great day with no rain after mid-morning. We were pretty lucky to have very little rain (except for the last day) in the area. About Josephine Baker's life, I have not read any of the biographies I see on Amazon, but several look interesting. The Wikipedia article has a lot of information that seems well-sourced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker

Here's Day 7 -

The plan for today was to go to the Gouffre de Padirac - http://www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/#/en , then see what else we could see over in that direction. Possibilities were Rocamadour, Autoire, Loubressac, Carennac and Martel.

We started off through Salignac to Souillac where we somehow took a wrong turn, but were soon back on the right road. I mention this since we went through Souillac twice more and also got off track both times. There's something a little off about the signage there, I think.

A note here about navigating...
We used the Michelin map 329, the 1:150000 regional map. In addition, I used Google maps saved on my Nexus 7 tablet. Being able to see exactly where we were using its GPS was very useful in confirming that we had taken a correct turn and were on the right road. And when we came to a town or village, it provided a detailed local map.

We got to Padirac and arrived at the Gouffre to find no wait for tickets. Shortly we went down the elevator and walked to the boat dock. In a few minutes we boarded a skiff for our tour and were off down the underground river. The boatman/guide provided commentary in a very different accent that I had a hard time understanding. We were soon put ashore in the charge of another guide for a walking tour. He was much easier to understand. Suddenly we emerged into a huge cavernous space and I could see the walkway ascending to a very high level. I'm not much of a climber, but I managed to make it to the top of what seemed like a 10-story building (probably exaggerated, but I was pretty challenged) before we eventually descended to the river level to reboard our boat for the trip back.

When we reached the dock at the end of the tour, there were many people in line to board boats. When we got back to the entrance at the top, there were many, many people in line extending outside for a long way to buy tickets. You can buy tickets online for this cave, but once down the elevator, there's no telling how many people will be in line to board boats. We were there on a Monday in late April, not high season, so it could be pretty time-consuming during the season.

Having said that, this was an interesting cave experience and I would recommend it.

We left Padirac and drove to Autoire, then on to Loubressac where we parked and walked around for awhile. This is another really picturesque village, up high with lovely views of Castelnau Bretenoux in the distance.

Then on to Carennac where we had lovely large salades composées in the Calypso Bodega restaurant. Mine with magret sèche, P's with three cheeses. After lunch we spent some time walking around this pretty old town.

Then, a choice had to be made between Rocamadour and Martel and we chose Martel. Martel doesn't have the visual impact of Rocamadour, but it is a beautiful medieval town and was interesting to see.

Our last visit of the day was to the little Château de Lacypierre which is practically next door to our apartment. It's really charming and well worth a look.

Tomorrow will be our last day before we head south.

"Next we stopped in one of my favorite places of the trip, St.-Léon-sur-Vézère."

Great report. This was also one of the best highlights of our trip.

((H))

I sent an email (in french) to the office at Font de Gaume yesterday, asking if there would be any english language tours during the time we will be in the area and this morning I got a reply that yes, there were, and yes, I could book 2 tickets now. I speak and understand french fairly well, but my husband does not so now we can both enjoy it and not have to be there at 8:30am. Hurrah!

<i> I speak and understand french fairly well, but my husband does not so now we can both enjoy it and not have to be there at 8:30am. Hurrah!</i>

Don't count your chickens yet. We were supposed to be with an English speaking guide when we visited Font-de-Gaume, but for some reason he was not available.

francebound - I'm amazed that you were told that you could book two tickets in advance since it still states on the official website: "access limited to 80 person/day
No reservation available, all the tickets are sold at the entrance every day for the day." If they have changed their policy, they have not changed the information on the site.

http://eyzies.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/

Below is what I read on that website so I emailed the office and was offered a reservation at 3:15 on May 12th. If it's actually and english speaking guide we'll have to wait and see, if not, c'est la vie.

Grottes de Font de Gaume et des Combarelles: pour des raisons de conservation, nombre de places limité par jour
Billets en vente sur place le jour même, dans la limite des places disponibles.
En 2014, il est possible de réserver ses billets pour Font de Gaume pour 2 visites :
- en basse saison : 15h15 (12 places) et 16h (12 places)
- en haute saison : 13h30 (12 places) et 14h15 (12 places)

That's really good news. To see that info I had to go to the French language link -

http://eyzies.monuments-nationaux.fr/fr/

Hope you get an English guide!

We wanted to visit Font de Gaume and were even willing to get up extra early to be in line but then I found out that they don't offer the English tour the last 3 weeks of June. That happens to be when we are visiting. We are now going to visit Pech Merle for our bigger cave experience and Grottes du Domme for something closer to our gite.

The Grotte de Domme is just stalagmites and stalactites - no prehistoric chromatic art or engravings.

And I concur with Michael. The Grotte de Font de Gaume often offers English language tours when it can't really follow through on them. I have had to act as interpreter several times when the English-speaking guide didn't show up. They tend to hire English speakers for the summer months when they expect more English-only visitors.

If Font de Gaume is now offering 24 reserved places per day, that means that it will be even more challenging to just turn up for one of the remaining 56 places. I wonder how quickly the reserved spots will be filled.

Let's hope they correct the information on the English language site soon.

maitaitom - We really enjoyed the time we spent along the Vézère. It's lovely. And thanks for the compliment. It's especially nice coming from someone who always gives us truly great trip reports.

Day 8 -

It had started raining hard during the night and the forecast was for the rain to continue into the afternoon. We had planned to go to Monpazier and Belvès today, but were discouraged by the weather. So, what's there to do that can't be affected by the weather? Visit another cave. Or two.

The Grotte du Sorcier - www.grottedusorcier.com - sounded really interesting, so we set off. On the drive up to the cave, I wondered if we might see StCirq in the neighborhood. This cave turned out to be one of my favorite sites of the trip. It's a very quaint and small enterprise, and on the morning we were there was staffed by one woman who sold tickets, operated the gift shop and was the tour guide. There's a nice small museum to visit while waiting for the tour. In the cave, there are some images of animals, but the main attraction is the engraved image of a witch or shaman, a rare depiction of a human form.

It was still pouring rain when we left the Grotte du Sorcier and went back to Les Eyzies where we had lunch at the Café de la Mairie.

To round out our bonus cave day, we then went to the Grotte de Rouffignac - http://www.grottederouffignac.fr/index.php/welcome , a very large cave system with images of hundreds of animals including woolly mammoths, rhinoceros and ibex. The tour here is on a small electric train because the distances are too great to walk.

Although it was disappointing that we didn't get to Monpazier, we did enjoy the two additional caves. Seeing the cave art in this area was a top priority for me, and we certainly saw a good variety across the four caves we visited plus the replica of Lascaux. Since they seem to be increasingly restricting access to Font de Gaume, there's a real possibility that it, like Lascaux, will be closed someday, so I feel very fortunate that we were able to see it.

Tonight was a special treat since we were having dinner, along with some other guests, at Les Granges Hautes. Béatrice and Jean-Yves prepared a beautiful dinner featuring local specialties. We gathered in front of their huge fireplace for apéritifs and amuse-bouches. The fire was lit on this chilly, damp night, and my French conversation skills were greatly tested since none of the other guests were English-speaking. Our entrée was, of course, foie gras. The plat was a sort of lasagna made with confit de canard. The wine was a Cahors. By now you might have noticed that we are not really foodies, but I know many here are interested and I'm trying to remember the details of what else we had, but can't find my notes for this day. Whatever it was, we thoroughly enjoyed it and would heartily recommend taking the opportunity to have dinner there if possible.

After a beautiful dessert and coffee, we walked back to our apartment to pack for our departure the next morning.

MaineGG, I live next door to the Grotte du Sorcier. Next dwelling up the hill. The grotte was purchased a few years ago by a Monsieur Touron, who owns all the Intermarchés and Bricomarchés in the area and has recently completed restoring about 20 buildings/homes in Sarlat. The grotte is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

MaineGG, I am really enjoying your report. I'm looking forward to more!

StCirq - Interesting info about the owner. It sounds like he's doing good things locally.

Yes he has. Did you by chance visit the Manoir de Gisson in Sarlat? That's his most recent accomplishment, and it's quite breathtaking.

I remember seeing the Manoir de Gisson, but we did not visit. Sarlat is a lovely town.

Bookmarking for print-out, we too have done France several times with Paris for hal the time and another region for the other half-- only area remaining is SW!

aliced - I wish we had had more time for the SW. There's so much beauty and so much of interest.

Day 9 -

Today was May 1st, a major national holiday. Our plan was to take a scenic route to Toulouse, going through Figeac, Villefranche-de-Rouergue, and Cordes-sur-Ciel. We were hoping for nice weather and the day dawned bright and clear. We headed for Souillac where we would get on the A20 autoroute for the first 50 km. And, once more, we almost missed the turn, but caught ourselves just in time to stay on the right road. There is definitely something off with the signage there.

It was hard to find a parking place in Figeac, but we finally found one a few blocks away from Place Carnot and set out to walk around. Because of the holiday, lots of shops and businesses were shuttered and there were few people out and about. There was a carnival with rides taking up all the space in Place Carnot, but it had not opened for business yet. It was hard to get a sense of this medieval space because of it, but did notice the architectural features of several buildings. Many buildings of several stories were constructed of stone or brick at ground level, then the upper stories were half-timbered with the top story being left as an open porch.

We happened upon a crêperie, Le Sarrasin, on a little street between Place Carnot and the river. It was very small, but we were early and were welcomed in. Several tables had "reserved" cards on them, and soon two extended families arrived. They were the parents and children of the proprietress, and the children arrived laden with little bouquets of lily of the valley for their mother. It was a lovely scene and the crêpes were good.

After walking around a little more, we got back on the road. We certainly didn't see Figeac under ideal conditions given the holiday and carnival, but had enjoyed our look around. Now we set off down the D922 for Villefranche-de-Rouergue and Cordes-sur-Ciel.

This route is very scenic. Nothing spectacularly eye-popping, but just beautiful countryside. Because we had missed visiting Monpazier, a bastide town, I decided we needed to take a look at Villefranche-de-Rouergue, another bastide. There were few signs of life in this town, too, because of the holiday, but I was happy to see the classic architecture of the bastide and we spent some time walking around underneath the arcades surrounding the main square. Unfortunately, the main square is torn up with some sort of construction project, so not very picturesque at the moment.

Continuing down the D922, we were tempted to turn off several times, especially to Najac, but because of time constraints continued until our next brief stop, by the bridge over the Aveyron river in Laguépie. From this spot, you can see a ruined castle above the town. By the bridge is a display plaque about this ruin, and what was really interesting to me was that the information was in French, English, and Occitane. I wondered if there is some sort of movement to keep the old language alive since we had seen it several places on signs.

Back on D922, we continued on to Cordes-sur-Ciel, a beautiful old hilltop town where we had planned to spend some time walking around. Here, though, we encountered very congested traffic and crowds of people. Because of the holiday? Something special going on in town? Not sure, but after driving around very slowly for twenty minutes or so without seeing anywhere to park, we decided to forgo a visit and continued on toward Toulouse.

A little while later, we needed a break and coffee and decided to stop at the McDonald's in Gaillac near the A68 autoroute. It looked very nice, and although very busy, the service was fast, the coffee good, and the restrooms clean. Perfect. An interesting feature of this McD's location was the system of ordering and paying at automated kiosks which provided a receipt to show when picking up your order. Very fast and efficient.

Next door to the McDonald's was a Leclerc hypermarket and we noticed people getting gas so decided to try to refuel. Unfortunately there was no human to pay, so even though it had never worked before in a fuel pump, I inserted my US Bank Visa card with chip and it worked! (So far, I think this is the first reported occurrence of a US-issued chip/signature card working in a fuel pump in France.)

So it was on to Toulouse where, after stopping at the Ibis across from the Gare Matabiau to check in and leave our bags, we drove up a steep and tight spiral ramp to the top deck of the station's parking garage to return our car to Europcar.

Back across the street, we were happy to find our room at the Ibis to be larger than we have usually found at an Ibis. The hotel is on a busy corner, but our room was quiet, on an upper floor and looking into a courtyard. The bed was very comfortable, the lighting good, and there was a long desk area with several power points. The bathroom was large with a full-sized bathtub. At €55, it was a great bargain. Friendly, helpful front desk people too. We have stayed in Ibis hotels several times recently and all have been very satisfactory and moderately priced.

We walked up to the Place du Capitole, then wandered around some until we found the Maison du Cassoulet where we had an early dinner. We shared an Ardoise Basque entrée that included chorizo, serrano ham, and other charcuterie, then shared an order of cassoulet that was ample. We couldn't finish the cassoulet. Including a beer and two pichets of wine the total tab was €37.50.

Toulouse deserves much more than a brief look and we will certainly be back someday, probably as a starting point for visiting the Pays Basque.

Tomorrow morning we're off to Paris.

<< I wondered if there is some sort of movement to keep the old language alive since we had seen it several places on signs.>>

Yes, there has been a movement for the past two decades. It's not Occitane, actually, but the langue d'oc (they are closely related). Children are learning it at the bournats (my neighbors' first language is the langue d'oc). There are bournats in many towns in the Périgord, including Les Eyzies, where the language and old customs are taught, and every year there is a huge festival called the Félibrée, usually at the end of July, where people dress in the old costumes and re-enact the old community get-togethers, and there are bals-dansants and communal feasts. There is always a parade and a queen is elected to be Reine de la Félibrée.

Sorry you missed Cordes-sur-la-Ciel. The upper town is beautiful, with some interesting shops and a couple of outstanding small mom-and-pop restos with amazing food. Same for Figeac.

StCirq - That's interesting about the attempts to preserve the old language and customs. I wish them success, but believe it will be very hard to keep young people using the language to the same extent as their parents and grandparents. Keeping old customs and traditions should be more easily done.

There's an interesting article about Occitan (I mistakenly added a final 'e' in my previous post) and its dialects -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occitan...er_of_speakers

I also found these maps interesting -
https://www.google.com/search?q=regi...w=1280&bih=685

Hope all this isn't TMI :)

Need to get back to the trip report.

Day 10 -

On the way back to the Ibis the night before, we discovered a boulangerie nearby that had some nice looking sandwiches and patisseries. This morning P was there early to get provisions for our long train ride, and some breakfast goodies to have with our Starbucks Via coffee we make sometimes when staying in hotels.

Then it was only a few minutes walk across to the station to catch the 9:05 iDTGV to Paris Montparnasse. Two years ago we took an iDTGV train from Paris to Lyon. The carriages on that train were painted with the iDTGV logo, and the interior was done in bright colors. This time, our carriage was identical to the one on the TGV train we took from Paris to Angoulême the week before, no iDTGV branding. Again, I bought these 1st class tickets for €46 each as soon as they went on sale, and when I checked later, they were considerably more. I booked this train on the iDTGV site which I like because you can pick your exact seats from an airline-type seat map.

A few days before this trip, I got an email from iDTGV offering a car service that would meet us at the platform and take us to our destination in Paris for a fixed fare. I filled in a form with the address of our destination near the Place de la République and they replied with a fare quote. I didn't book the service and ultimately we decided to just take a regular taxi which worked out fine. It turned out, though, that the taxi fare we paid was very close to the quote. Maybe the iDcab service would have worked out well.

We phoned our apartment owner as soon as we arrived and he was relieved to hear from us since he had just heard that trains into Montparnasse were running hours late due to some problems. Later we heard that mainly trains from Brittany were affected, but after experiencing two transportation delays so far, I was happy we had not been affected this time.

Our Paris apartment was a nice studio on Boulevard Jules Ferry ( http://www.vrbo.com/232791 ), near the corner of the rue du Faubourg du Temple. This apartment fully deserves all the glowing reviews on the site. If you're happy with a studio, there's really nothing not to like here. The kitchen is better equipped than many we've had in much more expensive apartments. The sofa bed was excellent with very nice bed linens. Everything was very clean and neat. The photos make it look a little dark, but it's not at all when the curtains are open. It was very quiet as it looked out on a large green space. The République Métro station is a few minutes walk away, and bus stops for several lines are nearby. There's a Lidl two doors away, a Picard just up the street, and many other stores within a couple of blocks. When we were there, the Place de la République was still completely torn up, but that project is finished now.

We spent our first afternoon and evening in Paris exploring the neighborhood, shopping for food, unpacking and doing laundry. One great feature of this apartment was a combination washer/dryer that actually worked very well, wasn't noisy, and didn't take hours. The owner left excellent directions for using it (as well as everything else in the apartment). I like the Purex 3 in 1 laundry sheets and 1/2 sheet works very well in these small machines.

It had been a long day, and after a light supper including our favorite tomato tarts from Picard, tortellini in brodo and something yummy from the patisserie, we went to bed.