Yes, our small town in the Dordogne has just switched to the locked bins. They removed ALL of the large trash bins located outside of the village in the various neighborhoods. So, now everyone has to drive their trash into town to deposit into only TWO receptacals. Quite controversial and not well received. There are other rules involved in the locked bins too; such as a limit on how much you can deposit before being charged for any additional garbage deposits. Progress.... uh huh.

The town we previously lived in (Vaucluse) also had locked trash bins. We had a key to open them there. Here it is a card (like a credit card).

Swandav - glad you didn't have any real major issues with the roads. Sounds like you had a lovely visit. You were within 20 minutes of my house during part of your journey.

Swandav you have reinforced my decision not to drive, LOL. Such a pretty area and the photos are wonderful. We just returned from London and were able to catch some wisteria in bloom....your wisteria photos are my fav. I just love it.

... And the name of that vegetarian restaurant in Figeac?

​​​​​​Glad we'll have four nights there. They had me at Museum of Writing.

I drove a Ford Puma from Hertz, which I picked up at the Toulouse Airport, and they charged me for a GPS that I’d already selected and paid for with Autoeurope.

Which is why one should always have the original contract readily available.

It all looks fabulous, those medieval towns, and that hotel in Figeac.

On garbage, I never gave it a thought on booking…until we had to clean out our apartment (not France, but Scuol) and separate waste and find the local depository.
Boy, was I glad I hadn’t chosen to stay in the lower town, lol.

One of the reasons I always rent through AutoEurope is that on the few occasions I have been incorrectly charged, AE has almost immediately secured a refund. Twice from Europcar, once from Avis. On another occasion it was resolved by calling the AE 24/7 toll-free number when dropping the car. The Europcar agent quickly deleted the charge. It sounds like AE could do the same for you since you paid them.

Wonderful trip report. You've made me want to book a trip right now!

Hallo Again!

rhon -- Oh gosh, this was a first for me, and I've been renting vacation apartments in Germany, Switzerland, & Paris since either 2007 or 2009 (not sure why the date is important to you...). I wonder if this is a French/rural French thing (except for the note from Adelaidean below).

1994 -- So it seems it is a common thing to see in France outside of the big cities? Outside of Paris? Seems difficult to have a card-code or keyed, locked bin!! And yes the roads were fine, and it was really a great visit. I would be back almost immediately if it were easier to get to from Bavaria. Wow! 20 minutes from you. You have some very nice neighboring towns .... do you have wisteria on your property???? Don't make me hate you!

denisea -- oh I so agree!! I think if I were to go again, I would not drive. With the help from Ophorus and the private driver availability, I would use those. But it's a convoluted thing to get there from where I live in Bavaria. There is only 1 flight per week (!) that I can find from Munich into Bordeaux. It is easy to fly into Toulouse, but then to get to Sarlat by train, you have to go northwest to Bordeaux, then east to Sarlat .... arrrrgggh. From Paris though I think it's easy -- train to Bordeaux then Sarlat. However, I've heard that the taxi situation in Sarlat is not wonderful. I absolutely did love that wisteria... lucked into it. I may make that timing a requirement in the future!

FTOttawa -- Oh sorry !!! It was the Pierre et Rosette on rue Baduel. You can't miss it -- it is rated 4.9 at google! Ooooh you lucky duck!! You will have a wonderful time!

Michael -- One did!! One showed the Hertz women the contract, and they said, "GPS is an option." One replied, "Yes, the option that I chose and paid for!!" We went round and round for about 10 minutes. I have contacted Hertz (four days ago, they said they would contact me within 24 hours ) and Autoeurope. In the end, it's not worth losing sleep over -- just 125 Euro.

Adelaidean -- thanks. It was truly fabulous. Ok, that is strange about the apartment in Scuol. I wonder if Mel or Ingo have ever come across this requirement when renting apartments.

MaineGG -- Yes, I have contacted both. In the end, I'm not sure it's worth losing sleep over....

KTtravel -- ooh, thank you!! Yes, I am tempted to go right back there. oooooh my. The food. But then, I have pamphlets from a few shops, and they ship to Germany ....

Thanks much!

s

Yes, the region is truly gorgeous round us. And most all the neighboring towns have locked trash bins - everywhere. No key, no access.

Looks like I'm safe. We have no Wisteria on our terrain. Much as I love the look, it is an invasive plant, so we've avoided planting it. We already have a couple of other plants that are terribly invasive and they can be a nightmare to keep under control..

Swan (and FT),
Seeing that Champollion Muse brought back a difficult memory for us. After our visit there, the sun had finally come out so we went to take a few fotos of that outdoors hieroglyphic floor display, the black Zimbabwean granite one in your above photo.

A quartette of French tourists arrived and stood on the periphery. Although we'd only spent 2 or perhaps 3 minutes onsite, one impatient 40ish woman began gesticulating for us to hurry up as we left. She was so intense that at first, I looked behind us to see whether she was scolding children---she wasn't.
After she immaturely mocked my innocent looking-behind gesture, we noticed one of the men in her group rub his forehead and grimace--the embarrassed husband who'd seen this narcisistic behaviour on her part before perhaps?

Mrs Z and I scratched our heads as we departed the area. I gave one final glance back. That husband caught my eye then and made a shrug as though, "I'm sorry, but what can we do with my wife's childishness?"

I am done. the tres etrange

Vraiment incompréhensible et tout à fait inconfortable pour vous!

And Swan, we've never been to St. Emilion. So it was good to see your imagery. Love wisteria next to gold stone. Tried to capture images of that exactly a year ago in the Cotswolds, but the blooms were already fading.
I am done. the French rodez

Oh gosh! Sorry I haven't responded to some comments here!

lol 1994, yaay, marked safe from the wrath of s. Let me know if you ever make it to Bavaria!

ooooo z! Proof that tourists from everywhere can be rude and childish!! I'm guessing you were visiting in the summer, when there may have been more visitors there? There was no-one there when I was there, and I was free to sit and ponder away. Hope you get to St Emilion -- it was gorgeous, but once was enough for me (but then I am not much of a wine tourist, so folks interested in wines & vineyards & tastings would probably want more time there). I didn't find it overly touristed... there were lots of tourists, but it seemed like a normal load (I live in a tourist town, and that is what our pedestrian zone looks like when we have decent weather ... folks just out enjoying the ambiance and the views and some ice cream, etc).

Thanks, all, for your comments!

s

Don't know how I overlooked this, but I'm just now seeing your report and enjoyed it. Your struggles getting out of the airport at Toulouse brought back some (repressed) memories of my trip to this region. But, since we were doing a one way rental, that was our only experience of the Toulouse airport. I think my sister still has nightmares about driving a Renault van up the circular ramp at the Nice gare.

Enjoyed those photos all over again…gorgeous.
Beautiful, interesting destinations.


….and now that we’ve stayed in several bases, more on rubbish…because I’m so impressed with civic pride

so in Stresa - detailed instructions on ‘daily’ requirements, a small truck seemed to do a 6 am pickup of specific loads every day, so glass, paper, food waste, etc, in different bins, there were about 5 of them, and you put them on footpath after 10 pm.
In Locarno - no instructions, but took our recycling to the train station to the separate bins
in Sils Maria - good instructions - a red bag is purchased from the grocery store, and this is deposited into a specific bin in street, other bins for recycling
in Bressanone - first time we saw locked bins, same type as Sils Maria, but needed a permit to open.

Different rules, and requiring some effort on individuals, but so much more sustainable than our ‘toss everything in 1 bin’ at home and recycling truck drives around our many streets to pick up from each home and then sorted at depot.
And politicians who argue against any form of rubbish tax or personal responsibility for our waste issues.
We are so far behind Europe and have an enormous waste / recycling problem but little will to address it.

Hi twk! Glad you got to see it. Yeahhhhhh getting out & back into the airport caused me some angst. Of course, the problems have shrunk in my memory, and as I plan a return in 2024, I am thinking, "ahhhh, no big deal; I can do it again with no problem." lol. We'll see!

Thanks for the update Adelaidean! I hope that information is useful to lots of folks who may be as surprised as I was to encounter it. As I read reviews for apartments for a return next year, I am seeing a few others who found the recycling requirement onerous. (Reminder -- I love recycling and of course do it at home; the only surprise was that the collection bins were some blocks away.)

Thanks all for your continued comments!

s