Kristina

LCI- I'm glad you got to go to the market in Sarlat. That was on my radar after reading about it in my France Eyewitness guidebook, but alas, we could not make it there because we were going to the winery on that day.
I will try to check out the photos as I'm sure there are some! Count me in the camp who recommends you break up your albums by day. ;-)

Also, I have to give you credit for getting your report done so quickly now that you have started it. I am definitely behind schedule, but I'm too wrapped up in the election to write.

LowCountryIslander

Kristina...

My goal was to have the report done by this weekend since I will be out of town Sat-Tues. I'm taking a weekend trip to NYC.

OMG...I'll have to do another trip report!

I'm not sure if I will make my self imposed deadline! But hang in there with me! There are some more good meals for me to share.

BTW...the pictures of the anniversary dinner during your trip were absolutey amazing...I want to go to that castle!

JulieVikmanis

What a nice report. Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the market in Sarlat. Markets are my favorite things in Europe and the one in Sarlat is very special. It takes over the whole town. What a backdrop for all that wonderful food.

freberta

I loved your photos. They were beautiful. I particularly enjoyed the photos you took at Oradour-sur-Glane, a place I had never heard of before. I did a bit of Googling, and couldn't stop reading about the place. I'd love to get a copy of Sarah Farmer's book about the town.

I, too, am working on a "trip report" of my 6-day vacation to Paris last month. In 1993, we went on a 2-week vacation to France, Switzerland, Germany and London with my then 11-year-old step-daughter. It was before we owned a video camera, so I decided to write a journal of our travels for my step-daughter to keep, to help her remember the trip. It turned to be about 30 pages long and took me an entire year to write! I could never end it, because I was always making changes to the text to make it sound better. With video cameras, it's easy to record everything for posterity. But there's nothing like the written word. I'll be working on my report (now that the election is over, I have lots of time to devote to it), and hopefully I'll finish it in a day or so.

Again, loved your photos, and report, too!

adrienne

Hi Marcy,

I've looked through most of your photos and it looks like you had such a good time! I'm up to the Canal du Midi so have about 400 left. You did take a lot of photos but I'm enjoying them. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

LowCountryIslander

Thanks for taking the time to look at my photos!

freberta...

It's only in the last 4 years that I really got back into keeping a journal while I travel.

Back in my college days during a study abroad in Europe I was very faithful about keeping a journal of all my travels. Then I didn't travel for a while so there wasn't a need.

Now that I've been able to travel more frequently and to interesting places (and joining Fodors!)I'm really enjoying keeping a travel journal. Every now and then I will pull it out and leaf through the pages and relive the places I've been.

I figure if I keep it up I'll have quite the reference collection!

shormk2

Bookmarking.

LowCountryIslander

Ok...I found out that I can create sub-albums from my giant 1478 photo album in my kodak gallery account!

I am in the process of breaking out the giant album into smaller albums by location (city/town/or site).

Once I create these new albums (I'm about half way done) I will post an entry here with links to those individual albums.

Gotta love Fodor-ville...you all are enhancing my computer skills!

irishface

Thanks! I was really enjoying your pictures, but don't have time to watch all at once so glad I can go to where I left off in a new album. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

LowCountryIslander

OK, I hope this works. The link below should take you to a slide show of 9 separate photo albums from this trip.

The first slide show that opens is all the Paris photos. If you go to the bottom of the thumbnails there is a link that says browse other 9 albums and you can see all the photos in separate albums.

I hope this works. Thanks for being patient.


http://tinyurl.com/6973fr

Leely2

Oops, no, wait a minute, I can't get to the 9 albums although I see that link and the Paris photos show fine...?

Leely2

Oops, no, wait another minute, it works fine. My mistake.

Thank you!

irishface

ttt

CopperandJade

Thank you LowCountryIslander. I looked at each of your photos, beautiful. I especially liked the album of Rousillon and the Ochre cliffs. It was a beautiful exploration of colour--- the cliffs, the houses and their shutters, the pots of paints, that one intriguing sign...even the sunset was part of the pallette of this album. I felt almost overwhelmed by the saturated colour in these shots.

I enjoy your choice of subject and your composition. The kitchen details at one of the chateaux were intriguing, as was the glorious vegetable garden at another (the purple cabbages!) I'll stop now, I could probably write an essay on your photos. Thank you for taking the time to break them down into individual albums.

cynthia_booker

ttt

LowCountryIslander

Thanks for hanging in with me. I was out of town and now battling a cold...but here is our day in Carcassonne.

Day Eleven: Sunday, Sept. 28th, 2008

We left Sarlat this morning in route to Carcassonne, it’s about a 4 hour drive and we made a stop along the way for lunch. We stopped at the Canal di Midi and Patrick brought a picnic lunch for all of us. We boarded a little boat for a one hour cruise and picnic lunch on the canal. We went through one lock on the canal and enjoyed being outside in the great weather. The hour long mini cruise went too quickly and before we knew it we were back at the dock and heading out on the road.

After lunch it was a quick 45 minute ride to the town of Carcassonne. We checked into the hotel, which was just outside the city walls, at about 2pm and by 3pm we were at the city walls with the group for a one hour walking tour.

Inside the walls it is very touristy, but if you look beyond that, the town has twisty little streets that are fun to explore. After walking around and poking into several shops and checking out restaurant options for dinner we decided to go to Bar A Vins for an aperitif. We spent a couple hours there and got to talking with a couple from Canada who were seated next to us. They were very interested in discussing American politics. After a while I saw some tapas plates going out to other tables and they looked really good. Since we didn’t have a big lunch we ordered the grilled vegetables (eggplant, peppers, and artichokes) and they were a delicious addition to our beverages.

At about 7pm we walked over to Chez Saskia (part of the Hotel de la Cite), it looked so cute, but unfortunately they were not open for dinner, another reason to return to Carcassonne! Instead we fell back on another Pudlo recommendation a place called Auberge Dame Carcas at 3, place du Chateau.

We were so glad we ate at this restaurant, everything was delicious. We decided to have the €15 menu and it was a lot of food. We both chose the pate with onion jam starter and since Carcassonne is known for cassoulet and since it would be our only chance for it, we both had the cassoulet for our main dish. It was excellent, served bubbling hot in a ceramic baking dish with duck, sausage, and white beans, it definitely tasted like a comfort food to me. To go along with the cassoulet we had a bottle of Rose. For dessert we both had the chocolate cake which was light and airy sponge cake but still very chocolaty. We finished the meal with 2 espressos. For all this the total was €45 we thought this was one of the best bargain meals we had the whole trip.

I really liked this restaurant. It was rustic looking inside and had an open kitchen. We sat inside but there was also outside seating.

I was a bit apprehensive when we walked in because there were not many people there, but within an hour every table inside and out was full. A couple of British gals were seated next to us and we had a very nice conversation with them during dinner. We walked back to the hotel and had an early night since we would be driving to Arles in the morning!

LowCountryIslander

Day Twelve: Monday, Sept. 29th, 2008

On our way to Arles today we stopped in St. Christol at a local winery (Chateau des Hospitaliers) for a tour, wine tasting and lunch. The winery is a family operation run by Serge and Sylvie and they were terrific hosts. They have built their winery from the ground up; truly, Serge did the building himself, and they are being environmentally friendly with everything in their operation, from the construction to the harvest.

The wines are marvellous and starting at €3 a bottle the price is definitely right. During the wine tasting we also got to sample their apple cider made from the apples grown in their orchard and it was the best apple cider I have ever tasted.

After the wine tasting Sylvie and Serge invited the group into their home on the winery property for a wonderful homemade lunch. There was a variety of salads, cheeses, and breads and fresh apple tart for dessert. It was a great meal in a lovely setting.

By 2:30pm we were back on the road and heading towards the Pont du Gard. What an amazing engineering structure. And we had perfect weather and by visiting late in the day the afternoon sun was illuminating the structure for more great photo opportunities!

At 5:30pm we were on our way to Arles. We arrived at the cute Le Calendal Hotel. This hotel is in a perfect location. Just out the front door lies the Ancient Theater and to the right is the Roman Arena. If a central spot is what you are looking for in Arles this hotel is it. The room had ample room and the lobby and restaurant were bright and inviting. The breakfast offered at this hotel was by far the best of the whole trip. There was a really nice variety of pastry, meats, cheeses, eggs, juices and coffees.

After we freshened up we went on short walking tour with the group to get familiar with the town and then we had dinner on our own. I really wanted to try Le Cilantro, which was listed in the Pudlo book and conveniently located down the street from the hotel. But it was a Monday night and unfortunately it was closed…a good reason to go back to Arles!

We walked around the old town area for a bit and found a place listed in the Rick Steves’ guidebook that looked good, called La Pailotte, so we went in. This was another good pick. I really wanted to try the bull and it was on the menu and it was delicious, wrapped in phylo dough. Mom had the pork which was also very good. We both had the eggplant and tomato puree for the starter and for dessert we both had the blanc fromage with fruit and chocolate sauce. The whole meal was terrific.

We ended the night with a short walk back to the hotel looking forward to a full day exploring Arles tomorrow.

Leely2

I liked Arles--a lot--so I'm eager to read your impressions.

LCBoniti

LCI - Just wanted to let you know that I continue to enjoy your trip report. I am going to print it out and go over it in detail in preparation for our trip.

Please continue . . .

LowCountryIslander

Day Thirteen: Tuesday, Sept. 30th, 2008

This morning we met our local guide, Jacqueline, for an hour and a half walking tour or Arles. We saw some of the spots were Van Gogh painted and several of the Roman ruins. At the end of the tour Patrick gave us our museum passes and we had the rest of the day on our own. Mom and I started at the Roman Arena which is still used today for bull fights. It is in remarkable condition and while we were there a portion of the outside of the structure was being cleaned; it was a big contrast to the un-cleaned portions.

During our walking tour earlier in the day we found out there was an exhibit of Christian LaCroix dresses at the Reattu Museum and we decided to go and see it. Wow! Doesn’t even begin to describe these dresses which I thought were works of art on their own. Apparently LaCroix is a home town boy of Arles and many of the dresses in this exhibition were inspired by some of the artwork displayed there. It was a great exhibit.

We decide to take a brief coffee break at about 12:30pm and stopped at Café de la Major a cute little coffee place not far from the Reattu Museum. After getting sufficiently caffeinated we set out meandering along the streets and did some window shopping. We went back to the Van Gogh hospital for a look around and then took a walk to the Ancient History Museum.

It was a bit of a walk to the Ancient History Museum from the old town area, but not more then 20 minutes. I really liked this museum, it was set up in a very user friendly way. From the outside this giant blue and glass building didn’t really impress, but inside the space was open and light and the exhibits were placed in an easy to follow order.

The descriptions were in French, but we were given an English translation book that helped us figure things out. I liked the mosaics and the models of the Roman ruins the most. I highly recommend a visit to this museum. We were able to see all we wanted in just over one hour.

From the museum we walked back to the old town along the river and found Soleilei. This is a little ice cream shop at 9, rue du Dr. Fanton. We each had a cone with one scoop of olive oil ice cream and one scoop of chocolate, it was a great combination! Who knew olive oil ice cream even existed…not me!

After our ice cream break, we walked to the Ancient Theater and had the place practically to ourselves. I must have been doing ok with my French at this point because when I said “Bonjour” to the woman in the ticket booth, she asked me (in French, of course) if I would like the brochure/guide to the site in French…I had to smile to myself, I guess I had mastered the correct pronunciation of Bonjour! But I asked for the English version.

We didn’t have to meet the group until 7:15pm for dinner, so we went to the Forum Plaza where there are several cafes and we had our evening aperitif.

For dinner we met the group for THE BEST group meal of the whole tour. The name of the restaurant was Corazon. Mom and I started with the eggplant and goat cheese starter, it was so good I don’t even remember what the other starter choice for the group was. I could have probably made that starter an entire meal, but it didn’t stop there! Both mom and I chose the lamb shank in orange and ginger glaze for our main dish. The lamb was “fall off the bone” tender, we didn’t even need to use a knife. It was served with sweet potatoes. As if that wasn’t perfect enough, I had the chocolate molten cake for dessert which was absolutely decadent and mom had the trio of sorbets which included peach, pear and I can’t remember the third flavour). This was another delicious meal and a great way to end our stay in Arles.

Tomorrow we are off to the Les Baux and the ochre cliffs of Rousillon.