Or vaping, though smoking is far more prevalent. France ranks number ten in countries for lung cancer. Hungary number one. Lung cancer among wo.en is generally lower. We smoke less.

I forgot to say that Pêche means hill, as does Merle, which could be from the language of the Guals.

Remember François? We met him waiting for the train to Le Puy the first time we went to Le Puy. (We are heading there again today.) I didn’t mention that he travels with a small watercolor palette. Here are his gifts to us.

Toilet paper squares are rectangular.

If you want to add milk to your espresso, that’s an extra 30 centimes.

Between Pêche Merle and Rocamador, we stopped for lunch in Lauzes. Lauze is how the stone and timber roofs are named. I don’t think too many English speakers stop in here to the one bistro in town. Too bad. It was delicious! Here’s the menu.

This area is thick with them. Some appear to still be inhabited. Or the owners live nearby and use them periodically when the castle is closed for visitors.

Chateau de Puymartin is one such we simply happened upon while driving. Built in the 13th century. It’s owners did live there as recently as 1920, when a daughter’s wedding was held there. Obviously that’s way too much history to go into. So here are a few photos instead. There’s always the internet…

This castle had a fun interative game in which you had to rescue a comrad in arms.  Scenarious were placed before you. Each time you had to select the course of action. For example, to break through a door do you: a. Use a petard (explosive devise) b. an ax c. a battering ram. The game provided 3 lives. We played twice and succeeded in saving Francois the second time!

In Campagne, a tiny town with a lot of character – haven’t they all. Ed caught site of a castle, my eyes lit upon some roadside buildings.

Rocamadour

This is a popular variant on the Via Podiensis. Rocamadour owes its origin, according to tradition, to St. Amadour (or Amateur), who chose the spot as a hermitage. It became a place of pilgrimage in the early Middle Ages. More than 200 steps lead up the rock to the sanctuary. The churches in the sanctuary include the Romanesque basilica of Saint-Sauveur and the 12th-century crypt of St. Amadour. (From Wikipedia)

We drove there from Pêche Merle. BTW, Pêche is not French, but the language Occitan. I’d noticed signs in two languages. Here’s info from BBC website: Although many people have not heard of Occitan, also known as Langue d’Oc (language of the west), it’s one of several Romance languages that evolved from vernacular Latin, and is still spoken in six major dialects across southern France as well as parts of north-western Italy and northern Spain.

WOW.

Our own castle these past 6 days…

Saturday, we went to the Prehistoric Museum in Les Eyzies. Lots of bones and rocks. And some really good videos bringing life in the Stone Age to life. For instance, how they used rock on rock to create tools and weapons for hunting. Or a re-enactment of dis-membering and skinning an animal with stone tools. Amazing how sharp you can get a stone. The Stone Age lasted roughly 2.5 million years. That’s not even grasp-able. It ended about 5,000 years ago with the Bronze Age. Then along came the Iron Age.

Sunday, we went to the Chateau Castlenaud,  a museum of medieval warfare. It was a bit disturbing,  disorienting to move so fast , so far forward in time. Especially considering the weapons deeloped.

Then at Pêche Merle today, learning that early man, 29,000 years ago likely didn’t engage in warfare against one another. They were too few, had lemty of space, and ostensibly, nothing to fight over. Or so the experts suspect.

Pêche Merle is a massive cave, one of not too many, where you can enter the cave and see the actual art by ancient people. Also stalgmites and stalagtites. The cave at Lascaux is closed to visitors. There are 47 caves or grottos in France, but not all of them are open.

The tour provides a clear sense of what it must have been like to enter a narrow fissure, exploring in the dark with just a small hollowed rock contining burning fat and a plant as a wick for light. Bears and lions possibly taking refuge in them. Did many enter together, each with their small lamp, to create enough light for the artist to see his work? The drawings, some of them, are quite large. The artist(s) also incorporated some of the rock structure into their work to complete the likeness of bison or mastodon, or…

Living in these pasts – stone age and medieval age – and contemplating the swift changes wrought within the fairly recent past compared to the extensive years of the Stone Age – my mind is confounded.

I’ll start with today’s lunch at Les Tilleuls, the linden trees, under which we sat. I had cœurs de canard: duck hearts. It takes quite a few to make a meal, though they were larger than one might expect a duck heart to be. And delicious in an olive oil, garlic saute. Tender too. Ed had manches de canard: duck sleeves. Actually duck legs confit. Also delicious. Both meals accompanied by frites (golden, crisp outside, fluffy inside) and salad. Salad is lettuce, bibb, and dressing.

Vin de noix as an aperitif. It’s slightly sweet, made from green walnuts as the base. Various recipes call for different alcohol, from wine to vodka.

Yesterday in Sarlat de Canada we both had the omlette Perigordine, made with the meaty cepe mushroom and topped with slices of foie gras that melted into a rich and velvety deliciousness. How do they get their omlettes so rich, puffy, and tender? Best ever.

Have had two blue cheeses, one better than the other, a brie with truffles, and a triple cream that was both bright and mellow at once.

Darling strawberries that look wild.

IPA on tap (pressión) is available in Lyon and Le Puy, but so far, not in this area. Favored beers are blonde, Bud, and a Belgian style.

Good pizza. Good bread. Good butter.

Gotta get to bed now. Early morning coming up.

Josephine Baker, that’s who. What do you know about her? That she wore a skirt of bananas and little else, dancing on stage in France? That was the extent of my knowledge. Somehow I learned that she owned a chateau in the region. We went today to Les Milandes and learned just what a remarkable person she was.

Born poor in St. Louis, MO. Anxious to make a better life for herself, she sought work at a local theater. Started dancing with the Jones Family Band at 13 or 14 to entertain folks going to theater. Recognized as a talent by the theater manager who was putting together a black revue for Paris. Off she went. By then she’d already been married twice – once at 13 and again at 14 or 15. She was to marry twice more in her life.

She added singing to her repertoire. Her popularity was worldwide. Was dressed by Dior. Rented the chateau before buying it. Her career spanned 50 years.

She was active in the French Resistance. Smuggled out information written in invisible ink on her music sheets.

Active in the Civil Rights movement. She spoke in Washington just before MLK did when he gave his famous Dream speech.

Adopted a Rainbow Tribe – 12 children from various parts of the world, Korea, Finland, Venezuela, and Africa among them.

She developed ormaybe marketed a hair pomade, called Fix and a cream to darken skin, which was a hit with women in Paris.

Sadly, she lost control of her finances and the chateau.

Les Milandes had extensive photos and a wonderful collection of her outfits, including the banana skirt.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside.

What a life!

I often forget my age. We were out one evening, a few evenings ago, looking for a bite to eat. But it seemed most people were just drinking. Myself happened upon a place that was packed, not that most establishments weren’t, but this one also had a menu listing food and the waiter said yes they were serving. Down we sat and ordered a beer to contemplate the offerings. It soon became evident that the waiter was way too busy serving drinks. I thought I’d order at the bar. No can do. In the meantime, I’d gone to use the loo and met a young woman who insisted I meet her friend from the States. We chatted a bit, until I extricated myself from these two charming, but obviously bombed darlings. In the end, no food was to be had. But it was a quintessentially French bar, albeit for the young. Which I didn’t notice for awhile. Charlie, of course, did. We were in a Quartier of youth.

Eating while traveling is one of my biggest challenges. At home we eat late, as they do in Europe, so you’d think we’d be naturals. But somehow it doesn’t work out that way. Fortunately, there’s always bread and really good cheese. And great pastry.

Currently we are in walnut country. Had a walnut tartlett that outs pecan pie to shame.

Photos of the Dordogne area, referred to more frequently by the French as the Périgord.

We’ve only been in two big train stations, Gare de Lyon in Paris and Gare Part-Dieu in Lyon. Both have Yamaha pianos available for anyone to play. We were fortunate to hear this young man…

We had a 5.5 hour drive today from Lyon to Domme. Road work added time. Our little Fiât 500 couldn’t maintain speed on the numerous uphill climbs. It’s mountainous country! Really disappointing though was that the air conditioner didn’t work. It was like being back in the olden times (80s?) when cars didn’t even have the idea of generating cool air. Temps 90-98. Oof!

We determined that returning to Lyon was the best course of action for whatever came next after realizing we needed to put Le Chemin on hold. The Camino provides, but we weren’t sure we wanted what it seemed it was going to provide.

We now have 5 nights booked in advance starting on the 14th September. Will get to the rest later.

So we had 2 nights and a day in Lyon. Charlie got new shoes at Decathlon, an REI style store with better prices. But maybe not the awesome return policy. I got a bathing suit which I’ll need for the Dordogne River, our destination, tomorrow until the 13th.

Decathlon is in a huge mall. Here is the most impressive part. The pastry case at McDonald’s:

We went to the Parque de la Tête d’Or which also has a botanical garden – well signed- and a zoo. The gate is utterly impressive.

After storing dor a drink by the Rhone, we continued on to the Place de Jacobins – a faction of which, the Montagnards, were responsible for executing Louis XVI and conducting the Reign of Terror.

Off to Domme tomorrow, a commune in the Dordogne department of Nouvelle Aquitaine in southwestern France. This area of the country promises riches in history, caves, (think Lascaux), charm, countryside, and rural life at a slower pace. Ahhhh.

oof. Je ne sais pas ou va le temps. I don’t know where the time goes. We arrived here on Saturday around 2:30 after a fine train raide from Lyon. While waiting for the train we met Francois from Belfort, France. It was a great opportunity to speak French. He was most accommodating. He had a huge pack as he will be camping and preparing his meals on the Chemin. I tried to get a selfie with him, but I am abysmal at selfies. He however took a good photo of us at the train station in Le Puy.

We could not check into our gite until 5 pm so we went to the Cathedral to get our credenciales. It was a good taste of what lies ahead as the way there is steep. Our packs were on – and it it was pretty comfortable. The woman at the Cathedral shop was a character. She launched in, completely in French, not asking where we’re from. It was a lengthy explanation. I got maybe 10% – enough to get the gist, ask a few questions, and engage.

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Our Gite, La Veille Epicierie (the Old Grocery) is ancient. The stairs pracitcally straight up. The floor in the room, warped. It had real old world funky charm. Charlie was not pleased. 🙂 JeanNicolas was very friendly and said he would speak French slowly, but he didn’t.

The bed was comfortable and we had a big window for lots of fresh air.

Every night through September there are 9 buildings onto which light shows are beamed. We saw 5 of them.

Some images from Le Puy

What I really need to get down to tonight though, is the delay in our trip. We went to the Pilgrim Mass on Sunday and there were 100-150 pilgrims heading out. This route goes through very small towns and we discovered that booking even 2 days in advance wasn’t going to cut it. We had to change our route on day 1. Day 2 nothing available. We went for a beer to reconsider. In doing so, on this very hot day, disappointed, had us making some dubious decisions: Forget it. Let’s head north; it’s too hot here. Let’s go east toward the coast. I want to return to Dijon. Booked the train to Lyon. Got a place for 2 nights. Booked a train to Dijon. Canceled it today. The crazy part is we booked an exra night in Le Puy to stop and consider – then we made all those plans! We didn’t consider. But then we did.  In the end, we came up with a good plan.

Here’s the plan.

We are returning to Lyon to rent a car. We’ll go to the Dordogne area, west of Lyon and see the sights there. We’ll return to Le Puy on September 13 and hit the Chemin on the 14th. It will be cooler then and there should be fewer pilgrims. We’re also going to book our stays, at least for the first 5 days (already have day 1) in advance. We have a data plan and my French is good enough to make the reservations.

Tonight we mapped out our route so we could call to reserve rooms tomorrow. It took some time. You have to consider the route. How strenuous. Logical points to break up a long day. Does the town have a gite, or several… a supermarket.

It’ll be awesome. In 10 days the weather will be much cooler. Looking forward to our new itinerary. After our planned 12 days on the Chemin, we’ll decide what’s next.

Today we walked 12 miles, to the town of Polignac and back to see the fortress, built in the fourteenth century on volcanic rock and added to, as well as fallen into ruins over time.

Photos

Of course we climbed to the top of the dungeon. I should have counted the steps; there were a lot. Great breeze up there!

We also climbed up the volcanic plug upon which sits the aforementioned chapel, Rocher St. Michel d’Aigulhe, of the light show – 268 steps.

It was commissioned in 951 by a bishop after his pilgrimage to Santiago de Campostela.

The paintings are in remarkably good condition for their age.

There is also a statue of Notre-Dame de France built of 213 canons from the Crimean War. She also sits atop a volcanic plug. I don’t know why this is suddenly in italics.Here she is:

A few reminders of the Chemin de ST. Jacques:

Finally, for tonight I end with DuDu who has decided he likes our room.

There’s no window in this room so we are leaving the door open.

A plus tard…bisous