St Emilion and other gems

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After 9 days of foul weather our host David promised us a fine day today and he didn;t disappoint.
We set off this morning for St Emilion, wine district extraorinaire and world heritage listed. fantastic; you approach it from the flat and it rises before you like a mediaeval adventure world. Then you find out there,s no free parking; We wandered the streets of cobblestones (old hat by now but still impressive here), sampled some of the local fruit of the vine and bought a bottle; Liz fell over twice (before the wine) and is now officially registered as accident prone;

then we went to a lovely little town called Libourne for lunch and sat in a park and ate our baguette (barney) and boogie (Liz)
then it was on to a lovely little nugget of a surprise that trips like this throw up every so often; Liz suggested we go to the museum of natural history; it was like walking back to the 50s; here was every manner of bird, fish, mammal reptile, mollusc, cephalopod and just about every form of life and mineral ever seen on this earth behind row after row of wooden and glass display cases; including the antlers of every known deer and bison including extinct ones whose antlers were so heavy it died out; Seems the antlers were so heavy it was constantly having to have a lie down with the result that it couldn,t eat; The place was so dusty that we started wheezing in anticipation as we went through the door; There were gaps in the displays where the moths had eaten the specimen and they had just left the label with no exhibit; if i ever can get the photos reduced you are not going to believe what you see;

Then it was on to the museum of modern art; My problem was that i didn,t know whether the chair i was about to sit in was a chair or an exhibit;

LAST NITE WE had dinner at a local restaurant; they have a street that acts like a restaurant row (DARBY ST PLUS) with sandwich boards outside telling you how much the set menu is (1 entree, 1 main, 1 dessert); we chose the €12,50; it was ok but it was like speed eating: i was lucky to get my knife and fdork down before my plate was whipped away: although they did put my knife and fork back on the table after the entree so i could recycle them for the main course; saves on washing up i suppose:

tonight i am determined to try the gourmand menu(€22) at a different restaurant:

I have come to the conclusion that a laptop is now an essential component of any overseas trip;
Internet cafes are the pits;

We are having a great time; driving is getting easier for Barney, but French drivers are a breed apart; they don't stop or give way to anyone, least of all pedestrians (pedestrians cannot push buttons to make traffic lights change, ). Our B&B is old but nice, with yet more lovely hosts who have 3 young children, one of whom is the Josephine of the name of the villa. Woke up this morning to a misty view thru our french doors of bare vines across the road, and today the temp has reached 21!
The food is tres cher, and the pasties are magnifique! Petrol is about $1.80, so you can't complain yet!!!
Til next time, au revoir!

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