Sarlat to Barcelona

---

Hi from Laurel here...

As well as this entry, we're going to re-publish the first entry from Japan. We accidentally published it as a private blog, and it was so private that hardly anyone found it (congratulations to Lindsay, who was the first to find it- no prize, but lots of glory).

And now from Carolyn...

Hola everyone!
We left you still exploring Sarlat, looking forward to Rocamadour, Perigeux , Bergerac of Cyrano fame, Monpazier, one of the 300 incredible Bastide towns set up by Edward III, and Font de Gaume. Of course there were numerous other divine little villages along the way - everything full of history & stories seeping out of that gorgeous mellow, yellow stone. Rocamadour left us breathless at first sighting of the amazing Sanctuaries perched high up on the cliff (falaise) with the eagles eyrie & quaint cobblestone paths, storybook homes simply ‘splattered’ against the rock face. The architectural feats of designing superb arches & columns, staircases for the Cathedral of the Black Virgin, integrated with the wall of rock with such power & reverence was truly awe-inspiring! We were pleased with ourselves as no need for these two intrepid travelers to use the ascenseurs !!
My other best place was Font de Gaume. We were lucky to be guided by a passionate advocate for the 15,000 year old cave paintings which were mind boggling and it was all quite a humbling experience to be in the presence of such ancient brilliant creativity - using the contours of the rock to decide where to paint a bison’s haunch… reminded of Michaelangelo ‘discovering his sculptures within a lump of marble!’
Remember our friend, Michelle, from the bus into Sarlat? I happened to bump into her at Saturday market, we all café’d in the square & we were invited to “mama’s home” to have afternoon tea…Lovely! (Mama, incidentally, is 94 and still living in her own home)
One evening when Laurel was catching up with some work modules, I went a-wandering into an Expose of artworks. It was here I met up with Lou, an Australian artist married to a beautiful Frenchman - I told her that I had a friend who could be her soulmate - Lyn W. Lou sort of took me under her wing, introduced me to all the other painters & sculptors & invited me to stay on for a feast of nibbles & drinks, speeches , followed by dinner. It turns out that Lou & Jean have a B & B in Perpignon which is filled with her collection of artworks & sounded a perfectly wonderful place to investigate. She seemed to be well regarded & had a list of invitations to exhibit in Nice…….Anyway, I did end up doing all of that! I’m afraid Laurel continued to complete her work but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the celebrations & stories as the gathering of creative people feted themselves with French gusto!! One much older, flamboyant woman with long blonded, wavy hair, reminiscent of Eva Gabor, which blended nicely with her white lapin coat!! almost danced the 'can can' on the table at one stage. She knew all the words to ‘Autumn Leaves, La Mer, Milord, La Vie En Rose etc. I was fascinated!
We were quite disconsolate to leave Sarlat but great to anticipate Barcelona. What buildings! We both fell in love with Gaudi’s creations. Just fascinating to observe how he took inspiration from nature & turned it all into bricks & mortar/mosaics/plaster etc. And what about Sagrada Familia?? On first sighting it looked to be a huge ‘growth’ mushrooming every which way with every sort of creature & gargoyle you could imagine. Hard to credit that he stretched materials available to the limits of potential & innovation! And the vision is still blooming - so to speak. I like Gaudi’s response to the query “when it would be completed?” He said “My client has all the time in the world!” ( 2030 has been mentioned) I did comment to Laurel that it was all a bit like Noah’s Ark with everyone within. Absolutely splendid to be right there with such a wonderment. Loved the Picasso Museum, the Catedral of Barcelona, Maritime Museum - such a part of Spanish history - & all gorgeous little shops. Las Ramblas rather touristy & weather really changed for the worst. Glad to be ‘holed up’ with Picasso in the drenching rain. I found a special shop for you Tomo!
So thrilled to attend a Spanish Guitar Concert in beautiful Chapel very close to Hostal Levante. The atmosphere, colours, vibrant musicians & their music zoomed right in to ‘hit the spot’. Truly another inspiration for the soul.
Enjoying jugs of Sangria & delicious tapas, crème catalane. Laurel really came to life with the paella - just look at that eager little face as she began to serve….Usually it's me who is particularly excited about tasting everything.
And now we have to leave Barcelona - a little disappointed that we couldn’t find a way/time to reach Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Museum as we’d hoped.
The overnight train to Paris was a delight - so carefully organized & compact. Thankfully, Laurel leapt nimbly to the top bunk. You can see our arrangements in the photos!
Our luggage seems to be expanding...
We're both pleased to stop for a while in our little studio, well placed in Montmartre. Good to unpack, wash etc.and this morning I actually walked down to buy le pain for breakfast. Don't think I've ever eaten so much bread - delicieux!
Laurel is chatting away in French, for which she is receiving lots of compliments, & I'm stumbling about with a few words & lots of gestures in context! Thankfully, I do seem to be able to follow the 'gist' of the taxi driver's/neighbours at dinner conversations & I might improve.
Paris is wet & shining so far - very atmospheric as in the black & white photos we're all familiar with. I'm so impressed with the way the architects have 'shaved' off the corner edge of buildings around a square. It really opens up the space and you can properly view all the wrought iron balconies and beautiful stonework & carvings. Seems so sensible. I love it. I've been re-designing Sydney.I have been having a bit of trouble following Laurel through the crowded streets as I gaze every which way. Just 'sumptuous'!
Tomorrow we plan to use the 'hop on, hop off' bateau mouche to travel "under the bridges of Paris" in the hope that it will be finer weather, or we might begin our Museum passes. So much to see!!

Laurel again...

How can I add to Carolyn's elegant descriptions!! She's doing such an exquisite job of the photos and the commentary that I'm taking the lazy way out here. Besides which, i-phones are clever little things but the camera isn't much chop. If there's a zoom and a flash on it, I'm still searching for it. But I have been able to use it to provide the music for us- I had downloaded some French music before we left, and we have the sound background for Montmartre.

One last remark- Sarlat was one of the most delightful places I've ever stayed and I'd happily go back to stay for a few months when my lottery win comes through (it's sadly overdue, I'm afraid). But I have to issue a protest on behalf of the geese of the Perigord region!! Perigord has two great culinary specialities: truffles and foie gras. I was greatly looking forward to the truffle markets, with weather-beaten farmers appearing with sacks of things that look suspiciously like dog droppings but sell for hundreds of dollars a kilo. Alas, the truffles season starts next month and there wasn't one to be seen.

However, there were foie gras shops and market stalls everywhere you looked, with piles of tins and jars of every possible variety. It was also on every restaurant menu and a bit hard to avoid. But I knew I wasn't going to be eating foie gras, because I didn't much like the idea of the geese being force-fed to enlarge their livers. Carolyn was a bit disappointed because she expected to see flocks of geese trotting about (oblivious to their fate), but then we read that they were kept from exercising so they'd fatten quicker. Not happy already....

We weren't too sure how all this force-feeding of the geese happened, as we passed up all the opportunities to see the 'gavage' which were advertised at farms and foie gras factories. But then we saw a postcard of an elderly farmer's wife actually force-feeding a goose; let's just say it involved a big plastic funnel!! Degueulasse! (or yuk in any other language) I was extremely well-behaved whilst in Sarlat, but now I want to know, WHERE ARE ALL THE FRENCH ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTERS? Michelle did say that Brigitte Bardot is on the case, but I think it's a losing battle.

I hereby climb down off my soapbox so that I can send this at last.

---