Today we met up with the Crocq butcher's beautiful daughter, Laura, and spent about 4 hours wandering around Aubusson. The weather was wonderful (a bit hot for me but it's typical for a Calgarian to complain about too hot weather!) - sunny and hot and very blue skies. Aubusson is a town famous for tapestries. It is in the confluence of 5 valleys. For 6 centuries it has been famous for tapestries that tell the stories of humanity. It has a very rich past and many beautiful old buildings such as houses with turrets, Tour de l'Horloge (a big clock tower on the hill), ruins of a chateau that was destroyed by Richelieu in the mid-1600's, an old, picturesque bridge that was built from the stones from the destroyed castle and the beautiful church Sainte-Croix. We ... read more

Today was a rather busy day. We saw many sights and ate a lot of food! LOL Well, of course we started with breakfast :) "I'll have the usual" :) At about 10 am we started our day trip to Guéret where Jean-François has a house he'd like to sell and so he had a "rendezvous" with an agent. Guéret is about 1 hour away and has about 14,000 people. But before we got there we had to stop in a town called Aubusson (more about this town on Wednesday night as we are going to spend the day there with the butcher's daughter). J-F had to take his car to the Volvo dealership to be checked for an engine problem. We took 2 cars so we could leave J-F's car in Aubusson to be fixed. ... read more

Today was a travel day in that we left Bordeaux to drive to Crocq (pronounced Cro). I forgot to mention yesterday that I had the pleasure of meeting Colette's daughter, Marine, and her 2 grandsons, Mathis and Oscar. J-F and Oscar baked a special type of cake from the Creuse region called le Creusois. It's a delicious cake made with hazelnuts! After breakfast, Jean-François and I went to the train station to pick up my rental car. It took us a while to find the agent because they are doing renovations around the station. We finally found the place and I got my car, a Renault Modus. I'll post a photo tomorrow of the car because I am doubtful it exists in North America. After we returned Chez Carrazé et Esperance, we took a drive around ... read more

What a day! What a day! Of course, I started out with my constant breakfast after sleeping ALL night! Finally, a night of undisturbed sleep. I have been waiting for that! After breakfast, Jean-François and I walked a few blocks to the Musée des Compagnons du Tour de France. This is a museum at a school for traditional artisan carpenters, bricklayers or stone cutters, cabinet makers and/or locksmiths. The training at this school is based on the handing down of the craftsmanship. The workmen make a journey of their profession called "Tour de France" (nothing to do with the bicycle race!) because they travel from worksite to worksite during their training to become proficient. Each year there is a competition open to every French citizen to showcase the best of the French workmen, but the winners ... read more

What a beautiful day today in Bordeaux. It was very hot but very interesting, fun and active. We started the day by hopping on the bicycles and riding the short distance to the market to buy cheese. We bought 5 varieties and then walked around the market a bit but it was not a market day so it wasn't very busy and some of the vendors were not there. But, still, it was a delightful French market all the same. We came home and visited for a while and then hopped into the car and drove out to the Chateau du Smith Haut Lafitte. www.smith-haut-lafitte.com (I believe) Beautiful buildings and at this chateau they have a restaurant, hotel and spa which specializes in "vinotherapy" (Try Googling that!) We had a lovely lunch and then we came ... read more