Geo: 43.7034, 7.2662Today was our last day on the bus. That's always sad because the driver is usually a big part of the group. We'll all be sorry to see Gilles go; he played a French version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" on the bus, and it made everyone light-hearted again. So we started the morning with a visit to Les Baux, a centuries-old hill town. There's a massive ruined castle at the top, with a spectacular view of the valleys below. The town got its name from the bauxite that was mined there. There are still quarries, but they're only cutting sandstone now. In the Middle Ages, Les Baux was ruled by lords who claimed to be descended from King Balthazar of Magi fame. They were ruthless warriors, but eventually they lost Les Baux and ... read more

Geo: 43.6767, 4.6278There was a lovely breakfast, with a basket of bread and a basket of fruit for each table. Plus plain yogurt, jams, and hot chocolate (or coffee or tea). One of the items in the bread basket was something like a donut hole. It was really good! For most of the time that I was in the breakfast room, I had company in the form of a very fat and terribly sweet basset hound, and a very fat and terribly sweet retriever. They've been fed too much by hotel guests, but they seemed pretty happy. Also, they had doggy breath.Today was a long bus day. It's still raining, and the sky was so dark. At home, we'd call this weather "November." Occasionally we'd get dripped on because the sunroof in the bus wasn't sealed ... read more

Geo: 44.8913, 1.21502A vacation from our vacation! I woke up at 7:30 and wasn't as sore as I thought I would be, which probably means I'll be really sore tomorrow. I took my time getting ready and made it down to breakfast at 9:00. Probably half the group was down there at that time, so I guess we all took advantage of being able to sleep in.Sarlat has two market days: Wednesday, which is just food, and Saturday (i.e., today), which is pretty much everything. The main road through town and lots of the side streets were closed to cars, and there was booth after booth after booth. There were clothes, scarves, shoes, books, CDs, purses, jewelry, pottery, linens and fabrics, kitchen things, clever flat wooden things that unfolded into useful things, garden ornaments, and a ... read more

Geo: 44.8913, 1.21502It's a pity that we had to leave Hotel Diderot this morning: I had finally figured out how to work my door! Breakfast was the same as yesterday. I tried strawberry jam with cocoa beans in it, and it had sort of a spicy flavor to it. I also tried the chocolat chaud, but it wasn't so chaud anymore. Since we were about to have a very long day on the bus, Virginie took us back to Jean and Marie's life. Apparently, the onion soup worked, and nine months later Marie gives birth to a daughter, whom they name Anne-Sophie. Marie will be given 16 weeks off of work at full pay. (If Anne-Sophie had had a twin, Marie would have been given 34 weeks off.) Fortunately, there were no complications with the birth ... read more

Geo: 47.1661, 0.238081We were out of the hotel at 8:30 this morning, and Virginie started things off by giving us Mentchikoffs. Chartres is famous for two treats: macarons and Mentchikoffs. We had macarons yesterday (and they were gooood!). Mentchikoffs were created during a craze for all things Russian and named after a Russian general. They consist of ground almonds in chocolate, which are then baked into a meringue. They are super tasty. Unfortunately, Virginie says that she's never seen them outside of Chartres, so I won't be able to bring a sample back for anyone. You'll just have to imagine how chocolaty and creamy they are. ;)Somewhere along the road we passed a small farm. There was a small doghouse under what was probably the kitchen window. On top of the doghouse was a small goat, ... read more