Blogs from Brive-la-Gaillarde, Limousin, France, Europe

Tag 101 – Bei Léa in Brive Michel hatte mir angeboten, mich „comme d’habitude“ um Viertel vor zehn abzuholen (das hatten wir ja jetzt einmal so gemacht, aber er schien öfters den Samstagvormittag mit den Workawayern zu verbringen). Wir stellten das Auto im Parkhaus ab (er parkte grundsätzlich ganz oben in der sechsten Etage, auch wenn in der Etage darunter auch fast alles frei war). Dann gingen wir wieder in den Versammlungsraum seiner Partei, um mit ein paar seiner Parteikollegen einen Kaffee zu trinken und ein bisschen zu plaudern (anfangs drehte sich das Gespräch nur um Zahnprobleme ^^). Ein Mann, der letzte Woche auch schon dabei gewesen war und etwas Deutsch sprach, unterhielt sich eine Weile mit mir (aber wir redeten dann Französisch). Ich erzählte ihm, dass ich nach Limoges fuhr, und er kannte sich dort ... read more

Carrefour in Brive Sandy and I are over our flu and decided to head to Brive today. Brive is a medium size city about 40 minutes north of here. It houses a wonderful cathedral, major SNCF station for the area and a Carrefour. Carrefour is the reason we made the trip. Carrefour is what Super Walmart should be. Built into a shopping centre it is huge with easily distinguishable departments - food divided into a bakery, fish market, meat department, huge cheese section(bien sur), hardware, books, clothing, furniture, etc. A bank, cleaner, DVD rental all can be found. Anything you might want but minus the cheap Walmart crap and the terrible displays. It is soldes time. Sales don't happen all year round but by French law only during a couple of designated weeks each year. Think ... read more

The search for the Holy Grail of showers It is now a month since we began our sabbatical. France has provided everything that we expected of it. Honfleur, Trouville and Deauville were superb, old fashioned seaside towns. Carnac and its standing stones were a joy,and the Perigord or Dordogne area is rural and simply beautiful. The Dordogne area has everything required to keep me interested and busy; sunshine, historical sites, and miles of quiet rural roads for cycling. The "Le Paradis" site is the best yet in terms of facilities. I have searched tirelessly for it and have now found it: "The Holy Grail of showers". A heated shower block and red hot shower in France? I thought it was unheard of. At last, no more freezing- cold showers and a visibly shrinking appendage . The ... read more

19th September We have arrived in the Dordogne at last (2 wet days ago). I have always wanted to explore this region. The journey here was tiring. We moved on from Carnac and spent two nights near La Rochelle on a very quiet site in the Marais du Poitevin Regional Park. I think we have overdosed on the travelling (driving) over the last couple of days. It has made us tense and snappy. One or two things have conspired to darken the mood a little over the last few days since Carnac. In fact many of those things have been the bloody French machines it has been our misfortune with which to interact . Take the Superloo in Concarneau. (Please!) As we are on a budget, we chose to buy takeaway sandwiches and Coke for lunch ... read more