France

It’s not a long walk from our hotel to the Garonne river, but after a day of walking, we decided to make the trip by tram. We got off at Place de la Bourse where we found a young violinist performing a jazzy version of “Killing Me Softly with

Bordeaux is called the Paris of the South. It’s not as large, of course, and notably lacks a tower or pyramid. But it’s elegant, beautiful, clean and interesting. We will return.

This is going to be one of those “mostly pictures” blog posts because I don’t have

Have you toured a winery? If so, you’ll see a lot that’s familiar in this post. Winemaking is like many other things – brain surgery, for instance – everyone does the same thing; some just do it better than others.

Château LaTour-Martillac is a small producer run by five brothers

Pau is a small town just north of the Pyrenees often used as either the beginning or the end of a stage of the Tour de France. If you’re a fan of the Tour, you’ll know Pau.

imagine my surprise to discover this monument to Tour winners in

There’s a joke about places that are quiet in the evenings and on weekends, it goes: “I went to xxx once, but it was closed.” When I lived in New Zealand, you could fill in the name of anyplace in the country.

Today we had a similar experience in

This is La Mas Bresson, a former stable that will be our home for the next three days. As you can see, it’s been improved. We share it with a German couple and a couple of Canadians from Montreal.

After settling in, we drove to an auberge a few

I know, I know, I know. Another day, another damned walled medieval city. But look, the Medieval period went on for a long time, plenty long enough to build a lot of these places. And even though they’re similar, there are enough differences to make each one interesting. Carcassone,

We booked one of those around-the-city bus tours for this morning. I thought I’d be taking a ton of photos, but took none. Although we saw a lot, the bus never put passengers in a position to take photos of the things we passed.

So let me take up

We arrived at our AirBnB apartment in Toulouse after a nerve-wracking two hour drive from Rocamadour. Why nerve-wracking? Not because of the French drivers, they are on the whole much better and much more courteous than in Seattle. Not because of the Autoroute speed. One hundred thirty kilometers per hour

I wouldn’t blame you if you’re getting a little tired of medieval towns hung on cliffs. I think Rocamadour will be the last – at least for a while.

We drove an hour east to visit this place because Mary Anne read that it is the second most visited

Eleanor of Aquitaine was really something! First she marries a French king, later an English one. But she was much more than arm candy. Eleanor was a strong, smart woman who helped the Périgord region prosper, lived into her eighties (twice the average in those days) and was the mother

The hub of this part of the Dordogne region is the town of Sarlat-la-Canéda. I’ll call it Sarlat from now on. As everyone’s favorite American tourist, Rick Steves, says, there’s nothing “special” about Sarlat, its appeal comes from having a large, well-preserved medieval center.

in case you’