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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 22, 2024 22:02:00 GMT 2
We have both lived in the Dordogne area of France. Indeed it was where we met. So we decided on a visit here. We could fly from our local airport to Bergerac, hire a car , stay a few nights in hotels and stay with a friend whose family have had a house here for years and whom we met in the Philippines. But first we had to get here. We took a taxi from our home to Bristol airport. Parking charges at the airport having risen so much it is not much more expensive to take a taxi and there is less hassle with parking at the airport with carparks well sway from the terminal building. As we were walking in fate guided Mrs Fax to check her new phone where she also keeps her bank cards and driving licence.
She had not transferred her driving licence to her new phone.
We telephoned the car hire company at Bergerac airport. A physical driving licence had to be produced. A photocopy was not legal.
Disaster loomed but Mrs Faz morphed into Actionwoman. She telephoned a competent friend in Chipping Sodbury, gave her the code for our keysafe by the front door and miracles happened. The woman got in our house, followed instruction to Mrs Faz's bag and retrieved the driving licence. Then the friend's daughter drove to the airport - 45 minutes - and delivered the key to the Ryanair check-in desk. By now we were past security and in the departure ounge. The key was brout tous. Situation saved. And to show how lucky we had been the daughter's car ran out of fuel half way home. It could have been on the way to deliver our key...
We have both lived in the Dordogne. It is where we met. Mrs Faz and her husband set up a vacation village. I and my wife bought a ruin and turned it into a wonderful home with a separate guest house with kitchen, which made us popular with friends in England. So today has been a trip down memory lane as we visited both our previous homes They were lived in (not holiday homes) but no one was in so we could wander around, seeing what we had both achieved a quarter of a century ago, and looking at various changes.
The only difficulty is food. Our hotel has a restaurant attched (physicall). We assumed we could eat there last night. Had we booked? No. It was full. In the end a table was found in the entrance lobby and we had a good meal. I can see why locals like it. And tonight - Sunday evening. Most French have a big Sunday lunch and restaurants close in the evening. But we found a Thai restarantz which was open.
Enough for now. Bed calls.
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Post by shrjeff on Sept 23, 2024 7:20:07 GMT 2
enjoy!
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Post by auntieannie on Sept 23, 2024 7:52:36 GMT 2
Have a lovely wander down memory lane!
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 23, 2024 9:18:27 GMT 2
One peculiarity we have noticed as we travel round is that the signs as you enter a town/village have been turned upside down. Apparently this is a protest by farmers at their poor financial position.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 23, 2024 9:49:22 GMT 2
Our dinner here on the first night we both had magret de canard (duck breast). This is a big duck producing region so we enjoyed it. It was far too much to eat so we asked for a doggy bag. In English. The waiter understood perfectly. The French government is naturally outraged by the English expression being used even though doggy bags originated in America. The government wants people to ask for a sac gourmet. So far doggy bag is winning. So we had cold duck breast for our picnic yesterday and there is still so much left over we'll finish it at our picnic lunch today.
Dinner in the evening is proving a problem. After Sunday midday lunch all restaurants close in villages/small towns. In large towns there will always be somewhere open. But not here. Last night we ate at a Thai restaurant which had a lot of customers but it is closed tonight. Internet search produced one restaurant apparently open tonight but Mrs Faz has just gone and looked at it and it is closed tonight. There is a campsite close by and Mrs Faz has just rung to ask if their restaurant is open tonight. The man who answered the phone seemed a bit startled by the question but said yes, normally they were open. That "normalement" is a bit suspect so we'll go this morning in person to make enquiries. Otherwise we have been told there is somewhere open in Roque-Gageac. But that is 20 minutes drive and country roads in the dark with the driver not allowed wine with the meal is not enticing.
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Post by OnlyMark on Sept 23, 2024 11:31:01 GMT 2
One peculiarity we have noticed as we travel round is that the signs as you enter a town/village have been turned upside down. Apparently this is a protest by farmers at their poor financial position. I've been seeing that in a few places and wondered what it was. Now I know. |
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Post by auntieannie on Sept 23, 2024 13:07:30 GMT 2
I am sure the Fazes noticed that many restaurants where I live often close on Sundays and sometimes also Mondays. I can understand it is an issue for tourists. It is different in resorts during the season.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 23, 2024 18:41:38 GMT 2
There are half a dozen restaurants in Cénac where we are. All are closed tonight, even the Thai restaurant that was open on Sunday evening. Our last hope was an open air restaurant by the river Dordogne. They told us this morning that if the weather wasn't good they wouldn't open. But you have tables under that roof there, we pointed out. But people wouldn't come, they replied. And indeed they sent a message this afternoon to say they were closed. So we have bought a pizza when we were in Sarlat. We shall have that in our room. Do you think we should try to warm it up with the hairdrier? We didn't bring a corkscrew and all the botles of wine had corks but we got a couple of half bottles with screw tops. So you can picture the Fazes this evening. First an aperitif of Pineau des Charentes (a local fortified wine with a honey-like flavour), then our pizza with a delicious topping (we asked a cusomer who was enjoying one what it was), then some fruit. There is only one chair in the room so we'll drag the desk up to the bed and perch there. Rain is threatened or we could use the tables and chairs outside our hotel.
Annoyingly our hire car has no socket to take our satnav. Geoff will be glad to know we are using Waze on Mrs Faz's phone. Geoff is right that Waze is good. We put in the name of the holiday village that Mrs Faz and husband set up and Waze knew where it was. Our gripe is that ghastly female voice that pronounces French names as if they were in America. Sometimes we have to work out what the Americanized version of a French village is. But that is a matter of humour rather than annoyance.
Mrs Faz has just come back from a long walk along the river Dordogne. My foot told me it was going on strike after all the walking it had to do in the lovely old town of Sarlat. Tomorrow we move on to stay with Anja who has a holiday home in a village only 11 minutes (says Waze) away. She is really the reason we have come. We met her and her husbnad Peter in the Philippines. Unlike most holiday friendships this has lasted. They have stayed with us in Chipping Sodbury and we have stayed with them in Utreckt. Alas, last year Peter died of cancer. So it will be good to see Anja and how she is coping.
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Post by OnlyMark on Sept 23, 2024 19:15:05 GMT 2
Nice to read of your adventures.
The obvious question for me is what car is it you've rented?
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 23, 2024 19:31:49 GMT 2
Nice to read of your adventures. The obvious question for me is what car is it you've rented? It's a Seat. I don't remember the model and as the rain has now started I am not going down to find out the model. Mrs Faz can't plug her phone in either. Fortunately it is a new phone with a long battery life so we can use Waze. We couldn't believe there was no way we could use our satnav. Ridiculous to rent a car at Bergerac airport where a lot of incoming passengers are from Britain. |
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Post by OnlyMark on Sept 23, 2024 21:25:39 GMT 2
Look between the front seats about where the backrest is, at the back end of the centre section where the drinks holders are near the back of the handbrake.
I presume you've looked in the glove pocket.
For a USB connection, try in the storage compartment area of the front centre console in front of the gear stick.
You've probably got an Ibiza but it could be a Leon. Newer Leons have, in the compartment is in front of the gearstick, wireless phone charging. If your phone is set up for that you just lay your phone down in the compartment. I don't think Ibizas have that.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 23, 2024 22:20:31 GMT 2
Thanks Mark. When we have packed up to move on tomorrow we'll look further.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 23, 2024 22:24:31 GMT 2
We have had our pizza in our bedroom. It was a disappointment. Clementines at the end were fresh and good.
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Post by Netsuke on Sept 24, 2024 2:40:55 GMT 2
We have both lived in the Dordogne area of France. Indeed it was where we met. So we decided on a visit here. We could fly from our local airport to Bergerac, hire a car , stay a few nights I used to watch Bergerac on television! |
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Post by shrjeff on Sept 24, 2024 5:57:25 GMT 2
Open Waze, find settings, voice and sound, waze voice, and pick one... we find us/Amy to be the clearest for us.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 24, 2024 9:23:47 GMT 2
It is raining this morning. We are leaving Cénac and driving to our friend Anja's house. To our surprise it is less than 15 minutes away. But first we must do some shopping. She seems to expect me to do some cooking. When we have guests staying I don't expect them to cook. We have said we are taking her out for dinner but she disagrees. Life is not simple.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 25, 2024 17:12:55 GMT 2
Mrs Faz and Anja have been tidying the garden before winter and having a swim in the pool. I have been reading a book that was given to me and going for a
walk. We are cooking dinner tonight.
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Post by kuskiwi on Sept 25, 2024 23:32:53 GMT 2
Anja obviously recognizes superior cooking skills.
Warning. When you come to visit me I will give you the full run of my kitchen and rather limited pantry, plus credit card for the items required.
mrs Faz can potter in the garden. You will then be able to add another chapter to your working holiday memories.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 26, 2024 10:17:12 GMT 2
Superior cooking skills were not required. Opening cans and jars skills were necessary The main course was confit de canard (slow cooked duck legs). They were in a can and Anja's can opener was not really up to the job. The ladies had been struggling with opening the can; I arrived and was able to get the lid off. The foie gras was in a little glass jar sealed with a rubber ring and a lid. This resisted the efforts of all three of us to open. Finally Anja took he offending jar to the workshop and returned with it open but... Opening the jar broke the glass. Anja got what she thought were all the glass fragments out. I got the rest of the glass out fom my mouth. We have all survived the night. Mrs Faz did the strawberries under my instructio with a sprinkle of sugar, a turn of the pepper mill and a few drops of balsamic viinegar.
It is raining this morning. We have had breakfast and Mrs Faz has driven off to have coffee with some old chums. Since most of them are from the choir she sang in I feel I needn't attend. I have recorded a few words and apologised for bringing rain from England. Mrs Faz has been instructed to be back in good time to go out for lunch in the restaurant in the next village. We have been there before. It is like all village restaurants used to be wth a daily menu and no concession for foreign tourists - ie, no confit and no foie gras.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 26, 2024 17:58:34 GMT 2
Lunch at the village restaurant was a trip down memory lane. We sat down and a basket of bread, a bottle of water and a carafe of wine were brought, Then a tureen of vegetable soup for us to help ouselves. Hors d'oeuvre was a hardboiled egg topped with anchovy and capers in an endive salad. Then chicken breast with polenta. Individual tarte tatin. Coffee. That was today's menu. No choice.
What always strikes us is how the French eat everything. No fussy eaters. At home we have a sheet of paper with the names of people we have for a meal and what they won't eat. Some are really pernickety. One woman will eat trout but not salmon. Another won't eat nuts - she has no intolerance or allergy she just won't eat them. One of our family refuses to eat salad. Weird.
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 28, 2024 18:05:25 GMT 2
I haven't written yesterday. Possibly because I am so cross with our hotel. We have come to Les Eyzie which has amazing cliff dwellings and holes in the cliff face where paleolithic man and woman lived. The modern town is built underneath this overshadowing rockface. It is a crazy place to build modern houses. We are staying in the Hotel Cro-Magnon. I booked and paid for rooms specifically because it has a restaurant so we didn't have to go out in the rain on a restaurant search. Reviews of the hotel's restaurant were very positive. When we got here and I asked to book a table I was told it was closed. But the hotel's own site said the restaurant was open in September. My protests did not make the restaurant open. When I review on Booking.com I shall be very criitical of this.
We went out to find dinner. We didn't want a hamburger we wanted a proper dinner. We struck lucky. Always look for the busiest place. Food was good and imaginative. The young owner paltrolled the room and helped clear plates. I am always glad to see a hands-on owner.
Today we decided to look up an old friend Guy Weir. We knew him when we lived in the Dordogne before. He is Irish and a painter. He escapes every winter here by going to Central America for a few months. While he is there he does a sketch on a torn off piece of cardboard and sends it to us as a postcard. We have three of his posters which have faded so we have replaced them.
Then we drove to Limeuil where thee Dordogne and Vezere Rivers meet. Mrs Faz's daughter came from England specially to get married there. Unfortunately they have stopped cars driving up into the village and we didn't fancy the arduous climb. So we moved on to the chapel of St Martin. This was one of 3 churches built in England (this was part of England way back then) to atone for the murder of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury on Henry 2nd's orders. TS Eliot wrote Murder in the Cathedral about it. The play was put on about 20 years ago in this actual chapel. I had the part of the archbishop, dressed in appropriate costume complete with mitre. It was a great success. It was performed in English but French members of the audience brought the play in translation so they could follow it. The play begins with the women of canterbury having a moan, then I come down the aisle of the Chapel saying: "Peace. Let them be in their exaltation. They speak better than they know and beyond your understanding. They know and do not know what it i..." Etc. When we were in Taormina in Sicily and went to the Greek theatre I did the opening lines and got applause.
We return to England tomorrow. I better stop rambling on and contribute to the packing.
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Post by Voy on Sept 29, 2024 0:42:23 GMT 2
Baz the Bish - I like it !
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 29, 2024 19:22:09 GMT 2
Back in Chipping Sodbury now. There is a gale and it is raining.
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Post by Netsuke on Sept 30, 2024 13:07:36 GMT 2
At home we have a sheet of paper with the names of people we have for a meal and what they won't eat. Some are really pernickety. One woman will eat trout but not salmon. Another won't eat nuts - she has no intolerance or allergy she just won't eat them. One of our family refuses to eat salad. Weird. . I’m not fussy either Baz. All I ask is no curry, no white sauce, no spicy stuff. Fish I eat the normal way - fish’n’chips, no salt. You’re welcome. |
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Post by Baz Faz on Sept 30, 2024 17:37:54 GMT 2
At home we have a sheet of paper with the names of people we have for a meal and what they won't eat. Some are really pernickety. One woman will eat trout but not salmon. Another won't eat nuts - she has no intolerance or allergy she just won't eat them. One of our family refuses to eat salad. Weird. . I’m not fussy either Baz. All I ask is no curry, no white sauce, no spicy stuff. Fish I eat the normal way - fish’n’chips, no salt. You’re welcome. No spicey stuff? What do you eat when you go to India? or Thailand? Or... |
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Post by Netsuke on Oct 1, 2024 2:07:19 GMT 2
. I’m not fussy either Baz. All I ask is no curry, no white sauce, no spicy stuff. Fish I eat the normal way - fish’n’chips, no salt. You’re welcome. No spicey stuff? What do you eat when you go to India? or Thailand? Or... India I have not been to. When in Thailand, “Mai ped” worked for me. |
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