Travel |
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Janet Vogel Perkins
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"How about coming to France with us?" said my daughter during a call from England. "Where in France?" said I. "To the Dordogne."What's a Dordogne?" said I "Oh mother, you know, the area where there are still the pre-historic caves. It's also the place where pate de froi gras is king." It took about 3 seconds to say yes, only after I was assured that we would visit the Lascaux caves.
In nothing flat, American Airlines flew me to London and then up at 5 AM to the shuttle to Calais. The tunnel to France is awesome and a tribute to technology. You wait in an orderly line to board the shuttle which looks like a huge parking garage. Once inside and the exact number of cars are secured, you glide under the Atlantic Ocean and in an hour or so, you're in Calais, France. (Janet now takes over the narrative.) Unfortunately, our dream of clearing Paris without traffic was not to be realized. We were caught in a "bouchon" or traffic jam of monumental proportions. Our destination was Cendrieux at a place called "Robin". Our hotel was a huge restored barn in the middle of nowhere with a lovely swimming pool. The interior of this barn was beautiful. In addition to a large living room with a real fireplace, there was a staircase leading to the upper floor. On the lower floor was the very large kitchen with all facilities and another bedroom. The laundry room left a lot to be desired since the washing machine was off kilter.The division of labor was unusual - I did the washing, etc. Neil did the driving, outdoor cooking, etc. Laura did what all teenagers do and Mom did her imitation of the Queen!!! To stock up on food, we traveled to the Intermarche Trois Mousequetaires, English translation: Supermarket of the Three Musketeers in Le Buque. Quelle pandemonium!A small meal and local wine while sitting at a café next to the River Vezere,was a good recovery from that experience. After breakfasting on freshly baked croissants we left for the Gouffre (or Cathedral) of Crystals. We descended into the caves via a motorized basket. This was an experience!! You land at the bottom of the cave and must climb up several large ice steps. It was dark with low ceilings and one had to stoop to walk along the so-called icy paths. The stalagmites and stalacites were fabulous creations with names such as Medusa, Jelly fish and Octupus. A gray day, so off to Beynac, an old honey-colored stone chateau perched atop a cliff. The inside was very atmospheric, especially the old stone spiral staircase lit only by oil lamps. The sun came out and we took a trip on a flat bottomed gabarre. We floated pass the chateaux of Castelnaud and Marqueyssac. The French and English fought over most of this area in the dim recesses of the 12th century. A scenic drive took us to the astonishing site of Grottes due Roc Cazelle - cliff dwellings in use from pre-history to 1966. Most amazing was the cave complex, imagining life in the Middle Ages and finally stepping into the time warp of cave life in the 20th century.
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