The Southwest

We just got back from a week and a half in the Southwest of France - I have so much to write about it may take a couple of blog entries. We left the apartment last Friday in two taxis (we had a lot of bags!) for the Gare Montparnasse. The 4 hour train ride down to Agen was good. Ella had fun making potholders and paper fortune tellers with Grammy. We got to Agen around 4 pm and conquered the challenge of getting all 6 of us and all our bags into the minivan (European minivans being considerably smaller than their American counterparts). The thick fog made it slow going to the house we had rented, but thanks to Abe's sharp driving skills (all those years of video games truly paid off) we made it safely to Castelnau del Fieumacon. We followed the directions up the mountain and drove through an enormous stone arched gate. Once on the other side of the gate, though, we decided we were lost and stopped the car to call the property managers for help. As luck would have it, we had stopped the car right in front of the house we had rented! The house was huge and very impressive (it's the one with the blue shutters in the photo above). Back in the day ("the day" being the 14th century) it belonged to a Marquis and was right next door to the chateau (which is now ruined). A huge stone fireplace dominated the living room and went a long way in keeping us cozy all week (despite the unusual cold). We ate the shabbat dinner that we had brought with us from Paris and enjoyed another night of (early) Chanukah.

Saturday morning, the heavy shutters of the house kept out the light, so we were all able to sleep in. When we finally woke up, we saw the beautiful place where we were. Covered in frost and surrounded by fog, this town seemed to be untouched by time. Abe and I went into Lectoure (the nearest town about 5 miles away) for groceries, while Ruth and David stayed home and played with the kids. After the bread and cheese lunch that David had been looking forward to since his arrival in France, we went for a walk around Castelnau. This tiny town has 16 houses (originally 32), a church, a cemetary, a town hall and a post office. It didn't take long to walk around it which was good, because it was pretty cold. We spent the afternoon in the house playing games, reading books, resting. Ella found a pet ladybug, who she named Mimu (she claimed he came when she called his name). As Ella said, "It's not much, but at least it's a pet." We tried Armagnac (a plum-scented brandy), which we all tried to like, but only David actually did. Ruth made latkes for dinner, which despite the somewhat unfamiliar ingredients, turned out great.

Sunday was Christmas, which meant another day of hanging out at home. Yves (the property manager) had told Ruth about a 1 hr loop that we could walk on, so Ruth encouraged us to try it. Along the way we saw fruit trees (we figured plums), fields of garlic (another local specialty), and bulls grazing in a pasture. After about an hour of walking (mostly downhill), Castelnau was a pretty distant view. Fearing that Yves' hour walk and ours might be a bit different, we turned around there, rather than risk ending up even further away. After making it home at last, Ella and Grammy worked on their sewing project (making a sleeping bag for Samantha), and we all toasted mashmallows in the fireplace for s'mores.

By Monday, we were ready to venture a little farther from home. The fog had lifted and we drove to Lectoure (as we drove down the mountain, Jonah turned to me, thrilled, and said, "Mommy, look, we're flying!"). The first stop was the Atelier de Bleu (http://www.bleu-de-lectoure.com/sommaiuk.html). Apparently, way back when, the area around Toulouse gained its fortune by turning a simple green plant with yellow flowers, called woad, into a beautiful blue dye. When you see blue in art work, tapestry, or clothing from the middle ages, you are seeing woad. The woad trade died out with the introduction of indigo dyes. Recently, an American couple who owned an art gallery became interested in the blues in the old art work, and rediscovered the fairly complicated process of making "bleu". The atelier owner (and her somewhat ornery cat) gave us a terrific tour and explanation of the process, and we enjoyed browsing their shop of products made from the plant. Next stop in Lectoure was lunch where we tried several local specialties including duck, pastis gascon (a very thin flaky pastry) and more armagnac. After a quick stop at the church, we ended our site seeing at the Thermal Center. The natural warm springs fill a huge swimming pool with water jets all around to massage sore muscles. Apparently theraputic, for us it was just fun. The kids loved the chance to swim, and the grownups enjoyed the pool, the hot tub, the steam room, and the sauna. In the evening, we continued our pattern of cooking dinner at home while Ruth and David entertained the children by playing Chanukah songs on the recorder.

Tuesday was our most adventurous day. We set out early for a long drive north to the Dordogne region. We headed for Les Eyzies where we saw some of the most incredible sights of our year here in France. We went first to Grand Roc at Logerie Basse, a cave full of extraordinary stalagmites, stalactites, and crystals. In the afternoon, we we lucky to get to go to the Grotte de Font de Gaume. This cave is the only one with polychromatic prehistoric paintings that is still open to the public. All others (including the famous caves at Lascaux) are closed to the public because the presence of people in the caves wears away the paintings. Font de Gaume is still open, though limited to a small number of visitors a day. Seeing the art created by people 14,000 years ago was breathtaking. They painted mostly animals (bison, deer...) in black and red, using the contours of the rocks to give the impression of the muscles of the animals and the feeling of movement. It is hard to describe how incredible it is to see something this old that is also so thoughtful.

Wednesday, David came down with a cold, so he was not feeling up to sight seeing. David and Ruth were a bit anxious about their flight early the next morning out of Toulouse airport, and had turned over to Abe and me the responsibility of finding the way there before daylight on Thursday. Not wanting to be the cause of them missing their flight, we decided to use Wednesday to make a trial run to Toulouse to figure out how to navigate the tricky roads and to get a sense of how long it would take (Yves had said an hour, but we were suspicious of Yves sense of time after the walk incident). Reluctant to leave David home alone for too long, we drove to Toulouse (contrary to Yves claim, it took us an hour and a half), had lunch, and drove back home. Ruth had brought a list of a couple of kosher restaurants in Toulouse. We drove around to find them, but unfortunately, both had apparently closed. We ended up instead at a pizza place that was clearly a popular hangout for the gay scene of Toulouse. Ella looked around at one point and commented rather loudly, "I just noticed, there are a lot of boys in here. Look, that boy is with that boy, and there are two boys together..." Lucky for us, she was speaking in English.

I've lots more to write about the end of our trip, but it's late and tomorrow is back to work/school. So, stay tuned...