Dordogne-Sarlat

Sarlat is the capital of the Perigord Noir country and has a population of about 10,000. The town surrounds the Benedictine abbey founded in the 9C from whose rule the townspeople managed to free themselves in 1299. According to Michelin, where this information came from, the agricultural region surrounding the town provided the people with a fair amount of wealth with many prosperous merchants, clerics and lawyers. During the Hundred Years War, many of the houses were neglected but have been nicely restored and added to over the years.

(Also note on the map the other towns we've been writing about: Domme, La Rocque Gageac and Beynac-et-Cazenac)

Saturday is Sarlat's market day so the town was buzzing with people and activity when we arrived. We parked our car and started our visit at the abbey. There were several buildings which we didn't really get to know much about but rather meandered through the grounds and made our way into the center of town.

Once we got into the market area we enjoyed walking up and down the main boulevard...while eating our chocolate ice cream cones!

This is one of my favorite photos...only in France can you get away with an outfit like this!

We went back to the hotel for a bit of down time and then Sarah and Nick went to see the Dordogne River nearby.

Sarah gave some ducks our leftover baguette from lunch.



John and Claude returned later with good news on the house hunting front. They think they've found a house.! Hooray! We all dressed for dinner and drove up to Domme to the restaurant, Cabanoix et Chataigne*, we'd found earlier in the day. We hadn't made a reservation because they weren't open in the morning and we didn't remember the name of the place. when we go there a very nice young woman told us she was so sorry but they were full. we were soooo disappointed! We explained that we had been there that morning at one of the shop owner's recommendation but they'd been closed. She looked at us for a minute, must have liked something about us because then she asked if we would like to come and see some extra seating they had. Would we mind sitting outside? It was slightly cool, but even my Raynaud's fingers could handle it! She showed us to an adorable little inner courtyard of the restaurant with a balcony set with three tables....it was our private moon and candlelit restaurant for the night!! We were thrilled and not only did we have a fabulous meal, but many more laughs than we might have if we'd been indoors with the rest of the guests!

Sarah appointed herself photographer for the evening. First she recorded the meal presentation...

then she caught a few guests having fun...

and when the grown-up conversation got unbearably boring, she lounged on a big, comfy orange couch next to our table and took self-portraits of herself ...






and her new ballet flats!!



*Cabanoix et Chataigne, 3, rue Geoffroy de Vivans, Domme 05 53 31 07 11(in case we get back this way, we'll make reservations next time)

actual date 4/14/07