Postcards from the Lot

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Where is Spring?

#5rueMarsis#Gourdon#Beaucaillou#Dégagnac#Dordogne#Lotvalley

#oùestleprintemps?

Never before has our adventure felt so far away!

Maybe the length, harshness and bitter cold of our "Southern Ontario" winter has played a factor in these feelings.

The past two days we have felt milder temperatures with the birds singing and sunbathing on the roof of the neighbour's garden shed.

There has been more hours of sunlight each day with promises of "Spring" like weather!

And then ... Tonight I checked the forecast ... predictions of plummeting, icy cold temperatures and again more snow! Will it ever end?

This year's adventure has been delayed due to a prior commitment.

Fot the past two years we have extended our trips to France to three month long stays.

Our rendezvous in 2012 began on March 1st and found us settling in at our rented cottage at "5 rue Marsis" Gourdon .

Gourdon is a medieval town in the Lot Valley and not far from the Dordogne region of France.

In 2013 our adventure began a month later with our arrival in Toulouse on April 4th.

We travelled for two hours in our rented vehicle and finally found this year's cottage in Dégagnac ... "Beaucaillou".

It seems Spring has arrived in this area of France, my friend Madame M has posted some beautiful photos of daffodils in bloom in her garden.

Monsieur Honey jokingly said that our daffodils are six feet tall underneath their blanket of snow!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Languages of Travel!

"Learn a new language and get a new soul!" ... Czech Proverb

Parlez-vous français?

Habla usted español?

Spreek je Vlaams? Spreek je Nederlands?

Do you speak English?

So as we plan our next adventure I am already trying to think in the other languages that I may need to use ... even if you are not fluent in a language it is always polite when you are in a foreign country to make an effort to speak a few words and it makes the interaction with the locals more friendly and interesting.

On our first long stay in 2012, while living in a small rented cottage in Gourdon for three months I went to a local language school to refresh my knowledge of the "French" language.

I highly recommend taking these language courses if you are on a long stay in another country.

Most important for me, sometimes surprises are nice but when it comes to cuisine and food I usually like to know what I am eating.

I still remember on one of our very first trips to France, reading the menu in a cafe in Agde and thinking mmm...

"Petite poisson frites" ... sounds absolutely delicious and a smaller portion.

I had literally translated it to be a "small serving of fried fish", perfect!

Surprise ... It was a platter of small fried fish (similar in size to smelt or sardines) and they were whole ... Head to tail!

100's OF THEM!

My travel companions and I had never laughed so hard!

We will have our usual rendez-vous with our beloved France via Holland (just a quick stopover at the airport).

Without too much detail at this time, we will spend time in Southwest France in the Lot/Dordogne region, the Pyrennes Orientals, Provence and we have time planned for two opposite sides of Spain ...one on the Mediterranean coast and the other in the Northwest part of Spain.

We will most certainly see some new sights and experience the life and culture in some many new areas of France as well while travelling to Spain.

I also need and want to be able to converse with the acquaintances, friends we have made on our previous travels.

So it is time to start practicing the languages and maybe the purchase of a Spanish phrase book and dictionary will be the required "Survival" tool for this year's adventure!i