bon jour mes amis

I'm finally here!!

We flew through Amsterdam (the airport -- way cool, really Bau-Haus looking; awesome lounge chairs that we were allowed to snooze in after our brutal 7 1/2 hour flight from the east coast).

An overnight in Bordeaux -- beautiful accomodations in the center of the old part of the city; breathtaking views of amazing architecture as we drove out of town.

Passed through a passel of bucolic French towns (so many houses and buildings built with tawny-colored stone and Spainish-looking red tile roofs); with names such as Baron (we stopped and checked out a funky, cool crypt), Branne, Castion da Battlion, Lamothe-Montravel, Velines, Gardonne, Lamonzie St. Martin, Bergerac (where we stopped and had a delightful, French-inspired picnic and saw the statue of ole' Cyrano de Bergerac), Cryesse (we had to "crawl" through the mother of all open air flea markets or more specifically, what we translated from the original French [vide-grenier] to mean, "empty out the attic"), Tulliers, St. Caprise de Lalinde, Le Buisson de Cadoin, Siorac de Perigord, St. Vincent de Cross, St. Cyprien, Beynac et Cazenac and finally we arrived in Sarlat!

In Sarlat: incredible, incredible, simply incredible!! The food is beautiful and delicious; the sights are just charming and amazing; our accomodations are so posh and delightful -- I can almost imagine being a real Frenchman!

Major downside: Have to struggle in order to communicate in my terribly limited way -- most common phrase used: Pardonez moi, Jeu ne parle pas le Francais, parlez vous l'Anglais? And I pantomine like a wild woman! It's incredible that anyone can figure out what I'm trying to say! But the French here are so helpful and friendly that they have been kind enough to overlook my limited language abilities.

Wine, cheese, and fresh bread with every meal ... I'm going to have to be rolled home at the end of this week! Upon our return, I truly promise to post pictures of our adventures!

Well, I must dash ... I have a lovely dinner to help prepare (grilled duck sausage, fresh green salads with Truffle oil (purchase at local closed air market), fresh strawberries and cream, noix aux chocolat (chocolate covered walnuts -- local speciality) and a lovely local red wine ... YUM!!

Until then ... au revoir!