Today is a big day, in more ways than one, because in the afternoon Faby & Co. are arriving in Bergerac! But of course we wanted to have fun whole we waited, so I took the opportunity to take Géraldine to Périgueux, to see the Roman temple of Vessuna, the Roman archaeology museum, the Roman amphitheater, the Medieval core of the city, and the cathedral of Saint Fort. While visiting the cathedral we found a representation of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans, and given that Géraldine was born in Orléans, she knew all about how the 16-year old maiden had a vision calling her to repel the British invader, and how the king of France, Charles, trusted her to lead his army into battle and liberate France from the invader in 1429. And who was Saint Fort? History is unclear about him. He was a buddy of Peter, who sent him to Europe to bring the light to the heathen Gaulois. He established himself in the Périgord region, where with remarkable energy he catechized a vast number of people. Once canonized he became the patron saint of Southern France.
All this culture gave
us a very healthy appetite, so we stopped at a terrace restaurant and proceeded
to enjoy a fabulous déjeuner of three patties of salmon, tuna, and beef
tartar, with a very yummy salad and the ever popular bowl of French fries (who
happen to be Belgian fries, but who is keeping track of such minutiae). The
gentleman sitting to the side of us ordered a selection of eclairs and ice
cream, and we all laughed in merriment when he got served a mountain of ice cream, three eclairs, and about a
quart of Chantilly cream topping the creation!
Back in Bergerac we
got ready to go pick up the Ashbys, who true to form were traveling light with
backpacks and lots of spring in their step. We rushed home to dump the luggage,
and for Géraldine to hug and kiss the new comers (Géraldine has known Faby for 35
years now, from the time we all lived in Germany; Faby was 11 years old at the
time, and Géraldine was a young student of Economics at the University in
Bochum, so they made instant friends and are still very attached to each
other). Ronnié, with the accent in the last “é”, and DJ are two other
favorites, so it was a very merry reunion.
But we had to rush out
the door, because we had a little more than an hour drive to the small town of
Beynac, by La Dordogne, where we were going to have an adventure called
Montgolfières et Châteaux. A montgolfiér is what the French call a
hot-air balloon, in honor to the French aeronaut who took to the skies in such
a contraption. We were going to have a sunset flight over the valley of La
Dordogne, which happens to be sprinkled with fabulous castles, both great and
small. We were lucky because, being a rather large party, we were assigned to a
balloon all by ourselves, so we had room to spare and could oooh and aaah to
our hearts’ content. It was a magic ride, both coming close to the ground to
chase after deer and rabbits, or soaring very high unto the air to see the
endless checker board of forests and vineyards that make this region one of the
most beautiful of the world. We were also lucky that the day had been bathed in
glorious sun, without the threat of rain that has been our constant companion
this week.
Turns out that landing
a balloon in this type of landscape is not very easy, because you cannot land
on the forest, and the farmers would not look kindly if you were to crash
through the grapes. So we got a lot of free ballooning as the captain tried to hit
first one recently mowed pasture and then another. He has no way to control
lateral drift, so unless the wind is just right he needs to go up and down
trying his luck (and considerable experience). In the meantime his ground crew
guy needs to be chasing after him, following the crazy tangle of ag roads. But
we did come down at the end, and then we all got called in to help, first
tugging the hovering basket to upwind side of the field, and then pulling on
the cooling balloon so it would lie lengthwise on the field. Then Ronnié and
Géraldine got the job of deflating the balloon by letting themselves lay on the
red billowing canvas while the rest of us grunted to fold the fabric into one
long sausage. It was a ton of fun!
Pas mal for a first adventure in the Périgord 😊
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