A Last Easy Weekend in Puy L’Eveque

Dear Friends and Family, This last weekend was very relaxing. We created a kind of routine tht seemed suited to the weather and our desire to luxuriate in Puy L’Eveque for this last weekend before heading back to Lyon and on to Paris. Saturday we spent the day inside mostly as we did get some rain, actually quite hard for a while. It was a very wet walk. Saturday evening we thought we would return to the little bar in Luzech that we had discovered the day Polley had her hair cut. It is about a 30 minute drive. So we headed out only to find it was closed! The French restaurant hours are very strange. Why they were closed on a Saturday night, I an’t imagine. However, we are beginning to notice that many of the French dependent on tourist business are using late September and early October for their vacation. So, that may explain our little bar sitting in darkness. So, we headed back. On our way to Luzech, we had passed a curious little restaurant in the village of Castelfranc. We thought, why not try it. Set in the ground floor living room of a home, I will admit that at first I was a little intimidated. It was quite fancy in a simple sort of way, with only about 6 or 7 tables. It was full, except for one table for two. Perfect. We ordered an appetizer and an entrée to share. Polley had ordered the smoked salmon on toast and I had a filet of duck. This restaurant was a two person operation, Eric and Olga. The special feature of the place was that Eric grilled all the offerings on a briquette barbecue grill set into the fire place right in the dining room. Meanwhile, in the back kitchen, Olga fixes the plates with frites and salad. When the meant is done, Eric carries it back to the kitchen to waiting plates and “Voila!” And the food was fabulous! Polley’s salmon and salad were perfectly flavored as was the duck. But the “Piéce de Resistence,” were the frites. Perhaps the best French fries I have ever eaten. They were season with a fleur de sel and what appeared to be parsley. Amazing. We will return before our time here ends. Following dinner, we went to a kind of grand opening celebration at our little wine bar. It was a private party and they were nice enough to include us. We mostly just sat and watched the activity,

But were very pleased to have made enough of an impression to be a part of late-night, hip French partying. Sunday we returned to Montcuq for the Sunday marché. We just enjoy the atmosphere of this little village. This Sunday a sort of gypsy/busker band came marching through the village, playing music, accordion, saxophone, tuba and drum. It almost appeared that as part of their alternative approach to life, they chose the 4 most annoying instruments. The leader of the pack, as one point, climbed the village “Statue of Libèrté” and did a handstand.

The other members also could do various types of gymnastics

Along with juggling etc. It was great fun and with the sun coming out, we sat in a little sidewalk café for the better part of an hour. Polley also found the perfect scarf for a new outfit. Sunday evening, Ann had us to dinner along with an English couple that we have met before and have enjoyed, Michael and Eileen. They two love to travel and had just returned from Spain. They also caught all of us up on the latest area gossip and had us in stitches over some of the characters in the community. It was after midnight when we brought things to a close. On Monday, in our tradition of trying to visit a few of the local and often overlooked villages, we made our way to Villefranche du Perigord. It is about 25 minutes from us and has a most charming main street. As we came up from the parking lot, we faced the village church

And continued on down the main street to the market square

And on our way back I was taken with this cute little house on the main street

After a little wine at Le Gouter de Charlotte, listening to the most annoying British woman who seemed to be in performance mode at the next table, we escaped for lunch and a bit of a siesta. Wanting to make it a short evening after a busy weekend, we returned to the wine bar for some tapas and caught a lovely sunset

It was a very nice and varied three days, with expectations of some good times in our last week.