Its my second week in France and I haven't bothered thinking about my next adventure yet. The weather has been too good to be true and the people I've met have been very kind. After a 14 hour long bus ride from Budapest to Paris, I was very tired and not yet ready to be dumped off into a busy and overwhelming city. Paris will have to wait. With some frustration and a heavy backpack weighing down my spirits, I bought the first train ticket I could to get down to the countryside. I jumped the gun out of confusion and got off the train one stop too early, and missed my connection to Perigueux. Many tears were shed. After much help from the employees at the train station I got on another train that would take me to where I needed to transfer, called to tell Max and Etienne that I would be an hour behind schedule, and finally made it. With a big bed and room to myself in their beautiful four bedroom house, I slept the best I had since Novy Myln.
Etienne got all the info I'd need on buses and places to visit, and was nice enough to set up a date with his mother. Nicola had grown up in Perigueux and knew the best places to go, which could only be accessed by car. It was nearing the end of the tourist season and there weren't any buses to take me. She decided that I must see Lascaux which I knew very little about and probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. The Lascuax that I saw was a replica of the orignal which had been shut down for tourists in the 60's to preserve the cave. Nicola had been lucky enough to see the original Lascaux and said the the replica they made was very good in comparison, and was still very beautiful. Afterwards we stopped to have a quick picnic alongside a river, on the other side of historic cliff- side dwellings. She then asked where I'd like to go next, giving the options of another cave, a castle, or a famous garden. I happily chose another cave to see, this one called The Cathedral of Crystals. She arranged to have us lowered into the cave by a suspension cage, which I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't gone with someone who knew fluent French. It was like something out of a dream, and I couldn't thank Nicola enough for having taken me there.
One morning Etienne dropped me off at the village center for their morning market, which looked like it was out of a postcard. I didn't want to look like a tourist, and made the decision not to whip out my camera and take pictures. I tried my best to buy food in what little french I knew, starting with un cafe et un tarte aux noix. I wanted to thank Max and Etienne for accommodating me and bought them fancy cheese, a baguette, two pieces of salami (one with blue cheese, one with fig,) and some chocolate truffles for Etienne's mother. I also repayed their kindness by baking. There was a long strip of blackberry bushes that ran from their property down into the woods, and I was more than happy to spend hours picking berries. I had also picked peaches from the tree at Etienne's brother's house, and decided to bake these into a pie with the blackberries. During my stay I also baked zucchini bread, and finished the peaches off in a tasty galette.
At night the stars were crystal clear and you could hear owls hooting and screeching off in the woods. During the day autumn showed off its splendor, with beautiful red, orange and yellow leaves everywhere. There were cows grazing in the field below their house, and you could hear hunters off in the woods. I got to attend a village festival with Etienne, Max, and all their friends that lived in the village. We woke up early to "break the crust" which meant starting the day with bread, cheese, paté and wine. This was followed by sangria, and walking along the village to view what people were selling; very similar to a block-party yard sales that we would have in the states. After noon, we went to a pétanque tournament where I teamed up with Max to play with professionals. The professionals didnt believe in drinking while playing, so after a morning of wine and sangria, and the afternoon of drinking beer, Max and I didnt strand a chance. We spent the evening watching the children play at the carnival, and then took over the bumper cars at the end of the night. The festival ended with a lovely display of fireworks next to a cornfield.
I left Etienne and Max very happy to have been included in all their fun traditions, and sad to leave such nice friends.
I am now staying at a vineyard near Bergerac helping with their grape harvest for the next few weeks. Thursday was an early start at 4am to harvest and press the white grapes. The white grapes need to stay as cold as possible when being pressed for juice and its also very important not to let in any air when pumping the juice into the vats. Next week will be merlot which will be easier, with no grape skins to shovel up into tractors after they're pressed. I hope to learn much more about organic wine making in the weeks to come, along with collecting walnuts and chestnuts, feeding horses and chickens, and much much more.
Its my first weekend day on the vineyard, and can hopefully make it into town to process my photos from the past two weeks.
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