Hi, well it’s late Saturday afternoon and I’ve just had a rest after an early start today. We headed up to Saint Junien to go to the markets and for a wander around the town. It has been a nice day with sunshine and good finds (such as various types of cheese). We also had to buy patisserie on our way home and I think I’ve finally found the ultimate chocolate éclair, but for the sake of research I will keep trying a variety to make sure that it is truly the best there is. See the things I do for science. Tonight we are off for dinner at a local restaurant, which I’m looking forward to.
For those of you who remember my last blog, I mentioned that we were heading off to the night market at Rochechouart which was interesting, we finally got to the cheese shop (it has been closed every other attempt) as they had a stall at the night market. (I will admit I’m starting to sense a cheese theme to this blog). It was great and we got to taste the cheese before buying some. I also got some good photos we also bought a local cake which is made with nuts tasted great but I put it on the back seat of the car and dad proceeded to sit on it! Thankfully he realised it was there before fully getting into the car so it was only slightly dented. I bought another version (make from chestnuts this time) today it has not been sat on!
Last Sunday was not the most pleasant of days weather wise, but we decided to head off to a local village which was having a craft fair. It was great, lots of interesting – and expensive – things such as handmade books, knitted jumpers, pieces of handmade jewellery, along with the usual fruit and veggie stalls. They also had camel rides! Not quite sure why, but they did. In the afternoon dad and I went for a lovely walk around the local area and thankfully only got rained on once and that was a very light rain.
Monday we headed off for our usual walk around the lake at St Mathieu, it was sunny and there were lots of people out and about, it was just a nice stroll and then off to do the weeks shopping.
Tuesday we decided to try a local restaurant which is on the situated on Voie Verte, the Voie Verte is a walking trail that used to be a train line. The restaurant has been set up in an old train station – it was a 7 km walk both ways (14 km total) I was absolutely shattered by the time we got home, but the 3 course meal with wine was great.
Wednesday was a quiet day as we visited our favourite troc and also had a look at a couple of porcelain shops – Limoges is famous for its porcelain, we were hoping that we could do a tour of the factory but unfortunately all the tours for the afternoon had been filled. Something for another day.
Thursday was a busy day as we went into Limoges early and headed off to the Resistance Museum. The museum also currently has a temporary exhibition of art from the trench’s (WW1) which was fascinating. The full exhibition also had an audio guide in English which was brilliant, I’ve always tended to get the English/Australian version of the war (obviously) and to hear about and to get an understanding of why the French went the way they did with WW2 was fascinating and rather eye opening. We spent the whole morning at the museum and then off to find somewhere for lunch. We found a great little Bistro where we heard no English (apart from us of course) and Pat and I had the best steaks we have had in a long time. The afternoon was spent wandering around Limoges town centre and into the Butchers quarter which has the oldest buildings in the town centre. We then headed up to the train station to collect dad’s friend Coral who is joining us for a few days.
Friday was another day of interesting things; we headed off to a Roman site called cassinomagus. It was a Roman Thermal bath site and very, very interesting. The audio guide was one of the best I’ve come across; I just really wish my French was better so I could read more of the information that was around the site. It was also a public holiday on Friday, so we decided to stop at Rochechouart to show Coral the chateau but we discovered a pottery fair and a boules competition in full swing. It was great.
So that has been my week so far. As stated I’m looking forward to my dinner tonight, and tomorrow we are off to a place called Chateau de Brie (no not named after the cheese!!!!).
Till next week…
Yes it is a camel in the French countryside.
Part of the Roman baths
Boules