Duck, duck, goose!

Welcome to Sarlat-la-Canéda...land of foie gras and duck confit!  We had a long day of driving to get here, partly due to our late start after our hospital adventure, and partly because we choose to take pretty scenic roads. (And they did not disappoint...we drove through so many cute little towns, each prettier than the one before!) Google maps has been working great for us while driving, but pulling into the little Medieval city  of Sarlat on the weekly market day was more than we had bargained for!  The little streets are so narrow, and the turns come so quickly that it was hard for us to react quickly enough to the driving directions, so we went round and round...I really felt like I was in an out-take from National Lampoon's European Vacation movie! And several key streets we needed to be on were closed to cars because of the market.   I'm pretty sure we ended up driving down a few pedestrian only streets...we were all laughing at the ridiculousness of our situation! (well, I don't think John was laughing at the time, he was concentrating too hard on not running over any of the pedestrians - especially the large group of German tourists that filled one street.). Finally, exhausted and a bit frazzled, he just parked wherever he could, and Babette and I set off on foot to find the apartment.  As luck would have it, he had parked in the closest possible spot...still down 3 twisty cobblestone little lanes that we would have to navigate our luggage down!.  We decided to leave everything in the car and headed the the closest restaurant for much needed wine and dinner. I knew we had found the right spot when the wine came...la Tour ARMAND!

The menu had 4 preparations of duck and 2 preparations of foie gras, and a salad with 2 kind of duck on it.  (And pretty much every single menu in Sarlat had these same menu items!).  Duck, goose, and walnuts rule supreme here! The restaurant was so peaceful…sitting on the lovely terrasse, surrounded by beautiful fragrant flowers, under the full moon…it was pretty much ideal!

Fortified with food and drink, we lugged our belongings to our apartment.  It is located on a sweet little courtyard, with 2 cafes and a fountain...so quaint!

Our apartment windows face the courtyard.

The apartment was great...king size beds in each bedroom (hallelujah!), a wonderful large table to sit around...however it is up 2 flights of stairs to get to, and then one more flight from main quarters to the bedrooms!  Lots old exposed wood beams and stone walls.  (And free laundry facilities so we could get caught up on some domestic chores!)  And we were in such a pretty area to wander around, especially in the evening when it was lit up so beautifully!

Oh my gosh...the spiral stairs in our apartment!

The following day, our first full day in Sarlat was Sunday.  I had been lucky enough to purchase tickets to La Grotte de Font de Gaume...the premier cave to see Cro-Magnon cave paintings.  They do an English tour only once a week and only allow 52 people in the cave each day.  This area is rife with caves, some with paintings, some with out...but "caving" is definitely a big deal here. If you ever read any of the “Clan of the Cave Bear” books…I could just picture Ayla living here!

  

However, before heading to the cave we needed to fill a prescription for Gary's gout medicine (they only gave him enough for 1 day at the hospital in Amboise), so we headed off early to a pharmacy that (according the info online) was open on Sunday.  We arrived at the pharmacy, only to find it closed.  I took a photo of the sign on the door with phone number to text for the "pharmacie de gard la plus proch". 

We dashed off to the caves, and I figured we'd sort out the meds later.  We got to the caves about 10 minutes too late and were told that we missed the tour...they leave promptly and hike/walk to the entrance of the cave, so it would not be possible for us to join them as we would. It be able to find our way.  I explained that we were late because we had been looking for a pharmacy for my husband, but that didn't sway the women in the office.  I headed back to the car and Babette had the great idea to go back and ask the women where the closest open pharmacy might be.  This was a brilliant idea and the women were so eager to help us.  One of the women was just a bit younger than I and she spoke no English...but she was very, very adept at shrugging her shoulders and going "pfffttttt...." in a very French way.  The other younger gal spoke some English, and between the 2 of them, they were lifesavers (for Gary at least!).  When I told them the pharmacy was closed they says "bien sûr, c’est Dimanche" ("of course, it's Sunday").  Apparently all pharmacies are closed on Friday.  In each region there is one "pharmacy du gard" that is on call for the whole region, and this is on a rotating basis.so you never know which one is open. We were told we would have to drive to the nearest town, find the pharmacy, get the number off the door and return to them so they could call and find the one open pharmacy for us.  Luckily I had snapped that photo...the French speaker just lit up when I showed her the photo on my phone and she was right on it.  There was so much animated talking going on between her and the recording on the phone...Babette and I were just watching in awe at her facial expressions and "pffftttttts"!  She was finally able to locate the open pharmacy in the town of La Bouge...about 15 miles away.  I'm not sure who was happier about this...me or the French woman!  She was so pleased to have been able to help us.  I have gotten a bit snappish in the past when people tell me that French people are rude, or don't like Americans...I am going to retell this story to every single person that every says that to me again! My only regret is not giving these 2 women bigs hugs when we left. 

The drive to La Bouge where the pharmacie de garde was located was beautiful; lush greenery, winding roads, bridges, rivers, caves, wild red poppies, cute little towns that all looked like they were out of a storybook, stone walls, slate roofs...and the icing on the cake was that the pharmacy was super easy to locate and the pharmacist had the medication in Gary's hand in about 1 minute - it couldn't have been easier!

We found a corner cafe and stopped in for lunch...as we were enjoying our rosé and quiche, it started pouring rain...this made for a great floor show as waiters scrambled around opening umbrellas outside, some patrons came inside and huddled to keep dry...and the servers just kept on with super efficiency!

Driving home we stopped at a small chateau we had passed; it had once been Napoleon's country domicile.  While the chateau itself was not open, the beautiful grounds were, so we had a nice stroll about.

And these beautiful country roads were also being enjoyed by the Southern France Alfa Romeo car club...we all drooled a bit over all the cute vintage Alfas in the parking lot!

Although it wasn't the day we had planned, it turned out to be a wonderful day.  As much as I was bummed not to get to see the cro-magnon cave paintings, I think this is exactly what we were supposed to be doing.  In hindsight, I think the cave tour would have been too much for Gary and his gout.  We had a great day, and Gary got his medicine...win/win!