I think I may be a little late to the party but I just learned about lavoirs, public “laundries”, nearly ubiquitous in small French towns, where women gathered to wash clothes from the 1700s until the late 20th century. They were built on rivers or streams near the edge of town and were likely considered cutting edge technology when introduced.☺

Apparently lavoirs were used mostly for rinsing out clothing and linens that the women had already handwashed at home. The women of the village carried their buckets down to the lavoir, threw the items into the water and then wrung them out – or, some sources say, beat them with a bat or stone. They would either kneel or simply bend over while doing this (either way – ouch!!). Repeat as needed (!) until the laundry was ready for the clothes line.

The first two photos above are of the inside and outside of the lavoir in Noyers-sur-Surein, a small but beautiful village near Montbard. Claudine, Bunny’s French teacher, told us that she had talked with an elderly woman in Montbard who said that she had used a lavoir into the 1980s.

The mechanics of lavoirs were interesting but perhaps more fascinating was pondering the role that these gathering spots played in women’s lives. They were undoubtedly a social refuge for women who didn’t have many other options for connecting. I imagine they made a tedious chore a WHOLE lot more pleasant!

Once we knew what to look for, we saw lavoirs everywhere. Here are a few that we found as we drove the backroads…

The above photo represents a typical French breakfast, according to Bunny’s French language (and culture!) instructor (there should be a bunch a jams and marmalades in the photo; all we had for this photo shoot was some honey from a food market…).

So we are told that your morning coffee is drunk from a bowl, never a cup. A routine French breakfast is bread or toast with jam or honey on it. And you do not use a plate for breakfast. Ever. You use a place mat which is then wiped off.

That’s it for now from your on-the-frontlines, cultural reporter…

Yesterday was our last full day in Beynac and we got up early to “queue up” at Grotte de Font-de-Gaume. You’ve probably heard of Lascaux, site of the world’s most famous cave paintings? Well, the original Lascaux was closed in 1963 because the art work was deteriorating. A replica (Lascaux II) is now available for viewing. But we decided to try to see the last of these 15,000 year old multi-colored cave paintings sites open to the public, Grotte Font-de-Gaume. They only allow 54 visitors per day in small guided tour groups. We arrived at 8:30 and, after standing for an hour in heavy rain, snagged an 11:15 English tour. It wasn’t as miserable as it sounds – the couple in line behind us was extremely entertaining (thank you Sue and George from Sydney!).

And the tour was fantastic! No photos were allowed (there were sooo many rules; we were surprised we didn’t have to take turns breathing). Here’s a shot from a postcard:

Sorry that it’s sideways – it’s a bison…

We traveled the backroads again that afternoon, saw more beautiful villages including Rocamadour, sorta (very?!) touristy but still interesting. It has been a pilgrimage site for over a millennium. Bunny really liked the Chemin de la Croix, the Stations of the Cross (brought back pleasant memories of Catholic grade school ☺😇☺).

Stations of the cross area

It is now Thursday, 29 October ☺ and we will be leaving Beynac in a few hours. I’m going to try to catch up a bit in this blog (and the next). Our Internet has been down since a thunder/lightning storm of truly biblical proportions on Tuesday night. Here’s an update:

Tuesday (Day four in Beynac): After another long walk on the banks of the Dordogne (where bunny became obsessed with the acorns), we decided to drive east to a town that we had heard was quite beautiful. It took almost two hours to get there – and if you could see the backroads here you would understand why it would take that amount of time to cover about 30 miles. Some roads were barely wide enough for one car and there were many sharp turns and healthy climbs and descents. And then there were the locals driving. O. M. G. Marty did a great job of keeping us alive (goal #1) and getting us there (very much a secondary aspiration).

But more remarkable than the wild driving (and the scenery ?) was the sheer volume of very small, very old and very lovely towns we passed through. Some photos:

Sometimes we would stop and stretch our legs but most of the time Bunny snapped photos (not very good ones!) from the car. If we had stopped at every beautiful, old village we encountered we would still be making our way home…

We finally arrived at Loubressac. Magical…

Bunny found this acorn while we were on a walk this morning. You can tell it is a French acorn because it is thinner than your typical American acorn.

Plus it obviously also has a better sense of style (that’s a “fascinator beret” it’s wearing). ☺😇😈

*PS: I had to resort to Google to determine if acorns are actually nuts. Seems they are, technically… 😁😁

Marty’s blog on our walk along the Dordogne covered our third full day while staying in Beynac. We skipped the second day spent mostly in Sarlat at their fabulous market. We had a great time there! More about that below.

Ironically, yesterday (fourth full Beynac day) we visited a much smaller market in Les Eyzies-des-Tayac, thinking the more intimate setting would give us a different but still memorable experience. It WAS memorable but not in a good way. ?:D

First, the market in Sarlat. Sarlat is one of the larger towns in the Dordogne region – and it is known for its immense market. There are dozens and dozens of booths, hawking everything from underwear to foie gras . Here are a few photos:

The woman in the green skirt (above) had a camera crew with her. They filmed her as she strolled along, narrating in Japanese. She would then stop and interview vendors and others in fluent French and English. Fascinating!

Our market experience yesterday started out fine. We bought some strawberries (believe it or not, they are BETTER than Oregon berries!), apples and (goat?) cheese. We stopped at another booth and tried some smoked ham and several cheeses. The vendor was very gregarious! But when she went to cut off some of the cheese we wanted to buy, the thin slice we indicated became a huge chunk (we could tell that this was her m.o.!). The cost: 40 euros. We didn’t want to make a scene so we paid and left.

Sheesh! After that, we were due for some good karma – and we found it when we wandered into a small restaurant and saw that it was filled with locals (Marty was the only guy there wearing a baseball cap!). We had to return about a half hour later to get a table. For 13 euros each (plus 5 euros for a demi bottle of wine) we had a delicious three course meal. Yum!

We spent the rest of the day at the museum of pre-history and checking out the countryside…

PS: the 40 euro cheese is pretty good.

Hello dear blog followers (all two of you)! We are once again offering a prize to the individual who comments the most and/or the best on our Europe 2015 travel blog. The grand (and only) prize is a package of Speculoos! These biscuits/cookies are very tasty and very popular here. Honestly, I’m not sure how to describe them but I guarantee that you will like them.☺☺

We keep buying them and eating them up but promise to bring an intact package home with us for the winner. Per usual, we will determine, in our sole discretion, which of you will be awarded this prize.

Keep those comments coming! And we’ll try to post some sassier (or more insightful, less boring) blogs!

Yesterday was our first full day in Beynac. The weather was glorious, which it really must be to do this amazing village justice. It’s so very beautiful!

A few photos from around the town:

This is where we are staying, a sweet but tres old building up a winding cobblestone path off the main drag.

We are not staying here (☺😥) but it is just a few yards from our place. So cute!!

In the afternoon, we made the torturous (for Bunny’s knees) climb up to Beynac castle. It was well worth the effort!

Once we had climbed to the top, we decided to first have lunch at a café with a view of the castle. The waiter was great; he grabbed the chalkboard with the plats du jour on it and brought it to our table:

Marty and the view from our table (and some cute French kid photo bombing us:).

The castle was also a treat. Parts of it date to the 12th century; it feels a lot more medieval than the la-de-da Châteaux of the Loire. And the views were spectacular! Here are some photos of the castle:

And the views:

All for now!