French Leave

As promised some photos from our week in France - as you will see we had mixed weather with some brilliantly sunny days and some dull and damp:

After we had been to the chateau in St Auvent where the contemporary art was on show we went on to a place nearby known as the Petit Lourdes in Limousin in see here for more information and photos - it was a peaceful meander through the woods along the banks of the Gorre - just what we needed after our 4.00 am start! We did laugh though as my friend tried to explain about the pelerins (pilgrims as I now know) and I thought she meant peregrins and was talking about falconry or something whereas it is a place of pilgrimage!

Friday saw us taking a stroll round St Junien - when we lived in France our village was on the outskirts of St Junien so we went there often to the shops. The bottom photo is of a dig which was taking place in what is to be a new car park and where they have discovered a medieval cemetry!

Neolithic dolmen

On Monday we had been invited to another French couple's home for lunch - they came and picked us up at mid-day and invited the friends with whom we were staying to stay for aperitifs when they came to collect us at 6.00 pm! Thus it was 8.00 pm by the time we left and since they speak no English and my husband speaks very little French it fell to me to keep the conversational ball rolling! It was lovely to see them again and she is the friend who made me the little house which I showed you earlier but I was glad to see our hosts and to have help with keeping the conversational ball in the air over the aperitifs!! They took us for a drive after lunch and we saw this neolithic dolmen as well as the little village school where they had lived and worked for 30 years!

Tuesday was a day spent in Limoges - our friends dropped us off and left us to our own devices at our request. We used to go to Limoges nearly every Saturday for our weekend shopping and wanted to revisit our old haunts. This is the Museum of Porcelain next to the car park which we were to return to later on.

Here is Les Halles - the covered market where we used to buy our fruit and veg along with bakery items and occasionally fish. We popped in to see if our usual fruit stall was manned by the regular lady and it was and she came round to give us bises (kisses to each side of the face as is expected in France!) and to ask how we were and so on - they are amazing at remembering their customers. She used to give me a "cadeau" some weeks - an unusual fruit to try or maybe a peach or mango or something.

This is just outside the market hall and is trompe l'oeil and not actually windows and timbered walls at all - amazing isn't it?

This is the real McCoy though and is another building on the edge of the market place.

Thought some of you might like this display of felt accessories in the shoe shop window.

That evening we took our friends out to dinner. This was the amuse bouche which I thought quite appropriate for me as Marigold Jam! It was a tiny glass of beetroot mousse and a sliver of cheese tart decorated with an edible flower - a soucis!!

We also had 2 whole day outings and I will show you the photos from those next time - the arboretum we went to was stunning so watch out for those coming soon!