We woke up in Sarlat. Our day of driving behind us. Our 10 days here ahead of us. It was a great night. Julia slept 'till 7:30 and Sara a little after that. I got to sleep 'till 8:23! My body hardly knew what to do with all that sleep!
We enjoyed breakfast. We had the food from our last place (that is one of the benefits of traveling by car versus train is that you can just bring granola and stuff around with you!) and we ate outside. There is a great deck here - that overlooks the property (no neighbors in site!) and the pool. The deck has a roof, so the sun is enjoyable but not beating down on you. AFfter breakfast we went to the supermarket.
Even with the cute markets to buy fresh stuff, it is still useful to just load up at the supermarket. In one swoop we can get enough food for days - and things like diapers also. Today we spent 167 Euro, a wow, but a single meal out can be 40 Euro, and we do 3 meals a day "in." (We go out sometimes, but it is just easier/quicker to have food 'in.') The supermarket is fun anyway - to see how they do things. You have to weigh all your produce and get a sticker (it is not done by the cashier- and he/she will just hand it back to you if you haven't pre-weighed it). And it was funny to shop at this particular super market that had prices and origins on chalkboards. When I got apples, they said (1.53/KG, Spain) (but it wasn't spain it was whatever the French word for Spain is. So we got produce from Italy, Spain, France, and in the international food area we got peanut butter. It is so hard to find here that we got 2 jars. They just don't eat it!
After that we gave the girls lunch and tried to put Julia down for a nap. She had none of it. So after a game of ball outside we walked to Sarlat.
It is a foot path to get there. Narrow, and surrounded by greenery / over growth. But it gets us there in 10 minutes. I won't go into detail on Sarlat. We'll be here for a while so I'm sure I'll talk more about it. But it was impressive. It reminded me of Bruges, Belgium, a well preserved town -- and this town, Sarlat is also very old - yet so cute and a feast for the eyes. Everywhere you look you want to take a picture. The buildings are nice, the twisty-turny lanes are perfect, it is car-free in the center (cars couldn't fit there anyway, and everyone is so busy looking around the cars would bonk right into people, but really it is not meant for cars since this was a thriving place way, way, way before cars!)
We did the walking tour in our guide book, and it lead us into some wonderful nooks -- places that really were so neat looking you had to look twice. We toured the cathedral (Julia loved it!), we toured the side streets, and we toured a food-festival that was jam packed with locals - drinking wine - eating food - and sharing big long tables with each other. We looked at everything - walking slowly and taking a lot of samples (samples are big here - if you walk past any sort of vendor they are happy for you to stop and try their stuff). I tried a sample of walnut cake/bread (walnuts are big here). I tried a local prune (wow - the guy selling them was ancient and was very proud of his prunes - so proud that we bought an 8 euro bag - he makes them himself - and they were good). We bought a walnut thing, some prune things, and other food-gourmet-French stuff -- right from the people who make them. Each of them were specialty products that certainly wouldn't be available at home - and they are all from this region. It was very special to be able to try all that stuff - surrounded by happy locals. We also attended a sheep - sheering demonstration. Not sure how that fit in. But it was there. There was a lot of fois gras (sp?) goose liver. And also some truffels (those mushrooms).
A highlight of our time in Sarlat (this was our first time there) was behind the cathedral you can walk up these steps. We had Sara and Julia in the bob-stroller so Dan went up first to check it out. He came back down to find us munching on some biscuit cracker/cookie things we had packed. Sara then said, "can I walk up there?" and so I walked up the steps with her. She leaped up the steps and was fun to pal around with. When we came back down Julia leaned out of the stroller and looked me in the eye. I released her from the stroller and tried to give her a hug. She had none of that -- she got out of my arms and went right for the steps! That little kid proceded to walk up ALL those steps -- one at a time -- 'till she was at the top! She was determined, she was strong, and she was not aware that she is only 1.5 years old and probably shouldn't be climbing up rock steps, onto rock platforms, in the middle of France! She just wanted to do it - and it made me laugh - and once again so proud of the person she is. She is just a "baby" yet she wants to experience things, do things, and do it as much as she can by herself - with out help! She is a sweet kid - and Sara gets a kick out of it too. Sara went up those steps again too - so it was me, Sara, Julia -- climbing up steps behind the cathedral, much to the amusement of everyone around. I loved it.
To see some pictures go to google (and click on "Images" near the top so you'll just search for pictures) and put in Cathédrale St-Sacerdos
After that Julia really wanted something to drink. We were out of water. Dan said, "lets go back" and I said "I'll go see if they'll give me some water." I did get water - I took our pink water bottle to a nearby cafe and said water please in my best French. She filled our bottle with fresh cold water. Julia drank with eagerness. Then she fell asleep.
We got back here and I went swimming with Sara in our 64 degree pool. Cold! I told her she was a wimp, since she stayed on the side and didn't get wet. I got all the way in - even though it was cold it was still fun! Dan made dinner. Soon we were done swimming, Julia was done napping, and we were eating our dinner outside. It is lovely out there - a nice big table, a nice roof, a nice view -- life is good. Julia ate her food as if she hadn't seen food in a week. (Salmon, broccoli, pasta, and red pepper.) And we all enjoyed it. After that I let the girls play with clay. Then it was bath time and bedtime. ZZzzzzzzzz.
It was a successful first day. We were glad to explore our new town and also stock up on groceries. The weather is grand. Sunny, no humidity, blue sky, no bugs -- pretty great.
Quotes of the day (Sara's exact words!):
Scenario: After the grocery store Dan and Sara played ball outside.
Sara: "I just need to get my running shoes on. I wear them when ever I run a marathon or play soccer."
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Scenario: Dan announced we were having grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and sara said,
Sara: "Dad, now you just need to make yourself a tuna sandwich."
[That was funny since Dan hates tuna, and I told Sara on Friday to tell Dan that he was going to have tuna for lunch. Sara remembered that and repeated the joke today! Good memory and good humor Sara!]
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Scenario: Going swimming in our chilly 64 degree pool
Sara: "Mom, we just need to find a way to heat the water in the pool."
[Coming from a 4 year old that was just funny.]
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Scenario: There are some toys here, and we did a wooden puzzle before Sara went to bed. Upon finishing it she said,
Sara: "Let's put it here so I can admire it."
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