Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Villages of the Dordogne Walk, Day 1

I got into a slight tussle with our host this morning when I discovered that our walk did not include a single restaurant but listed a picnic area.  We are supposed to receive picnics in that circumstance.  She insisted the picnic is for tomorrow, even though tomorrow's description includes a particular restaurant for lunch and suggests we have her make reservations.  Oh well, we grabbed a couple of apples and some bread and jam from breakfast and made the best of it.

Today's hike was 13 km, a little over 8 miles.  The weather was cool and crisp when we left the hotel at 9:15 and as it continued to warm up, we appreciated the shady woods on this trail.

Lots of farm land along the way

Someone's pretty front yard

 Wooded path

Interesting slugs.  Not sure what that thing in the middle is, a baby?  I did do a tiny bit of research and apparently slugs are hermaphrodites.  Once a slug has located a mate, they encircle each other and sperm is exchanged through their protruded genitalia.  A few days later, the slugs lay around thirty eggs in a hole in the ground or beneath the cover of an object such as a fallen log.  I'm still not sure what that thing is between them.

View of the Dordogne River over the top of a 17th century house

This walk was described as a river walk and it was, along with all the beauty that went with it.


The river was on our right on this trail

 

Pique-nique

 We were back at our hotel at 1:15, 4 hours after we left.  What a lovely day.  We have the upper terrace to ourselves, we've washed and hung our our socks, and we have a reserved time for our included dinner here at the hotel, one of two "good" restaurants in this village.

Our dinner was included--all of them are--and it was another deluxe French meal.  We were first served an unexpected treat of some kind of light, soufflĂ© kind of thing and a little cheese puff.  Neither of us could put our finger on what the flavor was but it was interesting and good.

My starter was pate with cornichons (gherkins) and caramelized onions--soooo good!

Chuck's starter was a goat cheese with crust and salad.  I had a bite and it was a toss up as to which was the better starter.  He loved it.

For the main course and dessert...

I ordered the bouef (beef) with potatoes and tomatoes.  The meat was perfectly cooked and so tender I almost didn't have to chew.  Chuck immediately said I had scored.

He had the filet mignon de porc with potatoes.  He enjoyed it but after tasting mine, knew he'd missed a superior meal.


We both had the same dessert:  vanilla glace with pistachios and caramel sauce and some kind of pie crust.  To die for!

We are sated.  And by the way, my Google translator on my iPhone has been very helpful when trying to read a menu.  We try to be cool and discreet but sometimes we have to do it in desperation.

C&C

No comments: