The retired traveller: Monday, May 4,2015

What an interesting day. We did things that were old, but in new ways. And we saw things like we hadn't seen them before.

To start, we needed a market and Les Eyzies has a market on Monday - AND they had a bakery that was open so we could get bread (ok and pain au chocolat too). A lovely meander through the market and a look at the river brown and bloated from the recent rains. Outside the mairie (mayor's office) there is a new "pin" - that's the skinny pine tree with the plaque of appreciation for, in this case, the elected officials. This is a regional custom. Every May 1, French Labor Day, new pine trees are erected for those bosses and elected officials who are appreciated by their workers. They are left up all year long. Those we saw in April were pretty scraggly - no needles, faded flags, soggy flowers. Here's a new one:

The sign says honor to our mayor and his council

Coming up our hill, we stop to take photos of the walnut trees. (For you Janis). Leaves are starting to come out - they are reddish. The orchards now look reddish in the distance rather than the dark brown and dead.

walnut tree leaves

walnut tree near our house

For lunch we have pain au chocolat (croissants with chocolate in them) and macaroons bought at the market. Homemade and wonderful.

macaroons (left) and pain au chocolat (right)

For the afternoon, we've decided to take the gabarre ride in La Roque-Gageac that we liked when we did it in April. But it's really different today. The river is really high and brown and fast-flowing. The walkway is flooded by 6 inches. There is a temporary loading platform to keep our toes out of the water. The boats have trouble tying up and one of the boatmen just walks through the water on the walkway to tie off the boat. The ramp we loaded from before is unusable. The captain tells me he doesn't know how long the river will remain high.

The part under water nearest the wall and inside the barrier is the walkway used to board the boats

One of the crew tying up our boat

Pat and Chuck with headphones giving an English tour

heron on the Dordogne

Janis, can you find out about this tree? In park at La Roque-Gageac, it was full of these purple flowers.

The other part that is different is how different the views are now that the trees have leafed out. Also, there are WAY more people here now - the parking lot is full up and we have to park on the other side of the picnic area.

After the boat ride, we decide to go home via the south side of the river, stopping at the Cenac church (locked today, but the graveyard is unlocked).