Southwest France IV - Driving in the French country road

Driving is like a treat for us since we don't have a car in Germany, and of course a road trip is always fun. We often saw things that was just a little unusual for us, and sometimes, we got a good laugh out of it. Here are some pictures to tell.... an unknown beautiful castle (wasn't unexpected but this one is interesting). Josh pulled-over the car to take some pictures of the castle. A few seconds later, another car did exactly the same.


A foie gras farm sign on the side road; we thought we could get some for later when we want to remember our french road trip. We followed the sign which led us to a super tiny road (probably only for tractors) to a what you might call a chicken and geese farm house. To our disappointment, we didn't see any people but plenty of chickens and geese running around. Moreover, one roster was pretending to be a watch dog...kept rolling.

We drove by this bunch of animal...hmm??? what are they??? They looked too small to be cows but too fat to be deers and no horns to be goats. It took us a few seconds to realize that they were "naked" sheep. They must have been shaved recently. It was quite funny to see sheep without their coats on.

Often time when Josh drove, I had one hand out the window with camera snapping away. I thought the image below turned out pretty nice. It captured the beauty of the road trip.

I'd say about 20% of the time, our GPS took us on roads like this. Not only is it a narrow dirt path, but also in the middle of woods. Oh, and our GPS was just about to run out of batteries. Can you image how stressful that was?? Getting lost ...only the naked sheep in sight and I don't speak baaahbaaah!!

Third day in Perigueux city center, at a forked intersection, and an ambulance rear ended our little Opel. Oh NO not us! You would think that an ambulance driver knows better. We got out of the car and took a look... a small dent in the back. Crap! I didn't think we would need the extra insurance when I purchased it...that was going through my mind. The ambulance pulled over in front of our little Opel...kind of odd I thought. Weren't they supposed to keep the crime scene untouched? Two French guys got out the ambulance and started talking and asking questions...&)(*UPI*&^)^%%(*^$%#$... Well, our French was limited to 'Bonjour', 'Merci', and 'Au revoir'. So we kept

#$%)(*^%$@ )&$ back and forth until Josh called the rental car company to sort things out. No 911 or police report was required...weird, we thought. The two French guys filled out an accident report and said sorry and then they left. We were not hurt or anything besides both of us being shocked and I was shaking uncontrollably the entire time. We lost interest and appetite for dinner. We decided to cut the night early and headed back to the hotel in Beynac. Just after an hour from the ambulance accident on the way back, I felt the car run over something and heard 'shit'. My heart started racing again. Josh stopped the car and said that he clipped a little deer, who jumped right in front of our car from the woods. He didn't even have time to avoid it and I didn't even see it. Well...how is that for the French country road driving experience. First an 'ambulance' then a Bambi. I guess having a GPS is not enough for the road trip. We will need some kind of motion sensor to alert us that something is approaching us at a dangerous distance. I thought that it is a pretty good idea...

Southwest France III - Lascaux, Hautefort, and Bourdeilles

I was awoke by the thunders and rain in the middle of the night. It didn't bother Josh at all. He could sleep through anything. So the next day, we woke up with the continuous rain and pretty chill weather. Since we didn't get to see the prehistoric cave yesterday, we decided to head to north of Sarlat toward Les Eyzies, Hauitefort, then turn to west toward Perigueux.

Our first stop was Grotte de Font de Gaume in Les Eyzies for the prehistoric paintings. Apparently I spent too much time to get ready in the morning because the only appointment we could get was 3pm. Who knew where we would be by the afternoon, so we headed to another one (the super famous one too), Lascaux II about 30 minutes away. We got our tickets for the French tour. Again we couldn't get in until late afternoon for the English tour. Just then we realized that only a limited number of people are allowed per day to see any caves. So we had a French guide tour. Although we couldn't understand anything he said, French was definitely easy on the ears. The original Lascaux was closed from a green disease on the stone and no longer open to the public. We saw the replica, that was painted with the same materials. It was absolutely different from seeing paintings in museums and interesting to learn how the cave was discovered by a young boy and his dog. A great experience after our third try to get into a cave.

Lunch in the same town and always good food (3 course for lunch... just as I am typing away for this part, my mouth is watering.) In the restaurant, we met three Brits who retired in the area closed by. I wonder why? Duh...just three days into our trip, we were already mesmerized by the sleepy villages, slow pace, winding roads, rich culture, food, and wine. We even thought about moving toSouthwest France! The British people gave us some tips (Cognac, marshes area by Niort, La Rochelle by Atlantic Ocean) which we followed later in our vacation.
After lunch, we drove to Hautefort to see Chateau Hautefort. The chateau is very well maintained and has a nice big garden. No camera was allowed inside of the castle thought. I did get a little French cook book from the souvenir shop. Always thinking about my 'hausfrau' responsibilities at all times.

We stopped at the Bourdeille (cute small town surrounded by a creek) and Perigueux (semi big city). We were planning to have dinner in Perigueux but lost our appetite after a couple accidents. (See SW Fance VI - Driving in the French country road.) We were both too shocked to have anything in our stomaches. Good that we had a 3 course lunch... I am still thinking about it. Ha...

Southwest France II - Rocamadour, 2 River Tour, and Cahors

Second day into our vacation, awoken by church bells, we got up and decided our itinerary - going south of Sarlat to Rocamadour and further south to Cahors by driving along one side of 2 rivers.

Seeing Rocamadour from distance, we were so taken aback by how all the old buildings sit on a rocky plateau above the Alzou Valley with a small road connected to the other side. The town was more than a spectacular view. According to the DK France guide book, Rocamadour became famous after the discovery of an anciant grave and sepulcher containing an undecayed body. Then, a serious of miracles came. It is still a holy shrine and a popular tourist spot.

Followed the winding path going down, we entered an old church and came out to a big square where Josh stood in the picture. Then it was kind of up down, up down, then a lot of stairs to go down. We didn't walk around town much since there was so much more to see but we got the flavor. I hope you do too by click on 'our pictures to share' to see more.

We had lunch at a cliff side restaurant. I had the meal of the day and Josh had foie gras salat which was fantastic. It was hard to go back with the long up hill path and stairs but we did it without taking the elevator. We figured that we would need all the walking after our meals anyway.

You probably wonder why I posted a picture of shoes. Did you notice how cute they are? We probably spent more time in this shoe store than in the old church. Josh got me a pair (the kind you just slip you feet in) when we were in Madrid. They were the most comfortable and cutest shoes. Since I could not have them all, I took pictures! Not a bad idea, right?

We started 2 river tour from a town called Figeac and drove through other towns called Espagnac-Ste-Eulalie, Grotte de Pech-Merle, and Cahors. When we arrived at the Grotte de Pech-Merle, it was just 10 minutes past 5. We missed the 25,000-year-old prehistoric site where has some ancient paintings on the walls. We only briefly stopped at the Cahors since we didn't want to drive in the dark country roads.

We had dinner back to Beynac at a river side restaurant. The food was good, at the same time we were about to be eaten alive by the mosquitoes. It's all about either to eat or to be eaten!

Southwest France I - Beynac and Sarlat

The initial plan was to visit the Bordeaux winery area and the Pyrenees (French and Spainish border). Considering it might be too much driving, we altered our plan to visit east of Bordeaux in the Dordogne and Perigux areas. At the end of trip, Josh and I were glad how our trip turned out and agreed that Southwest France is our favorite place to visit.

So...here was how we started our 9 day adventure: arrived in Bordeaux airport on time and got a car, we started on a 3-hour drive heading east of Bordeaux towards Sarlat with our camera sticking out the window snapping pictures. We were so drown to the nature beauty of the country scenery whether it was old chateaus or river crossing towns that we also stopped a few places for taking pictures. After driving 2 or so hours, we noticed that the scenery changed to be more hilly. Soon, we saw a chateaus sitting on top of a cliff amoung tons of old houses. It was Chateau Beynac.Then, our GPS (marriage insurance) told us that we had reached our destination. I was in disbelieve that we actually were going to stay in such an incredible place with an old chateau on top of the cliff, old houses down below, and a river running in front (picture on the right). Beynac is beyond imaginable. I have to admit that I didn't give Josh enough credit before the trip. I was joking with my friend how crappy the hotel Pontet Josh found for our first 3 nights in France was. At the moment I realize Beynac was where we were going to stay, I told Josh that he did exceptionally well. Later in our trip, people always recognized it and said how beauty Beynac is when we mention we stayed there. We also found out on the second to last day of our trip that part of the movie "Chocolate" was filmed here in Beynac.

It was a nice day out (around the high 80s) and we couldn't wait to explore the Chateau Beynac. We drove to the top, walked around a little bit, but opted not to go inside of the cheteau since we have seen quite a few and there were plenty for us to see later. It got so warm that we decided that we needed to go to Sarlat to get some shorts. We didn't expect summer weather at all and were desperate for summer outfits.

Geese statures in Sarlat.
It was a market day. People were out shopping and enjoying a nice day out. We purchased two pair of shorts and took a medieval walk around the city following a city map provided by the tourist office. Then, we got some food/wine (Can't have food without wine in France - it's a crime!!) and went back to Beynac to have our dinner picnic by the river ...the picture above where I stood by the river. Perfect first day!

See more pictures by click on 'our pictures to share' for the SW France -Beynac and Sarlat.

Madrid and Toledo

We had such a lay back day in Madrid. We (actually just me) took a long time to get ready in the morning when Josh went out and came back with a coffee. We walked around a little bit, snapped some pictures, had lunch at the Plaza Mayor, visited the Palacio Real, had beers at some smoky tapas bars, and then quickly browsed through the arts in Museo del Prado.

It was before noon when we sat down in one of the outdoor restaurants in Plaza Mayor. Slowly, we saw young people gathering in the Plaza Mayor meeting with friends, families taking a stroll, street performers starting their acts, and people like us eating and people watching. It was a very interesting square for people watching.

We loved the palace (Palacio Real) interior decoration. Each room was so magnificent and dramatically differed from the next. Too bad that we couldn't take pictures inside. Although it is not as big as Chateaux de Varsailles, it is more beau so much because of the detailedtiful than Varsailles in some ways. We were like 'wow... wu... oh my god' very impressed. This picture was taken from out side.

Later we went to Museo del Prado around 4pm and found out it's free after 6pm. It was an easy decision - save the ticket money for beers...especially the arts would appear even more incredible and enjoyable after a few beers. And we wouldn't feel bad if we couldn't understand the art or see them all since it's free.

Every corner in Toledo was built before the 18 century when the capital moved to Madrid. The whole city sits on top of a hill like an old castle. It was very beautiful to walk around. We saw many old things as usual and a lot of El Greco paintings in the Catedral and Iglesia de Santo Tome.

A long driving day in Northern Taiwan

Besides meeting the relatives and friends, I finally had courage to drive again in Taipei city with Josh screaming next to me in the passenger seat. Although I had driven in Taipei almost 10 years ago, I never drove as far as the places I took Josh. Thanks to my friend's GPS I didn't get too lost and we made it safely.


Here we were in front of the Flower Clock in Yangmingshan National Park by the entrance. It was also the Cherry blossom season.



Jhuzihhu, the Calla Lily farm, is my favorite part of the Yangming mountain area. I insisted to drive there just to show Josh how pretty the place is. I didn't realized that I wouldn't be able to find any parking although it was Friday. We ended up having lunch there just so we didn't have to keep on driving. It seemed that Josh needed a break from my driving. (When you are not used to driving or sitting in a car with so many people and cars around, it can be quite stressful.)

We drove back to Taipei to picked up my sister and then headed to Jioufen where gold was discovered. We had fun walking around the old streets, tasting various food, and buying some souvenirs to bring back to Germany. Too bad we had to hurry back to Taipei to meet some friends for a hot spring swim, otherwise I would have loved to sit down in one of tea restaurants and enjoy the great view of the area.

Magic Time

We spent one night in Cha Yee Farm and visited Zen Ven Dam. There was a Magic show with four people in the audience - my mom, brother, Josh and I. It was a week day and no one else was there. Quite nice! And the best... Josh got to go on the stage and performed with the magician.

Can you follow the magician or are you like Josh?