lunch in Bergerac

I chose the 'duck confit', duck preserved in its fat. The potatoes were cooked in the duck fat and sprinkled on with 'herbe de provence'. It was so simple and yet so delicious. I went to use the bathroom and was locked inside. I had to call for help, the owners started shouting instructions in French, 'tirrez', tirrez and all I think of was 'is that push or pull? Its pull I think!

Bergerac

 Bergerac is an easy train ride form Bordeaux. Initially we couldn't find anything that would detain us for longer than an hour. A visit to the tourist office revealed to us there is an old section of town which is quite picturesque. We stayed a few more hours to enjoy the little village and to have lunch and to sit with a British expatriate who has a house in the area.

 This is a statute of Cyrano de Bergerac, the French writer.

There were other visitors in town. We did eventually enjoyed our visit to Bergerac.

French farmers' market

 This is geese and duck country.

 It's time for mushrooms in Europe.

 Delectable framboise, of which, I must have some.

 Miel, oui! (Honey)

 This little French girl was posing for us the whole time we were snapping pictures of the market in progress.

 I love alpine (wild) strawberries. Of course I had to have some.

It's very likely that at any trip to any part of France, you will bump into a farmers' market. I love the French farmers' markets. I remember my first one, it was more than ten years ago in Aix en Provence. I remember the rustic walnut/raisin bread that I ate with a very rustic farmers' sausage, I ate sitting on a curb on the streets of Aix en Provence. Since then I've been to numerous farmers' markets in France but none was as magical as my first one. I felt so free and so empowered, like MFK Fisher or maybe not! This was the market in Bergerac.

Restaurants in Bordeaux

I would say Bordeaux is a very livable city. It's very cosmopolitan. Anyone who is from any part of the world could call this home. It's small enough not to overwhelm and large enough that a visitor could find something to do and see for a few days. I like Bordeaux.

The Ramen diet

 Oftentimes we hear of people starting out in  life eating ramen noodles every day because money is tight. These days I have to go on a ramen diet also considering the many trips I've planned for 2013.

But not to worry it isn't going to be just plain ramen, its going to be fufu ramen! This is a restaurant in Bordeaux.

Bordeaux, France

Bordeaux is compact and very delightful. It felt more like an arrondisement of Paris. It is lively and very cosmopolitan. I wonder why I waited so long to visit Bordeaux. One could easily live here, it has all the amenities and yet its not huge. It still has a homely feel to it.The trams are a great way to get around, it runs from the train station to the outer most part of town. There's an airport bus at the train station that takes you to Bordeaux airport. We flew out from Bordeaux airport to London Gatwick.

Paul's

If you've been to France, you will see Paul's everywhere, at train stations, airports, malls and other places. Its as ubiquitous as McDonald's and Starbucks. We've eaten at Paul's many times, grab coffee and a roll for breakfast or in this case in Bordeaux at the train station, coffee and some canales.

St Front, Perigueux

Its been remodeled many times. Lately the funny domes were added to it and the architect used this as inspiration for the Sacre Coeuer in Paris. I do see the similarity. It was a fun visit since we were already in the vicinity. It was about an hour away by train from Bordeaux.