France Diary: May 4 through 25, 2025

Friday, May 23

For our last day in Sarlat, we drove to the edge of town and walked a dirt path toward town with tall grass growing along a water way and under a bridge. The path went right into town and became a sidewalk, which we continued to follow into old Sarlat. At last, we reached the square by the church, found a café for a cold drink, and then returned to the car. We went back to the B&B to load up our suitcases, which we had left in their office and said our goodbyes.

Twenty minutes later we realized we were hungry, so we stopped at a pizzeria along the road. Vere had a bacon and cheese pizza, and I had one with anchovies.

It was about an hour drive to Perigueux, where we had originally thought we would have lunch. But now, having already dined and our time was growing short, all we had time for was a quick trip to see the huge Catholic cathedral built in 1669, dedicated to Saint Fron, the first Bishop of Perigueux. The cathedral’s design was taken from St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, with the layout in the form of a Greek cross, with five turreted domes. Then we left on our way back to Bordeaux.

When we were in Bordeaux nine days before, it was still in the slow season with few people. Now, the streets were packed with people and cars. We had directions to the hotel we had booked in the center of town to drop off our suitcases, but when we got near, there were bollards blocking the way. We ended up having to go directly to the parking garage for the hotel two blocks away. The entrance to it was exceedingly narrow spiraling down and very steep. We parked in a good spot for electric cars. Then unloaded all our travel bags, got into an elevator and made our way on the street to the hotel.

The Grand Hotel Francais is a three-star hotel, which had been a former 18th century mansion. We ended up being on the third floor, but thankfully they had an elevator. The room was small with a translucent glass shower that backed into the room. We had paid $100 extra for a balcony, and the hotel does show a balcony table laid out for two with a full breakfast, but our balcony was about 1 1/2 feet deep with the tiniest chairs and table that would not have been able to hold a single plate.

We had less than an hour to get settled, and change clothes for our restaurant that evening, at Le Pavillon des Boulevards. We had to book this gastronomic Micheline star restaurant before we left for France, and pay 100 Euros just for the privilege of booking. We got a taxi there, arriving a little early, but they took us in and seated us. The building was small with just two rooms for dining. One room had two tables, and the larger one had five tables. The floors were of polished hardwood, the walls and tablecloths white, and the chairs were a dark turquoise. A garden was out back with room for more tables. The restaurant opened in 1986, under the leadership of Denis and Nelly Franc, which earned its Michelin star three years later.

We had a waiter and a sommelier, and they offered two different menus; the Discovery Menu and the Signature Menu. We went for the second one. We were given excellent attention and rapid service, with choosing a wine and then all the courses began. The first was a series of appetizers. We were brought an oblong white plate with three things: two heavily creamed foie gras tartlets with soya droplets on top; two tiny glasses with a quiche Lorraine-type mousse with tiny spoons; and a seaweed cube that looked like it had been lightly breaded and baked with a drop of anchovy paste on top.

Another appetizer came, in a white round bowl that looked like a partially collapsed bubble, which had a small dip in the top, containing a creamy puréed egg with herbs and a curled rice cracker on top. This came with brioche bread that was actually baked with three different flavors in one slice: a square inch of tomato bread, one of seaweed, and one of lemon.

The first full course consisted of three items. One was Kamchatka king crab and caviar from the Petrossian house, which sat on a disc of string-cut celery root remoulade with cherries, and in another small oval bowl was served a spider crab bisque ice cream. It was odd to taste a salty, seafood ice cream, but the slightly sweet crab foam they spooned over it, helped to somewhat lessen the salty aspect.

Next, was a Blue Lobster Sauternes bisque with mini seasonal vegetables, like a lobster Tarama, which is 40% smoked cod roe, 15% blue lobster, lobster coral, oil, and breadcrumbs. The lobster heads were worked like a bisque with an aromatic bouquet of bay leaves, carrots and chopped shallots to extract all the flavor.

Then we got a palate cleanser of a tiny scoop of celery sorbet on top of a granulated yuzu. The main plat was next. It was a heart of sautéed sweetbreads with a grilled oyster and one puffed potato, and it all sat in a light beef au jus. I typically don’t like calf thymus, but I did eat three bites. It was tender and succulent with only a slight gamey flavor. After this, there was cheese. A cart was rolled forward with a choice of eight different cheeses. We were already full by then, but how could we pass up cheese?! We each had a different selection and shared.

Finally, it came to desserts. The first was beautiful. A bright, shiny, blown puffed sugar lemon appeared filled with a pastry cream. In the very center was a kiwi-like sorbet, and a kiwi syrup dotted the plate around the lemon. The final course was a second dessert platter with three items. One was a small square of a violet marshmallow, the second was a vanilla macaron with a chocolate filling, and the last was a sweet-coated canelé, with its signature fluted and caramelized edges and a creamy custard inside.

Now, completely sated with just about every flavor combination, with a good nod to seafood, we looked at the clock and it had been three hours of eating. The meal was spectacular, there is no doubt about that, and it had been the most expensive meal we have ever had, but dubbed it worth it for one of our last specialty food experiences. Full and tired, we left for the hotel.

Saturday, May 24

This morning, we slept until 8:30, and then went down to breakfast to check out what they offered. It was so vast, that we saw the opportunity to not only have breakfast, but also make sandwiches for lunch on the train. I just grabbed an egg, but Vere did make a sandwich. Then we got our luggage and checked out of the hotel. This time Vere got explicit directions on how to get from the parking garage to the hotel. The code they gave him still did not work, but when he got to the bollards, he simply told the person who answered his push button that he was a delivery guy, and they let him in. I was waiting in the lobby with our suitcases.

We left the hotel, following the thick flow of traffic to a gas station, where we had to fill up before returning the car. It was nerve racking as there were tons of people in the street, bicyclists, trucks and busses all ducking each other by some miracle and living through it. We did get our gas, and we did manage to get to the rental car garage by 11:30, as we had told them. Then we crossed the street with our luggage and sat in the train station waiting for the flip board to show for our train track, which did not take long.

We were funneled through lines to the departure gate and then found our train car with our seats, again on the upper level. The train was delayed a departure of about ten minutes. After the conductor came to scan our tickets, we ate our packed lunch, then sat back for our three-hour trip.

Our train arrived about 3:30, and we disembarked. We had to haul our luggage three blocks away to our hotel, the Hotel des Bains on Rue Delambre. We were surprised to be given a room on the sixth floor, at the top. We actually had to go to the end of the hallway, open a door to the outside and cross a small landing to room 666. If the room in our last hotel was small, this was tiny. At least it had a full-bed, a small desk and a clean bathroom. A tall window looked out over nothing but other roofs.

While I was catching up in the diary, Vere went out to see the old neighborhood where he grew up, in Montparnasse. When he turned a corner near his old home, to his delight, he came upon a book flea market. He carefully scrutinized the book piles and came away with several old books and magazines. Then he went to visit the street he once lived on, the school he had gone to, and the nearby Montparnasse Church with its long narrow nave and decorated wooden ceiling. On the way back he saw a shop that sold nougat in large round blocks of many flavors. Had I been with him, I would have bought some on the spot.

We ended up going to dinner at Le Petite Broc’ Bistro, owned by Frederick and Delphine, who served us. (A Broc is a pitcher or ewer.) We shared an appetizer of some camembert cheese with a layer of truffle in the center. For our main course, Vere ordered the beef lasagna and I had the cheese souffle with a tomato gazpacho. Both were very good and very filling.

As we ate, the couple had two little black poodles that came visiting. Also, it was the third day of a taxi strike. Taxis were lined up and down the street with their lights on, but no one was inside them. Frederick said that they were protesting, but he didn’t know about what. We worried, as we had booked a taxi for the morning to the airport, but since we had gotten a confirmation from the site for our ride, he said not to worry. Then as we finished, Frederick and Vere began to chat. They spoke about Bookinistas, whom they each knew, the Olympics and how the prices had gone up by 20% but afterward only came down by 10%, and of Covid when everyone suffered, as the tourists would go to sites, but eat in their hotels and not go out to the restaurants.

Then Frederick shared how he had seen on the internet a 2-euro coin claiming to be old and going for a high price. He showed us on his phone the pieces for sale. He said he had three coins in his register that the website claimed to be rare. It was a con. They were only worth 2 euro. He and Vere spoke back and forth in French for about a half an hour. They laughed, and shared stories. It was great to see Vere speaking French so well and both men enjoying themselves in conversation. I was able to understand only half of what was said, but I learn more French, every time we go.

As we were leaving, a white-haired woman came in for some wine, and Frederick said she was the wife of a local prefect. (Prefects are tasked with upholding the law in the department they serve in, including controlling the actions of local authorities.) We left and slowly walked back to our hotel. The weather had said rain, but so far, it had not fallen. We stayed cozy in our room with rain coming later that night.

Sunday, May 25

We were up by 6:00, our taxi came at 7:00, and an hour later we arrived in good time at the airport. However, it seemed our adventure was not near its end. As Sapphire card members, we were able to sit and wait in the admiral’s lounge. While waiting for our flight announcement, another said that our flight from Paris to Dallas was being delayed by two hours. This meant we would not make our connecting flight in Dallas for Orange County. Vere was able to get us the next flight out of Dallas, two hours later. That still left us a two-hour window between flights. We got the last two seats together in the exit row. At least we would get home tonight. Hopefully, that extra time for our transfer in Dallas with customs and immigration would be enough to get to our second flight.

At least there was food and drink in the lounge. Finally, we were able to board our new flight. We found out that the reason the flight was delayed, was a mechanical problem with the plane. They had to unload all of the luggage, wait for another plane to come in, and then reload the luggage on the second plane. But even the second plane had problems. None of the lights over each seat worked, or the overhead seatbelt sign, so they had to announce whenever they wanted people to buckle up. Luckily, the entertainment system worked.

We arrived in Dallas and got relatively quickly through the passport check, since we are Global Pass holders. Then we had to go collect our luggage, but we waited and waited at the carousel and it didn’t come. A half hour went by and then it was announced that the electric door to the luggage hold on the plane was not working. They had to physically force the door open to get to the luggage. Finally with our collected luggage we found the counter where we were still required to get new boarding passes, as we had changed planes. Now we only had fifteen minutes to get to our gate before boarding closed. We got our boarding passes and then Vere literally pushed our suitcases into baggage check.

As soon as we pushed through the doors to get to our gate, we were hit with an onslaught of thousands of people in double-looped lines trying to get through security again, which we didn’t expect. Everyone was confused. They finally had someone come out and direct people to one line for regular security, and a separate line for TSA precheck. That line was still really long, but we got through it. However, I was still randomly selected for a secondary security check.

Then we had to race to the gate, which happened to be the very farthest gate away. With our time too short to physically walk the distance, we flagged a driver with an electric cart and he took us all the way. We were the second to last people to get on the plane before they shut the doors. Vere checked to see if our luggage had made it on. We had installed trackers for each of our suitcases. Mine showed that it had made it on, but his was still stuck in the building. At least we had made it on to the plane, albeit in the emergency row, with the last two available tickets. That 2¾ flight was really tough on us. We were stiff and exhausted, with little sleep. But we made it on to the flight without having to spend the night in Dallas. We counted that blessing. At last, we arrived in Orange County, were able to claim my suitcase, and Vere put in a request to have his delivered to our house. We took an Uber home, hugged Lily-cat, and literally collapsed into bed.

It had been a great trip, though at times a bit nerve-wracking, with driving narrow country roads, and meeting hectic schedules, but we did get to enjoy learning about two new regions of France with their distinct fascinations; from Parisian food and museums, to Bordeaux chateaux and wines, to Gironde’s ancient caves and villages. But, as usual, it was good to be back home.