Provence to the Dordogne

Leaving Provence was sad, but heading to the Dordogne was a good way to assuage our sadness! After saying goodbye to our good friends Cindy & Rich, we spent 2 nights en route, in a couple of beautiful towns. We spent one night in Albi, the birthplace of the painter Toulouse Lautrec (and a lovely city on the Tarn River. The town is oddly, nearly completely constructed in red brick, including the MASSIVE catherdral Ste-Cecile.) It has gorgeous half 

timbered houses on thin little roads, and seemed like something out of Dickens. Hannah & I really enjoyed the Toulouse Lautrec museum housed in the Palais de la Berbie and its gardens. 

                                        We spent the next night in Bergerac, in 

the Dordogne, where we met up with Peter’s sisters & brother-in-law from England. Bergerac was another beautiful city (where I had a delicious 'steak au poivre' et frites, dining outdoors), this time on the Dordogne River and familiar to many for the book/movie ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ (also remade into a more modern version with Steve Martin as the huge-nosed lead, called ‘Roxanne’) 

Cyrano de Bergerac |ˈsirənō də ˈbər zh əˌrak; ˈber zh ˌrak|

Cyrano de Bergerac, Savinien (1619–55), French soldier, duelist, and writer. He is chiefly remembered for the large number of duels that he fought (many because of his proverbially large nose) as immortalized in Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), a play by Edmond Rostand.