Beynac mornings; Pech Merle; Rocamador; Périgueux

The past several mornings, a fog has settled over the countryside and across the river to Castelnaud. The first morning we were stunned - it's so beautiful that it almost looks fake.



On Monday morning, we went to Pech Merle, a pre-historic cave that's 10,000 years old but was only discovered in the 1920s. We couldn't take pictures, but you'll have to take my word that it contains incredible cave drawings and limitless stalagmites and stalagtites. Not to mention, it is about four kilometers long - though the tour only took us through a small portion of it. It's beginning to get chilly here - at 55 degrees, the cave was warmer than it was outside.


In the afternoon, we went to Rocamador, a 15th century pilgrimage site, settled near-vertically into the cliffs. (My mom counted - we walked down and up sixteen switchbacks from the car to the town - and that was only to the halfway point, where we took an elevator.) We stopped in town for lunch, where our oversized beers and cappucinos were the highlights. Although the town was a bit tourist-y for us, the views of Rocamador and the nearby villages on the way out were beautiful.



Then yesterday, during the day, we went to Périgueux to see my French host family from my training week. We met their younger daughter, Hélène, and her husband, Jonathan. As suspected, my parents were as fond of Alain as I am.


After coffee with Alain and the fam, we got to meet up and have lunch with the Périgueux boys, Robby and Tyler, and Ben, who's been staying with them this week. It was so nice that my parents got to spend time with some of my friends. We didn't stop laughing the whole time.