Sarlat

Later in the week, we took a day trip a bit farther afield to the market at Sarlat, a bigger town. Although the persistent drizzle made setting up to paint an impossibility, we enjoyed the colourful market stalls and the beautiful old buildings that showed layers of building styles from Roman times to the present day. Even the parking lot was pretty--these wrapped trees were worthy of an installation by Christo!



In the impressive church, Frank's eagle eye nevertheless noted crooked windows--here he is pointing them out to our host, William!

On the way back to the Baran, we screeched to a sudden stop to take advantage of this pretty photo opp--Giverny, move over! I'm sure there will be many beautiful pastels based on this scene created over the next few months!

As well ( I THINK it was on this day--that's the trouble with doing the blog after the trip!) we stopped to view the hilltop castle of Beynac, a frequent setting for movie shoots (including the recent film Ever After with Drew Barrymore) and also to view the Cro-Magnon caves above this riverside town. Amazing to imagine our far-distant ancestors living right there! We also visited the famous Lascaux caves where some of the earliest cave paintings were discovered. The original caves are now closed to the public due to the threat of damage from the humidity brought in by heavy-breathing tourists, but the re-creation is exact in every detail, and absolutely marvelous--very moving to see evidence of such artistry and sensitivity among our predecessors of so many centuries ago.