On the 20th of July, we rented a little ford "Ka" and drove around the countryside near Sarlat. The scenary in "Shakespeare in Love" looked familiar because this is where it was filmed. We found a cute bed and breakfast on a small farm in nearby Lescoux.

Along the Dordogne River we saw ancient medieval castles on rocky ledges hanging out over the river. The history books said building into the rocky cliffs was necessary to protect the landowners from marauding Vikings. It's nice to know we Vikings did some things to improve the "scenic beauty."

On the second day we toured one of the prehistoric caves (Font de Guame) where there were paintings made by ancient people around 15,000 years before Christ. I was amazed how big the paintings were and how well they were drawn. They also used perspective and shading very much sooner than art historians taught. One must believe there was a Picasso or a Leonardo Da Vinci among the ancient cave people.

After touring the cave, we drove to the river and rented a canoe and a kayak. We did not appreciate that it would take almost 5 hours of paddling in the hot sun before we got to the take-out point. I Can't say we were lazy on this vacation! The views were well worth the effort.

The next day we went back to Paris on a TGV (high speed train) and changed to another TGV to Lille, France. Lille is where our Hood exchange student, Charlotte, and her parents live. They picked us up at the station and took us touring Lille and made dinner for us at home that night.

On the 23rd of July, the Lesennes drove us North through Belgium to the ancient town of Brugge. They joined us touring this old Flemish town (Both Lille France and Brugge Belgium are in the area formerly known as Flanders). There are a lot of canals in this picturesque old town. It was and still is an important place for international trade and the EEC.

This is the view of the square from the bell tower in Brugge Belgium.

The next day (Friday, 24 July) we went back to Paris for the last two nights of our trip. On Saturday, Phoebe and Julane went shopping in Parisian department stores while I returned to the Louvre for another look and to buy a souvenir reproduction of a hand sculpture by Rodin. Later that day we took a train out to Versailles, stayed for dinner and an evening fireworks display "Fete" accompanied with music and pantomime by performers wearing costumes representing all the periods seen by occupants of Versailles.

Here is Phoebe and Art in the heart of Versailles on our last night in France.

No sooner than we rest our heads on our pillows than the sun rises and we must rush to catch our plane. Sleep comes easily and we arrive home in Maryland by 5 pm on the 26th of July exhausted but filled with fond memories and plans for future trips, like going to Spain and Portugal.