France- Perigueux

Christmas for the McLaren's this year was rather spread out--while Daniel, Jason and Mom were in Saskatchewan, Sara and I were in France. I flew to France to do some travelling with Sara, and then to spend Christmas with Sara and Alex.

I landed in Paris, then managed to get the train to Bordeaux, and then another to Perigueux to meet Sara. Sara and Alex had sent me *very* detailed instructions on how to get to Perigueux, so I was a little concerned, but it ended up being much easier than I anticipated.

I even got to use my (rudimentary) French. My favourite part of the journey was when Sara asked if I had made all my trains alright, and when I said that I had, I was asked "So everyone spoke English then?" and I got to respond "I don't know. I didn't ask".....Sweet!

My french actually was much better than I expected after about 10 years of not using it. It was a little shaky at the beginning, and I mistakenly told Sara's friend, repeatedly, that I loved her (she must think that Canadians are very friendly). Note to others: I like "X" is not Je t'aime "X". Lesson learned.

This is the view out of Sara's window my first morning in France. I didn't wake up on time to see the Poop Police go by (A 1am flight, arriving early morning was a much better idea in theory), but rest assured, I did get to see the Poop Police and their motorcycle later in my trip.


Before heading out on our adventures, we explored Perigueux for the morning. First stop, the fat market! Yes, the fat market......


The fat market is right by Sara's house a couple days a week, complete with traditional dancers. From what I could tell, the fat market is where all the local Fois gras and....um.....fat (?) dealers come to peddle their wares. But the real reason people come to the fat market?



Free wine and pate! Yup, first thing in the morning. The french sure can do breakfast! And they sure do seem to like their wine and pate--the key to getting some is to keep your eyes open and your elbows up, otherwise you may get trampled in the melee......

Finally, before leaving Perigueux, Sara and I had to get our pictures taken infront of the GIANT Christmas tree. It's amazing how special Christmas decorations seem when you haven't been bombarded with them since October. Living in a country (or at least a part of a country) where Christmas isn't celebrated so much, I had yet to see any Christmas lights, trees or decorations. So the tree, and the streets lit up with lights in all the towns, plus all the Christmas markets really did make it feel like Christmas