France, Part II: Issepts and environs

After three days in Paris (I wish we'd had at least one more) we headed south to meet up with our friends Jacob, Emily and Lev for a week in the Lot valley/Quercy region of Southwest France. Getting there required almost seven hours in a crowded, hot, stuffy, smelly, second-class rail car. Usually I enjoy riding the train, but in this case I was about ready to dive through the locked window when we finally pulled into Figeac. I could go on, but I'll leave it at this: in the summer months, tightly enclosed spaces housing individuals with questionable personal hygiene habits really should be air conditioned.

With that particular bit of travel hell out of the way, we rented a car and drove up to our sweet gite in the hamlet of Issepts. The gite (which I assume is French for "vacation house") was a big, fully renovated stone farmhouse in the rolling hills of the French countryside. Beautiful, and remarkably cheap. Our share of the one-week rental ran us about the same as what we paid for one night in a Paris hotel, so the gite seemed like a fantastic deal indeed. There was a huge yard with a slide that Henry and Lev loved, and the farmer next door parked his tractor right by road. Henry visited the tractor every day and even got to sit in the driver's seat once, so it was pretty much paradise for him.

It was pretty much paradise for us, too. Combine a beautiful setting with good friends, daily servings of the wonderful local cheeses, nice wine priced around 3 euros a bottle, crusty bread and ample chocolate, and you've got an ideal family vacation. Having a home base and a car let us shift our travels onto Toddler Time, and we were able to strike a nice balance between seeing the local sights and mellowing out at the house. (Of course for Jacob the cross-country coach, "mellowing out" includes 90 minute runs in the afternoon heat, return route unclear. Somehow he induced Tom to come with him more than once. I stuck with rosee in the shade.) Jacob's parents and a group of their friends were staying at an even nicer gite nearby, so we shared several meals with them and made use of the pool at their place.

There's not much to Issepts, but drive 45 minutes in any direction and you'll encounter plenty to see and do. Some of the highlights:

• Rocamador: A medieval village and cathedral built into a cliff face. Stunning views, lots of staircases. Besides the historical sites, the town is quite the tourist trap. We didn't go to the "Foret des Singes" (monkey forest), but we were tempted. Rocamador is also the name of a particularly delicious goat cheese made in the region.
• Peche Merle: A spectacular limestone cave featuring a series of pre-historic paintings. The only way to gain entry to the cave is to take a guided tour, which was less than ideal for us in two key ways. First, it was in French, and as it became painfully clear to me on this trip, I cannot understand spoken French. At. All. Second, the tour lasted almost an hour, and we couldn't leave the cave until it was over. That was the real problem. Keeping Henry in check for that length of time is no small feat, and he was in borderline tantrum mode by the time they let us out. Still, it's a remarkable site and I'm glad we went.
• Cahors and Figeac: These are two of the larger towns in the area, both featuring Medieval squares. Market day in Cahors was fun--lots of great produce. Our visit to Figeac for dinner one night almost ended in disaster when a wrong turn forced us to drive down a medieval alley so narrow we had bare inches of clearance from the stone walls on both sides of the car. If we had gotten stuck the only way out would have been to smash the windshield and crawl through. Luckily Tom and Jacob were able to maneuver their respective cars to safety. The moral of the story: Park and walk. If you're in a place with a medieval road system, park and walk.

Unfortunately I ran low on memory for my digital camera soon after we left Paris, so most of my photos from these day trips are on as-yet-undeveloped film. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the region, and if it wasn't so far away we'd already be signed up to do it again next year. It's a great place for a vacation.