French Sojourn

                                                                                  I have somewhat refined my French Sojourn to include Belgium and also to take in Luxembourg. There are a myriad of towns and villages in the  Aquitaine region surrounding Bergerac and I shall spend six weeks or so getting to know and exploring them. On June 25 I shall fly from Bergerac Airport to Brussels with the Irish airline Ryan Air and for the next 30 days I shall travel around this relatively tiny country in a clock-wise direction by means of their superb and economical rail service, spending between 2 to five days in each city or town. One can purchase a 10 trip ticket to any destination in Belgium for 76 euros. From Brussels I shall head for Ghent, followed by Bruges, Antwerp, Liege, on to Luxembourg then back to Namur and Mons before returning to Brussels and then on to Paris CDG Airport and home. I shall expand more on this remarkable bilingual nation when I get to Belgium.

Today I fixed up my flight to France and my train ride to Bergerac. I shall be flying to Paris with Qatar Airways from Brisbane via Doha on May 15, which will get me there am on the 16th. Later in the morning I shall board the TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse), conveniently located at Paris CDG (Charles de Gaulle) Airport, and enjoy the 3 and 1/2 hour 584 kilometre journey to Bordeaux. As the train whizzes along at around 320 mph it will be quite an exciting ride and, as I have secured a single window seat, I  will be able to enjoy an uninterrupted view of France's idyllic countryside. From Bordeaux I shall join the more subdued TER (Transport Express regional) train to my destination, the market town of Bergerac.    

Today I got in touch with a lovely lady from Bergerac through Airbnb and booked her apartment for the duration of my stay in the Dordogne region. Her name is Kti and the pictures she sent me depict a charming, beautifully furnished ground-floor apartment in an older heritage building with a shaded terrace for dining. It is located near the centre of this delightful market town, thus within easy walking distance to its places of interest and bistros. Kti has placed a bicycle there for my personal use and I also intend to hire a scooter for exploring the nearby towns and villages. So things are starting to fall into place and I am looking forward to immersing myself in French provincial culture and its way of life for a couple of months or so,

I intend to head off to France next May for several weeks and will base myself in the gorgeous market town of Bergerac in the south-west of France and located on the banks of the Dordogne river. It is not too far from Spain and, besides getting to know the towns and villages around Bergerac, I shall visit that other vibrant country to the south of France on weekends and partake in its culture, cuisine and vino. I first glimpsed Bergerac last year while watching the Tour de France cycle race and, after checking it out, I decided that this commune with its superb Bordeaux-style wines and local traditional market would be ideal for me to chill out and immerse myself in that laid-back French provincial way of life and, at the same time, ameliorate my colloquial French.