Domme

The town in Perigord we stayed in during our recent visit (see Beynac & Castelnaud for a general description of the region).  Built in the late 13th century as a fortified town it was the location of much fighting during the French-English wars of the 13th through 15th centuries and the Religious Wars of the following century.  The small house we rented was originally built in the 14th century.

Panorama view from Domme over the Dordogne River Valley:

Around town:

Our house and street:

Above, from our terrace.

Our favorite restaurant:

Bat Flip

Bottom of the 7th in yesterday's Rangers - Blue Jays game.  Joey Bautista has just hit a 452 foot three run tater to break a tie.  Watch the look on his face and then the bat toss.  This has to be the #1 bat flip of all-time.   You can watch it here.

The context made it even bigger.  The whole seventh inning was just crazy.  The Blue Jays, playing at home in the fifth and deciding game of the series, were in the playoffs for the first time since 1993.  They had just tied in the game in the bottom of the 6th with Edwin Encarnacion's monster 457 foot shot off Cole Hamels who had been dominating up till that point.

In the top of the 7th, with a Rangers runner on third, two outs and two strikes on the batter, a freak play occurred when catcher Russell Martin's return throw to the pitcher glanced off batter Sing Soo Choo's hand or bat allowing the runner on third to score and give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.  The fans, upset with the umpire's ruling on the unusual play pelted the field with garbage causing a temporary suspension of play.

And then things got really weird.

In the bottom of the 7th, Rangers infielders botched three routine plays on the first three batters to allow the Jays to load the bases, the first time in post season history there were three errors on three consecutive plays.  The last one occurred when the Jays bunted with men on first and second and Rangers third baseman, Adrian Beltre made a terrific play to field the bunt and fire to third where the runner would have been out except Elvis Andrus dropped the throw.

After a force out at the plate, Josh Donaldson got jammed and hit a weak pop to very short center field which should have been an easy play for the second baseman who instead let it drop for a hit, allowing the runner on third to score and tie the game.

That brought Bautista to the plate who hit the homer to make it 6-3 an incredible dramatic high point in an emotionally intense game.  And that didn't end the craziness.  Once again, Jays fans pelted the field with debris causing a game delay and when Encarnacion implored them to stop, the Rangers pitcher, Dyson, mistakenly thought he was inciting the crowd and confronted him causing the benches to clear as players from both teams came out onto to the field, as did the police.  And there was another bench clearing incident at the end of the inning.

Like Father, Like Son

Watch Ross McManus performing If I Had a Hammer from 1965.  Ross is the father of Declan McManus, better known as Elvis Costello.  You can compare their styles by also watching this Elvis video.

Musee de l'automate

It's like being inside the set of a particularly creepy version of The Twilight Zone or perhaps like wandering in the late evening hours at Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show looking at the freaks and wondering if you can find a way out of the confusing Hall of Mirrors (all courtesy of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes).

During our visit to Perigord we went to the Musee de l'automate in Souillac which is devoted to automata built during the years from 1850 to 1930.  The setting is dark and eerie and odd carnival like music playing softly in the background as you walk through the almost empty museum.  There were only two other people present while we were there.  Here's a small sampling of what we saw:

Limeuil

A small village at the confluence of the Dordogne and Vezere Rivers.  Typical of these towns there are small houses and a cafe along the riverside and then you walk up a narrow street to the ruins of the chateau on the rocky outcrop above - which is now home to a lovely garden.

Beynac & Castelnaud

THC and the Mrs recently returned from a trip to France, having spent a week in Paris and another week in Perigord.  Since THC's anthropological study from his last research trip to France still awaits publication in the prestigious Journale du Voyages a la Recherche D'oeuvres L'Objects Extraordinaire (see Paris Anthropologie for more details) he will cover his latest adventure in a series of travelogue posts.

Perigord is an ancient county in France that aligns itself neatly with the current day Department of Dordogne in the southwest, about 100 miles inland from Bordeaux.

(from Dordogne-vacation.com)

The area we visited is referred to as Perigord Noir, because of the many black chesnut trees, and is in the southeast corner of the Department.  It is very hilly, with cliffs along the two major river valleys (the Dordogne and the Vezere) dotted with small villages, towns and castles along narrow windy roads.  We stayed in the small bastide town of Domme, situated on a cliff about 400 feet above the Dordogne.  The bastides were built by French and English kings between the 13th and 14th centuries and designed as defensive bastions to provide security for local farmers.

The need for the bastides goes to the history of Perigord.  Today the area is picturesque and prosperous as a vacation area but most of its history is pretty dismal.  After the collapse of Roman rule in the area during the 5th century, the region descended into darkness for several centuries.  When it comes back to light it is in the midst of several centuries of conflict between the English and French crowns culminating in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).  During much of the period between the 12th and 15th centuries, the Dordogne River was the dividing line between the two kingdoms, with the French on the north side and English on the south.  During this period the peasants were subject to pillaging, looting and worse from both sides.  In the midst of this also occurred the bloody suppression of the heretic Cathars who had many strongholds in the region.

A few decades after the end of the Hundred Years War, the religious wars began between Catholics and Protestants and again this region saw a great deal of violence between adherents of both sects.  Once that was finished in the early 17th century, the region reverted to its normal state of poverty, albeit more peaceful.  While the 19th century saw some prosperity the slow economic decline soon began again and in the decade after the Second War War, there was large scale migration from the region by younger folks to new jobs in the growing industrial regions of France.

It was only with the decision of the French Government in the 1960s to encourage the growth in the region as a tourist center via the use of subsidies and tax incentives for second homeowners, as well as the reconstruction of the medieval center of the town of Sarlat near the Dordogne that the fortunes of the region revived.  Today it is a popular destination for tourists across Western Europe, and particularly Britain.

For orientation, Domme is in the lower center of the map,  Sarlat is in the upper center.  The Dordogne River flows from right to left through the center.   On bends in the river about five miles downstream are the castles of Castlenaud and then Beynac.  Castelnaud was occupied by the English during most of the Hundred Years War while Beynac was ruled by the French.

Beynac from the south side of the Dordogne.  The village of Beynac is at the foot of the cliff upon which the castle sits.

The castle as you approach from the north side.

Now it's looking more formidable!

From the castle overlooking the river.

Looking down on the village.

View from an arrow-slit.

Meeting hall in the castle.

15th century frescoes.

And now on to Castlenaud:

From the river.

Looking around from the castle:

 Beynac from Castlenaud.

My little Trebuchet.

Let's stop for lunch!