St-Cirq-Lapoupie, France

Sunflowers Forever!.....

Got lost and ended up driving by fields and fields of sunflowers...!  Sunflowers forever!

Najac, France

I was so worried that traveling to France in July would be crowded with tourists and way too hot.  As it has turned out, there are very few people here at all!  And the weather is just perfect for sightseeing....average 70 d egrees.  Ususally it is at least 10 degrees hotter here at this time of year.  We have been sooooo fortunate!!

I think....of all the Beautiful Villages we have seen so far, Najac is my favorite.

Castle dates to 1200's......!!!

French cats look.....kind of scary.....

Tomorrow my girls leave for home and my Gary arrives....

Beautiful Villages of France

Each "Beautiful Village of France" is more outstanding than the last.  They are so quaint and charming that you almost can't believe your eyes!

Today we visited a "Beautiful Village of France" called Bellcastle.  AMAZING!  The photos that I am taking don't come near to showing it's beauty and charm.  It's just incredible.  We had an amazing lunch and walked through the castle that had been restored and just purchased by an American from NY.   Be sure to read about the architect who did the restoration.  What an amazing man.  Weather has been perfect!!   They say it's usually much much hotter and not usually as green as it is now.  They had a lot of rain in April and so it's just beautiful here and the temperature is so pleasant.  And....we aren't feeling crowded at all with tourists.  It's been really really great!

In this fantastic castle was a show of works by Brian and Wendy Froud!

Deep into caverns and the hilltop village of Rocamadour

Today we went deep into the earth, into the Caves of Gouffre-de-Padirac.

Inside the caverns was a showing of fantastic sculptures...

Inside, looking up from the floor of the cave before we go deeper....

Deep within the caverns are beautiful rivers and lakes...

From the caverns we drove to one of the Beautiful Villages of France called Rocamadour

Another full day of walking and climbing and eating and shopping and laughing.