We made a whole village of friends...

We made a whole village of new friends.....

There really is no short way to tell this story. So if your not interested I recommend not reading. The beginning started this morning in the cool, ancient village with the crappy public toilet. You see, it was our first real stop of the day. We were starving. We had not eaten any breakfast, and were craving a real breakfast. This is something that doesn't exist in France ,especially rural France. Let me rephrase that, it's difficult to find a American breakfast here, meaning bacon and eggs and such. We had only a little cash and the bakery was closed. So we find this tiny, and I mean TINY market. We had packed some cheese, so I went to see what I could round up.I was able to buy a single loaf of bread. The man said , after counting the loads in a paper bag, " no sorry they are all reserved" So we were in such a small town that they actually reserve their bread. ok so I bought what we could and we sat on a park bench eating our bread cheese and apples. The view was stunning!The village built on a cliff overlooking a magnificent canyon. The guy who sold me the bread was very nice, ( which will matter later)
After exploring a bit we got in the car and headed down the road. that's when we came upon the cheese farm. We spent our last cash on some cheese and honey. So I thought , we better get some more cash. I thought I remembered seeing a ATM machine in the last town. So we drove through the little town looking. We didn't see one. So we saw a man sitting outside a tiny restaurant enjoying an afternoon glass of wine. We asked for his help.Like so many French people we have met he was completely willing to try to help us despite his limited English. We had a brief conversation with him, but as we drove away we both said " what a nice guy" We both talked about how remarkably friendly people Are here. Also we asked about the restaurant he was standing in front of and found out that they specialize in truffles? Jim really wanted to try those, so we agreed we would come back for dinner.
So as evening came we rolled into the town.We asked the woman if it was ok to eat outside. In front of the restaurant, was kind of like a town square. The square itself looked over the valley with the most excellent view. So I thought to myself, this is why we haven't been eating out this last year, so we can enjoy it somewhere special like this.On the other side of the square was the village bar. Very small, and hardly recognizable as a bar. Before long the boys started complaining of being bored, so I said hey go play with those kids who were running through the square playing football. ( actually what Americans call soccer) So with the help of a woman from Belgium at the table next to us,they learned in French to say " can I play?" Before long the kids were immersed in a game of football , chasing the ball up and down the village streets. All the kids were so so cute. Some boys gave Tristan some French coins to keep as souvenirs. All we had with us was one American dollar, which they seemed thrilled to get. By the time dinner was over the kids had a new group of friends.
The whole while were eating our dinner, sitting in awe both of the view from the table of the canyon and also of this bar. It seemed all the towns people were gathered there together . Every now and then you could hear them burst out in some type of cheering. We couldn't help but think wow, what a great place to be from. As their kids all played in the carless street, boys chasing balls, little girls dancing and playing with cats, parents all laughing . It was surreal, like a magical place from a movie. Jim went to the bar see if he could pay with his credit card for a drink . No. Ok. To bad he really wanted to. Within A few moments later, a man walked to our table and said" I'm buying you a drink it's on me" It was the same man from the restaurant earlier in the day when we asked for help finding the bank. ( which we never found) So sweet! So as we sat their sipping apple brandy, Jim had to go and visit. I hesitated for a few minutes,but then I couldn't resist either. Before long I was visiting with a very friendly woman named Sylvia who was married to the man I bought the bread from. Her niece was this darling girl who is trying to learn English. We ended up staying for a long visit. By the time we left the whole village of people cheered us. Come to find out they thought jimmy was James blunt.haha.It was such a great night. The young French girl may come stay with us I California hoping to learn English better. And we now have many invitation to stay with people in that village. We probably wouldn't, but it was so cool to make friends with a whole village.