Subject: Hotels & Restaurants in the Dordogne Region
Hi all,

My wife and I are just back from some time in the Dordogne area of southern France and we stayed in a few hotels and ate at a few restaurants that we were very happy with:

Auberge de la Truffe - Sorges (near Perigueux) http://www.auberge-de-la-truffe.com Very nice room with balcony overlooking little garden, very reasonable price, wonderful dinners

Les Glycines - Les Eyzies de Tayac http://www.les-glycines-dordogne.com Room overlooking garden (some rooms have small patios), aperitifs on the terrace (dinner there on last night), nice set menu

L'Esplanade - Domme http://www.chateauxhotels.com www.karenbrown.com Nice large corner room on upper-second floor with spectacular view of Dordogne river, small windows, smaller rooms on first floor have larger windows/view, great dinner

Also ate at a little restaurant in town called Cabanoix et Chataigne on Rue Geoffroy de Vivans (no credit cards)

Hotel/Restaurant Claude Marco - Lamagdelaine (near Cahors) http://www.restaurantmarco.com Very nice end room with windows on three sides and small patio, swimming pool, garden, wonderful (Michelin 1-star) restaurant, attentive prop./chef (called room on last evening asking about our stay)

Also had dinner at the nearby Restaurant La Garenne, which is just north of Cahors (open on Sun)

Le Pont d'Ouysse - Lacave (near Rocamadour) http://www.lepontdelouysse.com Nice, smallish room, great (Michelin 1-star) restaurant, beautiful setting on river bank

Hostellerie de l'Abbeye - Conques http://www.hostellerie-de-l-abbaye.fr Hotel in town next to abbey, large/beautiful room, Madame & Monsieur very friendly, terrace for aperitifs, extremely generous portions

Relais du bas Limousin - Sadroc (south of Uzerche) http://www.relaisbaslimousin.fr Pleasant roadside hotel, room with balcony and view, good restaurant

Chateau de Thaumiers - Thaumiers (near Bourges) http://ww.chateauxhotels.com Old chateau with immense rooms and friendly family, no dinner

Dinner at nearby Moulin de Chameron (tried to book a room there but they were full) http://www.moulindechameron.free.fr/index_ang.php3

Ibis Charles DeGaulle Paris Nord 2 Nice, quiet, basic, modern, small rooms hotel, shuttle to terminals, easy to find, industrial park area, next to Hyatt and Formula 1 hotels, 49 euro for Sunday night stay, parking fee (didn't know about shuttle until too late), my new choice for "last-night" CDG hotel

It was so great to be dining in France again, where they truly understand how wonderful the experience should be. It was nice having long lazy dinners without being rushed to finish, knowing the table was ours for the evening. No circling waiters who take away your plate before you've even put your fork down. No waiter who feels he has to introduce himself so he can be my best friend for the evening, so he can feel free (my personal biggest complaint) to offer his opinion of my menu selection ("Good choice").

Regards, Al Sonoma, CA, USA