Because we have a car, we CAN travel through Languedoc. (Name comes from the old language here, in which "oc" meant "yes." In old French, "oil" meant yes - later it became "oui.")
OK, no more linguistics. Sunday we drove on tiny twisty mountain roads to a place called Ausillon, where we checked out a "Vide grenier," ("clean out the attic") the French version of a swap meet. Nothing we desperately wanted to bring home (well, there WAS that small green enamel stove, but I can't think of a way it would fit in my suitcase!) but it was fun to look. The new town of Ausillon is nothing special, but the medieval village, up a hill from the vide grenier, was really interesting. We climbed the steep streets and staircases to get right up to the top for a panoramic view of the countryside.
After a wonderful Sunday lunch, at a small restaurant we found simply by driving into a nearby town, we returned to Durfort in time to go to tea with a friend of the household, an American woman who lives in nearby Soreze. Her house, which consists of three rooms, one above the other, is remodeled from a 14th century building, and she assured us that everything in it had come from vide grenier sales.
Here's a look into her kitchen (half of her ground-floor space):
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