Brive La Gaillarde

Brive is an interesting walking town, small enough to tour the centre in a day, yet its larger area encompasses many big box stores for furniture and home renovations.  It's probably where locals come to "the big city" to do serious shopping.  Brive is the biggest commune in Corrèze, although Tulle is its capital.

 

 

 

About 34 degrees today, so every bit of shade counts, including that provided by this small palm tree.



 

 

The Cultural Centre right next to the Tourist Information.  Love the name of the adjoining bar/ice-cream parlour/snack café, called L'Entracte (Intermission).  Friends of ours once owned a restaurant by that name.

 



 

A "cabine téléphonique".  We don't often see telephone booths anymore.  I thought this one might be used as a central notice board, but then saw a couple of people using the phone.  Not everyone has a mobile!

 

Any visit wouldn't be complete without lunch.  We stopped at "The Sweet" and started with a tomato and mozzarella salad.  Frankly, I think we had an entire tub of cocktail bocconcini between the two of us! Very refreshing.

Although this photo may not make the meal look very appealing, it was delicious!  It was chicken wrapped in phyllo dough with mushroom gravy on top.  Fluffy Basmati rice on the side.  So very tasty, especially with a basket of baguette slices and a "demi pichet" of rosé wine.

I had a cup of tea to end the meal.

 

The following two photos are of office workers enjoying their 1.5-hour lunch break.  Thought you might enjoy looking at how they're dressed with the ear-rings, bracelet, matching shoes.  The lady with an orange sweater casually draped over her shoulders thought it was very interesting that I'd want a photo and was thrilled that she would be "going to Canada" , or at least her photo would.  She had the matching capris and shoes.  These women were all casual yet very pulled together.

 

 

 

 

comeA little sign next to the crêpe café.  Their recipes come from Brittany, on the Atlantic coast of France.

Karl looooves looking at bikes, taking photos of bikes, and chatting with bikers.  Perhaps he's thinking of his two bikes back home...

 

 

This sign reminds me of my own sisters.  Florence, you have a chic little boutique in Brive! 

It's an expression we use often, "Du pareil au même", which means "same old, same old".

Did you know: Brive is twinned with the Canadian city of Joliette, Québec.

 

St. Martin, where I lit a candle for Don, Karl's step-father who is very ill and in palliative care.

              Baptismal font.

Take a closer look at the 4th storey of this building.  There's a red umbrella on the deck and I can just imagine someone living there.  Perhaps it's a single woman. Perhaps she works nearby in an office and wears matching shoes and carries a fashionable bag on her shoulder.  Perhaps she stops for a café at the bistro on her way home from work.  Perhaps she owns a cat. 

Perhaps...

Can Sherlock be far away?

 

 

 

I'm weak.  I'm so weak.  I can't go by a chocolate store without peeking in and inhaling that rich sweetness.  I'm not sure what animal this is, but I bet it's a squirrel. Oh, someone much better informed has just told me he's from the "Ice Age" movie.

 

I bought a few for an afternoon treat.  Just a few. I even shared with Karl!

 

Karl prefers "macarons".

 

 
 
 

The front of this building has the salamander, emblem of François I.  It dates back to the Renaissance.

 

 

 

Oh my!  I've seen lots of dogs with various outfits, but it's the first time I see dogs with satin sunhats.  These two little ones were enjoying a drink of plain water, while Karl and I were sipping on Perrier.

 

 
 


I thought of all those "record albums" we saw at the vide grenier in Clergoux.

Great play on words: Air du temps!

 

We stopped in the "Chapelle St Libéral" to visit an art exhibit by Sacksick. 

 

Brive is wonderful and we'll be back to visit some more.  We'll try another restaurant - they have so many!