From Normandy to Chateau La Sebiniere

Woke up to a sunny day and we were on the road by noon. On the way to our Chateau, just outside of Nantes, we stopped at a small Brittany village called Fougeres. Our Guidebook mentioned that it was worth a visit for the Chateau and old town. We arrived on the outskirts of the old village and parked the car. A few minutes walk and we had a gorgeous view of the walled Chateau and the old city just outside its gates. We walked down into the village and had a look around. It is a very pretty little village and we were happy to have stopped as it also gave us a chance to stretch our legs.



Walled Chateau and Old City


Old City Buildings



We were headed to a small village just outside of Nantes called La Pallet. We were making excellent time and expected to arrive just after 4:30. We took the ring road to bypass Nantes and head for our village when the traffic stopped. We crawled along for about 10 minutes and passed a group of police. We went into a roundabout and to our horror our exit was blocked. We decided to go into Nantes and try and find another route. Big mistake. We later found out that Nantes was hosting the France – Fiji Rugby World Cup game and the place was heaving with tens of thousands of people trying to make their way to the game. After about 90 minutes we managed to get ourselves back to the roadblock where we started. We stopped traffic and asked the police officers for some help. They did not speak English but we did manage to get them to understand the village we needed to get to and they gave us an alternate route. Why I did not do this in the first place is beyond me, but at least we were back on our way. 45 minutes later we turned into the driveway of our Chateau. It’s a beautiful place and very peaceful. It’s in its own woods and backs onto a vineyard of Muscadet grapes, which is the wine of choice in this area.

Chateau La Sebiniere

Our Room at the Chateau

After cleaning up we went to the local village (Clisson) for dinner. We arrived into the centre of the village and it was packed. They were having a festival. We went to a couple of the restaurants that our host had suggested but they were fully booked. We ended up at a very unique restaurant that specialized in Crepe Dinners. We had never seen anything like this before. They serve the food on top of a bucwheat crepe, including salad. Apparently its a specialty dish for this regin. Rita had the Alsace Crepe and I had the Raclette Crepe. It was actually very good but still looked a bit strange.

Rita and Alsace Crepe Dinner (Buckwheat Crepe, salad, baked apple and sausage).

Cliff Walking

This is something you don’t see every day. No, not me without my pants but me actually making breakfast. Rita was in shock and had to take a picture to prove it actually happens.
We had ticked off all the places we wanted to go in Normandy and Brittany, so we decided to go back to the Normandy beaches for a long walk on the sand. When we arrived, we were amazed to see that the water was lapping up against the village walls.

Village of Arramanches at High Tide

Obviously, we were not going for a walk on the beach. Rita sighted a road that went up to the cliffs and so we decided to see where it went. At the top of the road, we saw a small trail and took it. It was fantastic as it wound its way along the cliff for miles. We spent the next 2 hours hiking on the trail that had the sheer drop of the cliffs on one side and farmers fields on the other. It was a wonderful walk. Afterwards we drove home and started to pack and had a very nice tapas dinner with all the leftovers. Tomorrow we head for the Loire/Atlantic area of France.

Rita on Cliff Walk

Cliff Edge

Geoff with Pants

Road to Rouen

Today we are going to the Historic Capital of Normandy, Rouen. It’s about a 2 hour drive so we once again got up earlier than usual (08:30). The weather offered up everything from heavy rain, overcast skies to sunshine, but Rita and I had a great time chatting in the car and exploring Frances 5th largest city. We actually only explored the Old City.

Before getting into our travelogue about Rouen, I want to let you know about something that Rita and I never thought about in the comfort of our Vancouver home; where are the public toilets located in each of the places we visit!! This has now turned out to be a very important part of our trip planning. We are drinking more and holding less. Our ability to hold a full tank is not what it used to be and once we feel the urge, it’s time to start heading for the nearest toilet. This has also created a little financial concern for us as free toilets are not that common in France. So our budget is getting squeezed as we have to pay 50 – 75 cents each time we hit these things. It’s starting to add up!!! No need to start sending financial contributions but it’s something that you have to think about, especially when you are 60. I am glad I did not wait to do this trip until I wa 70!!

OK, onto Rouen. It’s over 2,000 years old and was the regional capital in Roman times. It was also the capital of Normandy and William the Conqueror (ne Bastard) called it home before moving to England and becoming their King. The old city is a vibrant tourist area and most of their narrow cobbled streets are for pedestrians only. The big attraction is you guessed it, their Cathedral. It’s also called Notre Dame and is famous for having Claude Monet painting its Gothic façade 20 times at various times of the day to capture different “impressions” of the same image. Joan of Arc was also burned at the stake here in 1431 and the English King Richard the Lionhearted (from Camelot fame) was descended from William the Conqueror (ne Bastard) and his heart is in a tomb inside Notre Dame Cathedral. Am I boring you yet? Rita was and left me at the Cathedral and went shopping for a couple of hours. The pictures are also for her benefit as well.

Outside of Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside of Notre Dame Cathedral

Old Town Street in Rouen with Notre Dame in Distance

Half Timbered Houses in Old City of Rouen

Old City Centre Cafe district. They could use some clients!!!

After I picked up Rita from shopping we headed back to Bayeux. On the way we decided to stop and visit Deauville as the rain we started to experience had stopped before we reached this beach destination. It is actually attached to Trouville, which we visited a couple of days ago. If you remember I mentioned that the rich and famous had left Trouville to the cheap and cheerful crowds. Deauville is where they went and it shows in the beautiful mansions along the endless beach and the high-end shops in the village. When it’s too expensive for Rita, you know it’s high-end.

Rita on Deauville beach showing two summer home shut down for the season.

Deauville Hotel de Ville (City Hall)

You might have noticed a lot of the images have very little people in them. This is for two reasons. First I prefer most of the old city images without people so you can totally focus on the buildings and second, there is not that many people around as the season in this part of France is quickly winding down. Many of the beach mansions are shuttered up for the winter and vacationers are moving further south where it’s warmer. This is also our plan and we will be moving further south on Saturday.

Wet and Wonderful

Just to show you we also print the not so pretty part of our holiday as well.

Rita and I got up earlier than usual as we wanted to go to a medieval village called Dinan in Brittany and it was going to take 2 hours to get there. We also wanted to stop at Mont Saint-Michele on the way back, so it was going to be a full day. The weather was overcast when we got up and so we were optimistic. But the weather turned about 30 minutes into our drive. However, when we arrived in Dinan it had stopped raining. We found the city centre thanks to Jill, the voice coming out of our Tom Tom GPS system and parked the car. This is an unbelievably beautiful medieval city. It still has a lot of its original ramparts and walls still intact. The old city contained within these walls is in amazingly good shape from the half-timbered buildings to the cobbled stone streets and of course its churches. The old city itself sits atop a steep hill and its port sits below along the Rance River. The Port was ransacked on many occasions but the walled city was never taken by force (only by siege) this is one of the reasons so many of their buildings survived. The weather was a mixed bag of rain, overcast and sunshine but did not dampen our spirits as we spent several hours walking through the old city and port.

Half-timbered buildings in the Center of Old Dinan

Part of the Ramparts of Dinan and the Port Dinan below

This is the only road from the Old City of Dinan and Port Dinan. It is very steep and all goods had to be hauled up this road to supply the Old City.

Port Dinan as it looks today and its the starting point for boat cruises, cycling tours and hikes through the beautiful Rance River Valley.


We then headed to Mont Saint-Michel, which has been in operation as a religious pilgrimage site since AD 708. Today’s Christian church was built of top of two other church foundations over 1,200 years ago. Over 3.5 million people visit each year (many more tourists than pilgrims). Access to the Island changed in 1878 when a 2 mile causeway was built, which means it is no longer an Island as it is now attached to the mainland. The tide from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel is very impressive as it moves at 12 mph or 2 feet per second. This means you have to be aware of the time when the tide comes in as the parking lot becomes flooded at high tide. Of course, I did not figure this out until we were on the Island about half way up the walkway to the Abbey. Rita was listening to the announcements (in French only) to remove cars to higher ground or face walking in 6 inches of water to get to them. Went back and moved the car in the middle of a rain shower!! It truly is a very interesting place as there is only one street (about 6 feet wide) that winds its way from the bottom to the Abby at the top. Everything below the Abbey is catering to the tourists (hotels, restaurants, museums and souvenir shops). Apparently, this has not changed since medieval times.
Mont Saint-Michel at almost High Tide

Mont Saint-Michel at Low Tide

Entering into Mont Saint-Michel

Abbey from the Ramparts of Mont Saint-Michel

Hit hard rains again on the way back to Bayeux, but it was truly a wonderful day.

Beauty and the Beast

The photo above is a bird’s eye view of the Harbor Village of Honfleur. OK, I know its not that interesting but after a 20 minute hike up a very steep road to the Cote de Grace viewpoint to take the picture, I am putting it on the blog!!

Visited two very different places today, Honfleur and Tourville. Honfleur is a beautiful little fishing village located where the Seine greets the English Channel. It’s no longer reliant on fishing but tourism as this old port was spared from the D-Day bombing. The port pictured above is where Samuel de Champlain sailed from in 1608 to North America where he discovered the St. Lawrence and founded Quebec City. The old port of Honfleur is beautifully preserved and a pleasure to visit.

Playing Boules in Trouville

Tourville Beach

Tourville is also a very old city as it was the playground for the rich and famous Parisian’s who had their summer chateaus here. You can see why as it has a beautiful beach and very safe and shallow waters which are excellent for families. Unfortunately, Tourville now looks like Coney Island or Niagara Falls. It has a lot of tacky looking beach activities and a huge stretch of amusement park stalls. It has now been left by the rich and famous and is now inhabited by the cheap and cheerful crowd.

Bayex and a D-Day Beach

Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and quickly got ready to head into Bayeux to check out their market. It’s big. An excellent variety of merchandise from fashion to flowers and lots of amazing food stalls as well.

Rita lusting after sauseges at the Bayeux Market

After the market we wandered around this medieval and quaint village. The massive Cathedral was started in the 11th Century and many additions have been made through the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Some of the original 13th Century stained glass is still in place. Bayeux is only 9km from the Normandy D-Day Beaches and it was the only town in the area not to be bombed during the invasion. This was due to a local Chaplin contacting London and letting them know Bayeux was not a German headquarters and so they called off the scheduled bombing raid.

Bayeux Cathedral

Stained Glass

In the afternoon we took a drive to the small village of Arromanches (permanent population 500) which was ground zero for the D-Day Invasion. Over 220,000 troops and 40,000 vehicles came ashore on its beaches. This is where the Allies created an artificial harbor in just six days. the harbor was 4 miles long and made with 115 football field size cement blocks that were floated across from England and sunk. They are still visible today. It’s a beautiful walking beach that stretches for 110 km. We only walked a couple of them!!!

Arromanches Village and D-Day Beach

Rita on the beach

Our 60 Day Road Trip Begins

Our Peugeot Pick-up

After the experience we had of lugging our luggage through the Paris Metro, we grabbed a taxi to take us to the Peugeot Dealership to pick up our brand-new car. It was a very positive experience as we checked in with the receptionist and were welcomed by our personal representative. We sat down at her desk and went over the details of the contract, insurance and the car itself. We have a very compact and responsive silver Peugeot 207 turbo diesel hatchback. The only weird thing is the red “tourist” plates that are on the car. Normally European license plates are either white or yellow. You really stand out and I asked our representative if this does not make us a bit of a target. She said yes and that we need to make sure not to leave anything in the car. However, she said the biggest risk we face is to ensure we only fill the car with diesel and not regular gasoline. Apparently, this happens on occasion and the car engine is completely ruined. The bad news is that the insurance does not cover this. Rita has been repeating Diesel, Diesel, Diesel to me for hours now.
Headed out of Paris to Bayeux in Normandy, this is normally about a 3 hour drive. It took us 4 hours, thanks to our Tom Tom GPS system. For some reason it sent us through several towns instead of staying on the freeway. I think I programmed it wrong!!! We will be checking Tom Tom out tomorrow. Our farm house is about 10 km outside of Bayeux just outside a small village called Juaye- Mondaye. The directions we were given told us we would pass the “Abbey on the left, turn left at the War Memorial, go down the hill and past 3 poplar trees. The house is just past the trees on the left…” There it was. Amazing, why do we need Tom Tom’s when we have directions like this?

Bayeux Farmhouse

Farmhouse bedroom

The farmhouse is wonderful and very spacious and has a large apple orchard. The owners have left us a basket of goodies to get us started and they have a wine rack with the prices on the bottles and a cash box for you to put your money into, very civilized. Tomorrow we will go to Bayeux to explore the town and take in the Saturday market and get some fresh fruits and veggies.


Au Revoir….Geoff & Rita

Versailles

Rita in the line-up to enter Versailles

Our travel book stated that we needed to get to Versailles before 09:00 to avoid the crowds. As you can see, we made it by 11:00 along with everyone else!! The line-up was only about 20 minutes and Versailles is such a huge place that it absorbs thousands of people without it feeling overcrowded. You hear about Versailles and most of us have seen pictures, but until you see the place for yourself you really cannot appreciate the absolute decadence of it all. The wall that safeguards the palace is 25 miles in length. The Grand Canal was big enough to float a 30 gun warship and a river was diverted to supply enough water to the Canals and fountains. King Louis XIV spent 6 months of the richest country in Europe's entire budget to build Versailles. You can see why the French public finally had enough of the Royal families extravegances and stormed the Bastile and removed the Monarchy. Having said that, it makes for a great tour to look at such a wonderous place that was the envy of the world for over 100 years starting in 1689.

Hall of Mirrors

Grand Trianon

Chappel at Versailles

The Latona Fountain and Grand Canal in the Background

Tour du Paris - Day 2

Definately felt the walk yesterday, but that is why we brought the Advil !! Another big day today as we want to visit the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and end up at the Left Bank for dinner. Rita was studying up on what to see at the Louvre before we headed out for our big day.

The Louvre is an amazing place. I had visited it three times before and seem never to tire of its amazing displays and artifacts. Ever since my first visit, my favorite piece of art has never changed and I always enjoy seeing it. No, its no Mona Lisa, although they have moved her to a better viewing spot. My favorite is the ancient Greek Statue "Winged Victory". Perhaps its because of the wonderful location they have given her. You can see her from the bottom of the stairs as you start to climb towards her. I am really attached to how she looks as I feel she is standing strong, free and unstoppable. She originally stood at the top of a hill in Greece to celebrate one of their key naval victories.

After 5 hours wondering through the Louvre we headed to the Eiffel Tower. If you look closely at the picture you will see a big screen promoting the Rugby World Cup. They will play the games on this screen.

We arrived at the Eiffel Tower around 6:00pm and the line-up was only about 15 minutes. We purchased a ticket that would allow us to go to all three levels. The top level is 900 feet off the ground and the platform is quite small. Actually, the elevator ride to the third floor from the second floor, which is 400 feet off the ground, is the scary part as you can see straight down while the lift is taking you up. However, the views are amazing and on a clear day they say you can see up to 40 miles away.

After a wonderful experience at the Eiffel Tower we set off for the Latin Quarter located on the Left Bank. On our way there we had the pleasure of watching a Paris sunset from one of there many bridges.

The Latin Quarter is quite a place as it has lots of different restaurants representing countries from all over Europe. Lots of people walking the streets and vendors from the restaurants calling to the people their specialities and prices. Its a wonderful people watching experience. We ended up at a French/German style restaurant that served Greek beer. It was an excellent dinner and we headed to the Metro will full stomachs and aching feet. Tomorrow Versailles.