I'm back in Roquebrun (with Pat) after a two week tour of Burgundy, Normandy and Brittany, and a few other spots, with Jessica, Rita and Pat. Jessica and Rita came in to the south via the Perpignan airport on Sept. 2, pat and I picked them up there and we spent the night and morning in Collioure. We visited Albi, north of Collioure, drove through parts of Dordogne and Quercy and went to an underground river, then to Rita's friends house in upper Burgundy. Lovely area, and Rita's friends are great people. Pat and I were in the village of Saint-Fargeau, and Rita and Jessica stayed in the farmhouse. We had great dinners in the big dining room in front of the huge fireplace, and drank lots of wine. Pat and I had planned to stay in Paris a few days, but because we were unsure of the dates when we left, we ended up not being able to find a reasonably priced hotel or apartment, and since I'm planning to spend up to 3 months in Paris later this fall, we left Rita and Jessica in Paris at Rita's friend's apartment in the heart of the Marais. Got hit by a Mercedes van while I was standing still in traffic on the Rue de Rivoli, forcing me to exit the car and pound on the side of his van and scream obscenities at him. Fortunately his van sustained more damage than my car, which only got a scratched plastic bumper, and I got his license number and photos of his van and will see if I have any recourse. Then ended up driving through the Etoile thanks to the GPS sending me the "fastest route" (never mind the 12 streets going into it and no lines painted). It was actually no problem at all, and I had driven through it once before. Its not as bad as its advertised to be. We then went on to Giverny for the night. We hadn't planned to see Monet's garden this trip, but when we left Paris and looked at the map, there it was very close by. I'd been there on my first trip to France in the 90's, but it was cold and rainy that day -- this time it was gorgeous, a warm sunny day and lots of things still in bloom. We went early in the morning, beating many of the other tourists. By the time we left there were gangs of roving Japanese people with cameras following people with numbered signs. The house is a treat also, lots of Japanese prints (much loved by Monet and the Impressionists). I've been there before, back in the 90's, but it was a cold, cloudy, drizzly day, so it was a pleasure to see it on a perfect one.
From there we went to Brittany and Normandy, staying the first night in Honfleur, which is a lovely and very old town on the Normandy coast. The sun was out, but it was somewhat windy, and got very chilly when the sun went down. There was a good, large Saturday street market. Then on to Bayeux, to see the tapestry of the same name. Its an embroidery of the Norman Conquest, and was great -- check it out on line. Next up Mont St. Michel, which is really about seeing it from a distance. We went into the village, but skipped the abbey as it would have been a long wait to get in, and one abbey is much like another. (abbey, blah blah blah; ancient towers, blah blah blah; medeival whatever, blah blah blah -- I'm getting very used to all of this amazingly old stuff I guess). It was cold and drizzly, and the town was reminiscent of Carcassonne, wall to wall tourists with nothing but souvenir shops and restaurants. Glad we saw it, but the best part was from a distance. Which is also kinda true of Carcassonne, an amazing and wonderful place, but its also best viewed from the distance, preferably lit up at night with all of its towers and great walls -- inside its way too many rubber swords and Carcassonne tea towels.
Last tourist stop was Carnac in Brittany, which is basically lots of stones planted in the ground around 5000 BC. I believe by the Druids. Its a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is the tapestry and Mont St. Michel. Quite startling to see the stones -- some are upright stones (menhir) and others are groups of shorter stones in groups and rows (also menhirs) and some are on mounds (tumulus) and a few are two standing stones with one across the top, like a table (dolmen). There are hundreds or maybe thousands of them. They're just scattered all around the Carnac area, alongside the roads. No one knows what the purpose was. Nacho, however, had no problems determining a purpose. I fact he has saluted quite a few UN World Heritage Sites at this point. By this stage of the trip we were pretty tired of the rain, having suffered through a couple of days of it, so we planned to head for the chateaux of the Loire, which Pat hasn't seen. However, rain was forecast for there also, so it was skipped for now. So we headed back here to Roquebrun, planning to spend the night partway down, but ended up not being able to find a hotel with rooms available on the autoroute, so just drove on and got in about 2:00 a.m. Was warm and sunny yesterday, but there was a big thunderstorm last night and today was drizzly on and off. Much warmer however, and I'm glad to be back here.
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