Nantes

We had a 2 night stay in the busy port city of Nantes before heading back to Heathrow.  Nantes is built over the Loire river but we were surprised that the riverside areas are rather unattractive.  It would have been a tiring walk around the city, so we opted for the mini tourist train to see some of the sights, but that meant few photographs because it was too difficult at speed and over cobbled streets.

Central shopping area	Spotted from our train ride – it’s a huge people carrier
The best shot of the river we could find, and even that’s not impressive	Cafe city

Fontevraud Abbey

Linz and I visited the Abbey in 1999 and loved it, but my photos weren’t digital then.  We visited the town of Fontevraud again last year but didn’t go through the Abbey because we didn’t have time.  As it houses the Plantagenet tombs, it is an important part of Linz’s teaching so we took the time to go through it again and enjoyed it once more.  For those of you who are wondering, the answer is no, I haven’t taken my new camera out of the box yet, so there’s a good excuse to have to come back and photograph the Abbey all over again next year!

Abbey entrance & tomb area	Eleanor of Aquitaine and hubby Henry II	The fantastic kitchen building
		Richard The Lionheart, son of Eleanor & Henry

Livin’ It Up On The Loire

Bits ‘n pieces from our 5 days in a much loved area of the Loire Valley.  We had a great time, and leaving this time was quite emotional for both of us.

Typical houses in town in Saumur

With our heads down and our …

Top end of Saumur city

Linz would not let me buy this house

A favourite building in Montsoreau

Chenonceau – it was on the Bucket List

This is a highly visited romantic fairy tale chateau and as such was humming with tourists.  In fact it was way too busy and it took some of the enjoyment away from the experience.  Added to that, a large chunk was surrounded with scaffolding, which has apparently been there for over a year.  Oh well, it was still amazing and we still enjoyed exploring it.

The entrance		The Fairy Tale View
	Shame about the scaffolding	Yes, every man and his dog was there

Brézé

We didn’t know this place existed until a fellow guest talked about it.  Brézé is a chateau that was built underground and has the largest dry moat in France where it housed a whole army with horses for years in its system of tunnels. In the 16th century, another chateau was built right on top of it and they co-exist today.  Wine was produced in the underground chambers until 1985.  The weather was overcast and rainy, so it was a good choice of sights for the day.

The Pigeonnaire - it housed 3700 pigeons – 2 for every hectare of land owned	Inside the Pigeonnaire – the birds were kept inside while crops were harvested	Costume in the Breze overground chateau – elegance from a previous era
Brézé’s dry moat – it’s hard to appreciate how deep it is	Brézé Chateau tower ceiling	Brézé below ground
Full wine barrels in Brézé caves	Solid brass swan taps in the servants’ bathroom

Return to Les Peupliers, Loire Valley

After a wonderful stay here last year, we were looking forward to a few days at Les Peupliers B&B with fab hosts Mike & Tracey …

This time we booked the fabulous and huge upstairs Hayloft Room

Max was so ecstatic to see us again that he could hardly contain himself

A wonderful alfresco dinner with hosts Mike & Tracey (front) and fellow guests Phil & Helen from Manchester

Beaumesnil Chateau

You can only do so many chateaux, but this one was listed in the “Things To Do In Normandy” brochure and advertised a bookbinding exhibition which sounded fascinating.  Our internet research told us it was open from 11am – 7pm so we drove 50km out of our way and we were the only ones there when we arrived at 11.55am, only to find that they shut for lunch for 2 hours from 12.30 – 2.30pm. Ah yes, the French staff, nothing must interfere with a 2 hour lunch break, even if that’s not what it says on your internet site!  So we had to walk very quickly round the bookbinding exhibition, which was not much chop actually, then three floors and quite a few rooms of the chateau.  It was surprisingly interesting and still filled with original furnishings belonging to the Furstenberg family who purchased it in 1938.  We thought this place was beautiful.

A pretty entry garden area	Beaumesnil Chateau from the rear garden
The Drawing Room	This bride was having her photos taken in the grounds	Beaumesnil Chateau from the front

Caen

Another day trip, this time to Caen, former capital of the Norman Dukes.  In fact a lot of the city was destroyed in 1944 but there are still some impressive monuments remaining.  It was not the most exciting city we’ve been to, but a pleasant day out.

Highly detailed upper section of the Basilica St Pierre

It’s easy to see why the old buildings are crumbling

Love the gargoyle and interesting to note that it has a layer of lead on the top side to prevent it from further decay

Former Abbey, now Town Hall, impressive

If you didn’t get a postcard, it’s because it was too hard to choose one!

Falaise, Normandy

Falaise was the birthplace of William The Conqueror, so this area is important to Lindsay’s research and teachings.  Willie’s castle was all but obliterated in 1944 and has been rebuilt despite much public conjecture.  I have to say that although it was interesting to be standing where the great had been before, the extensive use of steel and glass in the rebuild removes any originality and it is hard to “feel” the history.  We also visited the fascinating Museum of ‘Automates’ – toys and models with moving parts, dating back to 1850.  There were complete displays which were designed for the shop windows of Galerie La Fayette in Paris every Christmas in the 1950’s.  We loved the town of Falaise and its surrounds and could easily revisit this area.

W.T.C.	W.T.C.’s tower	A view of Falaise from the top of W.T.C.’s tower
Thoroughly modern Normans	Street view, Falaise	Museum of Automates - 1936 - A true life story from the archives of the Tour de France when a local drunk moved a sign causing the cyclists to run into a group of pigs