People often talk about ''French food'' as if it was a clearly defined thing, universal and pretty much the same across the whole country. And yet, although there are many similarities in the way the French people eat, there is a great variety in what…Read More

People often talk about ''French food'' as if it was a clearly defined thing, universal and pretty much the same across the whole country. And yet, although there are many similarities in the way the French people eat, there is a great variety in what is eaten and drunk.

Obvioulsy, large supermarket chains and existence of nationally popular dishes make those regional differences less pronounced and easier to avoid, but they are still very much there and should be explored and cherished.

Brittany is surrounded by sea on three sides and is famous in France for its Atlantic beaches and for seafood, including both fish and shellfish. A typical seafood platter might have crabs, prawns and shrimps, clams and oysters. Moules Marinières are a national dish, but best eaten near to the source of mussels in question. Oysters are common on Brittany coast and you can see people collecting them from rocks for their own use on many beaches.

For me, Brittany will forever remind the land of the pancake – the crepe. Crepe is nothing but a thin, fairly large pancake. In Brittany, crepes come in a number of savoury and sweet versions, with the savoury ones being often made from buckwheat (ble noir – literally black wheat) flour and the sweet one, made almost invariably from white wheat flour.

A typical set lunch in a Brittany creperie (and there is one of those on every corner) will include a savoury buckwheat crepe (actually called galette), a sweet white flour crepe and a cup (''boule'') of warmed cider. Cider is THE drink of Brittany; although wine is commonly bought and drunk as in the whole of France, it's not really grown or produced in the region.

The stuffing for the crepes vary from very simple (sugar) to more complex (the ''complete'' which consists of eggs and cheese with bacon or ham). Unless eaten with a substantial filling, these are not particularly big meals, and are an equivalent of a sandwich lunch. Prices vary by creperie, but usually will start at 2-3 Euro for a cheapest ones and go to as much as 8-10 Euro for the most expensive ones which might include fruit, chocolate sauce, various eau de vie and similar.


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The Crozon peninsula in western Finistere has three promontories – like three fingers sticking out into Iroise Sea. Cap de la Chevre is the southernmost cape, Pointe de Pen-Hir is the middle one and Pointe des Espagnols is the northernmost one. We start with Pointe…Read More

The Crozon peninsula in western Finistere has three promontories – like three fingers sticking out into Iroise Sea. Cap de la Chevre is the southernmost cape, Pointe de Pen-Hir is the middle one and Pointe des Espagnols is the northernmost one.

We start with Pointe de Pen-Hir. The holiday makers flock to the white beaches and the marina of Camaret Sur Mer (and those with a historical bent will want to see the UNESCO-listed Vauban Tower, part of the fortifications of the Goulet de Brest strait).

Beyond Camaret, the wind and sea do their work on the rocky cliffs, creating a rugged landscape of sparse vegetation and wonderfully varied rock formations. The views stretch south to Cap de la Chevre and beyond to Cap Sizun Peninsula with its Pointe du Raz and north as far as Pointe Saint-Mathieu. Islets and rocks dot the tumbling sea below and we sit in a sheltered spot, looking through a window in the rock towards where Canada must surely be. Below us, rock climbers scale the 200-feet cliffs.

Before the very end of the promontory, facing almost directly west, stands the Cross of Pen-Hir, the Monument to the Bretons of Free France, commemorating the Breton part in the Free France movement. The memorial was created in the late 1940's and is perhaps too overwhelmingly monumental for modern taste, but it speaks of its time and is worth walking up to to pay your respects – and admire the spectacular location and the splendid outlook.

On the way back we turn towards the Lagatjar alignments, a megalithic site just west of Camaret. Not as numerous as the much better known Carnac stones, these rows of around 65 menhirs on a common by the roadside are nevertheless quite impressive, and even more so because we are free to wander around (the Younger Child delights in hiding behind them). Purple orchids bloom in the grass that surrounds the stones and the site has a magical but uplifting feel to it (unlike the Carnac stones that felt a tad unnerving).

Before we start on the way back, we have time to drive around the Roscanvel outgrowth, stopping at the Pointe des Espagnols to see the fortifications at the end and look beyond to the port of Brest. The name of the cape refers to the fort, built here by the Spanish in preparation for the siege of Brest during the French Wars of Religion. The current fortifications, however, date to the 18th and 19th centuries, grim, hostile buildings in the service of the industrialised war.

People come to the viewing platform here to look at the shipping, the yachts and the nuclear submarines which have a base at the nearby Ile Longue, but overall this promontory is an interesting but ultimately a bit disappointing contrast to the wind-swept and wild glory of the Pen-Hir and the magic of the Lagatjar menhirs.
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There must be something wildly romantic about a place called Finistere. I am not sure whether it's the name (I have a verging-on-obsessive penchant for end-of-the-world kind of places, and here is one which is actually called that!), the there-be-dragons feel, maybe even the eponymous…Read More

There must be something wildly romantic about a place called Finistere. I am not sure whether it's the name (I have a verging-on-obsessive penchant for end-of-the-world kind of places, and here is one which is actually called that!), the there-be-dragons feel, maybe even the eponymous album of the New-Orleans punk-folk Zydepunks had something to do with it. Finistere beckoned, thus, and one cold and sunny April morning we drove from our Morbihan gite to the end of the world (or, as you might have it, the Land's End). Incidentally, Finistere is the westernmost departement of France, Cornouaille is one of its historical regions and the whole departement lies directly across the Channel from Cornwall.

We drive west from central Morbihan to the part of the coast that appears – on the map at least – to be the most irregular and thus the most interesting. The landscape changes subtly, although it's still mostly the rolling Breton countryside, with pretty fields (if fields rock your boat) and little villages, some modern, some apparently dwelling in a time-warp of sorts. Plenty of "A VENDRE" signs, and on the more ruinous and dilapidated stone long-houses, sometimes the A VENDRE is accompanied by FOR SALE.

We cross river Aulne in the attractive town of Chateaulin (Kastellin in Breton) and as we drive west, there cultivated land becomes interspersed with wilder terrain, more hilly and rugged, similar to an open moor. Armorica Regional Nature Park protects the comparative wilderness of the westernmost reaches of Brittany, including Monts d'Arre, a hilly area where the Celtic mythology and early Christian traditions mingle to create the tales so dear to any fantasy reader.

Brittany is known for its elaborate, stone Calvaries, acting both as road-side or church-square shrines and way markers. We see a splendid one of those in the hamlet of Sainte-Marie du Menez-Hom, standing under the shadow of the moor-bare hill next to an attractive chapel. The interior, full of frenetic Baroque altars and statuary dripping with gold is also definitely worth a look.

From there we drive to Crozon through a hilly country with frequent glimpses of the sea, blue and white below high cliffs. We lunch in the Ble Noir creperie, on a set meal of a savoury buckwheat crepe, a sweet wheat crepe and a "boule" (cup) of cider. Crozon has a sea-side district, Morgat, with a busy beach, a marina, sea caves and some interesting rocks onto which the children proceed to climb as soon as they are let out of the car.

It's getting on and we need to decide which of the fingers of the Crozon peninsula we are going to see first as we might not have time to drive around all three. Cap de la Chevre is the southernmost point, Pointe de Pen-Hir is the middle one sticking out directly west into the Iroise Sea and Pointe des Espagnols is the northernmost, protecting the outer harbour of Brest from the Atlantic storm, and, as the name suggests, Spanish attacks. We go for the middle one and set of to drive to Camaret sur Mer and Pointe de Pen-Hir.Close

Pontivy is a small town in the central part of the Morbihan department of Brittany, sitting where the river Blavet and the Nantes – Brest Canal meet. It's a little place of a less than 15,000 people but to us it felt like a serious…Read More

Pontivy is a small town in the central part of the Morbihan department of Brittany, sitting where the river Blavet and the Nantes – Brest Canal meet. It's a little place of a less than 15,000 people but to us it felt like a serious town after more than a week we spent in an isolated cottage in the countryside, with only some forays into the local large village called Baud.

Despite its small size, Pontivy is a "proper town" and a bit of a centre for the local, farmy area of the countryside. It has a handsome central square, a decent high street for normal shopping and a pedestrianised side street for touristy knick-knacks. Estate agents turn up at every corner, many advertising their offers in English and English sounds all around Estuarian and 'outh-London accents mingling with the Sloaney "yaahs". Not for nothing this part of Brittany is known as Pontivyshire. The English come here to live or buy holiday homes attracted by the relatively low property prices away from the big cities and the coast as well as the east transport links to the south coast of England.

Pontivy has two clearly distinguishable sections. The old part centres on the magnificent castle , surrounded by narrow alleyways of the old town with its half-timbered houses going back to the medieval times. The newer part was laid out in a grid in the 19th century, during and after the construction of the Nantes – Brest canal and the regulation of the Blavet. During the Napoleonic times Pontivy was a major military and administrative centre in the region, and the Town Hall and surrounding areas were planned and realised. The town was even renamed Napoleonville in the Emperor's honour (it actually happened three times – in the original Napoleonic era, during his 100 days and then again during Napoleon III's rule). The name Pontivy got eventually restored, reminding us of the 7th century Lindisfarne monk called Ivy who built a bridge here.

Pontivy is quite a delightful place to simply walk about, either in the labyrinth of the old town or by the river. There is also a good market on Mondays.

The main historical sight is undoubtedly the castle of the Dukes of Rohan. To any Tolkien fan, the notion of the "Rohan Castle" must bring an extra thrill, even more so on learning that the house of Rohan traces its line to the semi-legendary founder of Brittany, Conan Meriadoc. Pontivy's castle is of slightly less ancient pedigree, the original building destroyed by the English in the 14th century and the current structure erected in the late 14-hundreds. It's a picture-perfect medieval castle, with round towers and conical "witches' hats" slate roofs (just like the ones Le Duc anachronistically, or perhaps anachoristically, transplanted to his reconstructed Carcassonne). The castle is still owned by the Rohan family, though on a 99 years' lease to the town and thus can be visited. The interiors were substantially refurbished in the 18th century to create a more comfortable dwelling, but it's really the external sight of the chateau's imposing fortifications that is the most attractive.
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Dinan is located in the Cotes D’Armour region only a 20 minute drive from "The Corsair City" of Saint-Malo, a Ferry Port which has frequent crossings to and from the South Coast of England and the Channel Islands. Dinan is one of the finest of all…Read More

Dinan is located in the Cotes D’Armour region only a 20 minute drive from "The Corsair City" of Saint-Malo, a Ferry Port which has frequent crossings to and from the South Coast of England and the Channel Islands.

Dinan is one of the finest of all Brittany's "Towns of Artistic and Architectural Interest" (Ville d'Art et d'Histoire) and it has lost none of its medieval charm. If there are such things as magical towns where history is omnipresent, then Dinan surely merits to be counted among the number. It is one of Europe’s most exceptional towns. Former seat of the dukes of Brittany, Dinan is protected by 75 metre high Ramparts, dominating the Rance river.

It is a good place to stay either for a while to enjoy discovering the surrounding area or just overnight to break your journey to and from Central France.

Within the town are chateau, gardens, lively narrow, cobbled, flower-decked streets and half-timbered buildings. Take a walk in Dinan's parks and gardens with their unique views over the Rance Valley. You can visit the medieval belfry called "La Tour de l'Horloge", "Saint Sauveur" basilica (XIIth Century), "Saint Malo" church (XVth - XIXth) and the many places of interest within just a short drive away.

A Little History

The first existing record of a lord of Dinan dates back to the 10th century. A document relates that Josselin, the brother of the Archbishop of Dol was present when Anne of Brittany gave the Abbey of Saint George to the Archbishop. Dinan became a true city at this time. A Benedictine convent moved in, and in the beginning of the 12th century, a system of defense was begun.

By the beginning of the 14th century, Dinan was prospering thanks to its commerce with England and Flanders. Unfortunately, the War of Secession of Brittany put an end to Dinan's economic prosperity. Dinan took the side of Charles de Blois, and when he was killed, Jean IV, Duke of Monfort, laid siege to the city for a month. He celebrated his victory with the construction of a dungeon (1380-1387).

During this troubled period, the English besieged the city incessantly. Du Guesclin, commander of the resistance for Dinan, fought and defeated Thomas of Canterbury at today's Place du Champs Clos.

In the 15th century, Dinan reinforced its ramparts and added several towers more adapted to the progress of artillery at the time. In 1598, during the League, Dinan united the Duke of Mercoeur the rebel, and rallied against Henri IV.

Throughout the 17th century, religious orders set up convents in the Dinan area. In the 18th century, religion became less important, and the sound of 800 spinning wheels filled the city, weaving cloths that were exported to the West Indies and to South America. The city's fairs attracted huge crowds.

Urbanisation evolved for these and other reasons, thanks to the influence of Charles Déclassé-Pinot.

Originally (Kith), Dinan is a small commercial harbour on the Rance. The strategical and economical importance of this port didn't escape the attention of the Breton Dukes. One of them, Jean Le Roux 1st, buys the kingdom of Dinan from its feudal lords and poses the first stones of an imposing fortress. It still shelters medieval churches, convents, wooden lathed houses and private mansions... The exceptional riches of this architectural, military, civil, religious and contemporary heritage are marvellously maintained in Dinan, a city of human dimension with a real quality of life. A journey into a faraway past, rich in history and glory, an invitation to discovery and dream!

In Dinan, the decor is reality

2,700 metres of ramparts (XIIIth - XVth), a Roman-Gothic basilica, a beautiful gothic church, an imposing XIVth century keep. An architectural heritage marvellously preserved. About fifty wooden lathed houses, renaissance hotels, a medieval belfry "La Tour de l'Horloge", convents, about one hundred or so private mansions from the "Lumières" era, a very ancient port on the Rance, a deep valley, a natural preserved setting.

Saturday, March 28, 1998 We take a little trip up the Emerald Coast of Brittany. It’s absolutely quaint. Many little coastal villages. We also found Fort la Latte, which is frequently used as a film set. There was a movie being filmed…Read More

Saturday, March 28, 1998
We take a little trip up the Emerald Coast of Brittany. It’s absolutely quaint. Many little coastal villages. We also found Fort la Latte, which is frequently used as a film set. There was a movie being filmed while we were there. I see a windmill – excited!!

Sunday, March 29, 1998
Off to the Loire Valley. We go on a tour of a wine cave, which is very neat – we see the whole process and then get free wine later. We both bought bottles of this wine – in Canadian $ it cost us $7.50 a bottle – in Canada we would pay $40-50 a bottle. Then we moved on to the Mushroom Museum. This was the absolute worst thing I have ever dealt with. There was supposed to be a tour, but it turns out that the English Tour consists of a $7 book that you read as you go through the museum, which you already paid $10 to get into. Stay away from the Mushroom Museum. I drive home and end up taking a detour through Nantes, the town Bluebeard lived in. At a traffic circle, the car stalls (because I don’t drive a standard well) and I am ready to leave the car where it is, get out, and go away crying – thank god Heather is used to teaching people how to fly planes – she talked me through it and we were on our way, once again.

Monday, March 30, 1998
We are ready for another local day, so we walk around town. Today, we visit the castle across the street from us. We are in the centre of town when the Clock Tower chimes 3 o’clock. We look at our watches and find that we only have 2:00. We (think) ask the girls at the Tourist Bureau if the clocks turned forward this past weekend – they give us a weird look and say no. It is not until 3 hours later that I realize that I have confused the word clock (horloge) with bell (cloche) – I asked them if the bells turned forward!! And I wonder why we received a weird look. After all the confusion, the clocks did go ahead on Saturday night – we have been working on the wrong clock for close to 48 hours!!

Tuesday, March 31, 1998
We head back to the Loire Valley. This time we are on a chateau-a-thon. Our first stop is at Montgeoffrey. It was protected during the French Revolution and many of the furnishings are original 18th century. We have a personal tour guide take us through the house, where the family still lives today, the chapel, and the stables. She explains that they no longer keep horses, but they do have sheep. She also attempts to explain that they have another animal – they live in the forest, we have them in Canada, it’s like a donkey, ooo, ooo, Bumbi!! Ah, yes, Bumbi – the forest dwelling donkey, a.k.a. DEER!! Montgeoffrey will go down in history as Bumbi’s house. The second chateau we went into was Usse – the castle that inspired Sleeping Beauty. I found it quite tacky, with mannequins dressed up in wedding dresses and Sleeping Beauty/Wicked Witch attire. Also, the tour was very rushed.

Wednesday, April 1, 1998
We return the car to St. Malo, and drive through Dinard on the way home. Dinard is a big thallasotherapy area – they put mud and stuff on you, sort of like a spa – and is home to a lot of people with just too much money. St. Malo is a pirate area – I guess they lived out of St. Malo when they were on dry land – and has lots of connections to the beaudoins, who are attached to the Quebecois. It’s a nice place, but if you’ve seen one walled city, you’ve seen ‘em all. And I’m getting really tired of the cobblestones now. My feet hurt and I just want to go back home now.

Thursday, April 2, 1998
Do the last minute stuff in Dinan – pick up souvenirs, do a laundry, and start to pack.

FRANCE Saturday, March 21, 1998 Arrive in Paris, but we don’t believe it. Our entire time in Paris is spent underground on the subway and train system. We get a TGV (very fast speed) train to Rennes, transfer to another train to Dol de Bretagne.…Read More

FRANCE

Saturday, March 21, 1998
Arrive in Paris, but we don’t believe it. Our entire time in Paris is spent underground on the subway and train system. We get a TGV (very fast speed) train to Rennes, transfer to another train to Dol de Bretagne. We spend a lovely 3 hours in Dol, a village the size of Salisbury, NB. There is a local cycling race that speeds by us several times as we sit in the Horse Race Betting Bar sipping our beer waiting for our final train to take us to Dinan. We arrived in Dinan at 6pm, local time – about 24 hours after leaving Halifax. We got to the house we were renting and basically collapsed.

Sunday, March 22, 1998
Spent the day tooling around Dinan. Of course, since it was Sunday, most shops were closed, but we did find some fruits & veggies & bread at a corner store. We took in some sights Dinan has to offer – a couple of churches, an English Garden, the clock tower, and all the quaint little cobblestone streets.

Monday, March 23, 1998
Again, spent the day in Dinan – found a real grocery store. Did you know that you can’t buy plain tortilla chips and salsa here? Cannibals!!! Saw a few more sights, including outside the walled city. Many NICE homes. The gardens are in bloom and the trees have leaves on them already.

Tuesday, March 24, 1998
Up to catch a 6am train to Paris!! We make this Versailles day, and eat lunch at McDonald’s (we will soon find out that McD’s is the one place we can count on in this country). We spend most of the afternoon in Versailles, take the King’s apartment tour. We misunderstand the tour guide (speaking very odd English) as explaining that there is a painting of the Holocaust on the ceiling of the chapel – really it is the Holy Ghost (Father, Son, and Holocaust)! Phew!! We head back to Paris and go Diana gawking – the Pont d’Alma. Then we truck back to the train station and head back to Dinan, where we arrive at 11pm. Yawn!!

Wednesday, March 25, 1998
Off to St. Malo to pick up the rental car. We ignore the town and head directly to Mont St. Michel. This is an absolutely incredible sight. It used to be a large rock off the coast. At high tide, it was cut off from the mainland due to the tides rushing in – as quickly as the Bay of Fundy tides. They built an abbey on this rock and the community grew around it in a corkscrew fashion. The only part of the Mont that is resting on the original rock is the abbey (where the monks and nuns hang out). The rest of the island is supported by columns. Very impressive sight. After climbing this place, you’ll never complain about St. Joseph’s Oratory’s steps again!!

Thursday, March 26, 1998
We decide to head off to Dieppe, through Normandy, today. It is very wet, to say the least. It takes turns raining cats and then raining dogs. We occasionally run into the odd raining horse!!! But, off to Dieppe we go. It’s not as amazing as I expected – just a beach with very high cliffs (like at my parents’ cottage x 2-3 times as high). There are a few war memorials mentioning Canada, and if you mention you are from Canada they treat you with great respect (throughout the country). About 5km away from Dieppe is Pourville, a beach community that Monet painted a series in. I have a print of this area, so it was quite neat seeing the location from the same perspective as my favorite painter. Then we headed back home – this time on the pay highway, which is worth it. Dieppe is a 5 hour trip from Dinan (don’t reccommend making it a 1 day return trip – definitely overnight!!). This is the day that we realize McDonald’s will be our beacon away from home. We are unable to completely understand the road signs. Often there are signs directing you to various cities and then a generic "Autres directions." It takes us a while to understand that we should go with Other Directions when we are unsure. However, it takes us a few days on the road before it sinks in. Another favorite "Toutes Directions," the road to everywhere!! McD’s serves excellent coffee for a reasonable price ($1.50+/-), has clean bathrooms, and staff that is willing to help those who attempt to speak French. This is not always the case – staff at garages (i.e. gas station) basically spit at us when Heather mispronounces "Rouen." The comment we keep to ourselves is – OK, say "HEATHER"!!!

Friday, March 27, 1998
After yesterday, we are ready for a local day. The highlight of the day would be my driving lesson. Since we rented a standard transmission car, Heather has been doing the driving to this point. Now it’s my turn to take the wheel. We start off on a back road near Dinan. I enjoy standard driving intensely – I thrive on it. I would rather have ants eat my flesh than ever purchase one of my own. Ramsay can probably comment on this, as he was the lucky one to give me my first standard lesson. By the end of the day, I do drive in town and pull into a supermarket parking lot. Heather runs in to buy her $2 wine (which would be $10-15 wine at home), while I try to collect myself from the nerve-wracking day of driving.

Friday, April 3, 1998 Head off to Paris. We will be staying 2 nights at Hotel Stella (STELLA!!!), a 5-storey walk-up hotel in the Latin Quarter. Great location, but no heat (and it is still chilly at night), and no help dragging luggage up…Read More

Friday, April 3, 1998
Head off to Paris. We will be staying 2 nights at Hotel Stella (STELLA!!!), a 5-storey walk-up hotel in the Latin Quarter. Great location, but no heat (and it is still chilly at night), and no help dragging luggage up and down the stairs. We go to the Louvre where we see the Mona Lisa (disappointing), another dead king’s apartment, and the Code of Hamarubi – anyone who took Grade 12 Law from Mr. Wallace at HTHS will remember that this is the 1st ever written law (King of Babylon engraved a stone tablet with the laws he wanted his citizens to follow, stuck it in the middle of town, and let them read the laws). We have dinner in a Greek restaurant, that beats the hell out of Dmitri’s in Fredericton. Then we’re off to the Eiffel Tower, after dark. Paris truly is the City of Lights.

Saturday, April 4
We go to the Musee D’Orsay, which has a special Monet exhibit. This was the highlight of the trip for me – Monet everywhere – prints I had seen forever and now I get to see the real thing. After the museum, we take a Bateaux Mouches tour up and down the Seine, where they point out all the sights that we were too tired to see, or didn’t have enough time to see. We then head to the area near the Louvre that resembles Times Square in NYC (the part that has all the tacky tourist shops – cheap t-shirts, souvenir Eiffel Towers, and the like) to pick up the required items for those nephews at home. The last thing we did in Paris was spend 3 hours in a restaurant. We started off ordering our food and then began talking with the couple next to us. They asked us about our part of Canada and how we liked France. They told us about places we should have gone to, so they’re on a list now, in case I ever go back.

Sunday, April 5
Go to the airport so that I can be loaded onto a plane to wait 3 hours to take off (between queue delays, fuel miscalculations, and fainting passengers). Finally we make it back to Halifax at 6pm. Very happy to be back on Canadian soil.

British travelers have considered the provision of public toilets in France to be a laughing matter for years. There are a small number of areas in which the British can feel superior….OK I can’t think of any at the moment....how about motorway service stations….anyway,…Read More

British travelers have considered the provision of public toilets in France to be a laughing matter for years. There are a small number of areas in which the British can feel superior….OK I can’t think of any at the moment....how about motorway service stations….anyway, we have better public conveniences. Can anything new be added to a subject that has been reported on for decades? No. In a way it is like wife beating or road deaths – we know it happens but it’s not news. But this is no excuse for tacit acceptance of the unacceptable. Two examples of this national inadequacy can be found on the otherwise excellent French autoroute system. Two types of rest station (aire) can be found – one in which there is a picnic area and toilet facility and the other where there is a petrol station, restaurant and toilet. In both cases the toilet facilities are in our experience somewhere on the scale from woefully inadequate to affront to humanity. In some cases, the service stations have art galleries, excellent shops, excellent restaurants, playgrounds for children and in one case a constructed wetland. However, it seems like the job of designing the toilet facilities is an afterthought rather than a priority – which it is for me when I am desperate and have three desperate children by my side. We resorted to pulling off the autoroute and urinating in the open air up country lanes.

Top tip:
Our favourite French service station is the Baie de Somme near Abbeville on the autoroute between Calais and Le Havre. It has a viewing tower with great views across to the estuary of the River Somme to St Valery and Le Crotoy. It has a wetland that you can walk around and a good playground and picnic area. The toilets get busy on holidays…
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We visit Bouvet-Ladubay wine caves in the Loire Valley. I am not a wine drinker but the tasting after the tour changes my mind -- I am in love with a wine I will never be able to afford at home. The tour is good,…Read More

We visit Bouvet-Ladubay wine caves in the Loire Valley. I am not a wine drinker but the tasting after the tour changes my mind -- I am in love with a wine I will never be able to afford at home.

The tour is good, bilingual (there is a French family touring with us), and informative. The guide's English abilities are very advanced!!

After the tour, being quite tipsy from the tasting, we head to the local Mushroom Museum. This is a rip off. There are no English tours, even though promotional material and guide books tell us there is. They sell us a $8 mushroom book in English and off we go underground to look at mushrooms grow. There are pretty mushrooms, colorful mushrooms, and oddly shaped mushrooms. Mushrooms, mushrooms, everywhere.

The museum also has a small restaurnt attached which will serve you mushrooms in a variety of states. Fried, fricaseed, boiled, shredded, etc. -- you want your mushrooms done a certain way, this is the place to go!!!