Beautiful Bretagne

After getting some lunch at the market in Caen, we got on the train to Pontorson in Brittany. Our "hostel" ended up really being an adorable Bed & Breakfast with a cute little British couple. Somewhere along that train ride, we were magically transported from France into England... pretty sure :) Our "host grandpa" from the B&B was waiting at the train station for us and helped us all pile into the back of his ancient Land Rover (with British steering wheel on the other side). We bumbled along off to the B&B, passing by beautiful farmland and old brick houses and buildings. It was incredibly cute! We took a walk around the village around sunset and it rained a little, so there were crazy beautiful clouds!


Monday morning, after our lovely little English breakfast, we piled back into the crazy truck and headed off for Mont Saint Michel. It was so exciting to finally see it as we drove through the winding country roads. I don't know how we could have possibly gotten there if we hadn't stayed at the amazing "hostel," because it was quite out in the middle of nowhere. There were hundreds of fluffy sheep in and around the road welcoming us to the lovely island town as we arrived. There were no tides this week, for whatever reason, that was a bit of a bummer... but it was still quite amazing! We did a guided three-hour tour (in French- go me! haha), which was really great.


After lunch, we wandered around the extremely touristy winding streets, ate ice cream on the rooftops after squeezing through little alley pathways upwards, and explored a little around the bay (getting a bit muddy in the process). We got some good inexpensive food at the Oyster Catcher, one of two food establishments in the tiny town we stayed in, and walked around the village until sunset.

More pictures :)

Brittany

Mont Saint Michel

Oh p.s. There is controversy over whether Mont Saint Michel is in Normany or Brittany... and I think today it is technically part of Normandy, so I apologize for having it part of the post of Brittany haha.

Wednesday, we took another train to Concarneau, on the Atlantic coast of Brittany. We really lucked out with a cute and clean hostel right on the beach. Our window in the room opened right up to the beautiful sea ☺



We had a lovely afternoon clambering around tide-pools. Emily, my friend who is a marine biology researcher, told us all about the different algae, shrimp, anemones, and assorted crustaceans we were seeing. It was so much fun! After hanging out on the beach a little, we headed into the cute little maritime city. We walked past he busy marina and headed into the old fort on the water, which is now apparently where they cram in the cheesy tourist town. It seemed like a crazy little village from Shrek or something haha… there was a band playing pep-band/folk music, souvenir shops, creperies, etc. It was cheesy but fun.



We were able to cook in the hostel’s kitchen, so we made a lovely little spaghetti sauce and pasta for a grand total of 2€ each… now that’s what I’m talking about!



We had a nice little walk around the tide-pools again in the morning after breakfast and then a stately monsieur cormorant sent us off on our trip to Carnac.

l'Océan Atlantique

After quite the process of buses, trains, and autocars, we finally arrived in Carnac, another city on the coast. We walked out of town to the park where they have the ancient megalithic stones. It is apparently the largest site in the world, with over 3000 stones dating back to 3300 – 4500 BC. The rocks are all lined up in rows for about a kilometer, and there are many different theories about their origins. It probably had something to do with astronomical alignment and/or farming. Whatever it is, it is pretty impressive and mind-boggling!

Carnac

A Weekend of Sunshine and Smiles

What an amazing weekend!  We had great weather and great adventures throughout Provence with Miranda and the group.  We let early Friday morning and started out with a tour and wine tasting at the Chateauneuf-du-Pape “cave.”  It was really interesting to learn all about the different parts of production and the history of French wine.  

Next, we went to the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct built over 2000 years ago.  It was incredibly windy on the bridge, near the water, and in the hills there (basically everywhere!) but beautiful and sunny.  There was an 800 year old olive tree right next to our picnic lunch site!  

Then we went to Avignon and visited the Palais des Papes, where the French popes lived during all the fun schism years of political squabbles and corruption.  We went and danced on the Pont d’Avignon, the bridge that was supposedly built by a Shepard boy who heard God tell him to build it.  Part of it is actually broken now, so it does not actually cross over to the other side like a bridge.   Rough, huh?   "Sur le Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, l'on y danse!" 

We did a morning tour the next day of Terascon, the chateau of King Rene.   It was build between 1400 and 1449 and was quite beautiful and fascinating.  Inside the prison part, prisoners had drawn lots of intricate religious symbols, the chateau itself, and games to play (a checkers board and backgammon).  The view at the top was quite spectacular.  I loved all the funny gargoyles and there were also neat carvings that made cool shadows on the walls.   

We toured the Roman Arena from 90 A.D., which was pretty amazing.  Apparently a whole village lived inside the arena at one point during the Middle Ages.  They still do bull fights there today once in awhile.  French bulls get to "retire" to farms when they get older, but the imported Spanish bulls still get killed during the fight :( 

We went through Arles, where Van Gogh spent a significant part of his life, and walked through all the cute little streets there.  We picked up some fresh strawberries and baguettes at the market and had lunch in the beautiful Van Gogh gardens.  The building around it used to be the mental institution in which Van Gogh checked himself into toward the end of his life.  We got to see the cafe featured in "Le Cafe du Soir" and many other cute little sites.  

We spent part of the afternoon in Baux de Provence, a little winding village that leads up a hill/mountain.  They've left it mostly in the Medieval style, although it has become quite touristy in past years.  There is part of a chateau built right into the rock at the top and they do Medieval reenactment type things.  

We drove through a rather mountainous region called "Hell's Valley," which definitely reminded me of the Black Hills and the Badlands in the US.  It was quite a dramatic and beautiful landscape.  Then Miranda surprised us with a stop at the Cathedral d'Images, one of the coolest things I have ever experienced!  It is an old limestone quarry/cave in which they project moving images upon the white walls of the cave along with music.  

When we were there, it was all Van Gogh paintings, with the colors and brushstrokes gently floating around the rooms, with amazing mixes of colors and lights.   Each painting blended in with the next and you could feel the liveliness of the people and landscapes.  It's hard to explain, but I found it absolutely fascinating.   They've had exhibits of the canals of Venice, ancient Egypt, the doors of Europe, African safari, etc in the past.  I thought it was such an amazing concept of combing our modern technology and honoring such amazing art and history of the past in a new way.  I would love to come back again someday and see another exhibit.  

We drove through the Camaguge a bit and saw hundreds of beautiful wild flamingos.  Then we pulled into Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where our hotel was located.  The town is all about the legend of the Three Marys: Mary Jacobe (sister of the Virgin Mary), Mary Salome (mother of disciples James and John), and Mary Magdalene.  The story says that the 3 Marys and their servant Sarah were set adrift by boat from Jerusalem by the Jews and landed in St. Maries-de-la-Mer in 40 AD ... with no oars or sails, of course.  They were so happy to have safely landed, they built a chapel in thanks for their safe journey.  Their tombs are a major pilgrimage site for gypsies every May.  Pretty interesting.

Our hotel was right across from the beach, so we frolicked around on the sandy beach and rocky jetties during the sunset before dinner.  How lovely.  We had a fun dinner at a Spanish-themed restaurant with guitarists and flamenco dancers.  

The next morning, we went horseback riding through the Camargue, passing lagoons filled with flamingos and herons, salt marshes, grasslands with bulls, and rice fields.  Our beautiful white horses were fairly well behaved and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. 

 

We got back into town and watched the running of the bulls, which they do every other Sunday on the main street I guess.  After seeing that, we lounged around on the beach eating gelato until it was time to go back to rainy Grenoble.  Quite a lovely weekend!  

More pictures?

Sunshine in Provence :)

Southern France with the Fam

I had an absolutely fabulous weekend with my family this week! I really appreciated seeing them, being able to joke around with them, and just feeling overall comfortable and happy with my own family. I'd been feeling a bit lonely and homesick lately, so their visit couldn't have come at a better time. It was fun to do the whole family vacation squished in the car thing. 

We went to La Ciotat, had quite an adventure fining our hotel/apartment, but it finally all worked out when some nice people helped us with directions.

Our hotel was near the ocean, so we took a lovely walk along the rocky shore. It was a bit chilly and windy, but nice and sunny, with the sunbeams sparkling on the water. We had a big adventure through the huge Carrefour grocery store, so the fam got to experience that lovely new aspect of French culture. We had dinner at an adorable little place where we had a big hors d'oeuvre platter of typical provencal

In the morning, we drove through La Camargue Nature Reserve, where we saw flamingos, gulls, gulls, white horses, etc. It was absolutely gorgeous and such neat ecosystem.



We drove through Arles and Avignon a bit, which were very cute little areas. We made our way to Marseille, which was pretty cool to see but super packed more than usual because it was Easter Sunday. We drove past the pretty marina with all the boats, a smaller version of the Arc de Triomphe type thing, lots of fountains (with creepster dauphin things still ... I think they're following me!), and the beautiful train station in Marseille. We could see the basilica, but never got a chance to park and actually go in, but oh well. We saw another lovely sunset and cooked our own fun pasta dinner in the apartment/hotel. We had family fun night huddling around the portable DVD player to watch a movie together.



Monday, we said our goodbyes to the ocean and went through the lovely Aix-en-Provence. I absolutely adored this city, which is so typically French (in my opinion). We walked through the colorful flower, fruit, and clothing markets, little cobblestone streets, patiseries, etc. There were several pretty churches, shutters of all different colors (my new obsession) which really capture the beauty of the light in the South, and fountains. I can definitely see how so many artists throughout history have gotten their inspiration from the lighting and loveliness of the Provence region. Love it, love it, love it!




We stopped at the Chateau de la Barben randomly on our way back to Grenoble... and it was such a great find! I really felt like we were walking into the story of Beauty and the Beast. First we drove through the tiny village with adorable houses and farms (♬ Little town, it's a quite village: every day like the one before! Little town full of little people waking up to say, "Bonjour!" ♬), then came upon the chateau hidden away in the forest. It had fabulous intricate gardens, a big drawbrigdge, turrets/towers to watch out for invaders, and a big mote wrapping around the backside cutting it off from the creepy forest.



It was sad to send them off on the TGV to Paris, but then it was great to see all their pictures and hear their stories when they came back!



We spend Friday doing a tour of Grenoble, seeing all the main areas of the centre ville, the fountains, churches, Victor Hugo, etc. We got fresh fruit at the St. Claire market and went up to the Bastille for a nice view of the city. We had dinner with my host brothers and some of their friends at the house, so that was quite a fun evening of franglais! My brain just absolutely hurt afterwards from so much exhausting translating, but it was lots of fun! Everything went really well the whole week and I was very sad to see them leave :(

Southern France with the Fam

Grenoble with the Fam