Carnac

Headed south in Brittany today and stopped at Carnac enroute to Vannes. The Carnac alignments date from the Neolithic era 7,000 years ago. Rows of menhirs form a megalithic landscape. After seeing so many petite trains we decided to take ourselves on a tour of Carnac and the megaliths. 

Roscoff

Quite day in Roskoff.

Onion capital of the world ✔

Finistere.. End of the world.

We went to the onion museum (never thought I'd say that)  😁

This is a lovely town..  Would recommend to all.

I wanted to post the high & low tide pictures ! (No points for guessing )

Just a slight difference !

Dinan

Left Saint Malo heading for Roscoff in Western Brittany.  Stopped at Dinan a medieval town on the way. We are now at the far end of Brittany where signs are also in the Breton language. 

Dinard

 Took a 10 minute boat trip across the water from Saint Malo to Dinard. The views back to Saint Malo were great.  Dinard is a town filled with 19th century villas built by the British. The so-called Nice of the North. 

Saint Malo

 We are now in Brittany and staying in the beautiful walled town of Saint Malo. Yesterday was spent walking the ramparts and exploring the old town. At low tide you can walk out to the g e small island forts.

Mont Saint Michel

Today we left Bayeaux and went to Mont Saint Michel enroute to Saint Malo. Spectacular sight particularly from afar. 

Rather popular though! 

D-Day beaches and calvados

Today we had a half day tour to Omaha Beach,  one of 5 landings on D-day.  We toured the German bunkers on the bluff and visited the American War cemetery. After that it was definitely time to taste the local apple brandy Calvados. 

Bayeux

 I was forced to go to 2 museums in one day ... 

We started off the day buying supplies at the local markets, and drinking coffee .. then it turned bad.

We went so see some old tapestry.

It really needs a wash .. they have identified over 24000 stains on it .. but it is 950 years old.

The Bayeux tapestry is pretty amazing I thought it was long, and then realised it folded back so it was twice as long.

Then a break from the hard pace of drinking coffee & looking at old sewing & we were off to the War Museum.

Off tomorrow to the D-Day Beaches.  

Etretat

 Day 1 of the car hire.  We drove from Rouen to Etretat in our Citroen 208. We always seem to rent a car larger than what we need.  The cars always seem so large in small French towns. The seaside town was a favourite of Impressionist painters and Parisians who built large villas there in the late 19th century.  We did some promenading before heading to Bayeaux. It seemed like a good idea at the time to switch off the toll road function on the map app. We ended up in an industrial port area with the only way across the river on a barge. We took the barge and anyway that was free but we decided after that to just pay the tolls! 

Rouen

 Yesterday we went to the Fine Arts museum.  A nice collection including Monet's painting of the Rouen cathedral. The afternoon was spent doing a walking tour of the Rouen old town including where Joan of Ark was burnt at the stake. We pick up the hire car this morning to drive to Bayeau via the coast. 

 G'day from Rouen, Normandy. One of the largest and most prosperous medieval towns in Europe (thanks Wikipedia).

We arrived from Reims today, clear headed after a a few days of Champagne drinking (stick to the good stuff).

Our hotel would have great views if not for the huge cathedral in front of us .. 

I'm trying to get a picture, but from our balcony (where we are having a restoring Gin & Tonic) but we are too close.

Rouen has some great Tudor houses, which we will be exploring tomorrow.

I'll be adding a few more pictures to the right as soon as I get some free time .. Busy busy busy....

Rouen Cathedral, from our balcony

Epernay

 Yesterday was a day trip to Epernay for some champagne tasting. A walk down Avenue de Champagne and some tastings from independent producers. 

Reims

Busy day yesterday. I trip to the local food market to source strawberries and raspberries and then a tour of Reims Cathedral including a tour of the towers and roof. After a climb of about 250 steps we were afforded beautiful views and the work done on the 12 century church especially after the damage from 2 world wars.

The afternoon was spent at Veuve Cliquot doing a cellar tour and blind tasting. We did manage to pick which was the vintage over the nonvintage. They also have a lovely bar area where you can continue to imbibe after the tour.

Reims Cathedral

Walking around the cathedral roof

We are getting one of these for home !

Musee Rodin

Yesterday we went to Musee Rodin.  I must say he was very prolific.  Beautiful gardens and museum.  Off to Reims today.

     

Bonjour from Paris

We arrived safely in Paris yesterday with no issues with the bags.  

Its been 10 years since we have been in Paris and the main changes appear to be much less traffic, lots of bike lanes and everybody riding bikes and scooters.  

Weather is warm and there was a big thunderstorm late yesterday afternoon.  Fortunately we were safely ensconced in a nearby wine bar. 

COVID 19 doesn't appear to exist here with no masks or social distancing.  Saw more signs about Monkeypox as we are staying in the Marais area which is popular with the gay community. 

Beautiful Changi

Singapore airlines so far .... Great

1 Sleep Left

All our bags are packed, we're ready to go! Depart Austi 10:30 tomorrow morning. All checked in... Nothin left to do :-) Next post .. maybe on the plane.

Begin Europe 2022

In 11 Days, out next voyage begins.

Syd/France/Scotland/Netherlands/France/Italy/Denmark

Trip details are in the right hand column under 2022 : Europe , Trip Details

Flying SAS .. I hope they have upgraded their planes 😁

By Towpilot - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0