We spent three
nights in the town of St Jean d’Angely. Unfortunately our original booking was
cancelled as the owner had to fly unexpectedly to the UK so she kindly hooked
us up with Nirel and Michael, an American couple who have been looking after
another B&B in the area. Our room overlooked the river and an adjoining
pond that was inhabited by a host of ducks and geese – all of whom made
themselves known to us, day and night.
The weather
was a little on the wet side but we made the most of our time, driving north to Niort and
negotiating return train tickets (with a ticket seller who spoke no English) to
La Rochelle on the coast. It’s an historic port and we were fortunate to be
able to wander through vast local second-hand markets and lunch at one of the
many seafood restaurants on the river. Jim tried the moules (mussels) in
Roquefort sauce and said they were delicious - the bowl contained about 100 so
it took him quite a while to get through them…
We also
drove to the river port of Rochefort to see the famous l’Hermione, or at least
a replica. The Hermione was the ship that took the original French settlers to
Canada under the leadership of Lafayette. She was eventually destroyed in a
battle and since 1987 a passionate group of people has been constructing her from
scratch with the idea of sailing her along the same route back to America. We
toured the facility which was full of interesting information and models and
then spent time on board.
Whilst
planning this holiday we left a few nights here and there unbooked. Such were
the two nights following our stay in St Jean d’Angely. So we got onto
booking.com and found a chateau in a tiny village called Andreze, close to
Nantes. We were not disappointed. The Chateau Meriniere is an amazing castle and
our beautiful room and modern bathroom were located in a loft and turret … 69
steps up a circular staircase!
We had a
fantastic two nights with our French hosts Muriel and Pasquale, dining with
them on the second night at their huge dining room table. Pasquale is a chef
who gives cooking classes on the weekends and dinner comprised cream of pumpkin
soup with foie grois on toast, steamed cod on Chinese noodles with vegetables,
and peach tarte. We had an aperitif of champagne followed by lovely local white
and red wines.
Pasquale
and Muriel have just released a recipe book based upon the cooking of the
French author George Sand, but unfortunately had no copies left for us to buy
as they recently won a prize for the book and it is selling quickly. It was
fitting that our room was the George Sand room and was adorned with photographs
of her and her family.
We drove
into Nantes and spent time at the Jules Verne Museum where original manuscripts
and models of his very unusual literary inventions are on display. From there we
found our way to Machines de l’ile which is an enormous workshop of robot-like
animals, including the masterpiece, a giant mechanical elephant which members
of the public can ride around the park. It was all great fun, despite the heavy
rain!
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