Travel Blog August 24 to August 26, 2012

In my last blog I made a couple of mistakes—which is unusual for me! The first is that I referred to a photo of the Museum of Occupation that I subsequently decided not to put in, but forgot to delete the reference to it, so sorry about that.

The second was that I referred to completing seven weeks already, when it is in fact only six weeks gone—not that anyone would have noticed that error, but I thought I ought to correct it!

Thursday 23 was our last full day at Mesnil le Sauvage, so we just poodled along to the beaches near Mont St Michael as we knew we had lots of driving coming up over the next few days. This part of the coast has enormous tides, and at low tide there is no water for miles. Notices caution against straying too far from the actual dry sand without a professional guide, as there are quicksands to get stuck in, and the tide comes in very quickly with the very high risk of being cut off in dangerous water. So we took notice of the notices and just paddled near the edge. The main tourist beach at a place called Edenville was crowded with holiday makers, and there were a lot of English people there enjoying the sandy beach. Why they chose Edenville over Margate I can’t imagine!!

This part of France is also famous for its oysters and mussels. Today I settled for a serve of moules et frites, (mussels in white wine and garlic in one bowl, and chips in another) which was delicious!

Ann had a local turkey dish, which she enjoyed very much. Tomorrow we head east for Strasbourg, stopping a night at Chartres, and a second night somewhere further east on the way.

We said our goodbyes and set off for Chartres by way of Vire, Flers, and Argentan, where we stopped for a wee break and a coffee. Then on to  L’Aigle, and Verneuli-sur-Avre, where we decided not to continue on the big green road via Dreux, but cut diagonally across country direct to Chartres on a smaller red road. We stopped for another drink at the very small, ancient town of Brezolles, and as we walked along the narrow street, and ancient lady was leaning out of a window. The customary “Bonjour Madame” was met by a toothless smile, and we went on to the boulangerie for some bread, and the café for drink. On the way back to the car the ancient lady was still leaning out of the window—so far out in fact that I wondered whether perhaps she had been shackled at the ankles to stop her falling right out.

Then, on down the red road to Chartres. So far all was going well. We had booked a room for the night in the Hotel Kyriad, which we knew was on the east side of Chartres. The red road we were on met the green ring road Ok, but we then took the wrong exit, and had to drive about 20k before we could get back to where we needed to be. The next mistake was nearly a disaster, in that I ended up on the slip road onto the main toll-road heading for Paris, but fortunately managed to squeeze through some bollards to get onto the exit ramp, and all was saved. All we had to do then was to find the hotel—which, as it happened, was fairly easy.

We checked in, and then easily found our way to the main attraction—Chartres Cathedral. This is absolutely massive, and no photograph can do justice to it. Unfortunately, it was early evening and rather overcast, so at first it looked a little gloomy, but by the time we had eaten dinner ( veal for Ann, cassoulet of confit canard pour moi), the sun was out and the Cathedral was magnificent. We went back inside to see the stained glass windows with the sun shining, and they really were spectacular.

Having said all that, we both think that Bayeux Cathedral is just as stunning! Bayeux does not have stained glass windows, so is flooded with light and the detail of all the stonework and carvings is much more spectacular, and the whole place seems more open and spacious.

Having ‘done’ the Cathedral, we tried to find our way out of town—-not nearly so easy as getting in! After half an hour, and many kilometres out of our way, we finally made it back to the hotel for the night.

Saturday morning and we were on our way further east—having decided to book a room in the Hotel Champagne at St.Dizier. The route looked pretty simple and straightforward—the green road from right by the hotel to Ablis, and then on to Etampes. But at the last minute we decided on the yellow road even closer to the hotel, and cut across country to Etampes. All went well, and actually we did not go wrong! From Etampes,  we drove through the forests surrounding Fontainebleau and noticed that as we travelled east, so the leaves became more autumnal, and the forests were really beautiful. From Fontainebleau, through Moret-sur-Loing, by-passing Sens and on to Troyes. Here we went wrong! We missed the ring-road, and ended in a rather miserable-looking suburb, and in finding our way out in quite a different part of town, we found the slip-road from there onto the ring road had been completely blocked by a very recent accident and motorists were reversing back down the slip-road. We had no choice other than to do the same, which then put us on a road going the wrong way—-nothing unusual in that I hear you say! So we continued in that direction for about 20 k before we could get off, and work our way across country to the road we needed—the one to Chalons-en-Champagne. We then tuned off that toward Vitry-le-Francois, and finally to St-Dizier—where we found the hotel with no trouble at all, much to our surprise.

The hotel could best be described as shabby-genteel, and was very French.

This was in contrast to the Hotel Kyriad outside Chartres, which was brand new, and could have been anywhere in the world. Dinner at the hotel was absolutely faultless. I would have to say the veal in mushroom and cream sauce was the best meal so far—and on a par with the crown roast of hare I had in Tasmania many years ago. The rest of St-Dizier had little to offer, so we left early on Sunday morning and headed further east for Strasbourg. We made a couple of stops on the way, at Phalsbourg, and at Saverne, both of which were very interesting. The architecture here is more German than typical French, and the towns have quite a different feel to them, even though the French language is heard everywhere of course.

On to Strasbourg, and surprisingly we found Nicole’s place with not a single wrong turn! Maybe our luck is beginning to change, or maybe we are getting better at reading road signs. Whatever it is, finding our way through Strasbourg and into the ‘suburb’ of Schiltigheim was a piece of cake!.

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I will do a special blog about that!