Another public holiday - VE day

Sunday 6th May

Today was just a quiet day - a drive to the next town 10k away in search of an ATM. The french are tricky - we drove past it 3 times before spotting it inside the doors of the bank, in the lobby. We had a nice lunch in this little town,  St George sur Loire, before heading home for a restful afternoon. I even did a bit of sewing.

Monday 7th May

We set out today to the town of St Nazaire which is close to the mouth of the Loire river. It was a long drive not helped by the traffic congestion around Nantes. We're still not sure why it jammed up but added 20mins to our journey. We should have done a bit of research before we went as we found there were quite a few things to see here - a submarine base, boeing factory and ship building just to name a few.

Went to a pizza place for lunch while we waited for the tourist bureau to open after lunch. They let the kids top their own pizzas and i watched as a little girl meticulously added mushrooms, chicken and cheese to her pizza, moving them around if they didn't fit. This pizza was going to be a work of art.

This new ocean liner is being built in St Nazaire.
When I first saw it I thought I was looking at a building.
Can't imagine being on the top deck of this in a rolling sea.

From St Nazaire we visited the medieval village of Guerande. This was a bit of a disappointment as it does not have the feel of being very old and seems to have been made comfortable for the tourists.

One of the entry gates to Guerande.

The tea shop. Love these old signs though there weren't too many here.

Terrible photo but nice sorbet.
Passionfruit and raspberry and the passionfruit was full of flavour.

 We came back home with a detour via a little coastal village.

Tuesday 8th May

Today is a public holiday in france. It is V-E day, or victory in europe day, the day Germany surrendered, the end of WWII. Lots of places were closed but had no real impact on us.

Visited this chateau only a few k from here. This was built in the 1600s. Pretty stunning and well worth the visit. We were able to wander the lower rooms by ourselves with information in English in each of the rooms, this was followed by a guided tour of other rooms in the chateau including the kitchens, sitting rooms, dining room and library. As the guide opened each door there were wonderful things to see. They are quite proud of the fact that the queen mother stayed here for 3 days in 1981.

Beautifully reflected in the lake.
This chateau had a big moat.

In the kitchen. Lots of copper pots and cake molds.

This cabinet was just amazing - open a door
and then there's another door, or a drawer.
A fantastic piece of art.

Again we found huge tapestries from the 17th century.
In this room were half a dozen tapestries with fantasy type animals.
A friend for Odette. 

The library with over 12000 books -
one of the largest private collections in France.

Fire dogs, either side of the fireplace.

The dovecote - or as we called it the pigeon palace.

After leaving the chateau we stopped in a tiny little town at the back of nowheresville at the boulangerie for lunch. Blow me down - the owners had lived in Launceston and run a bakery there for 5 years. And only a few k from  here we passed Les Jardins de Kangourous. Just a little touch of home for the day.

Our aim from here was to follow the wine route and do a tasting or two. This was not very successful - the first one was closed Tuesdays and the next one we couldn't find at all. Still it was a nice drive first along the south side of the river which is where all the wineries are, then along the north side of the river (and closer to the river) on the way back. Was not a totally lost drive - we found ourselves on the La Pommeraye hillclimb track. The hillclimb is on in 3 weeks but we'll be long gone from the area by then.

At the entrance to the town of Montjean sur Loire.