We start this weeks journal with our visit to Mont Saint Michel. We arrive in the late afternoon and check into an aire 3 klm away. Up early we set off on the long walk out to the Mont. We wander the tourist bits and take an extended tour of the abbey. It is well worth the hype and we marvel at its elegant simplicity.
We head southwest from Normandy into Brittany. Two and a half hours through little villages and farmlands of Western France we arrive at Carnac on the Atlantic Coast. Famous for its ancient mounds and stone monoliths, but due to the rain we drive about rather than ride push bikes as we originally intended.
Time is marching on as we head east for Nantes on the mouth of the Loire River. We camp in a very upmarket aire, next to the University a short tram ride from the city center. It’s still raining when we step of the tram and wander the shops and square. The rain eases by lunch and we pack up and head up river into the Loire. We pass wine groves and chateaus as we head north stopping overnight in the village of Fondette.
Our next stop was Blois, a beautiful town on the Loire only a short distance from Chambord our next stop. Chambord too big to be a Chateau, but perhaps not quite a Palace. It is a complex architectural masterpiece. Google it.
From Chambord it only a couple of hours to Paris, our campers are returned and we transfer to our apartment in the Beaumacharis.
It’s our 2nd stay here and it’s like being back home. Saturday morning we take in the Eiffel Tower then head on the Monet Museum in Marmottan.
Sunday morning and we walk though a slight drizzle along the Seine to mass at the Notre Dame. It’s a gregorian mass, a mass sung by the choir. The singing is beautiful, making our visit all the more memorable. The weather has cleared and we wander back for lunch. We hire bicycles (Velib) and spend the afternoon riding along the river.
