Did I mention that I'm not big on travelling by myself? There's no-one to say 'hey, look at that!' or 'remember when...' Anyway, less whining, more typing! My trip to Nantes on the train was uneventful, except that getting to Gare Montparnasse on the metro involved about 100 metres of stairs - up and down. Times you really wish you had your husband next to you to do all the lifting! Got myself checked in really easily and then headed out into Nantes - which I do thoroughly recommend. It is an ancienne city, so you have the beautiful architecture, then fantastic shopping if you're that way inclined, but the most important is that it is the home of gallette and crepes!!! OMG!!! I got straight into cultivating my crepe tummy with a crepe banane et cafe svp! Soooooo good! Sometimes it's not such a bad thing to eat by yourself - you just have to remember not to mumble too much to yourself about how good the crepe is! Had to work off some of the sugar, so followed my ears to the Chateau, where I just happened to walk into the nantes cultural exchange fete in the Chateau walls! Cool! Food, dress, culture and song and dance from around the world all around me! Fantastic - except i'd left my camera back at the room. Oh well! Spent a handy few hours here in the light drizzle - but who cares about that when there is a visual and aural feast to be enjoyed. Was an absolute loner about dinner though - bought a baguette and went back to my room to eat about 8.30 after the latin american samba party.
Next morning, got up early and quite nervously made my way the 400 metres to David's hotel - my tour guide for the next 5 days - as I walked in, this tall very Aussie looking guy in an old Oz rugby jersey walks in and just starts talking to me - asking if I was waiting for anyone. I said I'm Tara are you David? and all was great! David was really down to earth, and I found that another couple who were supposed to be on the tour had pulled at the last moment so it was just 4 of us, including Jacqui and Steve from Adelaide! Cool! Did quick intro's and then went on a walking tour of Nantes, had a coffee in a little cafe across from the Galleries Lafayette, wandered some more, got some free samples of maccaroons in the covered passage - divine! - then David left us to find food for ourselves while he did some last minute sorting. Wandered around the old town before settling on one of the most renowned places in nantes. of course I had the Super Pave Nantais! This gallette was massive - I have the photo to prove it and it beat me - i was unable to finish it! So yummy though. Will have to learn how to make them - Caroline, help!!! First stop on our tour was Les Sables d'olonne, on the Atlantic coast of the Vendee. Beautiful beaches and fantastic views were definitely the go. I took some photos of the waves in case Paul thinks that this may be the place he'd like to surf! great coffee here too (yes, another photo!). Next we headed back inland to the place we'd be staying tonight - Chateau Colbert - via some beautifully picturesque towns and countryside. It's very similar to English countryside (though don't tell the French or English!). The Chateau was awesome. It appears I got the best room of the group - yay me! Got sorted and headed down at 7 for drinks in the bar, followed by a 5 course meal. This tour is turning out to be incredibly difficult as you can read! In the grand Louis XIV dining room, I dined on salmon, tuna, veal kidney (yes, you read correctly! You should have seen Jacqui's face when this came out as our main meal!!! Her's was quickly swapped for David's mackeral!). The kidney was lovely though, and our meal was topped off by an amazing caramel concoction - needless to say, I was unable to invoke the power of the second stomach, and fairly rolled off to my room at the end of it. What an awesome first day! Did I mention that my room overlooks the biggest Japanese garden in Europe??? Day two started with us meeting for breakfast in the dining room again. I was still full from the night before, but it didn't stop me eating croissant, pain and yogurt! Day 2 saw us straight into business. Off to Pouzauges, where we will be based the next 2 nights. Straight off to meet Renan, our guide for the day. He is a service immobilier in the Notaires office, which means he is generally less inclined to be pushy with house purchasing and is good with honesty about the homes we were looking at today. I think we went through about 8-9 houses in Pouzauges and surrounding villages this day, including a 3 course lunch with both champagne and rose, and dinner that night! By golly! Day 3 saw me eating croissants and introducing jacqui and Steve to chocolat chaud - I did warn them that they would be ruined for life though! After breakfast, drove the 3 minutes to AIP, a real estate agents and met with Christine, an ex-pat Brit teacher working as a real estate agent. Again, spent the day travelling the countryside, looking at a variety of homes, asking a million questions, eating 3 course meals with wine for less than 10 euro. I'm telling you, this is a really tough tour! :-) The Vendee is a great place for reasonable prices, good employment and 'dynamique' - the energy that you want to ensure is in the village you purchase! Did you know that Gordon Ramsay's kitchen nightmares is called 'Cauchemar en cuisine' in french??? Day 4 saw us packed and moving on to La Roche Posay, at the other end of the Vendee. Before that though, we wandered down through the local market, bought lunch - goats cheese, saucisse and baguettes for less than 10 euro - and went through David's little 1 bed apartment. This is what we'd probably being looking for. Stopped in Thouars, where we had cafe, walked through an antique store and then had our gourmet lunch with champagne next to the chateau - tough life I know! Stopped again in Richelieu for another cafe (very similar, but smaller than Canterbury) before hitting La Roche Posay, a beautiful spa town. Got ourselves checked into our art deco hotel, then I met a cool couple (courtesy of their little dog!) from Bowral, who have recently moved to France. Annette and Steve were lovely, as was the very friendly tonic Petit Lou! Am really missing Rooby (and Paul of course!). Went and had a bottle of rose in Angles sur Anglin, the prettiest village in France at the moment - for good reason! We visited and looked in a few very average houses here on the last day, with our lovely guide Anthony - a La Roche Posay Real estate agent. Again, the motto is location, location, location! Day 5 was a great summary of the week. we ended on another 3 course lunch, drove up to Chattellerault - which is definitely nthing to write home about - and caught the tgv back up to Paris. Phew! What an amazing week!
