Bretagne

We are all in Bretagne today. We arrived on Sunday afternoon greeted by cloudy skies but the temperature was mild so we were not complaining.
JC and I left Carpentras with Maya in the morning...direction Marseille airport. We parked in long term and headed over to the terminal to wait for our flight to Brest. Maya was ready to go and had many plans for what she would do and see in Bretagne. Here we are leaving our car in long term parking...

 Going up to the check in area...

 waiting for the flight to be called.

After a 95 minute flight we arrived in Brest....remember this sign from a post last year???

We were greeted by cloudy skies but it wasn't cold. Actually we went from 90+ degrees in Provence to 70's in Bretagne. All Maya could talk about was having a crèpe so the two of us went off in search of them while JC arranged our rental car. No luck in the airport. So we drove off to the closest town en route which turned out to be Châteaulin.

No luck there for crèpes either...seems everything is closed on Sunday except for the small boulangerie/patisserie/salon de thé below where we stopped for a drink and quick lunch...(we only had pretzels on the plane). We bought some packaged crèpes here to heat up at home. I personally think the crèpes from Landerneau are better tasting!!!! 

   

Here is the house we are staying in. I took this picture on Monday which was a beautiful, blue sky day! We are upstairs and there is a small garden in the back but everyone wants to be at the beach just a short walk away.

Benodet has a really nice beach which is never really crowded like some of the beaches in the south of France. This is a photo at 9:30 am and more people arrive as the day moves on.

We took advantage of the day to be on the beach. Oscar loved the water and the sand...

 Maya became a mermaid in the sand...good thing Anton is artistic don't you think????

Then it was Anton's turn! Not a bad merman made by Maya!

There was a really nice outdoor market nearby and Emmanuelle and I went there with Oscar while everyone else met up on the beach.

The market here is a bit different from Provence with local products like this lace.

Also this type of brioche which is made to look like a lace "coiffe" worn in the region. This brioche is hollow on the inside...a sort of "tube" cinnamon roll I guess.

The baker rolls the dough onto a type of rolling pin

 which rises and then gets baked over a spit. In the picture above you can see the baking spit to the left. Here you see the wooden pins wrapped in sweet dough rising. It smelled delicious and we bought one to snack on in the market.

There were also these curly sausage salamis at another stand...they looked like a pigs tail and were pork!

At another booth there were these small salamis the vendor called pencils. They looked like breakfast sausages but were cured and dry.

This dog was totally focused on the roasting chickens and ham. He did not turn his gaze away from the stand even when we called to him...I'm sure his mouth was watering!

There was lots of sailing going on... 

And tourists taking pictures of the flowers.

These ladies were English and took photos from every angle of the bloom. I took a picture too!!

Actually this is the land of hydrangeas and agapanthus...they are everywhere in all sorts of clusters and colors

Even the cats like them!

Emmanuelle and I found the Ali Baba's Cave of fabric in Quimper called tissus Myrtille!!! Here is what I came away with. I am particularly in love with the wool gabardine from Saville Row in London which was only 6,50 euros a metre!!! What a find!!

The blue skies have become cloudy and drizzly today so not sure what we can do besides play board games and draw. It might clear up in the afternoon. I'll keep you posted!!

Kenavu!

Tour de France, Gordes and Roussillon.

Bastille day in Venasque began with a nice burst of sunshine and some mistral wind to cool everything down.

This was the day of the big parade in Paris (which we watched on the computer) and the day that the Tour de France pedaled past the village. There was a jazz concert

and a street dance around the fountain in the evening where everyone was laughing, singing and enjoying time with each other.

It was a terrible shock to wake the next morning to the horrible news from Nice. The village statue was draped in black ribbon and on Monday there was a minute of silence as villagers gathered in front of the Hotel de Ville.

There is a subdued air here right now, in sharp contrast to the bright blue sky and brilliant sun which bring out colors and should make you feel joyful.


The Tour de France came past Venasque on Bastille Day...

 Susan took these incredible photos standing right next to the road

...I was up on the hill higher and although I could see the riders whizz by, on my photos they look like a row of stones! I guess you had to BE right there. It goes by very fast...I really did not expect that!

The street dance brought out the performer in our grand daughter Maya who just could not be stopped.

She loves village parties and Venasque is small enough to truly enjoy. The music was also good so we all had fun. Too much Mistral though for fireworks so we just danced until late. We were all in warm jackets though...after nearly a week of very hot days the wind brought the temperature down into the upper 50's!!!

The market in Pernes les Fontaines was as charming as ever and it made us feel better to walk among the stalls and breathe in the wonderful smells of fresh tomatoes, olive oil soaps and lavender.

Gordes and Roussillon are just over the hill so we aimed the car in that direction to get a look at the Luberon Valley and the beautiful ochre hills around Roussillon.

After a few chillier days with the Mistral the temperatures went back up again and we could hear the cigales singing in the trees. Anton caught this one in his yard!! They are hard to see and even harder to catch.

We arrived in Gordes early enough to see the shopkeepers putting out card stands and sweeping the front step. The narrow, stone streets are always so beautiful to walk through especially with less people and no cold wind blowing.

There are also some amazing viewpoints.

This yard had laundry out on the line.

I liked the contrast of stone and green in this street.

On the way back to the car we passed this ancient school sign and then drove on out of town. Bye Gordes!!

Our next stop was Roussillon...not too far away but really so different just because of the intense reds and oranges of that city.

We walked up to the upper part of town for the view out over the valley...I am always so taken by the magnificent colors of Roussillon it is almost magical!!

We had lunch on the main square and I looked up to see these banners across the terrace.

Across from us was  JC's favorite house in Roussillon. Not for sale!!

We were given a little glass of Limoncello after lunch! Chilled and delicious...had to have coffee and walk some more before we drove off.

Some last pictures to share of this very pretty little city...the sun was very strong and bright. Can you feel the heat radiating off the photo?

We all thought this woman looked very cool in her dress which looked handpainted.

Isn't the rose glow in the picture beautiful?? It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday.