Trip to West of France (part 1)

24 Mars 2011 - Nantes

For a period of time we were avid voucher buyers from online merchant Groupon. As such, we bought 3 seemingly value-for-money hotel accommodations in the region West of France. And that became the starting point of this trip (since we had never quite considered visiting this part of the country before) without knowing what it might bring us. Here's a map of our driving routes (courtesy of Google Maps).

First stop - Best Western hôtel de La Régate. 3.5-hour drive from Paris. It is located 25mins from a city called Nantes, which is the 6th biggest city in France and situated on the Loire River. The hotel is simple yet modern and there's a trail at the back leading to a river. It was nice standing there admiring the view. The tranquility and peacefulness of the surroundings made me feel so relaxed.. I'm sure Tasha was happy as well. Macro shot of the spider web was meant to show off the 500D's ability :)

That's my friend Hongxi, Tasha's new best friend and nanny. Ha ha. She visited us last week with her bf Clarence and Tash loved playing with them. They followed us to Nantes on the first day and took a train back in the evening. All the effort for her Hermès quest! And thus we were led to a charming lil shopping mall called Passage Pommeraye. I really love the interiors of this quaint building, which is also lined with several interesting shops.

The next day, S and I returned to the city again to visit the Château des ducs de Bretagne (Castle of the dukes of Brittany).To know more about it, you can go to the official website here. Unfortunately, we couldn't enter the castle because of Tasha, which was ok since we were contented to admire from the outside. There's the grass patch where people sat around having picnics and sunning themselves, the courtyard view, the side entrance and finally the main entrance to the castle.