Trip to West of France (part 3)

26 Mars 2011 - Roiffé

3 hours east and we reached somewhere in the middle of nowhere - Domaine Saint-Hilaire hotel which is right beside a 18-hole golf course. There are also other sport facilities and outdoor activities you can do at and around the hotel. According to their website, the hotel has "eight detached stone-built houses in the typical Loire Valley Style of the early 19th century and contains 64** rooms." We were a lil worried when we arrived as the houses looked really old, but the rooms turned out surprisingly pleasant save for a dusty floor. Regrettably, we did not bring our golf clubs so we ventured out to a wine chateau recommended by the hotel.

Le Château de Targé wasn't easy to find but we still managed after a few u-turns. Charming place up a small slope. The wine tasting room can be found on the 2nd level up the stairs as u can see in the photo below. We met an interesting Parisian couple who had also driven out for a weekend vacation. After the session, our friendly host showed us to a room (we were led through a cave-hole!) that he had done up for rent. It was lovely with an awesome view at only 300€ a week! But we figured there aren't many things you can do there to make up a week's stay.

27 Mars 2011 - Roiffé

The Parisian couple whom we met suggested that we visit the Abbaye de Fontevraud in the town center. We were surprised to know that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which was founded in 1100! You can read more about it here (in French). There's apparently a very good restaurant in the hotel called Le Saint-Lazare.

1) View from the outside
2) Cloister of the Grand Moûtier
3) Nave of the Abbey church
4) Royal tombs
5) Random exhibitions can be found throughout the Abbey
6) Small museum dedicated to a time when the Abbey was transformed to a prison
7) The Romanesque kitchens
8) View from the backyard

Trip to West of France (part 2)

25 Mars 2011 - La Baule

Drove further west to a seaside place at the southern edge of Brittany. According to wiki, La Baule "boasts a 12 km-long beach which is the longest in Europe". Cool. We reached the Hôtel Saint Christophe first which is further inland, then walked out to the beach from there. When you don't expect anything and something like that greets you, you can't help but feel that it is vastly beautiful.. The weather was almost summer-like which explains the sunny photos. T'was cold still but I think the French take to it very well; just look at them sunning themselves on the beach!

Strolled along the sidewalk and veered towards the town center halfway through. Couldn't possibly walk all 12 km :) Pleasant-looking town which we felt resembles Deauville, another seaside place up north. A little touristic (by that I mean the French themselves as tourists instead of people of other nationalities) save for a number of local designer boutiques which we always prefer to the good ol' brands..

Went back to the hotel to bring Tasha for another stroll in the other direction. Then we started spotting weird old skinny houses squashed between big squarish buildings like the one in the photo!

Here's our charming hotel and the church opposite which looks good lighted up even though it's under renovation.

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.