Most of this day was spent in Vannes, a lovely city about an hour and a half from Benodet. We'd already been there before but not for a few years so we decided to go and do a bit of shopping and explore the city. Unfortunately the weather wasn't too great and since living in Paris I hardly ever travel in a car anymore (almost never actually) and now seem to be prone to car sickness...by the time we arrived I didn't feel so well.
Anyway we managed to have a few hours in the city before it started to rain. We explored an indoor market, the Cathedral, some nice shops (managed to find 2 new pairs of shoes, thanks Pops) and devoured an enormous club sandwich at a cute little cafe in the central square.
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| Vannes and his wife |
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| The main square |
The weather was terrible on Tuesday night so we decided to stay in, drinking red wine and eating copious amounts of bread and cheese whilst watching Ghost together. We also dyed my hair...unfortunately instead of my normal honey blonde dye mum accidentally bought natural honey for blondes. I'm not originally blonde so now I'm slightly too blonde but it will fade, right? (>>>) What a perfect evening, it almost felt like I was at home in our living room!Wednesday
After a restful night we woke up early to cycle to Mousterlin, a little town about 3-4 km away. We cycled through Fousenant, the little town where we had the delicious meal on the first night and picked up some fresh Breton style pancakes (with chocolate chips). We actually bought a sealed packet that had cold pancakes in but when I asked the lady working there to open the packet as we wanted to eat them straight away she offered to give us fresh pancakes straight off the hot plate. They were absolutely delicious and we were so grateful, people are so kind in Britanny!
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| Mum and dad enjoying the cycle and the fresh pancakes from Fousenant! |
On our way back we stopped at a little pub called 'The Queen's Pub' and had a quick Breton cider before continuing to cycle. Honestly, you can't match Breton cider, it's just so tasty. It tastes like it's made only of pure apples that just ripened, fell off the tree and into the glass. Delicieux. Later in the afternoon we went to L'Eclerc (one of France's huge supermarkets, a bit like Carrefour but bigger). You are probably wondering why I keep harping on about supermarkets but I have to explain to you why France officially has the best supermarkets in the world. In L'Eclerc you can find and buy just about anything you need. There are clothes, books, electronics, domestic utilities, food, drink, a separate bakery, a fresh seafood area, a meat section which is effectively it's own fresh butchers, a separate cheese section which could be a fromagerie it's so big and even it's own wine section (including 'La Cave' for the more precious wines). It's like dying and going to supermarket heaven.
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| Cheese, glorious cheese |
On Thursday we decided to cycle to a little village just outside Benodet called Sainte Marine. It didn't take us very long at all, maybe 45 minutes in total. It was very very small but had some pretty little cafes and a small port. We decided to take the tiny ferry back across to Benodet because it was possible to take the bikes with us and it crossed the river to an area of the town we hadn't explored yet. We spotted La Croisette a restaurant recommended to us by our neighbours and decided we would come back and go there for dinner later that night. As normal we cycled back to the campsite, picking up fresh bread from the bakery on the way back and sitting on our little terrace to have lunch.
Mum and I went for a swim afterwards in the gorgeous pool, exploring the whirlpool tunnel and jacuzzi pool as Dad took photos (he's not so keen on water). When we got back to our mobile home dad was up to his old mischief again. My dad is nearly 60 years old but continues to be a big kid at heart, he's always playing tricks on people, especially my mum. As she got in the shower he decided to turn the tap on so that the water would run cold in the shower, mum gasped and started cursing while dad and I were in heaps of hysterics on the sofa. Poor mum. Although it's worse when Lydia is around, her and dad are like the gruesome twosome.
We went to La Croisette for dinner and it was absolutely wonderful. We all wished we had found it sooner as it was great value for money and the waiter was really pleasant (and funnily enough originally from Paris)! He asked me if I was studying and looked shocked when I explained I was an English teacher (yes I look sixteen, I know). I convinced dad to have an Ile Flottante (a Floating Island) for dessert as it is typically French and absolutely yummy. From his expression he seemed to like it...!
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| Enjoying his Ile Flottante |
Our last day sadly!
We decided to go back to Concarneau because after the cycling palava on Monday we didn't really have time to explore the walled city very much so we wanted to visit a second time, oh and Mum wanted a fruit bowl. I started reading 50 Shades of Gray in the car because everyone has been raving about, I got to chapter 8 before wanting to hurl the book in the bin. It's awfully written, distasteful and honestly quite disturbing. If you like good books, don't waste your time with this trilogy! On the other hand I read Jill Mansell's A Walk in the Park in 3 days (it's over 400 pages) which is well worth a read. Her books are pretty girlie but so well written and thoroughly enjoyable, a perfect holiday book.
Anyway I'm sidetracking. When we arrived at Concarneau there was an outdoor market so we explored that first, looking at vintage items, tasting cheese, olives, Breton cakes, fresh cooked pork and much more. I bought some postcards, a friendship bracelet for my sister and I (we've sort of started a tradition of collecting them together) and a keyring to add to my already big assortment. We had a lovely lunch of fish soup and mussles and the sun came out all afternoon.
We went back to Quimper a little earlier (as that's where I was catching the train from) and we hadn't explored the old town yet. It's a shame we didn't have more time actually as it was really beautiful with an old, prestigious cathedral and typically Breton style architecture. The only downside was the toilets were the kind built into the floor (it still baffles me that the French have these), it's so medieval! After a quick walk around the town we headed back to the station where we had an emotional goodbye on the platform. I told mum not to cry but it never ever works, she always starts blubbing, bless her. Actually I found myself welling up (I'm usually the strong one) because it had just been such a fantastic week. I had really needed the break from Paris and the difficult past few months. It reminded me how important family is and even though sometimes they drive you mad, there is nothing more valuable than family. So to my dear mum and dad, I know I can be a pain in the arse sometimes but I really do love you both more than a chubby child loves chocolate cake.
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