So What If There is No Plan B

 

Linda waiting for the washer in our gite to do its thing. It appears to be a British made washer as the words on the dial are in English. No instructions were to be found though there were instruction booklets for everything else here and some for things that aren’t here. And there no instructions to be found on the Internet for this washer either.

No matter what Linda did there was no automatic in this automatic washer. Want it to wash, turn it to wash. Want it to rinse, turn it to rinse, the same for spin. It was obvious from Linda’s demeanor that French women don’t have much patience with British appliances.

What better to do on such a beautiful morning than take a stroll down the canal towpath.

We had a great time laughing and trying to identify the many different species of trees that were along the towpath.  It truly was one of those special times. We never did figure out what these markers along the canal said, but it didn’t matter. The idea of Live in the Moment was never more true.

Down around the bend is our gite. Life is not a dress rehearsal, don’t be afraid to love, laugh and retire early. They were the best things we ever did. And love and laugh, those we continue to do.

In the afternoon we drove over to the Museum of French Resistance, which focused on the French resistance to the German occupation during WW II. When we arrived it was closed. Not closed for mid day as many French businesses and museums are, closed as in closed.

During several of our drives over the past week, Linda remembered that one of the towns we passed through seemed to have what looked like an old mill. So what better to do than to drive that way and check it out. What a wonderful surprise it turned out to be as the town had a huge, pedestrian only, medieval area. How do we get so lucky?

Centuries old buildings lined the streets. We could only wonder what tales they could tell. How many people drive through this town but never drive a few blocks off the main road to discover this wonderland?

A pig. Linda’s favorite carving on this building from the 1400’s.

My favorite carving. It was to the right of the door. Did it mean it was once a tavern? Who knows, but it is what we love about exploring the small towns of Europe.

Centuries old side by side mills, dam, and a canal? Yes!!. Thousands of years old Dolmen and menhir? No way. They are just fake tourist attractions. You can fool most of the people most of the time but you can never fool Linda. Especially when it comes to megaliths.

Canal lock. It brought pleasant memories to mind.

I wasn’t going to post this. I didn’t know Linda had taken this photo, but…. Once every several years, unlike Linda who picks up a rock daily, I incur a rock in my shoe, so just to show that I am indeed human, here I am empting a huge boulder out of my shoe. Linda, are you happy now?

High water? They have major floods along this river. The round plaque records the high water in 2001.

It is difficult to pick out, but just below the top of this bridge over the canal is the plaque shown in the last photo. The canal boats pass through the opening under the trailer. I wonder if someday one of those boats will be carrying us. Bob and Linda, totally in love with Brittany.

I know exactly why Linda took a photo of this building. See the corner of the building that is not all there? More than several times in our travels in our RV we have seen corners in RV parks where someone has cut it too close and hit a building. It is good to know they do the same thing in Europe. It is also why we will never rent a RV in Europe. Driving a car is hard enough.

It’s not just this bridge, it’s the one lane curving road at the end of it. Years ago this was the only way to drive into Malestroit. Today we walked across it.

At one time this town had six mills. Today little remains.

Linda and “dead guys”, is she awesome or what. Walking along one of the old medieval streets of the town I looked back to see her peering into something. It turned out to be a Gallo-Roman Ossarium, a Roman era receptacle for the bones of “dead guys”. Could it be that besides marrying well, I married weird?

Linda said I did a good job of looking like the wooden sculpture, but my ears weren’t pointy enough. Pointy ears? She should be glad I could stick my tongue out that far.

Linda’s favorite creature on the town’s church.

My favorite creature on the town’s church. Obviously our tastes in church sculpture are different.

This is special. Today it may be a ruin but in 1343 the Kings of France and England signed a peace treaty in this church ending a war between them. Set back off the road, most people would drive right right by without ever stopping. For me, stopping here was beyond special.To know what places like this mean is to touch and understand history. And the best thing is that places like this are scattered all over France. Thank goodness Linda understands my penchant for stopping in the towns along the routes we drive.

Linda, aka, a beautiful young French woman, closing the gate to our gite. I simply can’t say enough about how awesome our last two weeks in Brittany have been and how sad we will be to have them come to an end. Brittany, we can’t wait to return for you are truly special.

Could this be a glimpse of times future? A canal boat moored alongside the Nantes-Brest Canal. Who knows.

Eight o’clock, time to head up into town for our evening meal. You have to be in Josselin and take this route at dusk to appreciate the beauty of this passage.

You think she is happy here, just wait till she tasted her food. It was one of the best, if not the best, meals we have ever had.

The menu board for our meal. Think foie gras and fish of the day. Think Gordon Ramsey blow away. It was that good.

Using bread to mope up the sauce after every course. Good, awesome, beyond awesome, none of those describes how good the different courses were.

Linda doesn’t like foie gras. Correction, Linda didn’t like foie gras. Linda ate every bit of her foie gras.

Before photo. An after photo would show that every bit of liquid in that bowl as well as every drop spilled on the piece of slate was mopped up.

Those that have been here understand.

No words needed.

The photo says it all. Bob and Linda and Brittany. For us it is the real France.