Thursday, July 8, 2004

Another day of grey skies, 40-50 knot winds, and lots of rain arrived. Cold. We decided to do some exploring anyway, and started our drive with lunch (again) in Cafe Rivoli in Pontivy. This time we sat farther from the open doors to the sidewalk.

F had read about a church in Mur-de-Bretagne, and a beautiful lake with tree-lined gorges nearby, so we headed north following an inadequate map. As current luck would have it, Ste. Suzanne church was closed (exceptionally) for the day, so we could only walk around it and shoot a few pictures between rain showers. We then visited a ruin under restoration--the Abbeye de Bon Repos, and were charged 3 euros apiece to wander around in an empty shell of a building that would be restored to its full early splendor in the coming years for the sake of Sound and Light shows for tourists like us. The "gorges" turned out to be as underwhelming as the lake, and the Abbeye, so we gave up on local attractions. We stopped at the giant LeClerc store in Pontivy (the Walmartization of France is inevitable, it seems, and every town's edge is ringed with Intermarchés and Géants and Mr. Bricolages, and other signs of globalization). F needed socks and we had run out of coffee, so we contributed to the destruction of France profonde by making a couple small purchases.

F's evening menu was lamb chops and potatoes fried in duck fat (the BEST way ever to cook them), and added a huge artichoke and salad to the mix, while I made another warm fire in the woodstove, and we discussed whether we should just head south for some sun, since rain was predicted on and off for several more days. After dinner F misjudged one of the steps down to the kitchen and sprained her ankle badly, thus ending all thought of long hikes, biking, swimming, and other plans we'd had for our stay in the gite.

We'd had LOTS of luck, and almost all of it bad.

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