From Nantes to Vannes

After a lengthy drive, we finally arrived in Vannes, France. Though the distance was short, we were our normal selves and got lost a number of times; it was fun to see the beautiful French countryside, though. Jean-Jacques and I remarked to one another that it reminded us of the Willamette Valley, Benin, and San Juan Island. 

Once we arrived in Vannes, we tried to check into our B&B, but the owner wasn’t around so we drove into the city center to explore. We walked along the docks, passed by touristy shops in the old city, and enjoyed some Perrier at a café. Jean-Jacques crashed when we finally were able to check into our room, so I had to venture out to find dinner. Unfortunately, the only grub within walking distance was a Chinese restaurant; I ordered sweet and sour pork and a beef dish. It wasn’t thrilling, but it fed us. It’s already late, so I’m heading off to bed! I think we’re going to Carnac tomorrow, so that should be an interesting outing.

Nantes, France

We’re now in France! Yesterday, we woke up at around 5:00 AM, took showers, ate a small breakfast of a banana, lugged our bags to the Tube, got off at the train station, took two high speed trains, and arrived in Nantes at around 5:30 PM. We checked into our hotel, took naps (I slept for about 2 hours), walked to a Carrefour and bought some bread and cheese for dinner. When we were finished with everything, it was about 11:00 PM; the time is deceiving because it stays light so late that it feels much earlier than the real time.


This morning we ate breakfast in our room and left at around 10:00 AM to explore the city of Nantes; this was a little later than normal, but we decided to take it a little easier today since it was Sunday. As we were walking along the river, we noticed some police cars and ambulances driving up to a spot near a bridge. When we got a little closer, we discovered that the authorities were investigating a body and I glimpsed the dead man’s face. Needless to say, it was one of my first experiences with seeing dead people (I might have seen a couple of people in China, though) and it was rather sad. It definitely put a damper on the rest of the day.

After seeing the deceased man, we continued walking and soon heard a kitten mewing. Confused by the sound because we were on a busy street, we decided to investigate and found a little kitten who was stranded in some bushes. It took a few minutes of our best cat impersonations, and some crawling around in the bushes, but Jean-Jacques was finally able to grab the kitty. We had to ask a few people if they knew about an animal shelter that was close before we found a family (mother, father, and toddler) who wanted to take the cat (either to adopt it or to run it to the shelter). They were thrilled and so were we, so all ended up well in the kitty rescue!


At this point, I discovered that I had left my purse in the hotel room. I’m not sure how Jean-Jacques manages to put up with my forgetfulness sometimes, because this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. Once I realized my mistake, we rapidly retraced our route back to the hotel (which, strangely enough, caused blisters on our feet) to recover the wallet. Fortunately, nothing had been taken, so the mishap had a happy ending.


We headed out into the heat again, though by this time Jean-Jacques and I were rather warm. We walked around Nantes for about an hour before we found the restaurant where we ate lunch, which was voted the best in the region. Deciding to splurge to celebrate Jean-Jacques’ job offer, we went with the menu special of a three course meal and were thrilled by our choice. I had a leg of lamb, Jean-Jacques chose the fish, and we both agreed that it was one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten. The restaurant’s décor was breathtaking and the food outstanding. 


Once we finished lunch (at around 3PM), we decided that it was time to return to the hotel because our blisters were hurting too much and we were rather overheated. There’s a reason that people in France relax during the middle of the day in the summer! It’s too darn hot to do much more than sit around enjoying coffee and conversation. 


This evening we ate dinner in the room because we had some left over food and were too full from lunch to eat a large meal. In total, I think we walked about six miles, so I’m sure we’ll sleep well tonight!


Tomorrow we’re picking up our car here in Nantes and driving to Vannes, which is about two hours away. Along the way, I think we’re going to stop at some stone formations that are similar to Stone Henge. À demain!

Last day in London

We spent our final day in London visiting museums; I visited three and Jean-Jacques, two. This morning, we went to the Natural History Museum and had a great time meandering through all the impressive exhibits. We took a short break from touring to eat lunch at a small, but incredibly authentic Italian restaurant. Jean-Jacques had risotto and I ordered an eggplant penne dish that was delicious! 


Since our tastes sometimes differ, Jean-Jacques and I split up to explore different museums; I chose to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum and saw some wonderful pieces of art from the Middle East, China, Korea, Japan, India, and Europe. Jean-Jacques was interested in spending all of his time in the Science Museum, so he went there while I was at the V&A and I met up with him later.


It was another night “in” for us and we got doner kebabs for dinner. I’m now off to bed since it’s an early day tomorrow; we’re going through the Chunnel, which is something that I vowed I’d never do because it’s terrifying. Funny how I always end up doing the things I swore I never would -- get married at a young age, travel to Asia, eat scary things, and pass through the Chunnel. 

London, Day 4

What another busy and fascinating day in London! We began our journey at the Imperial War Museum where we saw an emotional, but educational, exhibit on the Holocaust. The museum was well put together and had fascinating artifacts and information about airplanes, tanks, WWI, WWII, spies, nautical battles, and many other things. 


After the museum, we started walking towards Waterloo Bridge hoping to find an outdoor book market; along the way we stopped for lunch at a small Thai place. Unfortunately, the books weren’t out, but we did find some frozen yoghurt (and it was real frozen yoghurt, not the fat free ice cream version that we get in the states) that we ate on the bank of the Thames. The pigeons tried to attack me more than once, but I bravely fought them off. 

Once we had finished our refreshing dessert, we tried to find a Tube station, but had a hard time locating one, so we wandered around for a while. We visited a hat shop, a bookstore, had some tea, and witnessed a rent ceremony.  As part of this ancient tradition, we saw a man who was dressed up in “ye olde” clothes parade down the street with some important royal (or we assumed it was because he was driven around in a fancy car with a royal sign on the roof); accompanying the two was a marching band playing New Orleans music. The whole scene was rather bizarre and left the two of us wondering if we dreamed the experience. 


Since we were exhausted, we decided to call it a day at five thirty and return to the B&B to relax for the evening. I processed some photos, we watched some of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, and enjoyed resting our feet. Tomorrow will be our last day in London and we're planning to visit the Science Museum and Natural History Museum.

London, Day Three

Dr. Who fans will recognize this!

I know these posts are often devoid of exciting vignettes, and are mostly lists of things that we've done during the day, but by the time I am able to write, my eyelids are usually about "half mast", so it's a struggle to jot down notes. My main goal is to keep track of what we do so that I can remember everything later. I'll stop trying to rationalize or explain my lack of creativity and simply relate the day's events.

Today we visited Greenwich, snuck in a gate to take a picture at the Prime Meridian (it cost 7 pounds to officially enter the "museum", but we noticed an unlocked gate close to the meridian line, so we entered, took our pictures on the line, and left), spent a little time at the Maritime Museum (it had a very confusing layout and half of the exhibits were closed because of maintenance, so it was rather disappointing), and ate a fish and chips lunch in an authentic English pub, though we both vowed that it would probably be the last time we eat much friend food. The fish and chips were delicious, and we had some mashed peas (a very traditional English dish), but after eating oily Chinese food for ten months, our grease tolerance isn't what it used to be, so we're sticking to salads and other healthy food for now. 

Golders Green, where we're staying in London. Pretty cool, huh?

We then took the Tube to a shopping center close to the BBC television center, where we had some tea and scones, wandered around a mall, and took a tour of the BBC. As we were walking around the BBC station, we saw Barry Manilow. The whole experience at the BBC was wonderful and extremely educational, especially after our experience of participating in the taping yesterday. After our time at the "Beeb", we caught the Tube back to the area where we’re staying and picked up some Turkish take-out, which was delicious!

I’ve been editing photos for a very long time now, but I’m finished for the evening and I’m going to go to bed soon.

London, Day 2

Man was it a long day! We’ve been out on the town for a good thirteen hours this Tuesday, but every second was either educational, entertaining, or enjoyable. 


The journey started with a rather lengthy bus ride past 221 Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes Museum (though we didn’t stop in to visit) to Picadilly Circus; we then visited a HMV (it sells music, videos, and books); stopped at Hamleys and saw all five floors of the Mecca of toy shops; ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant; walked to Trafalgar Square; strolled through St. James’ Garden; snapped some photos of Buckingham Palace (which was much smaller than I thought it would be); found our way to Harrods where we bought some cheese and rode the escalators in an Egyptian-themed stairwell. We needed a break at this point, so we stopped in a Starbucks (I know we’re terrible!) for a quick refreshing beverage. After this, we walked to the Science Museum, were greeted by a woman who asked if we’d be interested in taking part in a science experiment about color that was being filmed by the BBC; we agreed to participate and ended up spending the next five hours doing various tests, being filmed, waiting to do tasks, or waiting for the film crew to prepare everything. We had a wonderful time learning about TV production and chatting with the locals. 


The best part of our day happened when we arrived back at the B&B and found out that Jean-Jacques had been offered a HS science job at Mt. Si in Snoqualmie, WA. We’re so excited, though I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet. This process has been so long and involved that it’s wonderfully relieving to have it over. Plus, we could never have dreamed of such a wonderful location. Yay!

London, Day 1

It’s official, Jean-Jacques and I are no longer in China. On Saturday, we were driven to the Hefei train station, where we caught a high speed train to Shanghai; we spent the night in a posh hotel and woke up relatively early to catch our 11  AM flight to London. The plane was about two hours late because of some problems with paperwork concerning fuel calculations, but eventually we took off and twelve hours later landed in the UK. Surprisingly enough, the flight passed quickly (I watched four movies, so that helped me remain comfortable) and uneventfully. 


It was a fun-filled, but busy first day in London. We woke up fairly early (6:45 AM), ate a full English breakfast (eggs, toast, beans, sausage, and bacon) in the dining room of our B&B; caught a couple of buses to try to get into the city, but ended up taking the “Tube” instead because it was faster; saw Big Ben & Parliament; rode a boat upriver to the Tower of London (which is a castle complex that was first built by William the Conquerer in 1070); grabbed lunch from a deli-style restaurant called Absolutely Starving!; ate our meal on the bank on the Thames; toured the WWII warship HMS Belfast; and ate a delicious dinner at an authentic pizza place. We’ve walked a lot, and it was a great day.