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A colorful carousel is a site
common to nearly every French ville. |
Since we returned to France from our three-week trip to the U.S., Ken has spent nearly every day trimming our unruly
pommier (apple tree). With the weather getting colder every day, we decide
une petite escapade is in order, so we head several hours north to the Charente-Maritime department.
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| Cognac |
The guidebooks tell us we must taste Cognac on our first stop, but we have a long road ahead and neither of us particularly love Cognac (the drink). But we stop for coffee and a W.C. break. Ken is most impressed that a rugby team is at the caf
é, having coffee and playing cards.
Next, we head to Saintes. While we ponder where to eat lunch, we check out the Roman Arch of Germanicus (AD 19), which used to mark the entrance to the only bridge over the lower Charente River.
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| Arch of Germanicus, Saintes |
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| Arch of Germanicus, Saintes |
For lunch, Ken boldly tries the
plat de jour (something to do with veal liver ...
mon dieu!), and I choose a big bowl of
fruits de mer.
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| Saintes |
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| Saintes |
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| Saintes |
We work off lunch with a long walk through the city's garden, and admire other landmarks as we search of Saintes's first- century Roman amphitheater.
It's a longer trek than we had anticipated, and by the time we get to the amphitheater, we decide to skip the entrance, take some pictures from afar, and head back to the car.
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| Roman amphitheater, Saintes |
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| Roman amphitheater, Saintes |
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| Roman amphitheater, Saintes |
Unlike our usual mode, we intend to be footloose and fancy free on this trip. I haven't made any room reservations; our friends have assured us we would have no trouble finding places to stay. I had written down the addresses of some promising gites and chambres de l'hôtel. Good thing, too! Our first two stops (about 50 km from Santes) come up empty: the first is locked up tight and the second is full. We pull out our emergency phone and finally find a place (50 km back the way we have come). Turns out we hit the mutha load: a gracious welcome, a comfy room and a phenomenal breakfast in the morning, complete with a wide assortment of homemade
confitures.
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| La Rochelle |
It's raining as we say goodbye to our hosts, Patricia and Daniel at Magasin de la Coinche. If we ever find ourselves in
Chérac, we certainly will stay at this B&B again. But now, it's on to our primary destination: La Rochelle.
A few nervous minutes of big-city driving, and we are safely parked in an underground garage. With my 20-
centime guidebook procured from the
office de tourisme in hand, and with a gusty
vent blowing, we're ready to explore this
belle ville maritime.
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| La Rochelle |
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| La Rochelle |
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| La Rochelle |
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| La Rochelle |
As is our custom, each day at noon, we are hungry and it's time for
déjeuner. I tackle more
crevettes and their cousins, this time in a delightful salad. Ken has something else: decidedly NOT veal liver.
Mid-afternoon, we decide to let our fingers do the walkin' and we call about a dozen B&B's with no luck; everyplace is full. So we decide to look for a room in one of La Rochelle many small hotels.
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The view from our room at
Hôtel de Paris, La Rochelle |
The receptionist at the
Hôtel de Paris hands us the key to No. 3 and urges us to check out the
chambre. Converted from two rooms into one, the room is huge and quite clean. It overlooks one of La Rochelle's charming little shopping streets.
Oui! This will be more than acceptable, we decide.
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| La Rochelle |
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| La Rochelle |
Down the block, there is another carousel to photograph on Place Verdun. (Love those merry-go-rounds!) And in the morning, we visit La Rochelle's colorful
marché.
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| La Rochelle |
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| La Rochelle |
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| Rochefort |
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| Rochefort |
We finally are graced with a blue sky when we arrive in Rochefort. Another city with with a rich maritime history, Rochefort's main attractions are ... not stinky cheese, if that's what you're thinking ... its shipyard and Corderie Royale, where visitors can explore the art of rope-making.
Our last stop is the tiny, picturesque village of Talmont sur Gironde (pop. 100). The village was built in 1284 by England's King Edward the first. Our brochure says Talmont is a "peninsula on the estuary of the Gironde river (the biggest of Europe)." (I'm not sure if the pamphlet refers to the peninsula, the river, or the estuary, but I suspect it is the estuary that is the continent's largest.) Since it's off-season, Talmont is pretty much closed up, but the day is glorious, and Ken and I agree that our time here has been well-spent. What a perfect ending to our impromptu little autumn getaway.
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| Talmont sur Gironde |
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| Talmont sur Gironde |
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| Talmont sur Gironde |
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| Approaching Eglise Ste-Radegonde, Talmont sur Gironde |
Even in this part of rural France, one can choose to Christmas shop at the Walmart-type (sans mal) store or virtually shop at Amazon.fr. This probably is how most people do their holiday shopping. But although all the grands magasins are decked with more than enough lights and tinsel, and even though a recent trip to Toys R Us in Bordeaux assured us that les enfants in France covet the same kind of crap, I mean toys, for which American children ask Santa, our rural corner of France offers another option for holiday shopping. 
There are A LOT of Brits in this part of France, so it isn't surprising that many of the vendors are britannique. Our friends assure us that Christmas markets are popular in the U.K. But there also are many French vendors, offering items made with their own, talented hands.
And, when we get home, we can chow down on some surprisingly delicious pruneaux enrobèes au chocolat. Hey! Don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em! 
