Mont St. Michel - here we come!

These few pictures don't give enough credit to the beauty of this monastery! Suffice it to say that this was a side trip that we're ALL so glad we took. Even from a distance this place takes one's breath away; it's so cool that there are no obstructions to block the view from miles away! We can only imagine how fabulous it must be on the inside! If we hadn't been on our way home, we might have considered spending the night here to get an inside look. But we did stay long enough to have supper before continuing our journey to the port in Belgium.

The reason we even went out of our way to see this place was because Ken's grandmother always had a picture of St. Michel on her dining room wall; he remembers thinking that he'd LOVE to see the real thing one day. As it turns out, we don't know if we actually found the right place because, though it sounds crazy, Ken actually discovered another Mont St. Michel - in England. These humans; always making things complicated.

Now I've got at least three reasons to visit England in the future! Stonehenge, Mont St. Michel (probably spelled differently) and the illusive crop circles! - Teddy

Car Repair Time

Like I said, we were fortunate to find a garage that was able to help us get back on the road quickly. The added plus was that the place was filled with all kinds of American memorabilia. It became apparent that there must be some closet line dancers in this part of France!

Ferry Ride from Quiberon Anyone?

Because we thought that we would be taking a ferry trip from this quaint seaside town of Quiberon, we thought we should investigate how long it would take to get there, etc. The town was well worth checking out - as was one of the neighboring beaches.






Unfortunately we had to miss this ferry trip because our car decided to break down! Fortunately, though there was a garage close by and the necessary car part arrived in time. It could have been a lot more stressful - after all, we had to get back to Belgium in time for the car's BIG ferry ride back to the United States.

Hey - did I hint that this wonderful European trip is almost finished? Not much more to blog now.

With mixed emotions, Teddy

P.S. NEXT time we're in this wonderful part of the world, we'll definitely try again to go for that ferry excursion to La Belle Isle. It sounded magnificent - even famous painters have gone there to capture the scenes and light.

Another Stone Henge in France

Me again! Begging for another explanation. WHO put these rocks in place so many, many years ago? They might not be as big as the ones in England (which I have yet to see) but they're much bigger than kids (or bears) can lift, that's for sure! We found these boulders near our 'home' and immediately had questions - one of them being "Why"? Maybe they were placed so neatly by ancient relatives of the guys who are currently doing those crop circles I blogged about? Just for fun, naturally.

By the way, we didn't actually get to see the artist who left his easel in place, either. This world sure is a curious one sometimes - Teddy (for K&M, too)

Discoveries Along the Coast

Weather this perfect begs for walks along a seashore. So, with Claudine as our guide again, the four of us admired the coastal homes and views, kids playing sand volleyball, a little cafe for a drink AND a mini-Stonehenge! (If a bunch of kids didn't do this for a fun school trip, then would someone please explain!?)


















Exhilarating days like this make one say: "Oh it's good to be a bear in the air!" - TR

La Trinite sur Mer

The town of La Trinite Sur Mer has so much to offer. No wonder it is almost always covered up with tourists. We stood amazed at the number of sailing masts standing tall in the harbor and at the pretty colors of the ships. We enjoyed it when the tide went out on the river - the boats sure looked funny parked on the mud. We watched kids coming in from their sailing lessons and felt the sea breezes every minute of every day. Talk about paradise.








Naturally some of the BEST days spent in this exquisite area were the ones we shared with our good friend, Claudine. She was such a terrific hostess and we all have such fond memories of our time together. (I think she likes me a lot!) Not only did she show us how to take care of their sweet old cottage but the meal we ate together in the garden was wonderful. Before she left to see their new granddaughter, she made sure we were well informed of all the touristy things that we would NOT want to miss and she took us on a pretty walk along the ocean, too (pics of that next).

We have such fond memories of our meal in that elegant restaurant, L'Arrosoir (next to the mayor's office where we got to plug in for the internet some days). And we sure talked a lot about Igor! We were all sorry that he had to miss out on our special times - but we know he was happy somewhere off the coast of Greece on his sailboat!

Maybe one day we'll join both of you there (your third home)!




One more picture before I leave you: some guy taking a picture of the back of our car! Apparently South Carolina license plates are pretty rare around these parts because (as I may have already told you) oftentimes we would be driving down the road and someone would have a camera out in the car behind us! I felt like such a celebrity - Teddy