Today was patromoine day = heritage day, so we took full advantage of free entrance to all public buildings in France. We started here in Vitre with the chateau which was not as impressive as Fougeres, but contained a stunning collection of silver, clothes and pickled and stuffed reptiles. I now know what I am going to do with the modelling clay Rosie gave me five years ago - see photo of fencing frogs, they are real stuffed frogs!!
We followed that with the St Nicholas monastery which is still a working hospital and contained magnificent wall paintings from the 15C. We had a bit of trouble with the local Breton language as Hollandaise, Anglaise and Irelandaise all sound the same and Vivi got a bit of a wobble on at the thought of being thought to be a DF. (our girls will know!!)
With Vitre done and dusted we caught the train to Rennes (30 miles a bit too much to cycle) starting in brilliant sunshine we managed to take in a good lunch a church, queued for the Tribunale (houses of parliament) and a really excellent exhibition at the Musee de Beaux Arte - worth the visit. Luckily the heavens then opened so we were spared further culture and returned to the station to catch the earlier train home and when we say the heavens opened we really mean it dumped down big time.
Fantastic news having been here a week plus, Mme Faucher had done all our washing for us so we can share a bed again!
Finally had supper in the best restaurant yet - Soupe de Choux where we ate duck and cod. Off to find where Arthur pulled The Excalibur from the stone tomorrow in the forest of Broceliande - so if anyone thinks Excalibur was found in Camelot or near Winchester think again the French got it!
If anyone knows how to communicate with us via this blog, suggestions would be welcome!!
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