Brittany

Our trip to Brittany was full of wonderful surprises and beautiful sights. This was what we called out trip of Chambre d'Hotes, Picque-Nicques, Flowers and Surprises.

CHAMBRE d'HOTES - Every night except the last 2, we stayed in wonderful B&B's where we met great hosts and ate wonderful breakfasts, most of them homemade. Each was different, and yet each was a wonderful adventure. We also met interesting fellow travelers at several of these B&B's. The only two nights that we prearranged were the 1st two. Otherwise each and every day around 5:00 pm the search for accomodations would begin. The searches led us down lanes and paths we would not have traversed had we prearranged our accomodations. There are many stories to tell about the arranging itself. Some are fun, others are wonderful stories of help from the locals, only one was not acceptable and we left that one in a hurry only to find a lovely one not far away.

PICQUE-NICQUES - Every day of our trip we had a picque-nicque, albeit the last day we had it in the car because of the rain that would start and stop and start again. We had picnics on oceansides, on beaches, in towns, parks, meadows, and even church yards. We had local cheese, fresh bread of many forms and shapes, delicious crisp apples, rotisserie chicken with roasted potatoes and small bottles of wine or big bottles of cider. Sometimes, but not often we had a dessert.

Picnic was borrowed from French piquenique, a word which seems to have originated around the end of the 17th century. It is not clear where it came from, but one theory is that it was based on the verb piquer `pick, peck' (source of English pick), with the rhyming nique perhaps added in half reminiscence of the obsolete nique `trifle.' Originally the word denoted a sort of party to which everyone brought along some food; the notion of an `outdoor meal' did not emerge until the 19th century.

FLOWERS - Every day of our trip was filled with backdrops of flower gardens. Flowers on houses, flowers along the road, along the coast, inside church closes. The flower for the area was the hydraengia. They were all over the place. Some were bright blue, others had begun to fade and wore beautiful fall colors. Bright red, blazing blue and brilliant yellow flowers were everywhere.

SURPRISES - We were surprised by the weather and the climate. We took raincoats well expecting to wear them each and every day. They were never removed from our suitcases. We took sweaters and warm things. By noon we were stripping things off because of the warmth of the sun. The landscape surprised us. We expected barrenness being that it's close to the channel and to the sea. It only gets so when really close to the water. Otherwise it's lush and full and woods abound and fields of crops fill the landscape from east to west. What a wonderful part of this country.

Many people ask us if this area is as beautiful as the village of Lourmarin in the south and its surrounding area. What we say is this ... when comparing two regions, one familiar, the other new, it's difficult to disassociate oneself from the familiar things like people and relationships that have been built over ten years. Once you are able to disassociate those feelings of friendship and familiarity, then you can begin to compare the two regions. Both are beautiful in their own way. One is not more beautiful than the other. There are beautiful scenes in both areas, wonderful hiking in each, markets abound in both and the French people are wonderfully engaging from either region.

Brittany is obviously very tied to the sea. The foods, the coast line, the boats and harbors all provide for a wonderful experience. Apple and pear laden trees, exquisite farms, beautiful rolling hills, the celtic influence. The small harbor villages are certainly a draw. They are cozy and very picturesque. There is this cozy element that is not present in Provence.

Provence has color, mountains and a much different geographic experience than what we are used to. The vineyards are beautiful and the houses with clay tile roofs provide for a wonderful backdrop. The Mediterranean is obviously there, but they are not tied to the sea like the people in Brittany. It's just different.