On Saturdays and Sundays, from March to November, Paris shuts down some of the highways the run along the Seine. On the Right Bank the road is closed to motorized traffic from the Tuilleries to the Pont Charles De Gaulle. On the left bank, a portion of the Voie Expresse Rive Gauche is also closed, from near the Eiffel Tower to Bridge de la Concorde, where you can then switch to the right side. During July and August it may always closed to motorized traffic. Bikers share the highway with “rollers” and pedestrians. Since the views along the Seine are spectacular, this is a popular outing and something we try to do every Sunday we are in Paris.
Our travels today took us from Dol de Bretagne southeast to Fougeres and Vitré. Both are towns with chateaus and medieval castles, and some of the best examples of them in France. They are two of our favorites. It’s so difficult to have favorites in France, as there are so many wonderful French villages, but these two rank up at the top.
Fourgeres is divided into two, with a lower part encompassing a medieval castle and town, and the upper, more modern town of Fougeres. A good way to start is in the upper part of town and then work your way downwards to the castle. You can walk through the public gardens of Place aux Arbres, which features terrific views of the castle medieval town below, and features hundred different versions of ferns (Figueres translates to fern). As you go walk through the gardens by way of a footpath you’ll make your way to the lower part of town (actually more scenic as most of the upper town had burned down in a fire in the 18th century) and the castle. As always, grab a map at the tourism office.
Our special in-room dinner service began with a wonderful massage for both of us, which was just what we needed after a long day of exploring medieval chateaus and towns in Brittany. It was followed by a fire lit in the large fireplace in our room, served with a demi-bouteille of champagne and appetizers. As the last sips of the champagne went down, the Manoir staff re-appeared to set up our table with salad plates, a bottle of Bordeaux and a wooden cutting board with a large raw coté de Boef steak and aluminum wrapped baked potatoes. They then set up a special grill in the fireplace and left us with instructions that when we were ready, to grill the steak five minutes each side and reheat the already baked potatoes. We followed the instructions shortly after and the end result was a fantastic dinner for two by the fire in our room. Quite something. Oh yes, almost forgot. Dessert were to small pots, individual-sized with an apple crisp topped with chocolate chunks. A few minutes on the grill and we had hot dessert to finish off an unforgettable dining experience at the Manoir de la Begaudiere.
On day four we left Morlaix on D786 northeast to Lannion. Lannion reminded us very much of Quimper. We had lunch on the town bridge, which one of the few bridges in Europe that are still occupied (the other famous one is in Prague). We had lunch at one of the restaurants on the bridge that looked cute, but it wasn’t great. Too often those restaurants in great locations unfortunately do not have great food. They don’t have to, tourists go to them because they are conveniently located. We prefer to search for our food!
After Lannion we headed over to Saint– and Perros Guirec. This is just a great coastline for exploring and unusual due to its coloring. Known as the “Côte de Granit Rose” (pink granite coast), it stretches for more than 30 kilometres from Plestin-les-Greves to Louannec and is one of the outstanding coastlines of Europe. This special pink rock is rare and can be found in only three other places in the world; Ontario, Canada, Corsica and China.
On our third day in Bretagne we headed further north close to the town of Morlaix, to a chateau called Chateau du Bois de la Roche, near Garlan and a few minutes outside of Morlaix.
On the way we first visited the coast taking D887 out of Port Launay to Camaret-sur-Mer. This is a rugged coastline with a lighthouse out on a point. There’s numerous trails to take and worth doing. If you drive right out to the point of Camaret there is parking and you’ll find the trail. Be careful with your footing in some of the areas!
After that we continued on E60 and on the way we turned off before Brest to visit Landerneau. We were close to Brest but decided to skip it. Its rather large town, much of it new as it was bombed quite a bit during WWII, so we decided on Landerneau instead. Landerneau is actually quite similar to Quimper. We enjoyed walking its old town streets, lined with well-preserved half-timbered buildings.
We continued on to the Chateau to get checked in and take a nap. The Chateau is owned by a German who bought the chateau with his wife some years before. Unfortunately shortly the purchase of the chateau she died of cancer. He now rents out rooms, helped out by his son, while he takes care of the large property. Our room was on the third floor, shared with two other rooms. They were empty, which means the common sitting area and the shared bathroom, were all for us to use. This is something to be aware of when taking a room at a Chateau; do you get your own bathroom? If not, do you mind sharing? We prefer our own, but forgot to ask this time. Fortunately it worked out for us.
We took this trip at the beginning of June of 2012. We attended the wedding in St. Gildas (Bay of Morbihan) of Flo’s brother Tony to Christine, and then rented a car and headed north. We had a week to make a quick tour around peninsula of Finistere, to see what we liked and what we may want to come back to in the future. Flo’s sister has a newly built summer home in St. Gildas so we knew we’d be visiting this area regularly in the future.
Pack as light as possible. Do you really need to be packing the latest Nikon SLR with five lenses around with you? How good are your photos really going to be, or, how much better than a $300 camera that if you lose it or its stolen, its not a problem?
Back up, Back up, Back up. Don’t delete the photos on your camera; that a back-up. Back-up every night to your computer, that’s a back-up. Be on iCloud so you can sync and have your photos also on your computer back home, and in the cloud.
If you have an iPhone, try out the Aps HDR Pro and DMD. With regards to HDR Pro, it works best with about a 50/50 distribution of light, meaning 50% is overexposed and 50% is under exposed. Works best with clouds in the sky, not blue skies. And the bigger, darker the clouds the better. Works well when you have water in front of you to bounce reflections off of, the effect you get in places like Venice. Or on lakes in the later part of the day. They are amazing. Here’s some samples of what they can do.[slideshow]
Avoid shooting photos during mid-day. The best light is in the morning and at sun-down (the golden hour). Don’t shoot into the sun, unless you really know what you are doing.
Use the flash to fill in light, especially to get rid of shadows on people’s faces. When shooting people in scenes, I’ll just leave the flash on.
In October of 2011 we visited Tuscany, first flying into Vienna for a few days and then taking the train over to Florence. We stayed in Florence for a couple of nights, then rented a car and drove down to Sienna on Highway SR222. This a beautiful drive with a number of places worth visiting along the way. From Siena we did side trip visits to Monteriggioni, Colle di Val d’Elsa, San Gimignano and Volterra. After a couple of days in Siena we drove down to Montepulciano, staying at a chateau just outside of the town, called Dionora. From here we visited Montepulciano, Pienza, San Quirico and Montalcino. A week was just about right, with three days in Florence, two days in Siena and two days near Montepulciano, to become quite familiar with Tuscany and discover which places we like best to come back for a longer visit. Here’s some of the things we recommend.
Florence, Tuscany, Duomo
Florence, Pont Vecchio
Florence and the Arno River, view from Ponte Vecchio
We started our 2011 Tuscany trip with first a visit to Venice and ended it by driving down to Rome.
Venice is Venice. Nothing quite like it anywhere else and it should be on everyone’s bucket list. The problem with it being on everyone’s list is that it can be terribly crowded, and there isn’t a lot of room on some of those streets. Or I guess they aren’t streets but actually sidewalks and promenades.
If you go there, try to go when it is off-season, or as much off-season as Venice gets. Summer months, vacations times, school breaks and long weekends, check the calendar well before you make those reservations. We were there in early October and it was still crowded, but doable. We kept away from the main fairways as much as possible but even then, all we could think was, wow, if this is October, what is August like?
There’s not a better way to get around Paris and really see the town. But its not for the faint of heart!
The transportation systems in Paris are first class, with a proven metro grid, functioning bus system with on-time routes, and fast-running trains that provide easy access in and out of one of the world’s most fascinating cities. But within Paris, getting around is quick, easy and more enjoyable by bike, especially using the Velib system implemented a few years ago. For just a couple of dollars a day, one can use one of the thousands of bikes available at hundreds of locations throughout Paris. Just charge your credit card and the bike is yours for 30 minutes, which is usually quick enough to get to your next destination. Want to ride longer? The cost is just one euro every 30 minutes. But the best way to use Velib is in 30 minute increments and then there’s no extra charge. Ride, park and walk. When ready, ride again for 30 minutes and then park and walk. That way your ride is never more than $2 dollars a day. Continue reading “Biking in Paris”
