Le Mans, Fougeres, Kerfiac, Moncontour, Lehon, Jugon-les-Lacs FR 27 July - 2 September 2022 The first part of my time away from the boat was a French Immersion Course in Kerfiac - a small hamet in Brittany. Sunset from my bedroom window in Kerfiac I took a taxi on Saturday morning to pick up my hire car from Fontainbleu. By the time I got back to the boat and packed up it was already after 11am. I drove to Le Mans where I had a booked a hotel for the night, stopping 3 times on the way, once at a boulangerie, once for petrol and once for a toilet. After a bit of trouble finding the parking for the hotel I was checked in. The hotel was on the river so I had just a short walk into town. I only had a little time before a scheduled zoom call with friends in the USA. And after that I was too tired to go and find food, so I ate what I had, a tomato and some crackers. In the morning after breakfast, I decided to have further look around Le Mans' old town. There was a market so parking was scarce, but I was able to eventually find one, and have a short walk around. I found out that they light up quite a few buildings at night, and I had missed it. But it was still great to see some of the old town and the decorative old city wall. After that I set off for Fougeres which had an old large castle, and importantly for me a "petit train". This seems to be a good way for me to get around as it doesn't require walking and I still get to see many sites. I missed the 12:00 train so had time for a nice lunch before catching the next train. The internet site for the petit train said they a accepted credit cards, but it turned out that there was a problem and the driver couldn't accept them after all. But he nicely said he'd stop at an ATM for me which we did. The tour was in French but he provided a typed up street in English with a bit of information about the sites we visited. This included a stop to visit the gardens, which had a spectacular view of the castle and the church (St Leonard's). My next stop was Kerfiac, the small hamlet where I was to take the course. I arrived in time to unpack before dinner, where I met the family Bernard, his wife Veronique, son Theo and his wife Nicole, and also another student, Miles, who had started learning French from scratch 2 months ago and was now finished but still staying there. It was a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere. In the morning I had time to take a few photos before breakfast. Each morning I had lessons. Since it was one-on-one, they tailor the course to each individual. In my case it was mainly aimed at improving my comprehension, my fluidity, and my pronounciation. Hopefully, after 5 days, I have had some improvement. But both the teachers, Bernard and Theo were patient, supportive, helpful and fun. And I have some suggestions for further study. Each day except Wednesday I had lunch at a restaurant in Moncontour with Bernard and Veronique. (The restaurant was closed on Wednesday so we ate at home.) Moncontour is one of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France" so it was nice to have a look around one day after lunch. As I had my afternoons free I had a chance to do other things. One afternoon I drove up to the nearby Chappelle Notre-Dame des Sept Douleurs (Our Lady of Seven Sorrows). The story is that our lady helped the village ward off the plague and so they built a chapel in her honour. It is a little out of the village in a glade on a hill. Quite serene. After that I had a little drive around the local area as well. Another day I decided to drive into Dinan which about 40 minutes away, and is mentioned often as a nice place to visit. On my first visit there was no easy parking, the parking lots were all almost full, so I thought I'd drive down to the port. However there was a major traffic jam as the road to the port was having work done. When I finally reached it I had to go right to the end to get a parking spot, so I just stopped for a drink before giving up and driving to Lehon nearby. Lehon was also very busy due to a funeral being held at the abbey church. However I did eventually find a park down by the river and had a look around. I decided to give Dinan another try as I found that they had a Petit Train. So I headed in again on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately the parking lots near the square where the petit train starts were full, but I did find a park on the street a couple of blocks away. I walked over to the square and had about 30 minutes to wait for the train. However then I noticed the sign that said next train Friday at noon. So I gave up on Dinan again. It is quite a big town and somewhat daunting for me with my sore foot. So I decided to stop at Jugon-les-Lacs on the way home. I didn't know anything about it except that it was half-way home, and it looked like it was in a valley near a lake. Sure enough it was a quaint village so it wasn't a wasted afternoon. On Wednesday Martha and her daughter Rosa joined us. Rosa was the student, but Martha already spoke french so we still spoke french at meals. On Friday we had our last meal together at the little restaurant at Moncontour. The host was kind anough to take this photo of the group for me. Rosa, Martha, Bernard, Veronique, me And from there I drove off to my next adventure.
2 Comments
Johanna Hersey
2/9/2022 09:43:23 pm
Je suis impatiente de voir tes progrès et de connaître les suggestions de tes professeurs.
Reply
Pamela Dalgliesh
2/9/2022 10:55:33 pm
What a lovley time you seemed to have
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
|