Visited la rochelle cathedral yesterday. Very different construction to the one in Limoges a few days ago. Turns out it was only built between 1742 and 1784. Sat on an aisle seat at the back to take it all in. Because I was slightly off centre the symmetry didn’t feel quite right but it would have been impractical to have sat on the exact centre line. Not a biggie obvs. Just an observation. You probably know that the golden age of cathedral building took place during the High Middle Ages, roughly from 1140 to the early 14th century. This is my expectation of a cathedral tbh. Limoges met these expectations as does our own Lincoln cathedral. England was at war with France for much of the time the gaff in La Rochelle was being built and I imagine the town was likely a bit naval port. The architecture felt as if it was from that era.
Later I sat in the Jolly Sailor pub on the quayside whilst THG did some retail. Noted a guy there who moved tables three times and placed his saucer upside down on his coffee cup in between sips. I made a point of only speaking French to the waitress. Then later when we found somewhere for a bit of supper the waiter automatically spoke English to me. I said, with a smile, we don’t speak English which pleased the guy. They must be able to tell where we are from from how we dress. Must see what I can do to change that. Even if I struggle with the vocab I think it is important to try and speak the local lingo.
A young couple appeared on the table opposite. Looked very much like they were on honeymoon. She had a white tee shirt with AMOUR written on it.
Back at the hotel we felt obliged to use the bar. V classy joint and with very handy valet parking. It’s slap bang in the middle of the pedestrianised area so v handy for the town but also v inaccessible without the secret code for the moveable bollards blocking the road in. Sorry, I’d have to kill you if I told you the code…
Anyway back at the hotel the waiter also started to speak English with us. I dunno. We soon appraised him of the error of his ways. Had an ok brandy and then an early night. I find cognac a bit hit and miss. Thissun was notionally the best they had. Spanish brandy is more reliable. Brandy aside another classy feature of the hotel is that they don’t ask you to sign a chit for the bar bill. Annoys me really when they do that but I guess in big chains it’s an added security feature. We’ve all heard stories of everyone’s drinks being put on one person’s bar bill after they’ve gone to bed. Lots of good things I could say about the Maison des Ambassadeurs hotel but they will have to wait. We are heading down for breakfast.
We had almost finished breakfast before the coffee arrived. Uncharacteristic service level i thought relative to our general experience in the hotel. As soon as it came I ordered a second cup on the basis that if it took the same length of time the timing might be just right. It arrived almost straight away! Must have been waiting for a fresh batch for our first? Dunno how it works. Anyway we are now chillin in the room before heading north. Destination is Concarneau but we figure a stop in Vannes might break the journée and it is apaz a top destination in Brittany.
The hotel lobby is full of nauticalia, well a couple of model sailing ships, one of which is big but the other is just the right size for the shed. I know I already have a model yacht in the shed but this one is the dogs. I must remember to take a pic before we leave. Doubt the hotel would want to sell it to me anyway and I wouldn’t be able to slip it discretely into my overnight bag.
Right, gotta go. If you are in La Rochelle you couldn’t do much better than to stay in Maison des Ambassadeurs. It has v good wifi and a ThyssenKrupp lift, not that that bears any relevance. It’s just that normally they are Otis of Schindler. The breakfast is only 8 out of ten as I’d have expected better from a 5 star. joint but htere was nothing wrong with it per se other than the speed of the coffee service. The last time we stayed in La Rochell we were at Un Hotel en Ville. A small boutique job that didn’t have the services of Maison des Ambassadeurs but ranked 6 stars for the quality of the breakfast.
…
Bit of a marathon 220 miler to Hotel Les Sables Blancs in Concarneau 4 hours plus stops. It was obviously the last day of the summer hols for a lot of French people as the roads going away from the coast were rammed. We got to an equally rammed motorway junction and decided we might as well pull in to fill up and grab un cawfee. No unleaded at the pump we were at and, it turns out, none anywhere at those services. Moreover once you had committed to one pump there was no way back anyway. We were ok as we still had half a tank and continued the journey.
Once we had turned back towards the coast the traffic eased off and we had a long straight 198 km until our next turn off. We did find a petrol station with perhaps a third of a tank left so we pulled in. Chaotic spot. I bagged a pump whilst a caravan in front of me dithered. Then I found we had to prepay so in I went. Filled up and reversed to find a parking stop so that we could fuel up on caffeine but found that it was a bring your own cup job. There was no queue. Norrasurprise really.
Then finally we made it to Hotel Les Sables Blancs to find that all the parking spaces were occupied. Left THG in charge in front of a set of gates with “do not park” or similar and went in to check out the sitch. They have a private parking space 200m away. I moved THG and bags into reception and went in search of the parking. Absolutely no clue. Went round the block a couple of times and eventually had to call TG to ask her to take pic of the schematic map and send it to me. That worked. The carpark was accessed through a narrow entrance with a sign telling me it was the hotel car park pointing away from the direction of travel and set back from the road. I was the only car there. No wonder really.
Room is pretty good with large balcony and great views. I think we’ve decided to stay in tonight and enjoy the hotel facilities. One concern is the music blaring away from the terrace below. One assumes they switch off at a sensible time?!!
Finally settled in after having to go down to reception to get them to fix wifi access for my macbook. Worked ok for the droid. Login pace wouldn’t load for mac. I assumed they would know how to get it to come up. Two of them couldn’t get it to work so I took over again, deleted the DNS records as per googled instructions and finally got online.
Now back on our deck looking at yachts and other local points of interest through my binocs. Ciao.