Day 19: La destination de Saumur

Outside a riverside bar in the evening

I am so far behind on my blogs at the moment so I am going to write a few only in English so that I can catch up a bit.  I can write about twice as fast in English as in French!

Artwork

Our friends Morwen and Andrew had recommended Brantôme as a nice place to stay and we agree, with them.  When we arrived there were cars everywhere but in the morning, being a Monday, it was very quiet.  We wandered around looking at the place.  It is very small but has a fabulous old abbey which is now the Hotel de Ville (town hall). There were also some caves to explore but we did not have the time. 

The rest of the day was spent driving to Saumur.  We avoided the motorways, skirting around the towns and enjoying the scenic countryside to get to Saumur. 

The old abbey

Parking in Saumur was a challenge as the parking building we used last time was out of action – we learned they had found some asbestos which needed removing.  Our hosts, Colin and Myriam, kindly left us some Cremant de Saumur to welcome us and later turned up to share a glass with us. We chatted about Brexit and the French elections.  They were flabbergasted at Brexit and relieved that Le Pen did not win the French presidency.  Apparently in their debate she had shown her true colours while Macron stayed very cool throughout.

Colin told us about the very involved process of getting French citizenship which he is now undertaking being of British background.  You have to be reasonably fluent in French B2 level (those who have done French at Alliance will know what that means). 

Poster for a "British Weekend"