Blogs from Poitou-Charentes, France, Europe - page 17

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Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » Saint-Jean-d'Angély December 27th 2006

For myself and for most of my friends, Christmas 2006 was going to be our first Xmas away from family and friends back in New Zealand and of course the NZ summer. Nevertheless a plan to get a team together and head away for Christmas quickly materialised and we booked ourselves a large house in the French countryside about an hour inland from La Rochelle. During the week prior to Christmas London was blanketed by a thick cold fog that was fair strangling London’s airports just in time for the holidays. Luckily for us though, we were flying out of Stansted where the fog was still allowing planes to take off. We arrived at La Rochelle and proceeded to immigration where a single French border policeman took ages to inspect our passports, eyeing each of us ... read more
Mulled wine and a roaring open fire ...
Santa's little helpers
Christmas Stockings!

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » La Rochelle December 1st 2006

Well, I seem to heave survived my first few weeks with no major disasters - on a french course at present but its all coming along very slowly. Will hopefully improve as the year goes on. Anyway a few pics below of where I'm living and some sailing pics from various days training....... read more
Sejour
Sea
The Terrace

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » La Rochelle October 30th 2006

I left Tours for La Rochelle in the mid-afternoon. I was on TGV trains the entire way, so the trip was quite pleasant and I got in just before dusk. Earlier in the day I had drawn a small map to help guide me to the hostel because, as I suspected, the tourist information was closed and the hostel was a mile or so from the station. The hostel itself was relatively easy to find using my basic map. I just walked to the waterfront and followed that all the way. I ended up walking past an enormous marina, complete with cranes for removing boats from the water. I even got to see the machine that transports the boats from the crane to their winter berth (on stilts) in use, which was pretty cool. I checked ... read more
Tower #1
Tower #2
The Two Towers

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » Châtellerault October 11th 2006

Bonjour to you from Chatellerault! It was a complicated trip from Paris to Chatellerault but I made it (after a no-show taxi and bolt through the Paris train station that ended in a missed train and a purchase of an entirely new ticket). Isabelle, (my supervisor here at the highschool) picked me and Kelly up from the train station and welcomed us into her home. She cooked us a big dinner, yum! The next few days were spent getting me settled (with the help of Kelly) into my little dorm apartment at the Lycée. For lack of a better term and lack of a more aesthetically pleasing living quarters, I have dubbed the dorm apt "The Chateau" or "La Palais" or even more "The Mansion". Inhabitents of The Mansion include Veronica, a girl from Mexico. She ... read more
St. Jacques Cathedral
Maison dans le Jardin
Good times at the Mansion

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » La Rochelle August 16th 2006

I thought that having given up work on 21st July I would have no more early mornings so it was with some shock that I received the information from Matt's parents that the wake up call to head for France would be at 4.30am! .......a time I was sure only happened once a day. Having arrived at the house some 12 hours after the wake up call we were greeted by a lovely blue sky, this was not to continue the following day was fairly grey and wet but good weather has prevailed since then (but for a few chillier days). The main trauma in France was the lack of web, Winn and Maurice's internet was being upgraded and we had to wait for their pal and personal IT Manager to arrive and fix it. I ... read more
Shucks !!! these things stink!!!
Boule !!!!
Winn & Moz at the Isle De Re

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » La Rochelle June 28th 2006

The best way to get around the check out the city was by bike. This post city has some amazing architecture, and lots of restaurants. You could eat a different place everyday of the year and you still wouldn’t have been all of the restaurants in the city. ... read more
Camping in La Rochelle
La Rochelle City Centre
La Rochelle Port

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » La Rochelle June 27th 2006

Mont St Michel Our first visit was Mont St Michel. Traveling by road its hard to miss, a huge abbey covers the summit and is lined with various buildings of different architectural designs. This place is very commercial but and amazing site to admire. Apparently Mont St Michel is one area that is renowned for the surrounding tides, the difference from low and high tide is approx 15m. St Marlo We have now moved into the province of Brittany. St Marlo has an amazing stone walled city that was originally an island. Like so many places of historical value 80% of St Marlo was trashed during 1944 battle to drive out the German forces. The main historical monuments have been restored to their former glory. The streets are so narrow with cobble stone pavement - It ... read more
Mont St Michel from a distance
The abbey entrance
Looking out from Mont St Michel

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » Poitiers June 5th 2006

We woke up to the best buffet breakfast today! Pastries, bacon, sausages, all types of cold meat, churros, different juices and even wholemeal bread! How could they get dinner so wrong and breakfast so right? Ah we don’t care and devour it all! Today was the longest drive on the whole tour. 610kms!!! I am somewhat thankful that I am sick as I slept most of it from Bilbao to Poitiers. Our lunch stop was at Bordeaux. As it was a special holiday, most things were closed. Only a few restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops were open for trading. We bought bbq chicken rolls from a take-away place and ate in the park with Michael and Luisa. The lady who served us couldn’t speak English so there was a lot of pointing, nodding, and thumbs up ... read more
Tiniest room yet

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » La Rochelle April 29th 2006

Today was sunny but cold - it didn’t get over 10C until the early afternoon - and we headed off on a day trip to La Rochelle, today, about an hour and a half away. La Rochelle is a port town on the mid-west coast of France, and has at times been a key stronghold and trading post with such distant partners as Canada and the West Indies. The town itself was established originally as a fishing village over 1000 years ago and its old port is a quite the picture postcard, making up one of the 4 ports of the town. We spent the morning wandering the winding cobbled streets of the old town and stumbled across the 18th Century market place in full swing. The market building itself is surrounded by everyman and his ... read more
of course its strong enough
town gate
town gate II

Europe » France » Poitou-Charentes » Châtellerault April 19th 2006

Châtellerault day 2! Diagnosis is good for Cornelius, he has broken his rear suspension, and parts should be here today and fitted by tomorrow lunch, we will then be able to continue our journey south. This means that we are once again held captive in Châtellerault by it’s numerous restaurants their pre-fixed menus and pitchers of vin rose - such a hard life!!! We both feel totally relaxed today and there is nothing it seems that could cause our stress levels to rise. We have had a couple of lovely long walks around the centre ville, not another English speaking person in sight. The weather has been sunny and warm. I think we may have even caught the sun a bit! The town itself has a very pretty old centre made up of semi derelict houses ... read more
chatellerault




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