We had a better night without any bugs and insects to contend with although the beds are never quite like your own and always hard to get used to. We got up early again this morning to a thick fog. We were worried that yesterday might be the last of our good fortune with the weather but at about 10:30am the skies cleared and the sun came out and it was another hot +30 day. We weren’t in any hurry to get anywhere and with the fog early we fluffed around in the room catching up on some stuff, booking accommodation for next few days, catching up on emails, etc.
We then headed off to the island, Ile de Re which was only about 20 minutes away and is accessible by car over the bridge but they do sting you for a 9 euro toll to get over. We’d heard people spend all day there so thought there must be plenty to see and do so off we went. It has about ½ dozen little villages there and some ruins dotted around but from what we could see not a lot else. We did stop in one of the towns, St-Martin which I think was one of the bigger one’s and parked the car which you had to get a ticket for and we thought that was a bit rich considering we’d had to pay to get on the bloody island in the first place. Anyway we wandered around for a while looking in the shops and doing the usual stuff but found it to be quite expensive for what it was. When we went to leave and we put the ticket in to pay for the parking it came up with something in French which of course we didn’t understand but it happened that the polizia were right next door and a couple of them happened to be walking back into their office. Kim asked if they spoke English to which one said yes and the other pointed and laughed. As it turned out the one that said yes didn’t and the other one did!! Anyway they told us to bring the car up and they would let us out so it didn’t cost us anything in the end, lucky us.
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| St-Martin on Ile de Re |
We got back to our room at about 1.00pm and then headed down to the city centre of La Rochelle again. Not very French I know but we found a little Irish pub opposite the waterfront and decided to stop in there for a drink or two, or three, or four as it turned out. A nice couple of hours spent doing as they like to do over here, sitting side by side, facing the passersby, taking in the sun and just watching the world go by. We then came back to our room at about 5:30pm to fill in some time before dinner but whilst Kim was writing in her diary I very promptly fell asleep. Out to it apparently, snoring my head off, so much so that she took a photo that I was very unaware of and will never see the light of day!!
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| Kim & Jane in La Rochelle |
I woke just before 6:30pm so we freshened up and headed back into town for dinner. We chose one of the many restaurants and sat down. The girl that seated us was very nice and spoke very good English and obviously catered for the tourist. I was tucked away and every time the waiter came over, who also spoke English quite well, leant down to Kim and his face was always about 6 inches from Kim’s face and after every question he would wink. He would sometimes stand behind Kim and ask a question and also wink then too, we were very amused by this but the funniest time was when he leant down and asked Kim if she wanted some wine with a bit of a wink. I found it really funny watching from the other side cause every time he did this Kim would lean back a couple of inches and laugh. Anyway Kim had a t-bone and I had a thai curry chicken, I know, once again not very French. Kim also enjoyed a glass of wine (Sancerre) that she tells me was very nice. They do like to ask you about dessert right after you’ve eaten we’ve noticed but we were too full so we just sat there for a while and enjoyed the atmosphere, once again watching the passersby. After doing that for a little while we decided to share a dessert (La Moelleux au chocolate) which was a chocolate fondant with vanilla ice-cream. Rich and delicious. Back to our room for a coffee and get ready for another day ahead.
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