After finally arriving in Paris, early morning of Fri 18 March (5:15a) from JFK, the adventure began and didn't slow down till 24 March (Thurs). Here's the recap:
I was on what's called a FAM trip for Crystal's business, Barge Connection. A FAM trip is when the tourism board brings tour operators from around the world to their region of the country to share areas and activities of interest for the operators to promote. Then you attend a "trade show" where you meet with MANY vendors of the country for enhancing your bookings.
Day 1 - So my FAM trip began the day I arrived. Once in Paris (with the help of a young American woman named Nancy who had lived in Paris so was fluent in French) we taxied into the city, with a drop at Nancy's friend's apartment, to the hotel room where I was supposed to be the night before (IF I had made my plane from Miami). Crystal was in the room ready to wake up when I arrived. I had time for a one hour "rest", shower and then a walk to the train station. It was so nice to be back in Paris. I can't remember the last time I was here, but it really is amazingly beautiful. Wish I had more time here but gotta go!
2.5 hours later, arrived in Nantes where a young woman met me to begin the FAM trip. I had lunch with her while waiting for others to arrive. We (me, two from Brazil, one from Latvia) where transported via van to Saint Brevin Les Pin (a town on the Atlantic coast) where we met the other FAM adventurers, checked into our hotel and then headed out for a bike tour! No time to rest!!
The bike tour was nice and flat, chilly and windy, but beautiful. After the tour, we had about an hour of rest before meeting up for dinner at the hotel restaurant overlooking the sea. At this time our whole "crew" was accounted for which included: two from Brazil, two from Latvia, one from South Africa, one from Portugal and me. Dinner was amazing french food (I had duck), with much wine (you do know the French love their wine!) and outstanding desserts.
View from my hotel room - the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the "pond".
Bike rental place with Paulo (from Portugal) getting ready.
A stop on the tour.
Along the coast.
This bridge was the longest cable-stayed metallic bridge in the world between 1975 - 1983. It was a toll bridge until 1994. Pretty crazy!.
Since June 2012 a huge snake, the work of the Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping, emerges on the beach of Mindin. Its skeleton appears with each tide, resembling an archaeological excavation and its movement makes it look alive. I didn't get to see it's entire head since the tide was in a bit. Check out this link for more info...https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/serpent-d-ocean
The walkway to the fishing carrelet.
These fishing carrelets are famous for this area. You can rent them for a day of fishing with the nets. There are only seven of these in the Saint Brevin Les Pins area, but more South.
Day 2 - up early for breakfast (same restaurant on the ocean), a ten minute walk to our first adventure of the day...sand yachting. What FUN! It was definitely chilly, and I did not really have the correct outer layer of clothing, but I didn't let that affect my fun. We "yachted" for about an hour, then headed back to the hotel to shower, check out and head to our next destination; the town of Pornic.
My sand yachting vehicle. :)
Beatrice (from Brazil) capturing my ride! I got up on two wheels, Yipee! Don't worry, I didn't flip over (I am known for a bit of speed and crashing).
Beatrice from Brazil ready to go.
Paulo (Portugal), Ieva (Latvia) and Nic (South Africa) ready for the wind.
Safety first! Getting ready.
Pornic is a beautiful seaside town known for it's oysters and clams. We had a walking tour of a section of town, a wonderful lunch in a historical building (loved the remodeled interior - very art-deco) and then a tour of a privately owned castle. This castle has been in the family for hundreds of years, mostly owned by women (currently owned by the first man). It was amazing to meet them, hear the history and see this amazing place. They still live in the castle and have recently opened it up (certain rooms) for tours. They also rent a couple of the other dwellings on the land to help support the upkeep. After the tour, we headed back to the bus for our next stop...Saint Jean de Monts.
The start of our tour. With the tide out, the boats are in the mud...what? This seems crazy to me. Can you see all the oysters on the bottom?
Another section of the river at low tide with many oysters and boats in mud.
View from the opposite angle, with High tide. Look, boats floating!
Our lunch spot. A very old building. Ou
Inside the hotel. We ate upstairs. Fabulous atmosphere.
Our lunch crew. Amazing food. I spilt wine (I admit it). Was talking with my hands :)
AWE, oysters.
Dessert. A very yummy cheesecake. Not your traditional cheesecake by any means. Grapefruit in the middle.
After lunch on the rooftop deck.
Pornic steet.
Tour continues.
The Pornic castle.
Owner of the castle.
One of the many rooms in the castle. Displaying photos of all the women owners of the castle. The current owner's daughter is next in line. We asked if that was some sort of tradition to have women owners. The reality is that there were no males born into the family so hence, they handed it down to the girls.
In Saint Jean de Monts we stayed at a resort located between the forest and the ocean. Had a wine tasting, with a charcuterie boards dinner in a cool little wine spot.. There were open wine bottles left over so guess who ended up taking them back to the hotel, you know! Shared the rest of the wine, in our hotel bar, with our driver Jonatan from France, Paulo from Portugal, Agita and Ieva the Latvian women. We had a very compelling discussion regarding the events of the world today. Very interesting to sit with people who's countries are so close to Russia, hard to relate to their world as it is today. Agita (from Latvia) mentioned she was going to go back and learn how to use big guns to protect herself if Russia were to invade Latvia. And Ieva (who now lives in Paris) said how scared and unsettled her parents are. This is all screwed up! So crazy that this is happening in this day and age.
We stayed up way too late discussing all sorts of issues, so lack of sleep really started to set in.
At the wine bar. The woman with the crazy, curly hair (Fabienne) was our tour guide for this area. She was a crazy woman who was full of energy. To the right of her is our driver Jonatan. The woman in the sweater is Claire, our tour guide who was with us for the entire trip.
Day 3 - up early again, breakfast at the restaurant, then out the door for a walk to the trails in the forest. We met up with a nordic coach (Jean Paul) who instructed us on how to correctly use the walking poles for the best nordic workout. We then proceeded on a 3.5km hike through the forest. Nic (the South African woman) and I were the fast ones (leaders of the pack!) but we got our share of coaching input and an occasional yelling for going to fast, having to backtrack to "visit" a small swamp. :) It was a different "workout", probably something I wouldn't do again. After our cool down stretching, we proceeded back to the hotel for a quick shower and lunch at the hotel.
Our group with the instructor, Jean Paul (in the blue jacket).
The Brazilians and Claire.
Walking (nordic) in the forest.
Claire not too excited about it all.
After lunch we walked to the golf course for our golf lesson. The golf course was located by the ocean, really quite nice. We learned how to putt and drive (well, that was the attempt anyway). It was a very windy day, so it made it that much more interesting for driving (the ball, that is). It was definitely worth it and I felt like I actually did quite well.
Do we look ready to golf or what?
Our golf pro getting ready to teach us the correct way to putt.
The driving location.
Always have a golf cart. But only for the pro. We walked. :)
I know this isn't the correct stance but I am getting in the spirit.
Our driver Jonatan seems a bit confused on how to use the golf club. I don't think marching with it is exactly what we were going for.
After golf (and a quick time to hit the toilettes) onto our next adventure via bus. We drove about 30 minutes, meeting up with our scooter provider along a random road. They unpacked the scooters, gave us instructions and away we went! These scooters were not your normal "get around town" scooter. We had a battery pack on our backs in a backpack that that powered them. They also had big tires, better for stability. We toured through marshland, forest and ended at the ocean. I don't think the bikers, walkers were big fans. It was BIG fun with beautiful scenery.
Ready for scooting! Dork!
We are really excited.
The scooters.
The Brazilians.
Scooting through the marshy countryside to the ocean.
Returned to the van (after about an hour), to head to our hotel (and dinner) for the night in Les Sables-d'Olonne. Les Sables-d'Olonne is a much bigger seaside city along the Atlantic Ocean. We had a late dinner in a small local restaurant. Then to bed.
View from our hotel
Our hotel. The Latvians on their balcony (I didn't get a balcony, hum) having a quick smoke.
Day 4 - Up early again, breakfast at the hotel along the beach (lovely view), for our last outdoor adventure, some sort of workout again, with walking poles that pump (they called it "bungypump"). We received instructions and away we go down the sidewalk, onto the beach. It was actually a good workout which I liked more than the nordic crazy one. Our guide did not speak english but he was quite expressive which made it even more fun. After our hour of "bungypump" (and yes, stretching at the end), we had time for a quick shower and packing and back in the bus to head to Nantes for our hotel check-in.
Listening intently to bungypump instructions.
Pumping against the wall.
With the tide out, you can walk the beach.
Our bungypump instructor in the neon jacket.
The beach is really wide at low tide. At high tide, the water hits the wall.
We arrived in Nantes to a large reception in one of the city squares. This is where I finally connected with Crystal. We had lunch, an our tour, a bit of time down to get ready for the big welcome event in the evening.
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