Our Lady of Disappointment

Let's just say that when your day begins with another night of bad sleep (another school nightmare: can you believe they switched my prep to 7th and made me move classrooms all on the first day of school?!), you know that the rest will not go so well. I know that when I tell you that I now have five, count 'em, five grease stains on my only suitable travel pants from a dropped chaussons de pommes (apple pastry), you will truly feel my pain and agony at being in France with pastry stains!

But wait! There's more pain and agony to be had. I will work in reverse since here I sit, exhausted and wearing greasy pants. We went in search of the famed Cote Rosee and while it may sound like a wine, it is actually cliffs of rose-pink granite. First, let me clarify the reality: there are no cliffs and the non-cliffs are decidedly not pink. When I envision pink, I envision roses, sunsets, Hello Kitty clothing, but not the view of rocks that were presented to me. They were ok, I guess just not exactly what I had in mind.

Before that disappointment, there was the disappointing nature preserve on the island Ille Grande which despite having the only available public toilets in the last 100km, did not have the famed puffins of this region! In fact, the puffin population is slowly dwindling due to oil spills, tromping tourists, and rapid urban growth. Big bummer! In fact, the only birds we did see were in the "recovery pen" and were just plain old seagulls. Ho hum.

But wait, there's even more disappointment. Before the lacking of birds bird sanctuary, there was Le Vaudet, the famed village of Asterix and Obelix. Nowhere in sight was there a dolmen, menhir, or even a druid. Not even a silly sign with the comic characters! Not that I like that sort of silly tourist kitsche, but still, a mention of them or even a pizzeria named after them would have been a good photo opportunity to send back home to the bro. Oh well! It did have a pretty stone church and a pretty sea view.

And, let us not forget the Chateau de Rozenbo which was closed until 2pm. It was a lovely stop to eat lunch though, and that was what we did. We tried peeking through the archer's holes and above the walls for a glimpse of the impressive chateau (at least the roof suggested it was impressive). I only could see more stone walls though.

Thus, the Lady of Our Disappointment occasionally graces us with her presence when we travel. Yesterday, she was nowhere to be seen. The Chateau of Kerjean had exciting secret passageways, and our crepe making experience with our hosts was both death-defying (in that it was awkward and way out of my comfort zone...lots of broken French) and amusing (both Jo and Sylvie are incredibly generous and patient), so all in all, when the Lady visits she cannot doom the entire trip. 

PS

I encountered three French dogs taking themselves on walks today. Two were together (a puppy shepherd and a fluffy white thing) trotting down a country road, the other was this evening (an older male version of Pomona...perhaps her French twin) as a doggie face peered into our back patio while we ate. He accepted a few crumbs of crepe and then sauntered down the lane when the treats ended. Later, the kitty Grebouille chased him off. She may be 11, but she if feisty.