La Rochelle, France ~ Winter Feb 2014

So the journey continue from Poitou to La Rochelle, with Marion joining on board. It was one windy and cloudy afternoon when we get there, you could not imagine the cold (of cos you can if you are European) since La Rochelle is a coastal city.

We parked our car near to The Lanterne Tower, one of La Rochelle famous tower and praying that the tower open for visit. It was almost 3pm when we get to St Nicolas Tower and  we try to rush a bit in order we can see all 3 towers before it closed. 

The Saint Nicolas Tower (Tour Saint Nicolas) is the biggest one and once served as a prison. The staircase here is a little bit confusing and i can go round and round and still didn't find my way out if not for the signage. All this passageway was actually separated to avoid both residents and soldiers meeting. 

(Saint Nicolas Tower on the right and Chaine Tower on the left)

(the staircase and me :)

Visitor are also allowed to go up on the rooftop which provides view over the old port, Fort Boyard and the other towers. 

(The Chaine & Lanterne Tower)

Since there's in no connection between Saint Nicolas and The Chaine Tower (Tour De La Chaine), we had to make a big round on the port to go to Chaine Tower. I was tempted to just swim across but unfortunately its winter and i cannot swim lol

The Chaine tower during our visit housed an exhibition on the departure of immigrants to Canada (yes, french immigrants)  and history of La Rochelle. It was a short visit here since we race against time and this tower is a smaller version of Saint Nicolas with no complicated staircases. The tower was originally a residences of a harbor master until 1472. Gosh, thats sounds like zillion years ago. Owh btw, its called chain tower since they use chain mechanism before, which were later demolished. 

(at the entrance)

(exhibition and i only have this 2 picture from this tower :s)

We are pretty excited to check The Lanterne Tower (Tour De La Lanterne) because of its design. The tower is 55 meter high and was once the residence of the ship disarmer (the brochure said, officer in charge of keeping the arm of ships entering the port) (ship have arms?).

( Rooftop view from The Chaine Tower)

(The Lanterne Tower)

(St Nicolas & The Chaine tower at the other side)

(at Lanterne tower rooftop) 

(view of the port)

(roof)

(The famous 4 Sargent's who was arrested in La Rochelle, died for freedom (Google translate) and the date was our wedding anniversary, and it was 191 years ago :o

After finished with our tower visit, we just go around the city, shop and drink more hot chocolate before heading to Bordeaux. 

Poitou Donkey, yay donkey!!! Poitou-Charentes France ~ Winter Feb 2014

Honestly, i never see a donkey before lol. And since we already in Poitou-charentes area i begged Nico to make a trip to Poitou Donkey Sanctuary before we go to La Rochelle. The way heading to this sanctuary is really "kampung", you will pass few small villages and a castle. There's a few time that we thought we might be lost but lucky Nico french gf aka GPS bringing us to the right direction. 

We might also be the only visitor to the sanctuary that morning, it was sunny and cold. When we arrived at the sanctuary office, there's a staff which take us around the property and give us briefing. She even speaks in English :) but i was too excited taking picture and in the end she explain everything to Nico in French. 

She told us that they select few good breed of donkey which is of cos having a good look :), nice hair, tall, dark and handsome hahahahah. These few donkey, which is 5 or 6 of them having their own apartment in order to separate them from ambitious ladies and unplanned pregnancy. 

(big apartment for eligible bachelor)

(male neighbor)

If im not mistaken, those who is not good enough to be "The One" will be arranged to work around the sanctuary. These few donkey that we had a chance to take a picture with are a working donkey. They are very tamed and go around in pack. During our visit, we've been told that the donkey wasnt so active since they were sad for losing one of their close friend which died few days before. RIP what-ever-his-name :(

(Hello human!!!)

(The only one who wasn't sad enough)

Horse + donkey = Handsome long hair mule. We've been informed that these mule is as strong as horses but have a handsome trait from the donkey. 

(I believe this is horse since they didn't have white mouth)

(but they have pretty hair, so maybe mule?)

Donkeys also been classified into group, the babies, the virgin, the mama-to-be and also the boys. It was fun when we visit the mama-to-be area since all the mama recognized our guide and they make a loud noise from far when they saw she's coming. 

(mama-to-be since only 44 poitou donkey left at the sanctuary)

(might be the ladies ready for the season)

For those who by chance being in this area, it is highly recommended to check this sanctuary. They have a lot of activities during summer and its not only fun for kids but also adults since i already 33 when i wrote this entry :) Entrance fee is only 6 euro for adult and we bought "Marion", from souvenir shops as our token for this visit. 

(Donkey coming through!!!)

(Next stop for Marion, La Rochelle)

Rochefort, France ~ Winter Feb 2014

Our trip to France this time was only 10 day and so we didn't have so much time to visit. We still excited and managed to make a plan and wanted to visit Bordeaux. Nico suggest that we stop at a few city including Rochefort and La Rochelle so our road trip is bearable and didn't feel so long in the car.  

So, we leave Brittany late afternoon and arrived in Rochefort around 8pm. Since its low seasons, we didn't have to booked our hotel earlier and still can go around to check for cheaper price. We stayed at the hotel right in front of the square and post office which i didnt remember the name. lol

Cities in France is really seems dead to me during winter. Of cos everybody prefer to stay in instead of being outside in the cold but when the sun shone, its seems wrong to stay in i guess. :) 

Unfortunately, again, most places closed for winter. We wanted to see The Rebuilding of Hermione (La Chantier de l'Hermione), French ship that was built in Rochefort in 1779 which sailed to North America during the United State war of independence. I don't know if she make it to the US or not since she supposed to sailed to Boston in 2011. I guess it will be nice to see real old ship re-built but we didnt get the chance. www. hermione.com for more info. 

Our next stop is Pierre Loti's House (Maison de Pierre Loti) which also closed GRrrrrrrr. Imagine my disappointment since i really, truly wanted to see this place. Pierre Loti's is a Naval officer, novelist and traveler and his house not only collected exotic collection from all over the world but also been decorated according to theme. Since Rochefort not far from Brittany i will ask Nico to re-visit, maybe advanced call to the museum will be good this time :)

The only place that open, THANK GOD, was Museum of The Old Shops (Musee des Commerces d'autrefois) yup, that's a museum. Sounds weird but its actually one of must visit museum in Rochefort. This place will simply bring you back to France in 1900's to see how French people used to do their shopping. 

We were the only visitor during our visit and i remembered that they close for lunch at 12pm and we got to rush visiting since it was 10.30am when we get there. 

(Hat shop)

(Kodak moment)

(Parisian News stand)

(Wine maker)

(Hair Salon)

(Your laundry back in 1900's) 

Toblerone already exist before i was born :o

(French bar back then)

(emmmm no high heels or is this only for the gentlemen?)

(grocery)

(old classroom french style)

It was fun morning for us, even though we are not allowed to take picture but obviously you can as long no flash. Shopping at the museum was also fun since you can get an item with an old design. Mostly item here cost around 4 euro. So i get some metal thingy and plate mat lol

(I don't even know who is this Suchard girl, but she is cute :)

(Plate Mat of Lu, and i definitely love LU Biscuits)

Belle-Ile-En-Mer, Brittany France ~ Winter Feb 2014

After Nico finished with his work in the office and i'm done with Rodin, we catch an afternoon train and went back to Brittany to his parents place. The day after, we went with Gildas and Patricia to Belle-Ile which is famous among the Parisians for holiday during summer. We left very early in the morning to catch the first ferry to the island which took around an hour to get there. 

Nico rent a car right at the city and we start our day with hot chocolate. Hot chocolate definitely tasted amazing in winter and i don't know how much cocoa i have consume during my short stay in France :) So, we get our car and went around the island. The good thing about travelling in winter is, there's no one around and you can have the place all to yourself. The bad things besides cold is, most places closed. 

 (arrived before sunrise)

(Gildas, Patricia, me and Nico)

The weather was ok in the morning, its cold but i still can survived. We stop at a lot of places and of cos to the famous La Pointe des Poulains. From car park we need to do some walking to the cliff and it was a refreshing walk. 

 (meeting before sight seeing)

La Pointe des Poulains is definitely beautiful. Its windy when we arrived there but there's no rain. So we managed to walk around the area despite the cold. 

 (Its beautiful here)

 (church...ehhh or was it light house?)

 (lil birdy in the cold)

 (refreshing walk2)

 (funny pose from my in-laws)

(i think this place look amazing in summer)

 We also went to see an old light house in belle-ile which if im not mistaken also served as a museum. Unfortunately, it was closed during winter and we can only see it from the outside.

(make a stop at the famous light house but it was closed)

(sheep at the light house)

On the way back to the city we stop around other places and also in search for food. We've been told when we took the rent car thats there's not so many restaurant open during this season and we have to go back to city center. Fortunately there's few restaurant open and only 2 place served a good food and we end up having Moules Mariniere which is my favorite food in France. 

(otw back to the city)

(not so many restaurant open during winter and thank god we found Moules Mariniere)

 (our ride back home) 

 When we leave the island it was almost sunset, i was so tired and cold and we have to take another 1 hour boat ride. The sea was rough and i almost throw up from seasick. To top that, when we arrived at the main land, it was raining pretty heavily and we run under the rain to get to the car. My husband make a joke by saying that i finally experienced Brittany famous rain. It was another couple of hours to get home and when i get inside, i immediately sit in front of fire place before moved to sofa and dozed off.

(I got so tired and sick when we reach home)