what a week will do

Apricots before going on vacation

 Apricots on getting home from vacation!

La Rochelle

There's this one line of high tension lines that has a stork nest on Every Single One, for a couple of miles, somewhere south of Rochefort, on the road from Marennes. After the first few nests, the local government decided to equipe the centers of the pylons with platforms, to encourage the storks to nest there. Some of them still nest at the edges anyway.

Pretty cool.

 La Rochelle. Great little port, with tides of more than 6 feet. At low tide the last rows of boats are aground in the mud, and we saw lots of good-sized fish swimming around the inevitable debris down there. Then the water came in and made everything pretty. Magic!

Lighthouses solidly on the mainland, not on precarious islands or even outlying points of land.

 Hey, the People who put Rocks on Top of Other Rocks were here!

There he is, the Card Player, awaiting his delicious lunch of local micro-brew, a complicated savory crepe involving potatos and ham, and for dessert a crepe with salted caramel on it. Mmmm. At the Bigoudène - I knew it was a good idea to keep strolling until I found the restaurant with the little something extra.

After lunch, a bit of window shopping, then a trip on the boatbus out to the really really really huge port. Well, for France. San Diego's is larger, but in a town of 100 times more people.

Pause at Marennes

On the way back from Brouages we stopped at Marennes, just to see this one long canal with all its boats and often brightly-painted cabins.

Oh, and while we're here, those oysters look tasty...

 Regular people use their motors to get to their parking space,

but this guy just sailed on up the canal.

Of course, once you get to your dock, you might still need those waders to get to shore.

At Brouages

Brouages, another whole fortified town that used to be a port but is now quite some distance inland. Nearly still served by boats, though, from all the canals crisscrossing the marsh. There are oyster businesses just outside the walls.

The ramparts still go all the way around, and inside the town is now filled with artists' workshops and boutiques, and little eateries for tourists.

Here we are! Touring!

Mornac sur Seudre

Off for a Sunday stroll around Mornac sur Seudre. It's a cute little village, filled with boutiques open on Sundays.

 This region, the Charentes-Maritimes, is the kingdom of hollyhocks. They are everywhere, all colors from white to dark red. I'd pick some seed pods if I could, but they aren't ready yet. At home I pinch hollyhock seed pods on my way home from work, then toss them in the yard. I've got four or five growing so far.

Being on the Seudre, just a couple of miles from the Atlantic coast so it's still in the tidal area, Mornac is oyster territory, with canals and boats all over. Would be nice to rent a boat to tool around the marshes for a day...

 Cats!
Plenty of cats here.

And then back to La Palmyre for a little aperitif, with oysters and whelks and buttered bread.
Cheers!

cool way to fish

Lots of fishing going on in the west of France. These cabins on stilts are all over this section of the coast, between Royan & Rochefort, where the tide has an amplitude of about 6 feet.

Cute & neat as a pin, or falling to pieces, they were all unoccupied when I happened by. Guess you have to get there early in the morning on a high tide to see them in action.

At the beach at Palmyre

La Rochelle street art

Skipping over a few days, but you know how I love good graffiti, and there was some really neat stuff in La Rochelle.

 And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...