Today we recruited a couple of friends from Clisson to join us in the last leg of our bike tour, a 30km ride from Clisson to Nantes. It was nice to be cycling in a small group for a change.
We saw a flying saucer on the road, at La Haie-Fouassière. Technically, though, it was a parked saucer, not a flying saucer. The driver of this saucer looks like an Earthling astronaut though, and he is holding a cookie typical of the region. Several interpretations are possible, one of which is "this is your tax euros at work".
Nantes is in the Loire-Atlantique department, in the Pays de la Loire region, but there are references to Bretagne (the neighboring region) everywhere: souvenirs, restaurants, building and tramway stop names, signs in Breton... After the ten minutes I've just spent trying to inform myself on this matter, I can say that the separation (or possible future reunification rather) of Loire-Atlantique from Bretagne has been a subject of debate for decades. In 1956, Loire-Atlantique was separated administratively from Bretagne, even though historically they were associated for hundreds of years. In recent months, the French government has been "redesigning" the organization of the regions in France. Apparently the people in Bretagne and Loire-Atlantique were mostly in favor of reunification, but it looks like it won't happen after all. To understand why is left as an exercise for the reader.
For dinner, we wandered about the streets of Nantes, hesitating between all the choices of restaurants. Finally we saw a sign that said "No bullshit, just burgers." If this restaurant is targeting American tourists they are doing a good job, because that is where we ate.
Below is a photo I forgot to include from the castle in Yseron: an extremely friendly and adorable dog greeted us and couldn't get enough of our affection.
Tomorrow we'll bid farewell to the Loire and say hello again to the Seine.
Enjoyed these posts a lot, Carmen. No bullshit, just good fun.
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