On the bright side of the road

We took a road trip out to Brest which was a bit of an adventure! We picked the car up in Versailles so as not to have to drive through Paris, which was a great idea, cause Versailles was bad enough! After a bit of a panic - I've never driven left-hand drive or on the right side of the street and there was no map in the car...no map, what's that all about - we were on our way. It's 600 km to Brest from Paris so we were in for a bit of a journey, but it was lovely. Saw lots of green green countryside and old style villages, rolling hills of hay bales and sunflowers, it was gorgeous...if it weren't for the rain! And we drove through alot of rain! And then we discovered that France has toll roads, EXPENSIVE toll roads. Everytime we got to a toll station we freaked out and tried to see what the car in front of us was doing - do we need a ticket, is this the right lane, how much do we have to pay, what does that sign over there mean? Lots and lots of questions and in hindsight we crack up about it cause we really were toursits freaking out! LOL

But it was all worth it for the lovely town of Brest - it's on the west coast and is a bit of a harbour town with lots of ships docking and leaving. We visited the Oceanopolis, went to the check-in point for the Paris-Brest-Paris ride to cheer on the riders, and walked and walked and walked, surprisingly! Was very nice and the drive back to Versailles was much better because we knew what to expect with the pesky tolls!

So now we're in Nante spending a few days in the glorious sun - it's apparently 30 degrees out, at last - before heading out to Pouzauges where we've rented a house in the countryside to do whatever it is they do in the countryside (please let them have the internet there!) :p

Oh and I am LOVING French TV - can't understand a word they're saying but I love it. They have a show called 'Secret Story' which I'm guessing is a bit like Big Brother except everyone has a secret about themselves that the other contestants have to figure out...awesome! The culture and people here are great too. In all seriousness we've still not met any arrogant French people, we're still not convinced they exist! It's a myth!

PS - thanks to everyone who's commented, emailed, and texted us, we love hearing from you all!