Thursday, July 23, 2009

A border town

In the UK I have lived in towns quite near to the county border, in France there are departments, within regions.

Three departments meet, Departement 35 Ille et Vilaine, 50 Manche, 53 Mayenne , and its neighbour 61 Orne, is very close too.

This is one reason why Fougeres saw so much action in its history being on the border of Brittany and France.

Last week we ventured out to department 61 to visit a spa town named Bagnoles-de-l'Orne
it is as if it was dropped from the sky since its appearance comes as a bit of a shock compared to the rustic buildings and simple towns along the route. It is in fact in the middle of a Normandy forest.

A French couple stopped and spoke to us, the French lady commented about our dog and asked if she was gentle. The lady was embarrassed that she couldn't remember where department 35 is
(she was looking at the number plate on the car). No longer working for pages jaune, (yellow pages,) and now retired she told us that she used to know the location of all the departments in France. They were staying in Bagnoles-de-l'Orne for her husband who she said was ill, he could enjoy some of the water therapies, of course the use of water to treat rheumatic diseases and arthritis has a long history. We then left them and and enjoyed a drink at this small restaurant.


Cheers or Santé
After a walk around this lovely part of the town we headed towards the shops and restaurants at the other side of the lake.


Flower Balls
Eventually we were forced to stop again for lunch, as the sky was black and rain fell heavily forcing people to retreat with their lunchtime plates inside the restaurants.


Rain soon ~ Tombe la pluie

List of Spa towns in France here.

The French word to take or give a bath is baigner

The French familiar word for car is bagnole.

PS. I am also posting pictures here.

8 comments:

LadyFi said...

What gorgeous pictures.. And that restaurant - so beautiful! We have lots of those flower balls over here too.

French Fancy... said...

What a coincidence - I've been there and we all ate a picnic on a bench facing the impressive looking casino in the park. Mr FF's ma used to have a holiday home in dept 61 near Domfront and that in fact is how we got our first taste of what everyday life in France could be like

I agree that Bagnoles is a gorgeous place, very chi chi and charming

bindu said...

The pictures are so beautiful! So much colour, and everything is so fresh. Lovely spot for a restaurant.

Carol said...

It feels like forever since Chris and I visited France....your photo's bring back so many happy memories for me!! (Chris proposed to me on holiday in France)

C x

John said...

Looks lovely - wonderful looking restaurant. We could do with some of that rain down here at the moment.

Ann said...

Oh these pictures are so stunning, I feel as if I could touch them, and walk amongst them, and smell the beautiful flowers, just gorgeous.

bindu said...

Hi Blu - your comment on my blog appears to have been published while still incomplete. You'd said you were looking for a photo? Was that the photo of my painting? If so, I took it down because I was uncomfortable having it up there after reading some blogs where people talked of others stealing their pictures etc. If you'd like, I can email it to you. Glad you like it!

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