Josselin

After a more leisurely morning yesterday we packed up and headed north to St. Malo. We stopped in the village of Josselin for lunch at a lovely inn nd a tour of the castle there. One family has called that location home for more than 1000 years! We could only see the first floor rooms because the family lives there. And we had to wait to start our tour until after the family ate because they still use the first floor fining room. The one picture here doesn't do it justice, but I forgot to take a phone picture when I was on the grounds.

The little town of Josselin was quite picturesque. Josselin is about 45 minutes from Pop's birthplace of Pipriac. (I looked for signs, but didn't see any.) It's mostly farmland on rolling hills. It was fun to think about these being the same scenes at least 3 generations of Richards knew. Anyway, the church in Josselin, St Mary of the Brambles, had a marble plaque with the names of local men who died in WWI.  There were 2 Richards: Armand and Jean. Louis Richard's ( the sculptor) father was Jean-Louis, so I wonder if either of these 2 men are related to us. On the chance the are, I lit a candle and said a prayer for them. I was excited to make that find.

From Josselin we headed to the northern coast of Brittany and 3 nights in St. Malo, an old walled city. We aren't far outside the walls. I'll be able to tell you more about it next time.

Other travel notes: although it has been overcadt, and now quite cool, we have not been affected by the terrible rains which are causing flooding in other parts of France. Nor have we yet been affected by the various labor strikes. However, the news here this morning is that the pilots may go on strike the day we are to fly home, so we'll see what happens.

The moving every few days has been made much easier by fb ollowi g up on a friend's suggestion to pack modularly. I just bought some 2.5 gallon zip lock bags and organized everything that way. I recommend it. (Thanks, Joan!)

The trip is extremely well organized and the tour guide is enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable.  The local tour guides have also been very good.

Time to pack up for the day!