I've Learned Something About France...

I've learned two very important things since I've arrived here, the first is "When in the city, keep your eyes down" and the second is "When on the bike, keep your mouth shut." The reason being, apparently these people have no concept of cleaning up after their dogs, and the bugs on the roads here are hugs and seem to be on a kamikaze mission for your throat! Sorry, just had to get that little rant out.

So I finally made my way down to Lonlay d'Abbeye, and it was a pretty nice easygoing ride, though my GPS took me down an interesting path. I still cant figure out how my GPS knew there was a path there 'cuz it took me a while to find it, and it was mostly overrun with weeds!

I showed up at the aforementioned herb farm and was a little surprised I have to say. First off, I knew these hosts spoke a little English, but I didn't expect an actual Englishman! And his wife, who is German originally, speaks more English than French! What a relief for a bit eh. I think they could tell how out of it I was, because they showed me to my "room" right away. The reason I say "room" is because it's not really....well....look at the photos.

Yep, that's my house for the next week and a bit, and actual holiday cottage all to myself. Here's the view from the back window,

And from the front.

Pretty relaxing, I must say. And the work is pretty fun too, actually. Mostly watering plants, digging up beds, and a bit of picking. You wouldn't believe how much better the herbs taste here though! Organic, natural methods really do make a difference. Some of the things they've shown me are really weird too, in particular something called herbe electriquè which makes your tongue go numb for about 15 minutes. Oh, and I prepared and helped plant a potato bed which was neat.
I'm definitely learning a lot there, but I got my first official day off today, so I headed South to the village of Domfront, which is sort of the district council apparently. A kind of sleepy little town, but really interesting history. This is one thing I found on the way...

This let me to believe that it's sort of a historical town, as that building is one of few standing medieval structures. And there were frogs in that pond that scarred me for life, I'm sure I will have nightmares of the sounds they were making...
Further down the road I stopped in the courtyard of yet another church, but this one was definitely different than the others I've seen, much older given the look of the cemetery.

Then I found the town itself. Situated on the top of a hill, the biggest I've seen here yet (which isn't saying much my BC standards) is the site of an authentic medieval village, much of which is still intact.

Nice to see something a little different for a change, I must say! But here's the view from the ruined castle.

Other than Monmarte in Paris, this is the first birds-eye I've got in France, and it made the climb worth it for sure. Oh, and a really cool lookin church that I couldn't go into and had no information, but was still really cool!

So that's my story up until now, for I'm actually sitting in this castle as we speak as it's the only place around here I've managed to find some WiFi! But I think here marks a turning point in my journey as I have to make some tricky decisions involving transportation. I had hoped to be a little farther along in the trip as I still have three or four countries to see, but after three weeks to the day now I still haven't managed to make it out of Normandy. But I still have some time to think about it so until then I'll keep snagging the odd herb and planting the odd garden for now! 

Ta good folks!