SW road trip, first stop: Le Mans

With 3 weeks (3 WEEKS!!) left before we leave France, we decided to hit a part of a country we haven’t yet visited, the southwest.  On our drive down from Paris to Bordeaux, we decided to hit Le Mans:

this was our inspiration for our visit to Le Mans, the city's medieval cathedral

But us being us, we naturally couldn’t resist hitting the brocante (flea market) outside of the old city.  Although the better term for this would have been ‘mini rummage sale.’  We didn’t mind.

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a 'classic' toy car

it was that type of sale - tarps thrown on the ground, covered with people's 'treasures'

The bigger part of the market was taken up by food vendors (this France, after all!):

bread for sale, bien sûr

the famous galette des rois (king cake), found everywhere in France this time of year in celebration of Epiphany

no French market would be complete without flowers

After eating a crêpe, we headed up to the cathedral.  My favorite part was its most famous stained glass window:

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Then we headed to the Vieille Ville (Old City), which is, with the cathedral, currently a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage site:

just the picturesque scene you would expect. but it still never gets old!

oh, how I love turrets

half-timbered houses

Wood window frames! These wouldn't even be legal in the US...

not your average manhole cover

we ended our tour of the old town at the very-geometric garden outside the medieval wall

We’re still on the move…will update as we go!

À bientôt,

k.