Pont Aven

A rest day in Pont Aven.

We slept in until about 9:00, then had a nice bfast. It was a buffet and in addition to bread, there was cheese, yogurt, granola fruit, oj. Nice.

As I said yesterday Pont Aven is a gorgeous town. There’s a stream running down the middle of the town that empties into the harbor. There are multiple bridges crossing the stream all laden with flowers. The harbor is actually about 10-15 KM upriver from the ocean, but the boats come all the way up. And it used to be a mill town too; there’s a walk around town that passes 14 old grain mills. And in the 19th century it became popular for a number of artists from Paris, who preferred the cheaper rents and beautiful setting. The main man was Paul Gauguin. And the interesting thing is Gauguin was at the forefront of the anti-impressionist movement, which emphasized bright, loud colors. Seems like Jayne O’C and Chels would like this style.

Nowadays there are lots of galleries and artists working in town. So we spent much of the day touring galleries. We bought a small painting, and a few prints. These had to fit in an envelope that we could send home. Prices were pretty good for original work. Also we toured the museum.

There was a market in town that we didn’t know about so we only caught the tail end. I have to get some of the North African chicken tangine at one of these markets (they all have them). I picked the lunch spot, pizza, and it was a bust. And April picked the dinner place and it was a huge winner. So now April is getting close to insufferable as she claims she picks all the great restaurants and hotels, and I’m just along for the ride (and the blog). She seems to be forgetting that andouil

Anyway the dinner was at the Petit Bouchon, which was a tiny place, 6 tables, essentially at a guy’s house. The wife cooked. I had smoked salmon, then a white fish in a tumeric, onion, tomato, herb sauce. It was excellent, and the owner made sure to say it wasn’t actually curry powder. Also had a zucchini gratin and salad as sides. April had a tomato and mozzarella salad, and the house specialty, pork roast, with a cheesy/potato and a salad. A crisp white wine with hints of grapefruit in there. Sweet!

Oh yes, we finally decided to send our camping gear home. Sigh! This was a significant moment for us (maybe just me). Keeping the gear meant we had at least some semblance of the bicycle gypsy life. Whenever and wherever we wanted we could jump over a hedge row and cold camp. Life without encumbrances! We weren’t tied to anything. Stale bread and PBJs for dinner, no problem. We could thrive on the hard life of being a dirt bag bicyclist.

But instead I guess we sort of admitted to ourselves that we like our nice beds, and hot showers, and fresh towels, and wifi, and great restaurants. Ahh the passage of time from young hard warriors to middle-aged couple. Quelle domage!