The Alignment

Following our canoe trip, we stop briefly at a restored Breton village circa 1906. It's a small village of farm families that was abandoned long ago because of the poverty of the residents.

The restoration is sweet, low buildings of the Breton countryside with stone walls and thatched roofs. Lunch is also early 20th century featuring cabbage soup, sausages, lots of potatoes and grains. We encounter really extraordinary Breton beurre de sel and country bread. It disappears from the table quickly. Then we are off to the dolmens and menheirs for which Carnac is famous.

We arrive in Carnac late in the afternoon and are taken to a rock field by our guide. The wind has picked up and blowing hard. The clouds whisk rapidly and menacingly across the sky. It's cold and damp and we are freezing. The guide soldiers on outdoors for about an hour. In spite of the difficult conditions, our guide manages to deliver a remarkably concise and coherent summary of the archeological aspects of these huge stones which may have been erected about the 5th century b.c.

We have not seen the entirety of the three separate paleolithic sites but no matter, it is getting late and dark. We are all hungry.

Luggage it's quickly unloaded at Hotel Diana. Everyone disperses and we meet up for dinner together at 7:30.

This hotel is family owned and provides not only the best views (directly overlooking the beach) but the best combination of food, service and elegant dining.

Dinner is truly extraordinary. I meet my first oeuf mollet in a first course. It's accompanied by smoked duck breast and an unidentifiable but rich sauce. Bill has tempura style fried sardines. A brave choice since sardines are not the usual fare in our house. They are pronounced 'délicieux.'

The main course is beef for both of us. Dessert is beautifully presented and also ' délicieux.' I have stopped photographing the plates. They are so beautiful that I fear the big pages are getting tedious. We are living in a dream world here with these meals.Read more