French Frolics
- Alex Shaw Designs
- Oct 6
- 4 min read
Back in August we went travelling around France for 2 weeks. It was such a great trip, and I made a point of bringing my sketchbook with me so I could get in some observational drawing. I managed to draw quite a bit as well as having some time to relax after a really busy period of work...and I also ate my weight in pastries.
We started in Rennes, which we didn't actually know that much about as we were really just using it as a base for our trip to Mont Saint-Michel, but it's a lovely city and the old town has some impressive medieval half timbered buildings and a beautiful rose garden in the Parc du Thabor.
Our day trip to Mont Saint-Michel was well worth it as the island is incredible to look at and the winding narrow streets really take you back in time. It was extremely busy but once we escaped the shops and restaurants and the shuffling crowds we walked up to the abbey and we were able to enjoy the views in peace. I do hate shuffling crowds.
Our next stop was Angers which is on the edge of the Loire Valley. We explored Château d'Angers, which also exhibited the 103 metre long Apocalypse Tapestry. It was one of those things that you can't believe that human hands have made all that time ago and the detail and sheer size was unbelievable. Even though we only stayed over night we still made sure to try a variety of pastries throughout the day - those patisseries are impossible to walk by and not get anything.
From Angers, we made our way over to Tours, which again was a place we thought would be good as a base for our visits to Amboise and Chenonceau. We were pleasantly surprised with Tours as, similar to Rennes, it also had a lot to offer and it's old town was lovely to wander around.
The first of the chateaus we visited was Chateau de Chenonceau which is actually built over the river Cher. It was very peaceful watching boats float down the river and underneath us despite the many, many people also visiting that day. The chateau is set in beautiful grounds with a huge herb and vegetable garden - I managed to get some more sketching time in while having a much needed sit down as we had already racked up thousands of steps over the past few days.
Amboise was one of the places that I was most excited about visiting - and it did not disappoint! After (another) coffee and a pastry, we wandered around Chateau d'Amboise and Leonardo da Vinci's tomb in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert. We also went to see the exhibition exploring biomimicry at Château du Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life. I felt very lucky to have been able to see his original drawing of a bat wing which was part of his research for his ornithopter flying machine designs - it was quite surreal, really. We finished off the day with wine tasting tour at Caves Ambacia - which I cannot recommend more if you visit Amboise.
Our next stop was Lyon, as we were now making our way towards Annecy and Chamonix. We got to explore the old town a little bit (we always seem to gravitate to the old town of each city), but we really needed a rest because we had packed in a lot so far and we wanted to recharge for the hiking we planned to do over the next couple of days. So we had a pastry.
The next morning we caught the bus to Annecy, where we were both looking forward to staying as everyone we'd spoken to had nothing but good things to say. I absolutely loved this place. It was so picturesque with it's beautiful old buildings and clear blue lake. It also had canals running through it which added to its charm. Of course we ate the cheese fondue that this part of the country is well known for - it was incredible and we were cheese stuffed.
We caught another bus to Chamonix, and I think that this was the absolute highlight of the trip. Chamonix is known for skiing but I think it's just as beautiful in the summer months. We had brilliant views of Mont Blanc (which is always covered in snow and so always looks magical) and we went on a couple of great hikes, one of which had to be reached via cable car. I hate heights, but this was well worth it for the views at the top - I even got some more drawing in.
We said goodbye to Chamonix and bussed it back to Lyon, where we we caught our train to Paris. We were only in Paris overnight so we really made the most of it with a visit to the catacombs (excellent), Notre Dame (the queues were out the door so we just admired the outside), Shakespeare and Company (ditto), the Louvre (which we booked!) and some final pastries. We didn't use the metro at all so the pastries were justified...right?!
All in all a fantastic trip, and now I have a lot of reference photos for some new illustrations! But no more pastries.
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