Arriving In Historical La Chaise-Dieu

After grabbing some always delicious French breakfast in Murat we headed out to our next location. We decided to drive to the historical La Chaise-Dieu. Our hotel concierge recommended that we tour the Abbey and stay at a local bed and breakfast called Logis La Casadei. He said that not only is the Abbey filled with historical tapestries and artifacts, but this bed and breakfast also has an art gallery inside. This is a gorgeous area with a ton of history. Here is a link to the information about the Abbey and its significance : http://www.abbaye-chaise-dieu.com/-Historique-.html

Here is a photo inside the Abbey!

We were able to take one of their guided tours and I learned a lot about the Abbey's history and also got to see some gorgeous historical artifacts.

After touring the Abbey, we went to grab a late lunch at Piquenique Gourmand. This was a highly recommended restaurant so we thought we would check it out. It was fantastic and only 35 euro for 3 courses and a glass of wine. I had a salad with a ginormous shrimp on it, then some kind of breaded meat course and finished off with some mint tasting ice cream. I cannot remember the names, but they were all delicious. Here is the website for the restaurant to check out some photos of the food! http://www.piqueniquegourmand.fr/

After eating, we went ahead and went to our hotel. I snapped a few photos of the art gallery and our room before we called it a night. We are planning on doing some hiking around the Abbey tomorrow and taking a closer look at the art gallery in the hotel.

Before leaving Maurs I enjoyed breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. I tried their special that morning of eggs with black truffles. It did not disappoint and we were on our way to the next destination. We decided to drive to Murat and stay there for the night. On our way, we discovered another little church that begged to have it's photo taken! It was called Eglise de Quézac.
Here is a photo of the outside:

Here is a photo of some of the gorgeous stained windows:

Moving on to Murat, we decided to stop at another one of the churches called Our Lady of Olives.
There was a bunch of beautiful artwork in this church. Here is a photo of my favorite:

I love looking at old artwork and gorgeous churches.This trip has definitely been great for that so far. After this, we started to get a craving for lunch and heard that LE JARROUSSET was a great place to check out. I decided to have the Le pigeonneau en croute, mousseline de céleri et jus court, which ended up being pidgeon! I never knew you could eat that bird, but it did end up tasting pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised. For desert I had
Tous les fruits rouges et noirs du moment, glace réglisse. This ended up being raspberries, blackberries and licorice ice cream. It was delicious.

After leaving the restaurant, we decided to drive over to our hotel called Le Lac Du Pêcher in Chavagnac. It was about 5 miles away from Murat next to the river. We got there and found out they have a ton of services like hiking trips and a full spa! I am headed to the spa right now to get a much needed massage and facial. We booked a hiking trip for tomorrow morning, which should be tons of fun. Our hotel room was awesome and even had an outdoor hot tub! Check this out:

Here is a photo I took of our gorgeous room before I fell into my bed:

Well I am headed to bed for the night! What a wonderful trip this is turning out to be. Nothing too exciting, but a lot of great old art and great French food.

The Wonders of the French Countryside

This morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast before we checked out of our B&B in Najac. I enjoyed some delicious crepes, my favorite French breakfast food, and a few farm fresh eggs. Everything was so delicious, it was hard to move to pack up and get going on our trip, but somehow we made it on the road again. Our first stop was to admire one of the Missions in Savensa called "Sanvensa croix des missions." Here is a photo we took of the beautiful crucifix in the mission.

We then moved on to the city of Figeac, where we had a delightful lunch at the La dînée du Viguier. It was so nice to have everything suggested for me since French food is not something I am all that familiar with. I enjoyed for an appetizer Scallops on a skewer wrapped in homemade duck ham, served on mashed potatoes and cod,sabayon of saffron from the Querçy’. For my entree I had a filet of Quercy’ lamb roasted with herb stuffing, Giblet’s skewer with a parsley sauce, and seasonal fresh vegetables. I paired this with the wine that was recommended and it was just perfect.I finished the meal with a crunchy almond biscuit with strawberry Gariguettes,light cream vanilla flavor Madagascan. I was so full, this trip is certainly turning out to be quite the diet buster.
(http://www.ladineeduviguier.fr/index1en.php?module=menus)

We decided to visit the local museum to see some of their local art collections. My favorite piece was this Papyrus from Ancient Egypt.
(http://atelier.arnaudvitet.chez-alice.fr/Galerie.htm)

After spending most of the day admiring museums and the rest of the beautiful area, we finally moved on to our hotel in Maurs. The Village De Vacances La Chataigneraie Et Spa ended up being a great place to relax and enjoy the scenery. Here is the view from our room. Pretty awesome!

Here is a link to some other photos of the hotel.
(http://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/village-de-vacances-la-chataigneraie-et-spa.en-us.html?aid=306395;label=maurs-TVRT77FhtB_cmlGYph25jQS5059089389;sid=40660163f45df215835763cfe3f2dd4e)

Well, that is all for this trip. Hope you enjoyed sharing in my adventures.

Starting the trip

My trip started in Lavour where we checked into our bed and breakfast called Bosc Lebat, where we relaxed for a few days before starting our roadtrip.

(http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1166905-d596632-Reviews-Bosc_Lebat-Lavaur_Tarn_Midi_Pyrenees.html)

The entire area was so beautiful and relaxing, I could have stayed there forever. The pool was relaxing and tranquil and the whole area is green and lush. We even had an orchard on the Bed and Breakfast grounds.

We finally left Lavour and started driving through French countryside. Along the way, we stopped to admire some vineyards in the area. We stopped in one of the larger areas called Gaillac and stopped to admire some of the old buildings and there were also many vineyards in the area to make the place even more beautiful. Here is one of the old buildings we stopped to admire and take photos of.

While admiring this city we stopped at a restaurant called "Les Ailes" and thoroughly enjoyed our meal there. The atmosphere was eclectic, but the food was good home cooked French cuisine. This restaurant, we found out, has become a local favorite and was featured in an community site as to where to eat.

( http://www.gaillacinfo.fr/gastronomie-tarn-gaillacois/134-gaillac-les-ailes-un-restaurant-qui-decolle-20101227/ )

After filling ourselves we made our way to the Bed and Breakfast in Najac that we stayed in for a few days before resuming our trip. Here is a picture we took of our beautiful room that was waiting for us after our drive.

( http://www.france-voyage.com/beds-breakfasts/b&b-house-najac-7622.htm )

First Posting

I plan to travel from Lavour to Lyon France which is about 450km. I really just picked this route randomly and told google maps to avoid all freeways and toll roads. This route seemed interesting to me since it goes through the countryside of France more. I checked out a few things in Lavour and there are a bunch of adorable bed and breakfasts and also a really neat museum that looks like it will be worth checking out. This starting city looks like it has a lot of history, I think I will have an awesome time discovering more about it. I am really hoping to find something interesting and exciting along this trip and learn something new about France. I am excited for this trip to start and see a little bit of the French countryside.


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