France 2026 - Day 5 / Angers & Nantes

Steps today: 18 897...  according to my phone. I miss my Fitbit!

Today we started day tripping, and it was off to Angers about an hour away.

Nice place, but I'll be honest - I kinda already forgot all about it as I write this 2 weeks later.

Just like what we did in Nantes, we started in Angers with a visit to the castle... well... visit might not be accurate. We walked to it, saw it, said "Oh, there's a castle, nice" and moved on.

Next was a REAL visit to the Galerie David d'Angers and that was worth the measly price of admission. A sculpture museum inside an old 12th century church - what a great setting! (strictly speaking it's an abbey, not a church)

These two panels depicting the "historical greats" of Europe and the Americas with their names engraved were interesting (there were another 2 of Asia and Africa with peculiarly fewer names)

After this, it was time for a drink stop neat the Tour Saint-Aubin

Then off to admire the intricate wood carvings that adorn the 500+ years old Maison d'Adam and see if we could spot the naughty flasher (Tricouillard / with 3 testicles)...  we found him, but it doesn't look like 3 balls to me, I thought he looked anatomically correct. ish.

Next was the cathedral with it's intriguing modern structure in front of the entrance. I think perhaps it's to protect the porch and main entrance from weather and further deterioration. You can even see some colour in the carvings which is not common.

The inside is as beautiful and awe inspiring as any gothic church in Europe, but it all starts looking the same after a while.

Time for lunch after this, and we found a Bouillon offering the usual cheap-eats. It was too hot for us outside and as usual it was full full full.

By about 2PM we were on the train back to Nantes, getting back around 3PM. My only goal was La Cigale for supper but we were not that hungry. We stalled for a long as possible to try and build our appetites, stopping for a drink around 6PM.

We were first in the door at 6:45 which was great for pictures without people getting in the way. What a beautiful room!  Frank is not as impressed with these types of things, and he was even less hungry than I was and less in the mood to eat anything. It was a struggle for him but he stuck it out and did it for me.  

I had foie gras to start - and it was a mistake because it was HUGE! Me already not that hungry, but determined to eat it because it's so delicious! I tried to take a sideways picture to show just how large the chunk was, but it doesn't quite do it justice.

The main course was some shrimp tagliatelle something. Good but I was ready to burst and couldn't finish. We were back in the room by 8:30ish, time to pack up again to move on tomorrow.