Taking Meccano to the next level.

We are still having sunny days, we can't believe it.  We didn't have much time to recover from a large meal last night because we were going out for a mammoth meal at lunchtime.

View in D&W's back garden.

David and Wendy have taken me to this Routier restaurant before, so I knew exactly what to expect.  It is tucked away at the top of an industrial estate and is completely full with around 100 people mainly lorry drivers and Sapier Pompiers (firemen).

The price is a flat rate of 12 euro per person.  That includes a buffet starter, main course, cheese course, sweets, coffee and wine.  The buffet starter is superb.  You can fill a plate and go back for seconds.  We had a spare rib main course that was really tender and tasty and we got plenty of it.  I had three sweets, a chocolate mousse, an apple cake with caramel sauce and a pineapple flan.  I was stuffed.

We went into La Roche sur Yon which used to be called Napoleon.  Here is a picture of the man himself.  The quote of the day is from the man himself, "Courage is like love, it must have hope for nourishment".

The church is superb too.

Many of you will remember seeing the large mechanical models that paraded around Liverpool.  Apparently the company that make them is based in Nantes and they have constructed a series of mechanical animals in the city square....

Here is a camel (on the left in case you were unsure).  You could actually use controls to move the animals.

Here is one of the control panels.  There were mechanical hippos, otters, flamingoes and crocs...

This one opened its mouth and sprayed out water....

This was Janice when she was totally surprised by the crocodile spray.

We couldn't manage much to eat for the rest of the day but we did manage some cheese later.  Wendy told us about French cheese etiquette.  Apparently when there is a piece of triangular cheese, like Brie for instance, you shouldn't cut off the pointy end.  You should always cut it at an angle so there is always a point.  Well that's something we never knew.

Before bed we had a game of dominoes....we are so 'on trend'.