The store was 2 floors and was set out so that you had to walk through all of it to get to the checkout. It included both a restaurant and also a cafe and by the time we got out the door we had walked 1.2kms - if a store like this is set up by IKEA when they enter the NZ market it would blow NZers away.
The centre also included other “mega” stores covering the whole range so it was a one stop environment albeit we did not notice a food hypermarket.On the way back to Vandeuil we stopped off at Leclerc and gave the car a drink and did some grocery shopping (smart as the shops are closed the better part of tomorrow) and we then travelled on to Fismes a village around 11km up/down the road.
Apart from a very nice Hotel de Ville and a War Memorial there was not much to see there so we headed back to our nest among the vineyards.
The village we went to for dinner last night, Hermonville, also had a nice building which housed the Mairie. This is, or seems to be, a very prestigious position in a French community as we are told nothing happens without the express permission of the Mairie (Mayor)
For such a small village (population 1480 in 2016) the restaurant provided fine dining and was a popular establishment given how busy it was. Tonight we have a booking for dinner at a restaurant in another village Coulonges-Cohan (pop. 436 in 2016) around 18 kms away.Driving through this part of France is very pleasant with the rolling hills, ploughed fields, crop paddocks and vineyards and well maintained roads.
This morning I listened to the Warriors game on the radio and fellow Warriors supporter Lance, who I referenced in an early post, was rewarded this weekend by the team for his efforts in traveling to Canberra to watch them play!
Tomorrow weather permitting we intend to drive to Le Quesnoy some 100+kms north east of here and close to the Belgium border - this town we understand has has a monument to NZ soldiers who liberated the city in WW1.
Kms driven today:64
No comments:
Post a Comment