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We were especially keen to visit Challans, the "Duck Capital" on one of the four folk festivals held during the summer. We also saw some other interesting sights that day...
Aizenay
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These deer were actually behind a wire fence, but, through the magic of the digital camera, they are seen here, in the wild.
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A forest ranger, perhaps, takes his lunch.
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Nick's bingo card specified a "frog with legs" and we were assured to see them in this pond, which we did.
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Challans
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At the folk festival, these bakers showed the crowd how to shape bread.
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This boy hunted everywhere for change.
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A slightly spooky looking accordionist
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These girls played folk music very well indeed.
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Drinking Mélusine beer, named after the ubiquitous fairy with a serpent's tail
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Donkey-drawn transport
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This woman fashioned some sort of ornament from reeds.
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I think he was a boat guide.
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This jaunty looking man was also wearing clogs.
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What's she looking at?
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Hide from the camera!
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These musicians tried to parade through a kitchen shop, but the proprietoress threw them out.
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Onlookers watching the vintage car parade
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The double heart and cross shape is the Vendée's logo, here made from bread.
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He was offering free samples of peanuts.
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Clogs are the traditional footwear.
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Sallertaine
This town is taken over by artists in the summer, and we paid them a couple of visits.
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Nick had to be photographed next to a house with the same number as our own.
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The 12th century church
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Sentier du Souvenir
In a quiet corner of the forest just outside Aizenay, we found this memorial commemorating five members of a U.S. bomber crew, whose plane crashed in 1944. Their story is told on shards of aluminum which are scattered on the forest floor.
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Poitiers
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Perched on the steps of the city's fortress
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There's the fairy Mélusine again, this time rendered in a kooky psychedelic mural.
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A view overlooking the river
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Trying to set my cap on fire
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We gave in and ate a meal at McDonald's.
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We saw this man on the motorway.
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