"Destiny is All"

Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred

The title of this post is a quote by Uhtred, a character in Bernard Cornwell's "The Last Kingdom". Uhtred was a pagan and believed that destiny was sealed at birth and the gods played with humans for their own entertainment.

In the case of our Hertz rental car, I felt similarly.

At 8:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, the verdict was in ... a replacement vehicle would not be available until 3:30 p.m.  That put our entire day's itinerary at risk ... the plan had been to arrive in Fontevraud (three hours south) by 11 a.m. to visit Fontevraud Abbey, the resting place for the Plantagenet founders, and visit Chinon Castle in the afternoon, Henry's favorite residence in the heart of the Angevin empire.

Fontevraud Abbey Chapel 

What to do? I figured we'd have more luck 'negotiating' a replacement vehicle in person than on the phone so we packed up, bid au revoir to our hostess, and caught a taxi to the rental office.  The unhappy-to-see-us-agent reiterated a vehicle wouldn't be available until 3:30 and that was only if we accepted a manual transmission ... an automatic would take two weeks!  My heart sank.  Fontevraud was the highlight of the trip for my traveling companion, Mary.

Seriously disappointed, we stowed our luggage and opted to tour the parts of Caen we had not yet explored. As we trudged to the door, the agent called out.  "Wait!" We turned. "A car just came in."  What? "And it's an automatic!"

The co-ed Abbey was ahead of its tiime -
under the authority of Abbess not a monk!

We had so far experienced a 'white knight', a 'black knight', two lady-rescuers, and incredible parking karma.  Now this ... we hopped in and sped off, feeling blessed to be  on the road albeit 3+ hours behind schedule. Our estimated 3-hour junket took 4 hours and we arrived at the Abbey just as it reopened after lunch.

The Abbey was founded in 1101 and in its early years, the Plantagenets were great benefactors; Eleanor was Abbess there in her declining years.  Henry II, Eleanor, Richard I (Lionheart) and Isabella of Angouleme, queen to King John, were all buried there although their tombs were destroyed during the French Revolution.

Fontevraud Cloister

It's interesting to note that Henry II blamed Eleanor for their sons' rebellion against him and imprisoned her.  Although Eleanor was 11 years his senior, she outlived Henry ... by almost the exact the number of years he had imprisoned her! 


Our day at Fontevraud also happened to be Thanksgiving Day - and we had much to be thankful for on this trip!  Although the Abbey does boast a hotel and restaurant for guests, when I attempted to make reservations for both, I learned that neither was available.  In November? 

I booked us at the St Croix hotel just across the plaza and we enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel restaurant, Les Plantagenets. 

Les Plantagenets Restaurant far right of photo.

No, the French do not celebrate our American holiday so turkey was not on the menu.  And given how loathe I've been to post food photos, here's one of my dessert.

Heart of Anjou Creme

It has three basic ingredients: whipping cream, egg whites and local Anjou cheese.  It is topped with seasonal fruit.  You can see I've already sampled it!  Quite yummy but the fresh bread & butter I consumed (how can one not devour fresh-baked French bread?) made it impossible to finish this unique dessert.

One last decision before my bed claimed me ... visit Chinon Castle or not?  It wouldn't open until 9:30 a.m. and visiting there meant cutting short the last leg of the Prince's chevaucee route.

I had traveled this part of France in 2012 but had not visited Chinon, a truly medieval fortress vs. a Loire Valley chateau that might add to my personal knowledge of life during medieval times. In my head, I reasoned that if we left Chinon by 11 a.m. that would still allow six hours to drive back north and visit at least the landing beach at St. Vaast la Hougue. While I hated to jettison St. Lo and Carantan, two towns devasted by the English early in their march, I believed the drive itself would provide a knowledge of the topography (scenic descriptions for my novel) and viewing the beach where the English made their landing would have to suffice.

Decision made, my pillow cried my name.