In the morning, we had a surprisingly large breakfast (you might call it a North American version of "continental") and made the short trip back to the Mont. There's lots of walking to be done in the little town on the hill, and then there is the monastery to tour. Like many such towns, it was built around a monestary, then later fortified.

We were hoping to get back to Bordeaux that night, which meant heading straight South through pretty much the height of France. While looking for a small town for lunch (getting a bit smarter, aren't I), Mom recognized the name of the town Langon as the home of her maternal grandmother. We knew we were in the neighbourhood, which is to say somewhere near Rennes in the North-West, but had no idea where exactly we were headed. We stopped in, and after lunch nearby (Langon is so small that it doesn't have a restaurant itself, but there is another little town a couple kilometres away where we found a restaurant holding Indian-themed week - yummy, if surprising out in the middle of the French countryside) we stopped at the mairie (town hall) to see if they had any records. We discovered that my great-grandmother and great-grandfather were married at the church across the road and were both from the area (they later left for Canada). We only went back a little ways into the family tree, not because the records weren't there but because they were a bit overwhelming - I think they dated back to roughly 1700, which the lady at the front desk had initially apologized about as being such a short history.

We almost made it to Saint Aubin la Plaine near Nantes, where Mom's paternal great-grandfather came from, but it was late and we needed to press on. Still we were quite happy with our earlier discoveries.

We got into Bordeaux pretty late and hit the Boucherie (restaurant chain) for supper before they closed around midnight. As it turns out, a long drive in a tiny car can get pretty exhausting, and I would recommend a bigger vehicle for anyone in similar circumstances (myself included).