With the foggy weather in Mont Saint-Michel showing no sign of dissipating we resolved to go back to the chateau and cool our heels until the afternoon, to wait and see if Mother Nature changed her mood. It was a great suggestion since we’d been on nonstop tourist mode for the last two days – while I’m lucky I don’t  have to drive at all which leaves me some much-needed highway nap time, I was somewhat concerned Teko would be stretching himself too thin if we went any further. As we settled in in our room and the hours passed, it felt as if the rest of the day was going to be a wash, until a last-minute burst of  energy got both of us to drive to Dinan, a place I’d never heard of, 45 minutes away.

Today apparently being a public holiday, we had to battle for parking in the historic center with a higher number of locals than usual, made worse perhaps since holiday charges were in effect, i.e., parking was free. Once we finally got a spot it was a quick walk to the old center where to my utmost surprise medieval houses-lined streets were alive and buzzing with activity. My inner shutterbug was suddenly on adrenaline mode and I noticed a lot of others as well – as if a paparazzi convention was in town, there was unusually high smartphone and DSLR action on the very busy, cobbled streets. I had a difficult time in the beginning with composing shots due to the crowds but later on settled with what I could get, feeling satisfied with it in fact that I felt no pangs of guilt finishing off an elaborate galette at a restaurant close by before calling it a day.

Dinan proved to be a welcome creative challenge that was interesting and inspiring, and as luck would have it the clouds cleared up intermittently in the late afternoon hours, which gave me enough opportunity to stretch my smartphone cam trigger finger. Scratch off another productive day in yet another idyllic French town.