Land of the Pommes: Les vacances, Part I

Two and a half weeks of work merited two weeks of vacation.  France is divided into four school "zones" - A, B, C, and D - in order to stagger their vacations.  As the Académie de Nantes is in Zone A, we got to kick off les vacances de Toussaint (All Saints' Day break)!  Very early in the morning on our first Monday off, I headed north by train with Laura, Elyse, and Lisa.

Our first six days were spent in the region of Bretagne, just northwest of the Pays de la Loire.  We used Rennes, the capital city, as a home base; we were content staying in its only youth hostel with our own room and access to a nice-sized kitchen.

Rennes itself reminds me of Beauty and the Beast, which we often resurrected in song while walking through the streets.  There's an old town with endless crêperies and cafés and unique buildings with dark wood beams on the outside.  My favorite part was la Place des Lices, the home of France's second-largest market every Saturday morning.  Our favorite market finds were pink tomato-flavored cheese and green pesto-flavored cheese, which would be epic melted over pasta.  We also found a variety of live seafood and of course the regional specialty galettes saucisses (savory sausage crêpes) that you can pick up and eat on the street.  Bretagne is known for its savory galettes and also for its apples and apple products; one of my favorite treats in Rennes was an apple crêpe flambée with cider at the Crêperie St. Anne.

Hence my French Mot du Jour:
une pomme - an apple

Near the river, you can find modern stores and restaurants.  We visited le Musée des Beaux-Arts for a variety of visual art; it had a good variety of art and most of the modern pieces were not too weird for me (I only saw one blank white panel that was trying to call itself "art").  Not far from la gare is a modern media center called Les Champs Libres which includes le Musée de Bretagne, a museum and space for traveling exhibitions, a planetarium, and a science center.  We saw the permanent expositions at the museum on the history of Bretagne, which explained events in the region from the ice age up through the World Wars - it was very well put-together.  Lisa and I returned later to see a free artist exhibition, "Fragile Territories" by German artist Robert Henke.  We sat on the floor of a giant dark room and watched a giant screen that looped...well...this:

http://youtu.be/k7G8mhH7iRo

Strange, but after awhile, very hypnotic and relaxing.

Me, Laura, Lisa, and Elyse à Mont-Saint-Michel

We used Rennes also to access some nearby smaller towns.  Our first day excursion, by bus, was to Mont-Saint-Michel, the now-very-touristy ancient abbey, military stronghold, and prison.  It was my second visit, but it's an impressive sight and I got to see the new, almost-finished pedestrian and motor access roads.  The weather on the coast was windy, but sunny and beautiful for pictures.

The next day, we headed by train to St. Malo, an old walled city also on the coast.  It has a beautiful view of the sea; the color of the water was a unique sea-foam green.  We spent the morning roaming the ramparts and hunting down all the statues indicated on our tourist map.

We stumbled upon a gem of a crêperie for lunch.  Tucked away on a small street, we somehow got the last unreserved table (by about five minutes - several people came in just after us and were turned away).  The propriétaire (owner) visited with us for a long time and explained their extensive menu of galettes and crêpes in detail.  Experiences like this are one huge reason I love France: numerous owners of small restaurants and shops are so proud of their art, services, cuisine, and products...and they are not in it for the money.  My galette was by far the best I've ever tasted:  Camembert with lettuce and a very light scoop of apple sorbet on top.

We also took the opportunity to try kouign amann in the afternoon, a famous gâteau breton (cake of Bretagne).  One of the teachers au lycée had told me that, even though it's basically just butter and sugar, "Il faut le goûter" ("You have to try it")...and it was delicious, especially with friends to split it with!

In the afternoon, Elyse and Lisa and I went to the history museum located in un château.  I gleaned quite a bit of interesting fishing vocabulary for mon petit cahier of new words, as St. Malo has lots of fishing history.  At the end of the visit, we climbed the tower for an aerial view of the town and sea.

And on our way back to la gare, Laura and I began a new tradition: carousels.

The following day, I went on an excursion by myself to the town of Dinan.  Dinan was probably my preferred place of the three; the buildings had a unique medieval style full of greenery...and even in the rain, it was charming.  There were many ramparts surrounding the town to try to find and explore, each with stunning panoramic views of the town.  I visited a small château that had been converted into a museum of art and ancient military history; you can still see the ancient kitchen and well, moat, and tomb.  I also enjoyed the very small Musée de la Harpe - a one-room museum filled with harps from around the world.  Since I was the only one there, I spoke for a long time with the woman working the desk about music, and she let me try a couple of the instruments.

 

Panoramic view of Dinan

After our six days in Bretagne, the four of us hopped on another train headed three hours east to continue the adventure!