St-Malo - Our Home In Brittany - then the road home.

St-Malo is a beautiful place, surrounded on three sides by ocean, beaches and the fortified walls, but it was so cloudy and grey our first week that we didn't stay home much, and the pics we took weren't good. But we managed to capture some of it's charms once the sun started to shine.

First, a view of David and Sophie's apartment as we first saw it, looking across a small court yard up to the small second floor balcony.

And a little lunch on the balcony

And another meal in the colorful living/dining area

Enough eating! We walked only about 1.5 blocks to the nearest portal in the wall and emerged to see the beautiful beach and the sea below us. We were fascinated by the tides, and the large public walled swimming pool that captured the water at high tide and kept it slightly warmer during low tide. This is the pool filled with sun warmed water at low tide.

Kids played on the high board until dark, about 10:00PM, as the water rose to cover the stairs and eventually the board.

This shot taken another day shows how the board just disappears at high tide.

It was so cold and windy at first that Danice couldn't get warm, so Paul pushed me to buy a semi-wool French Navy pullover - modeled here at low tide, just outside the wall of the swimming pool.

(Paul thought Danice had an obsessive fascination with the tides and the diving platform. You be the judge.)

But some days were sunny and warm enough, Paul thought he should get back into swimming condition, like some of the strong swimmers we saw doing their laps each evening. He never quite adjusted to the water temperature though, which could be a bit breath taking.

Danice waded in up to her ankles then retreated for some peaceful basking in the much appreciated sunshine.

Twice we took the water-bus across to the bustling resort town of Dinard, where we previously visited the art museum and walked a promenade around their sea front. We returned for their Saturday market. No photos of the huge market, but returning by boat from Dinard afforded a great view of St-Malo.

Here's Paul getting off the boat back in St-Malo, bearing three bags with fruits, vegetables and roasted guinea hen

Paul had noticed a nice looking restaurant with an interesting menu, Le Benetin, when we visited these Rock Sculptures

So, on our last full day before starting our journey home, we decided to have lunch there

The place filled up shortly after the picture was taken, and the lunch was terrific.

After lunch we planned to hike a segment of GR34, our new favorite hiking trail along the coast. Before starting off we took note of the foreboding clouds at sea, and hoped they'd stay there.

.... but it was our last chance to hike this beautiful trail. So we donned our hiking shoes and rain jackets and set off,

and sure enough 40 minutes later we were pelted by a strong horizontal rain. Wimps we are, we cut the planned 3 hour hike in half, and headed back to the beachside bar. Our pants, shoes and socks were sopping wet; but it was a rather warm day, so we sat on the terrace where Danice bid farewell to her old muddy walking shoes that had so faithfully supported her arches through San Francisco, Paris and Bretagne. (More luggage space for the French Navy pullover.)

The rain started up again and the kind waitress soon bid us come inside - where Paul had his afternoon Espresso and Danice her Bretagne Cola Light.

By the time we got home, the clouds had cleared and we had a beautiful sunny evening at our home beach.... a fitting way to bid St-Malo a happy-sad farewell.

Next morning, Sophie's wonderful Mother Anna and spouse Etienne met us at the train station, where we turned over the car and house keys, bid our new friends a fond farewell, and were soon on the train back to Paris for one final night.

Some things we noticed in France that we don't see much of in the US.

• The mixed race socializing seemed frequent and unselfconscious, especially among school kids. They seem to be taking it for granted.
• Lots of Caucasian parents had a black child that seemed to be one of their children; we assume these are mixed race adoptions, perhaps from Africa
• A really amazing number of small children are wearing corrective lenses; this is not true of the adults, but perhaps they have moved on to contacts.

We'd like more information, but we don't know how to Google it, and haven't heard any of this from our typical sources, NPR and the NY Times. If any of our friends can shed light, we'd appreciate it.

Our Paris hotel was in the 6th and the weather was great, so we set out walking through the 7th, 15th and finally across the Seine to the 16th where we met up with one of Paul's friends, Don Weil and his charming friend Lynne. They were doing a home exchange at a most elegant condo on the Seine with fantastic views of the Eiffel Tower.

Paul took this silvery shot of some tall modern buildings that are still dwarfed by the more distant Eiffel Tower. We had wine and chatted til the sun broke through, then Paul caught this shot a bit down river of some older Parisienne buildings

We walked to a neighborhood restaurant Lynne and Don had discovered for a delicious duck dinner, then took the metro back to our hotel. It was great to see our favorite city again one last time. Next morning off to CDG and home to our own beautiful city.

Cities and towns of Bretagne

Although we spent a good deal of time driving/walking along the coast or on small country roads, Brittany (aka Bretagne) has some beautiful inland cities and towns as well. We were happy to see how many buildings survived the bombings of WWII and the architecture unique to this part of France.

We mentioned Dinan earlier, but Paul feels it deserves a few more photos.....While there, we saw a wonderful show of Robert Doisneau photographs dating before, during and after WWII.

From the top of the clock tower we could see most of Dinan.

Paul snuck a picture of this atypical tourist couple on an old world shopping street

Lots'a very old homes dating from the 15thC

Another day we visited Bretagne's capital city, Rennes, a bustling historic city that has a modern Italian feel to it with bright colors and high design. Yet, like Dinan, it has many beautiful old half-timber and stone buildings

and this more modern art deco swimming pool. The detail of the ceramics on the right.

The building and gardens below are typical of Rennes'

public buildings.

Dol de Bretagne boasts the oldest "maison" in Bretagne,

with many homes dating back to the 11c

We visited St. Sulliac along the Raunch River which flows out to sea at St-Malo. St. Sulliac hosted a festival that drew huge crowds, with flower and fishnet decorating the old stone houses and some locals dressed as in the olden days, ladies bloomers on the clothes line...

We arrived early and the cooking sausages made everyone hungry,

but by the time we decided on the best spot to buy food the line for the ham shank with potato, turnip and carrots was 20 minutes long. It tasted great down by the water though....

Then came the music and dancing

Great fun for two people who cant chat with anyone, although Paul had a friendly conversation in the porta-potty (wish we knew the French for that) line in English with a man who lives in Paris but comes home to St Sulliac several times each year. For the most part we take it all in, smile, eat and enjoy the music and sunshine.

Chateau Hopping in Bretagne

We've seen some beautiful old chateau, around the countryside. Not the refined country homes of the very wealthy found in the Loire Valley, these are huge defensive fortresses.

We first encountered a smaller one with many walls falling down but the four main towers intact. It's Chateau de la Hunaudaye (Paul's favorite),

which we first visited after closing time and without much light, but we returned to investigate further and caught these views with some sunlight support

Another day we journeyed south to a lovely old-world town of Vitre. Its fortified chateau, ramparts

and small streets are just as they were 500 years ago. In those days the town thrived producing hemp, woolen cloth and cotton stockings sold throughout Europe and even America and the Indies. The tradesmen built beautiful half-timbered homes, many of which still stand. And, of course, their lovely old church right in the middle.

The Cathedral isn't really tilted; it's the photographer.

From Vitre we headed back north to Fougeres. On the border of Brittany and France everyone wanted it, so it acquired great military importance in the early middle ages. In 1166, Henry II surrounded the castle which capitulated after a 3 month seige, but throughout the centuries many other leaders were defeated and the fief passed onward to many noblemen. After Brittany and France unified around 1532, there was a succession of governors, then it was used as a prison. The town bought the castle in 1892.

On to Combourg where the castle dates back to the 11C, some parts restored in the 19C. The great French writer Chateaubriand lived here in the almost deserted castle with stern silent parents in 18C, sharing the loneliness, boredom and haunted castle feelings only with his sister.

Danice at the Henri II Port at the Chateau.

And last, could be least depending on one's perspective, we followed a barely marked turn-off from a small country road to look for an abandoned Chateau. Parking was provided next to a cow pasture, but no Chateau or further signs in sight. So we bid the cows a kind bonjour and treaded across their pasture, up a hill and down a charming wooded path to finally see the remains, surrounded by weeds and thicket. Quite a contrast to the perfectly landscaped castles and cathedrals other towns proudly display.

That's it for Chateau.

We hope to do one more post, and Paul has grandiose plans for putting more pics somewhere on the web. Bet you can't wait for that. Home soon.