Exploring Brittany
It is nearly 2 weeks since I arrived in France. A number of friends have emailed me eager to hear stories of my antics in Europe. I don't feel like I have all that much to report as I've spent most of my time exploring Brittany and just hanging out with Jim.
We've covered a fair bit of Brittany. I've seen a lot of Rennes and visited St Malo, Mont St-Michel, Vannes, Brest, and Quimper.
St Malo is a seaside walled town that was crawling with tourists. I had a swim in the sea and had a nice ice-cream.
Mont St Michel is a gorgeous former abbey/prison/fortified town that was crawling with tourists. Despite the crush, I loved this place - the dramatic/romantic setting of an ancient fortified abbey that becomes an island at high tides. Such beautiful architecture for monks who surely shouldn't care about wordly surroundings but instead be engrossed with study, prayer and saving souls.
Brest is a big ship-building town in the far west of Brittany, close to Asterix's village. The highlight was a maritime museum located in a fort originally built by the Romans. Lots of models of ships etc.
In Quimper we struck a festival celebrating traditional Breton/Celtic culture, so Quimper was crawling with tourists.
Breton traditional dancing is probably the most boring form of traditional dance I have yet seen. The dancers hold hands and shuffle around slowly in a circle - I don't thinking smiling or any sign of enjoyment is allowed. The traditional musical instruments include a type of oboe and a variation on bagpipes. Both emit a piercing noise that is a bit hard on the ears.
I'm glad Mum and Dad were adopted into Friuli rather than Breton culture.
We escaped the festival for the day yesterday and took a bus to the Point du Raz, a rocky point crawling with tourists. We went rock-hopping to see some great tidal action and very large seagulls.
On Monday Jim had to battle French administration in the morning, so in the afternoon we took the bus to Betton (a small town just north of Rennes) and walked back into town along the canal. It was a very scenic walk - the landscape was very much a rural idyll with wildflowers on the banks of the canal, old stone farmhouses, bails of hay in the fields, and nicely maintained locks. Unfortunately the blackberries by the side of the path were not yet ripe.
Jim and I have also spent a fair bit of time just doing 'normal' stuff. We both find being tourists a bit tiring, so we've been mixing it up with watching footy games, tv (notably including Firefly, a cool series unfortunately axed in the US after only one season) and movies (Bladerunner, Sunset Boulevard, Manhattan so far) and going for walks.
We've covered a fair bit of Brittany. I've seen a lot of Rennes and visited St Malo, Mont St-Michel, Vannes, Brest, and Quimper.
St Malo is a seaside walled town that was crawling with tourists. I had a swim in the sea and had a nice ice-cream.
Mont St Michel is a gorgeous former abbey/prison/fortified town that was crawling with tourists. Despite the crush, I loved this place - the dramatic/romantic setting of an ancient fortified abbey that becomes an island at high tides. Such beautiful architecture for monks who surely shouldn't care about wordly surroundings but instead be engrossed with study, prayer and saving souls.
Brest is a big ship-building town in the far west of Brittany, close to Asterix's village. The highlight was a maritime museum located in a fort originally built by the Romans. Lots of models of ships etc.
In Quimper we struck a festival celebrating traditional Breton/Celtic culture, so Quimper was crawling with tourists.
Breton traditional dancing is probably the most boring form of traditional dance I have yet seen. The dancers hold hands and shuffle around slowly in a circle - I don't thinking smiling or any sign of enjoyment is allowed. The traditional musical instruments include a type of oboe and a variation on bagpipes. Both emit a piercing noise that is a bit hard on the ears.
I'm glad Mum and Dad were adopted into Friuli rather than Breton culture.
We escaped the festival for the day yesterday and took a bus to the Point du Raz, a rocky point crawling with tourists. We went rock-hopping to see some great tidal action and very large seagulls.
On Monday Jim had to battle French administration in the morning, so in the afternoon we took the bus to Betton (a small town just north of Rennes) and walked back into town along the canal. It was a very scenic walk - the landscape was very much a rural idyll with wildflowers on the banks of the canal, old stone farmhouses, bails of hay in the fields, and nicely maintained locks. Unfortunately the blackberries by the side of the path were not yet ripe.
Jim and I have also spent a fair bit of time just doing 'normal' stuff. We both find being tourists a bit tiring, so we've been mixing it up with watching footy games, tv (notably including Firefly, a cool series unfortunately axed in the US after only one season) and movies (Bladerunner, Sunset Boulevard, Manhattan so far) and going for walks.
posted by Lee at
9:32 am
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