Monthly Archives: July 2018

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Another Bastille Day in France!

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(Vitré, Brittany, France)

For the second time in three years, we are in France for Bastille Day (a.k.a. le quatorze juillet, or la fête nationale).  This was not intentional  – it just happened to be when we were in France this time around.  But I do have a fondness for Bastille Day:  as regular readers of this blog know, my previous Bastille Day post on St. Pierre & Miquelon remains by far my most-read blog entry.

Our hotel in Vitré (right) and the first restaurant we tried (left)

Upon arriving in Vitré, we learned that the July 14 fireworks would actually take place at 11:30 p.m. on July 13.  I suppose this is because almost every community in France has a fireworks display, so they have some of them the night before too.  It was to take place at Vitré’s hippodrome, which turned out to be a 2km hike from our downtown hotel.

St-Martin Cathedral captured on our way to the Bastille Day fireworks

While it was a bit of a trek at that time of night, it did get us out to a completely different part of town.  And, since Vitré has relatively few overnight tourists, we felt like we were really a part of the community: almost everybody there was from the immediate area.

Another late evening view of St-Martin Cathedral in Vitré

Can you imagine sitting in a dark field, just before midnight, during a Canadian summer?  It would be brutal, with ravenous mosquitoes being a constant annoyance.  But, here at the edge of Brittany, there seemed to be no insects at all.  What a pleasure!

Awaiting the start of the fireworks, at the Hippodrome in Vitré

Even though Vitré is not a big community, the fireworks show accompanied a rousing selection of music and dwarfed what you would see in a similarly-sized Canadian community.  I was kind of hoping to hear La Marseillaise, as it is quite a stirring national anthem…it was being played a lot around France during our visit, especially with the World Cup Final taking place the next day.  There were certainly a lot of soccer jerseys in the crowd that night!

While La Marseillaise did not make an appearance, the fireworks show was still very enjoyable. However, when the show was over and thousands of people began to leave the hippodrome, an equally stirring song was played and will forever be stuck in my mind when I think of this night.  Yes, it was “The Final Countdown” by Swedish hair-metal band Europe!  Call it cheesy, but you also can’t forget it!

Vitré

With “The Final Countdown” on auto-repeat in our brains (and undoubtedly quickening our pace), we were back at our hotel before we knew it.  And while this is not our country, we still appreciated being part of the national celebrations  on this warm summer night in northern France.

Happy Bastille Day! And yes, the apple torte was delicious.

It wasn’t easy getting to sleep that night.  I’m sure it was much worse for the rest of the country:  would the World Cup be theirs the next evening?

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How did we find ourselves in Vitré?

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(Vitré, Brittany, France)

When planning this trip, I had no problem establishing our first three destinations of Rouen, Bayeux, and Saint-Malo. It was also obvious that we should spend the last few days in Paris. However, it took a little longer to fill in the two days between Saint-Malo and Paris.

The steep and narrow main street of Vitré’s old town

I had originally intended to select a town on the Atlantic coast of Brittany. Perhaps Carnac, with its prehistoric tombs and standing stones?  However, we really didn’t want to spend so much time on trains.  I love rail travel, but it can wear you down if you have luggage and need to change trains frequently.  So, searching for something near the TGV line between Brittany and Paris, I stumbled upon an interesting medieval relic called Vitré.

Awkward intersection in Vitré

There was a castle, it was old, it had regular trains to Rennes (the biggest city in the area), and it looked to be somewhat undiscovered.  Without any more than that, the decision was made to visit Vitré, a town that was literally at the gateway to Brittany…being some distance inland from the coast and only a few kilometres from the historic boundary between Brittany and France. 

It’s Friday afternoon…where is everybody?

Yes, Vitré was somewhat random and we didn’t know much about it.  After arrival and check-in, we started to wander around without really knowing where we were going or what we would find.  For today’s post, I’m going to continue that theme.   Here are our jumbled first impressions of this mysterious place!

Inside the courtyard of Vitré’s castle

Compared to Saint-Malo, hotels were smaller and much harder to find.  We also weren’t surrounded by camera-toting travellers or dodging buses once we left the protective walls of the old city.  We got the impression that real people still lived here.  After visiting beach resorts on the coast, that realness was quite appealing.

Just another building on Vitré’s main street

Not all of Vitré was polished and sparkling.  Some of the medieval half-timbered homes were leaning precariously, as in Rouen, but the risk of collapse seemed just a little bit higher.  A few of the buildings were downright scruffy, something you would rarely see in a coastal beach resort.

I’m sure it’s perfectly safe

After ensuring that we could visit the castle at pretty much any time, and ascertaining the location of the July 14 (Bastille Day/fête nationale) fireworks display, we continued our wanderings and ended our first afternoon with dinner at a highly-regarded local crêperie.  Another galette seguin…filled with chèvre, honey and nuts…this is becoming a delicious habit!  We also discovered a new beverage called cidre blanc (white cider).

Galette Seguin….can’t have too many galette pictures…

We may not know much about  Vitré  yet, but our visit here has had a great start!

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Taking Care of Business in Saint-Malo

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

In our ongoing quest to pack as lightly as possible, it was inevitable that we had to do some laundry.  We’ve had some very entertaining laundry days abroad, but this one was quite uneventful.  There was a self-serve “Salon Lavoir” right around the corner from our hotel and we finished ahead of schedule.

Our laundromat in Saint-Malo

The bigger drama came when I decided to go to the train station.  Given the uneasy labour situation in France, I thought it would be a good idea to buy our train tickets in advance for Vitré (our next destination) and possibly even for Paris (our final destination, in three days’ time).  The tickets for Vitré were cheap and easy,  I then tried to buy the tickets from Vitré to Paris for Sunday, July 15.  I was hoping for a departure from Vitré  at about 10:00 a.m.  This is where things got very interesting,

Low tide at Saint-Servan

Train service is quite light on Sundays, especially from smaller towns like Vitré.  In addition, temperatures had been quite warm and some scheduled trains were cancelled as a result.  However, there were two additional factors at play:  the July 14 national holiday (similar to our July 1 Canada Day) and the World Cup finals on July 15 at 5:00 p.m.

Ruins at a Roman site in Saint-Malo

Many French communities host elaborate festivities on July 14.  But France had also just qualified for the World Cup finals and massive gatherings were being planned for Paris on July 15.  The bottom line:  everybody wanted to get to Paris BEFORE the game started.

Within the walled city of Saint-Malo

All but one of my preferred itineraries were sold out.  The other one would have cost $400 for the two of us to get from Vitré to Paris.  The only reasonably priced alternative left much later in the day and involved arriving in Paris at 6:52 p.m….just as the World Cup final would be ending.  It also meant we would be stuck in Vitré until 3:20 p.m. on a Sunday.

Part of the coastal defence network from World War II at Alet, with Dinard in the distance

While we had really hoped to watch the final in Paris, we could not justify the additional cost.  Still, we would get to ride the TGV for most of our journey to Paris and we held out hope that the game might somehow be broadcast on the train.

Hiking trail around Alet, just south of the walled city in Saint-Malo

After buying the tickets, we spent the afternoon walking around the Alet district just south of the walled city of Saint-Malo.  We rewarded ourselves with yet another dinner of galettes, crepes, and Breton cider (now supplemented by a bowl of salad).

A “Galette Complète” at the Crêperie des Bés, in Saint-Malo

We had enjoyed Saint-Malo, although both it and Dinard were rather crowded with summer vacationers.  Our next stop, Vitré, was rarely covered in guidebooks.  I privately worried that we would not have enough to do during our stay there from July 13-15…especially as our stay included both Bastille Day and most of World Cup Final Sunday.  Hopefully it all works out!

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Day Trip to Dinard, a Breton beach resort

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

Following in the footsteps of Jacques Cartier, we boarded a boat in Saint-Malo and set sail for new frontiers. However, our journey ended only about 10 minutes later with our arrival in the nearby town of Dinard.   We could have taken a bus, but it would have taken longer and the views along the way would not have been as inspiring.

Dinard’s posh yacht club

When we arrived in Dinard, we saw the yacht club almost immediately…this is a fairly well-heeled beach resort!  Strangely, however, we didn’t see any obvious downtown core.  The ferry dock was in a leafy area and there was a large escarpment further obscuring our vision.  We were traveling without a map and we decided to resort to one of our time-tested navigational techniques.

The failed navigational aid. This is not in downtown Dinard.

In an unfamiliar French town, you can usually find the downtown core quite easily by scanning the horizon for the biggest cathedral spire.  We did that here, but found very little other than the cathedral itself.  The signage from the dock was quite poor (or well-hidden) and we later realized that we were actually walking away from the downtown.

Much closer to downtown Dinard…

Eventually, we found a sign pointing to the centre-ville parking garage. We had to climb a large hill but ultimately discovered a vibrant downtown core sitting right in front of a massive sandy beach.  Perhaps if you don’t know where Dinard’s downtown is located, you don’t need to go?  Anyway, the extensive hike worked up our appetites and we enjoyed yet another “formule” (savoury galette,sweet crepe, and bowl of cider) for lunch.

On the beach in Dinard

The beach was huge and, thanks to low tide, we could walk out on the sand for what seemed like miles before it slowly turned into the sea.  There were soccer games in progress:  Rio de Janeiro is apparently not the only place where you can play soccer on the beach!  Also found everywhere:  stripey Breton shirts.

At low tide, you can see Saint-Malo while still on Dinard’s beach

Finally armed with a map from the downtown tourist office, we walked back to the ferry dock via a steep coastal trail that passed by huge waterfront homes.  The trip back to Saint-Malo was uneventful until we arrived at the dock and discovered that a lobster boat had taken our docking place.  Much discussion and debate ensued, as the lobster crew still had to unload their massive catch.  In the end, a 10-minute trip ended up taking 40 minutes by the time we disembarked at a nearby pier.

A modest home in Dinard, just above the waterfront trail leading back to the ferry dock

After all of this exploring, it’s finally time to take care of some business.  But, in an unfamiliar country, even mundane activities can sometimes become epic adventures…

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The Walled City of Saint-Malo

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

The Breton city of Saint-Malo is located on the English Channel, a couple of hours (by very slow trains) southwest of Bayeux.  We decided to stay here for a few days because of its famous walled old town.  We also knew that there was a laundromat (as we were at the halfway point of our trip) and that there was a connection to Jacques Cartier.  That was enough to give it a look!

Main entrance to Saint-Malo’s old city (“intra muros”)

Jacques Cartier was a Breton explorer who claimed (what is now) Canada for France.  He was born in in Saint-Malo in 1491, and it is not difficult to see the architectural inspiration for the old parts of Quebec City.  Saint-Malo may rely heavily on tourism today, but it originally appears to have grown rich from seafaring and, well, piracy.

Statue of Jacques Cartier, atop the ramparts of Saint-Malo

Visitors are drawn to both the walled city and the city’s many sandy beaches. We’re not really into the beach scene, but we did appreciate the cool breezes coming in from the sea.  We missed that in both Rouen and Bayeux.

One of Saint-Malo’s side streets. We ate at the Asian restaurant on our first night, and had lunch at the creperie on the left on our last day

The walled city is larger than most and can also make you feel rather claustrophobic.  The streets are very narrow and the buildings are all very high.  While this creates shade during the day, it also seems to have stopped me from taking a lot of pictures within the walls (known locally as “intra muros”).

One of the many beaches below the city walls of Saint-Malo (at high tide)

Another reason I didn’t take many pictures in the city itself was simple:  it was very crowded.  It has been a very warm summer so far in northern France and I think a lot of people were escaping the inland heat.  In fact, we have yet to see a drop of rain on our trip.  You’ll notice that there is a fair bit of glare in my pictures:  the sun was relentless, and the sun also doesn’t set until about 11:00 p.m. at this time of year.  We can’t complain:  it’s better than relentless rain!

Looking toward Saint-Malo from the end of the lighthouse pier

There aren’t a lot of specific “must-see” sights in Saint-Malo: the main thing is to walk on top of the city walls.   A complete circuit takes about an hour, with stops, and gives some new perspectives on the narrow streets.  Alas, I can’t show them to you, as I left my camera’s memory card in our hotel room when we went for an extended walk on the walls!

A tall ship anchored at Saint-Malo

Coming up:  a boat journey from Saint-Malo!

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From Bayeux to Saint-Malo

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

Bayeux’s large medieval festival lasted several days, so we were able to revisit it a few times and check out some of the exhibits, kiosks, and activities that we missed the fist time around.

Medieval musicians in front of Bayeux’s Cathedral

One of the parks was devoted to medieval games…and we ended up spending quite a bit of time there. Quite a few were similar to “table shuffleboard”, and in fact one game was identical to a Dutch game called “sjoelen“. I remember playing sjoelen at my aunt’s house in ‘s-Gravenzande, but that didn’t give me much of an advantage!

Some of the medieval games in Bayeux

Some of the kiosks were a little different from what you would find in Canada. One was devoted to escargots! There were also many unusual clothing items for sale, ranging from full body armour to tricorne hats. As it was (and still is) quite hot, most of these items were not very practical and I didn’t end up buying any of them. I hope I don’t regret declining this rare opportunity!

Snails to go: escargots à emporter, à Bayeux.

We stumbled upon another unique site in Bayeux:  the Reporters’ Memorial.  This commemorates all of the reporters since World War II who have been killed in the course of their employment.  There is a forest path lined with large pillars containing the names of the reporters who died:  generally, there is one pillar per year, but many years (most of them recent) unfortunately spill over onto a second or even third pillar.  The memorial is a reminder of the important role journalism plays in a free society.

Some of the reporters who were killed in 2002

We’ve been eating a lot of galettes and crêpes lately, so I broke down and had a Turkish döner kebab on our last night in Bayeux.  It was a refreshing change but I think we’ll be having plenty of galettes and crêpes even after we move on from Bayeux.  While we are leaving Normandy, we will be spending five days in Brittany…where galettes and crêpes are just as ubiquitous.

An interesting intersection in Bayeux

The journey from Bayeux to Saint-Malo was very uneventful, compared to the strike-impaired journey out of Rouen.  We arrived in Saint-Malo on time and settled into our hotel without incident.  We miss having our own kitchen, but there is a boulangerie right around the corner.  This means we can continue our indulgent habit of having amazingly fresh chaussons aux pommes and pain au chocolat every morning!

Our local bakery in Bayeux

Stay tuned for more on Saint-Malo:  the Brittany town with a very strong connection to Canada!

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World War II Sites in Normandy

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(Bayeux, Normandy, France)

World War II can never be forgotten in Normandy. Until you visit here, it is difficult to comprehend the scale of what happened and how many people died.

Courseulles-sur-Mer

We first visited Juno Beach (see photo at the top of this post) in the nearby village of Courseulles-Sur-Mer. This was just one of several landing sites during the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944…better known as “D-Day” (le jour J in French).  However, the troops that landed here were predominantly Canadian, while the other landing sites had predominantly American or British troops.

One of the concrete bunkers at Juno Beach

The Juno Beach Centre is located right by the beach and is best described as an interactive museum.  Although the focus is on D-Day, there is also a lot about Canadian life in the 1930s and 1940s, to put everything into context.  We spent quite a bit of time here; it is actually staffed by young Canadians who are approximately the same age as the Canadian soldiers who participated in the invasion of Normandy.

Flags of the nations that participated in the D-Day invasion

Particularly moving was the movie shown near the end of the “circuit”.  The ferocity and carnage of D-Day is very strongly conveyed, using a combination of actual footage and extremely convincing recreations.  We also took a brief guided tour of the beach and two bunkers that were part of the Nazi defence of the coast.

Recreation at Juno Beach

We then spent some time exploring the beach on our own. It is still a huge sandy beach that is slowly moving inland.  Today it is predominantly a place for leisure, and it is often difficult to imagine that so many people died here.  It is estimated that there were at least 10,000 Allied casualties on D-Day alone, with 4,414 confirmed dead.

Vast expanse of sand at Juno Beach (low tide)

There are 18 Allied war cemeteries in Normandy alone.  As we are relying on public transportation here, it was not practical for us to visit the nearby Canadian cemetery at Bény-sur-Mer.  However, the cemeteries are usually not reserved for one particular nationality, so we visited the cemetery in Bayeux instead.

Entrance to the Bayeux War Cemetery

Most of the dead at the Bayeux Cemetery are British, but a significant number of Canadians are buried there too.  There are even a few hundred German soldiers.  It was striking how young most of the fallen soldiers were (mostly 18-20 years old) and how many died on the same day.

Bayeux War Cemetery

This was my first time at a war cemetery.  It is hard to process so many graves in one place, particularly with the knowledge that Normandy alone has 24 World War II cemeteries (including six predominantly German ones).  In Bayeux, there are nearly 5,000 soldiers buried.  A significant number are not identified, but contain the soldier’s nationality and the phrase “Known unto God”.

Bayeux War Cemetery

It was often challenging to reconcile the paddleboards and sandcastles at Courseulles-sur-Mer, or the shouts that came from the soccer field near the Bayeux Cemetery, with the Battle of Normandy.  However, our Juno Beach guide reminded us that the war was fought to preserve the freedoms (including leisure time) that we enjoy so much today.

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Arrival in Bayeux

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(Bayeux, Normandy, France)

The rail strike caused us a delay of nearly 3.5 hours.  Our original train still ran, but the entire self-serve rail ticket network was frozen and only a couple of ticket agents were working.  It took about an hour to buy our tickets, by which time our train had left.  Not a great start to our trip to Bayeux, especially as our (eventual) trains were very hot and we had to call our host in Bayeux repeatedly to adjust our arrival time.

Our apartment (on the left) in Bayeux, in a courtyard hidden behind an ancient wall.

We’re trying something a little different in Bayeux:  we have a furnished apartment with a fridge, etc.  In addition to being fabulously located in a historic building less than a block from the (huge) cathedral, it enables us to prepare some of our own meals.  This was a real blessing, as it is impossible to eat out every day without growing tired of it (and the cost).

This is the view from the street entrance to our apartment in Bayeux

As Bayeux was a very important medieval town, its cathedral is understandably huge.  I took many pictures of it, from various angles and at various times of day.  The days are long here, so I found the best light to be just before 11:00 p.m., when the summer sun is finally disappearing.

Bayeux’s Cathedral at 11:00 p.m.

Bayeux is perhaps best known for the the “Bayeux Tapestry” (actually an embroidery).  This work of art was created around the year 1070 to chronicle the victory of William the Conqueror (King of Normandy) over Harold (who claimed to be the King of England) at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.   It is a fascinating record of a major turning point in European history:  it also marks the beginning of the profound influence of French on the English language.

From the Bayeux Tapestry gift shop – a facsimile showing part of the 70-metre-long (!) tapestry

Looking like a massively elongated comic strip, the tapestry is nearly 70 metres long (!) and about 50 cm high.  Considering its age, it is remarkably well-preserved.  It was created to be hung in the cathedral so that the people understood the story of William the Conqueror.  In order to preserve the tapestry, photographs are not allowed and you only have about 25 minutes to view it.  The photo here is actually a contemporary copy of one of the scenes.

One of the creatures on the streets at the Bayeux medieval festival

Speaking of medieval times…we unknowingly arrived in the middle of Bayeux’s medieval festival.  The town was packed, with many of the people wearing full medieval costumes.  Many food items were medieval as well:  for a snack, I had a pear torte made from a 14th century recipe.

The medieval bakery kiosk in Bayeux. The chef is in period costume on the left.

Stay tuned for more medieval and modern stories from Bayeux!

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Last day in Rouen…and a strike!

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(Rouen, Normandy, France)

There are more than 2,000 half-timbered houses here…and sometimes one wonders how they remain standing.  The one below is right in the middle of the old town but nobody seems to be worried about it.

Precariously leaning house in Rouen

After quick visits to the (free) ceramics and ironworks museums, it was time for a big event:  the World Cup quarter-final match between France and Uruguay.  We claimed a table in a bar and assumed it would be like a big game in Canada:  noisy, occasionally, but still restrained.  We were wrong!

At the Rouen Ceramics Museum

Although there were only about 20 people in the room (this was a multilevel bar), it seemed like many more were actually there.  The intensity of emotion was astonishing and the amount of noise when France scored was deafening.  We had never seen anything like it, except perhaps when we saw a Feyenoord game in Rotterdam in 2014.  It will only get crazier, as France won 2-0 and advanced to the semi-final against Belgium.  I’m sure we’ll be watching that game too…I can’t imagine what it will be like if France makes it to the final on July 15!

As much as we loved the galettes here, we agreed that we should have something different for dinner.  My research uncovered a Senegalese restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel, so we decided to give it a try.

Inside the Ironworks Museum in Rouen

I chose chicken yassa and my wife ordered a vegetarian “XL samossa”.  It certainly was extra-large for a samosa:  it was filled with cheese, mixed vegetables, and an egg.  I wasn’t entirely sure what I had ordered but it turned out to be grilled chicken in a relatively sweet sauce.  However, the most interesting components of dinner were the sauces.

The very large Senegalese samosa

We were given some miniature samosas as an appetizer, with a very rich and flavourful tomato-based sauce.  However, the friendly proprietor offered me a spicier sauce, along with a warning that it was “medium strong”.  I appreciated the warning: if this was only “medium strong”, the “strong” must be impossibly incendiary!  I was glad that I had ordered a ginger-scented pineapple juice to soothe the (still enjoyable) burn.

The Ryal Metisse restaurant in Rouen

It was also nice to have Senegalese music playing throughout dinner.  I had picked up an unusual Youssou N’Dour record the day before, so music from Senegal was kind of a secondary theme for our stay in Rouen.  Who knew that N’Dour had covered the 1970s soul classic “Rubberband Man”?  You just never know what you will find while on holiday.

Notice board at the train station…STRIKE!

We really enjoyed our stay in Rouen and look forward to returning some day.  After such a nice introduction to France, I suppose it was inevitable that we would run into a classic France problem upon trying to leave:  a train strike!  At the time of writing, it looks like it will only cause a three-hour delay for us.

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Digging deeper into Rouen

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(Rouen, Normandy, France)

We’re living the good life in Rouen.  As predicted, we returned for dinner to La Crêperie Rouennaise, the same crêperie that we enjoyed so much the day before.  It was just as good the second time.  But I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself…

Part of the Place du Vieux-Marché, in the centre of Rouen

We started the day with a little shopping.  Some necessities, of course, but also some things that are too expensive or impossible to find back home.  For lunch, we found another winner:  the Listo restaurant, featuring food from Ecuador.  In addition to the “usual” fillings for empanadas, they had one with goat cheese and honey.  It was sublime with some hot sauce.

My empanadas at Listo

Next was a visit to the Musée des Beaux-Arts.   We didn’t stay for too long, but we made a point of seeing the paintings by Claude Monet.  He painted the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Rouen at least 30 times, in addition to many other local sights.  Seeing vast amounts of art at once is not really my thing, but it’s different when the painting was made locally and is of something you’ve actually seen.  I took a picture but art photography rarely turns out well!

Unsettling plague victim at l’aître Saint-Maclou

We also visited l’aître Saint-Maclou, which didn’t really mean that much to us as a name.  But it turned out to be a cemetery from the plague that was being restored, along with the surrounding buildings. It was kind of creepy to see bones just lying there, including one skull with an opened mouth.  There are certainly some macabre sights in Rouen, as you can see from the following picture…

Also located in the Place du Vieux-Marché

We started the evening with a hike to the top of Mont  Ste.-Catherine, for a view of Rouen and the surrounding area.  This was more difficult than it ought to have been, which we blame on not waiting until at least an hour had passed after dinner.   It was only when we reached the top that I realized I would have to take pictures directly into the setting sun.

View of Rouen from the Côte Sainte-Catherine, with the Seine River at the left

But the day still wasn’t over.  At nightfall, the Cathédrale de lumière sound and light show is projected onto the facade of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame.  The simulated burning of the cathedral was very impressive.  Once again, photos don’t do it justice….so here’s another quaint streetscape from earlier in the day…

Streets like this are everywhere in Rouen

We have one more day in Rouen before moving on to Bayeux.  As we will likely not have wi-fi access in Bayeux, there may be a bit of a break before the next post.