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the week ending September 1, 2019 – la semaine se terminant le 1 septembre 2019

02 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by philipdenotto in 2019-France

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

azamara journey cruise ship, backroads bicycle tours, boulangerie, butcher, cdgval, delta, digue, door handles, genevieve, guy, hotel quic-en-groigne, jean-louis j, La Fournee Malouine, monsieur alix, museum of poop, paramé marché, Place du Marché aux Légumes, plage du mole, Porte Saint-Louis, rennes, restaurant, riviera cruise ship, toulouse

This is our last week in Saint-Malo for this year. Mixed emotions as usual.

lundi 26 août 2019 – Monday August 26, 2019

in addition to the marmot entertainment on France3, we are often highly amused at several French television programs. France5 has shows which are considered documentaries but often their content is very funny and/or peculiar. We always watch the shows in the French language with French subtitles to help with comprehension.

A show titled “Les trains, pas comme les autres” (The trains, not like the others) features an extremely friendly presenter name Philippe. He visits various countries around the world. The trains, train stations, passengers, local sites and cultures are featured throughout the show in a very casual way. We always learn something or see new places from watching the show. Last night England was the featured destination. The presenter took a ferry to the Isle of Wight. The presenter interviewed two local men who were searching the countryside of the island for animal poo. We’re thinking they are scientists studying something interesting. That would have been funny and quite bizarre. However they are founders of the Museum of Poo, which is really funny and bizarre. The museum is housed in a former public restroom still complete with urinals where they display many varieties of poo! The Official Poo Website is a bit different. Peculiar for sure! The presenter, Philippe, was laughing during most of this portion of the show. Not surprising.

Another show, “J’irai dormir chez vous.” (I’ll go to your house and sleep.) features an even more amusing presenter. This presenter, Antoine, walks around with a couple of video cameras. One is mounted on his shoulder at about head height. He does the show on his own when visiting countries. He does a lot of walking and introduces himself to local people. After talking to them he asks if he can sleep at their house. He has been housed in sheds, dilapidated houses, caves, tents, and other odd places. He carries his own sleeping bag and always wears red shirts. One episode was about the washing and wearing of his shirts. Wearing the same color means never having to decide what to wear and is easier when doing laundry. No whitening additive needed. He has visited Peru, Bolivia, Indonesia, Albania, and many island nations. We have learned a lot about other cultures from watching this show.

Sandy began to organize our apartment for the winter. She seals any dry food products (rice, pasta, risotto etc) in glass or plastic containers until next year. She places scented clothes dryer sheets inside linens, clothing or anything soft so they don’t retain any musty odors over the winter. While we leave our heat set very low, it is seldom cold enough for it to turn on.

At the boules game Phil talked to Geneviève and told her we would invite her and her partner Guy for an aperitif next year. They exchanged email addresses and she said they’d look forward to a visit.

Phil spent much of the day replacing the handles on all the doors in the apartment. No door knobs in Europe, only handles.

  • New door handles – much more modern in style

mardi 27 août 2019 – Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Sandy wished Michel, Monsieur Alix’s son, a good year and told him au revoir pour cettee année, goodbye for this year.

We had our last hair cut for this year and told the stylist the same thing. She said she looked forward to seeing us next year.

Our neighbor below, from Toulouse, stopped us on the stairway and talked for a few minutes. This was the longest conversation we’ve had with her in the 8 years we’ve been coming here. She asked where we were from and was surprised when we told her the USA. (Most people think we are English.) She also didn’t know that Jean, our neighbor on the 4th floor, had died last year.

At the boules game this afternoon, Geneviève said we’d exchange “bise”. We are officially friends if we greet each other with a kiss on both cheeks. Sandy sat between Pierre and Josette during the game and they chatted a little with each other. Alain told us he’s planning to visit Denise in Paris sometime in the next two weeks. He has a couple of medical things to correct before he can head off to Paris.

After the boules game we went to the Mole and saw the RIVIERA cruise ship in the harbor.

  • Flower garden by the Porte Saint-Louis on our way to the Mole.
  • The Plage du Mole had quite a lot of people but only a few in the water.
  • MS_Riviera

mercredi 28 août 2019 – Wednesday, August 28, 2019

We took the bus to the Paramé marché to buy two pork chops. We also wanted to tell the butcher and his assistant goodbye for this year. His assistant told us they are starting their two week vacation this Sunday. She told us she’d see us next spring.

We walked back on the digue, almost 5 kilometers and it was so pleasant with a lot less tourists. The tide was out a long way and it was hazy and cloudy. A lovely day to be out anyway.

  • Low tide on the beach by the digue on our way back to the apartment.

In the afternoon we took a walk on the mole and a new cruise ship was in the harbor, the Azamara Journey. As the tourist crowds go down toward the end of August, more cruise ships usually start showing up in the harbor.

  • AZAMARA JOURNEY CRUISE SHIP

jeudi 29 août 2019 – Thursday, August 29, 2019

After breakfast we told Marie-Dominique and Michel, owners of the Hôtel Quic-en-Groigne, good bye for this year. Michel was on his way to meet with his mother to help her choose someone that will help her clean etc in her apartment.

We stopped in the street and had quite a good talk with Madame Yvonne (boules observer). She told us the players Philippe, and Lillian were on vacation this week. Her son will come from Rennes to pick her up and take her back in September. She said she plans to return next April. We told her we’d see her this afternoon on the boules terrain.

Next we stopped at Jean-Louis J’s pottery shop to tell him good bye. He wished us a good trip and a good winter.

It was an interesting morning full of French conversations.

Sandy continued cleaning, sorting, and putting things away for the winter. Our cabinets and refrigerator are pretty bare!

At the boules game, Jean-Yves arrived towards the end of the game with his little dog. Another player had to leave early, and Jean-Yves took his place. Geneviève, and Sandy watched the dog and kept him from getting hit with the balls. He is very cute, very spoiled, and tiny.

We bid Alain good bye for the year and thanked him for everything he does for us. He confirmed with Sandy to leave the mail on the small kitchen table and dispose of the publicity.

There was a small cruise ship in the basin today. We got a picture of it as we were walking to the boules game, but it left the basin before we saw its name. Oh well.

  • unknown small cruise ship in the basin

After the boules game, while were walking home, we passed two vans from BACKROADS tours. Every year we see a lot of bicycle tours in Saint-Malo. Our friends a the Hôtel Quic-en-Groigne have lots of bicycle tours staying at the hotel each year. Bicycling the Brittany region is always a popular sport.

  • BACKROADS bicycle tour vans

vendredi 30 août 2019 – Friday, August 30, 2019

We continued to clean, store items, clean out the refrigerator and run the cleaning cycle in the dishwasher. We watched several families pack up their cars and leave.

Before going for a late lunch, we stopped at the boules game to say goodbye to the players and spectators we knew. It has been a very good experience watching and talking with all the people each day.

We had a late afternoon lunch at the B’Art à Thé restaurant in the Place du Marché aux Légumes which is a 1 minute walk from our apartment. Actually from our kitchen window we can see in the kitchen at the restaurant. We had a delicious meal. The owner of the restaurant has been very nice to us and we said a nice goodbye to her. We told her we will be back next year for more good food.

  • Phil’s veal stew
  • Sandy’s bruschetta

samedi 31 août 2019 – Saturday, August 31, 2019

Saturday morning we went to the La Fournee Malouine boulangerie for breakfast. It was great as usual and we got to say goodbye for this year.

We took a bus to the train station, gare, and waited a bit impatiently for our train to Rennes. It was a local train which made about 5 stops on its 45 minute run to Rennes.

At the Rennes train station we had about 55 minutes before our fast train to the airport arrived. The train station had been undergoing remodeling for the last three years. Now it was complete and it is very nice. We bought a sandwich and drink to have on the 3 hour ride to the airport.

  • The floor in the train station had a marked path for visually impaired people to follow to allow them to navigate the station. We had not seen this before.

Our train was on schedule and since we rode first class it was a very nice experience. The train arrived on time at Charles de Gaulle Airport on time and we had a 2 minute walk to the hotel.

dimanche 1 septembre 2019 – Sunday, September 1, 2019

Departure day started just fine with a continental breakfast at the hotel. We got to the departure terminal quickly, waited about a half hour in line to check our baggage and only about 15 minutes to go through security.

  • This AIRBUS 380 was not our airplane,…
  • but it was parked at the gate next …
  • to us and it sure is huge, typically holding 525 passengers.

The flight was slightly delayed by some difficulties at the main European flight control center in Brussels. The flight was very uneventful. This was the first time we had flown Delta to France and it was a good experience both coming and going. The flight arrived on time and we got through passport control very easily. The rental car was ready for us and the drive to Grand Rapids was very easy. We picked up our car at our son’s house and Sandy drove it to Holland, following behind Phil who was in the rental. We’ll return the car on Tuesday morning.

Overall it was a pretty good couple of days traveling from Saint-Malo France to Holland Michigan.

Another wonderful experience in France. In 2011 we were not sure how our gamble on a second home adventure in Saint-Malo would work out, but it has been a really great experience.

How to view additional photos.

You can view an album of photos by clicking one of the following links. The photo album will open in a new browser window with the photos.

Click here for all the August photos in France

Click here for all the July photos in France

Click here for all the June photos in France

Click here for photos of La Roseraie Saint-Anne

Click here for the photos in Paris

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la visite à Paris qui s’est terminée le 13 juin 2019 – the visit to Paris that ended on June 13, 2019 (corrected title)

16 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by philipdenotto in 2019-France

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bad-gnomes, cdg, cdgval, champs de mars, delta, detroit, dtw, galeries lafayette, gare montparnasse, hotel plaza opera, notre dame de paris, opera, palais garnier, paris, printemps, promenade plantée, sushi-socks, trottinettes

le dimanche 9 juin 2018 – Sunday June 9, 2019 – Detroit

Flying out of Detroit was much better than Chicago! 30 minutes from rental return, shuttle, check in with passport, dropping off luggage, walking through TSA recheck (no need to remove shoes, belts, or take liquids out of carry on) to on our way to the gate. Bought our lunch, took walks, and waited to board. We were in Delta Comfort in row 10 so we boarded the plane just after 1st class and Business class. Wonderful bulk head seats. Sandy’s feet didn’t even reach the wall with legs fully extended. Decent food, complimentary beverages, and room to stretch out legs on carry on bags.

Delta flight board at DTW in Detroit

le lundi 10 juin 2019 – Monday June 10, 2019 – Paris

We landed at 6h00 in Paris, it took 45 minutes to go through passport control. Just before we landed, a large plane had arrived from Africa and another plane from Korea had landed, so there were a lot of people in the passport control hall.  The women from Africa wore very colorful, lacy clothing.

We walked to the CDGVAL shuttle to get to the RER B train into Paris. The tickets are 10€ a person. There were plenty of seats on the train.  The trip was less than 40 minutes to the  Gare du Nord. There we got on a #43 bus for a 10 minute ride to our hotel.  We arrived at the hotel at 8h55.

view from our room with the Eiffel Tower in the background

Luckily, or because we know the hotel owner, our room was ready at 9h00. The receptionist offered us a complimentary breakfast.

After breakfast and a 2 hour nap we took a 45 minute walk to Notre-Dame de Paris. Obviously the roof was gone from the fire and there was a lot of activity underway. The public could not get too close. It was a lovely day, cool but partly sunny.

A damaged Notre-Dame de Paris

In the afternoon we went to the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann.  This is our third or fourth visit and it is an amazing store on the inside.

Us with the dome of the Galeries Lafayette

The Galeries Lafayette also sold some funny gifts.

BAD GNOMES

SUSHI SOCKS


le mardi 11 juin 2019 – Tuesday June 11, 2019 – Paris

Our son David would have been 41 years old today.  We do miss him.

We walked to Palais Garnier Opera and took an audio tour. We waited in line about 20 minutes and enjoyed our own self tour by audio for about 90 minutes.

Palais Garnier grand staircase – Opera

At a Monoprix mini mart, we purchased our lunch, fruit parfait and fresh fruit for Phil, a salad with ham, balls of mozzarella, and melon for Sandy. We ate in the “cafe” section of the Monoprix mini mart.

The city of Paris is under a major construction project in preparation for the Summer Olympics of 2024. It seems like every street has some sort of construction in process.

We boarded a bus to the Champs de Mars. The Champs de Mars is the park area by the Tour Eiffel.  We walked all around the Champs de Mars. It was much less crowded than the area immediately next to the Tour Eiffel. An artist is constructing a work of art on the Champs de Mars. The work involves the modification of the lawn and the creation of a maze. It is to open next week. The plan looked very pretty.

Us on the Champs de Mars with the Eiffel Tower in the background

Eating dinner outside, one of our favorite things to do in Paris, was quite chilly as even the restaurants had their heaters working on the terraces. Much cooler temperatures than last year in May.

le mercredi 12 juin 2019 – Wednesday June 12, 2019 – Paris

We took a one hour bus ride to the Bastille area. We wanted to see and walk through a garden area located on an abandoned above ground rail way line called “Promenade de Plantée“. It took us a few minutes to find the entrance but it was well worth the effort. Located in the center of Paris was a wonderful green area. It was 2 km long, and filled with lovely plants, trees, flowers all above the street on former viaducts. There were lots of benches, people jogging, walking and enjoying lunch. We came across some people speaking Portuguese or Italian (hard for us to tell the difference) who asked us in English to take some photos of them. They asked how we knew about this garden and said there were many Parisians that were unfamiliar with the area.

Promenade Plantée

Us on the Promenade Plantée

We stopped in at Printemps (Spring) a well known French department store. We had been to the Galeries Lafayette flag ship store on Haussmann many times, but not Printemps. Printemps is only one city block from Galeries Lafayette. Sandy thought Printemps was fancier than the Galeries Lafayette store. Brands such as Jimmy Choo, Cartier, Tiffany, Coach, Michael Kors, and many other well known designers had their own “mini boutiques” inside the store. Even the restrooms had gold colored doors and fancy fixtures. We used our new mini-travel-lightweight umbrellas (a Christmas gift from Michael) to avoid being soaked during a rainstorm. At least this year it was just rain, unlike last years hail storm when we were at the top of the Tour Eiffel.

electric scooters (trottinets) are all over the place – sidewalks, streets, bike lanes

le jeudi 13 juin 2019 – Thursday June 13, 2019 – Paris

We’d ordered a taxi the night before to take us to Gare Montparnasse at 9h30 am. At 9h35 am the hotel employee notified us that the taxi company had cancelled the order. So, we walked towards rue Lafayette. After about 15 minutes we spotted an available taxi. Sandy waved him down in the street and we were on our way. The French taxi driver was of Armenian heritage but had been born in Paris. He talked about all of the construction, the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris and was very congenial. We arrived in about 30 minutes and had time for a relaxing cup of coffee before going to the train.

We had purchased first class train tickets and were in car 13. Our train was actually two trains joined together.  The first 15 cars were headed to Quimper and the last 15 cars were going to Saint-Malo.  We had to walk past 28 cars before we got to our car. It was quite a long walk. The train travels as one until the stop at Rennes.  At Rennes the train to Quimper is separated from the train to Saint-Malo.

train board at Gare Montparnasse

The seats were very comfortable, we had a table between four seats, and two sets of shelves above the seats for luggage. We had a direct train to Rennes and were there in one hour and 32 minutes. This was one of the high speed trains on the TGV line. At Rennes, the train cars to Quimper separated and we arrived in Saint-Malo 35 minutes later. Less than 2 hours and 15 minutes from Paris. It was a great trip!

All our pictures from our 3 days in Paris…

can be found by clicking on the following link.  It will open in a new browser window with the pictures.

Click here for the pictures in Paris.

You can browse through the album or click on a picture to see more detail.  Moving your mouse over a picture should show you the title of the picture.

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