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April 30 in Saint-Malo – 30 avril à Saint-Malo

30 Saturday Apr 2016

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Saturday April 30, 2016 is a beautiful sunny day but still cool and it will be Saturday in the Park.

Sandy experimented with a different boulangerie today. She went to the boulangerie on the Grand Rue.  She purchased two croissants and a loaf of bread shaped like a baguette, but much fatter and longer.  Sandy did not think the croissants were the best and will return to La Fournee Malouine for OUR croissants.  Sandy prefers very light, flaky, melt in your mouth croissants from La Fournee Malouine boulangerie to the heavier, thicker croissants we had today.

The chili Sandy made yesterday turned out just great. She used the same ingredients as last time so she is 2 for 2.  Today we are making meatballs.  Phil got the “get your hands dirty” job of forming the meatballs. We cooked the meatballs in the oven rather than frying them. They look and smell delicious!  We will have them with lasagna tomorrow for Sunday dinner.

In the afternoon the Parc de la Briantais held their Marché aux FleursRTEmagicC_aff-marche-aux-fleurs-2016---briantais-fond-rouge_2_.jpg There were over 60 vendors and exhibits.  It was in a beautiful setting overlooking the sea and a gorgeous looking château is there. Here is the information from the Saint-Malo tourism site:

Remodeled in the 19th century by the Bühler brothers, this magnificent 27-hectare park offers stunning views over the estuary of Rance, the Solidor Tower and the Bay of Saint-Malo. You will discover an extremely diverse herbaceous flora, a rich forest flora and numerous species of birds.  The castle, formerly owned by Guy La Chambre – former State Minister, deputy, mayor of Saint-Malo – was transferred to the diocesan association of Rennes. Ever since it was acquired by the City of Saint-Malo in 1999, it regularly hosts expositions and events.

The flowers were brilliant, the sunshine bright, and of course the wind was blowing.  The following slideshow will give you a flavor of the event.

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We had to change buses both going and returning to get to the park.  We would have preferred to visit tomorrow, Sunday, but the buses don’t run as often on Sunday. We did not have any problems changing buses.  We followed the “itinerary option” located on the local bus company website.

April 8 in Saint-Malo – 8 avril à Saint-Malo

08 Friday Apr 2016

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Friday April 8 and the day starts out a bit overcast.  No rain is predicted for today, but the sky is gray with some clouds moving about at the lower altitudes.

A walk to Saint-Servan is in order for today.  Today the market is in Saint-Servan.  We need to buy some meat at the butcher.  We also need to check with the florist to see if he has any geraniums in stock.

On the way to Saint-Servan we exited the Intra-Muros at port Saint-Louis, which is the closest exit to our apartment.  Port Saint-Louis faces the Vauban basin so we can always get a good look at the ships which have entered the inner harbor or basin.  Today there is a sailing ship moored at the quay.  It is the TS Royalist, a British training ship.  You can see the gray sky in the background of the picture.

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TS ROYALIST

At the outdoor market in Saint-Servan, the florist is still not selling the geraniums in the type of pot Sandy would like.  We decided that the best thing to do is to go Rocabey tomorrow and ask him a few questions about geraniums.  We will also bring the grocery roller cart tomorrow in case we do find something we like.

The butcher is in the indoor part of the market.  We have been buying most of our meat from the Ferme des Aubriais.  Sandy wanted some ham steak to have with sweet potatoes on Sunday. So we asked the butcher for a thick cut of ham, 1.5 centimeters thick. We also purchased some thinly sliced ham for sandwiches, which the butcher sliced from a different ham.  The last thing we purchased was 500 grams of ground meat.  500 grams is a little more than one pound. The butcher sliced off a hunk of beef from a larger slab, cut the hunk into 5 pieces and then ran the meat through his electric meat grinder.  I guess that makes it pretty fresh ground beef.  Sandy wants to make a batch of chili with the ground meat.

We were in line at the butcher for around 25 minutes.  He is a very poplar butcher.  While

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chicken head at the butcher

waiting in line Sandy was grossed out by the chickens in the meat case which still had their heads attached to the body.  She did however take the time to take a picture of one of the chickens.

We then headed home, but as usual we stopped in the harbor to see what was happening.  The Condor Ferry was moored at its dock and the Corsaire Ferry was just entering the harbor on its return trip from Dinard.  About 3 people got off the Corsaire Ferry and 6 more got on to go to Dinard.  The Corsaire Ferry company is

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Corsaire Ferry (foreground) Condor Ferry (background)

using a new boat this year.

Before lunch we started cooking the chili.  We browned the ground beef and sampled it.  It tasted just fine.  Actually this is our first experience with using ground beef from the butcher.  The tomato juice from E.Leclerc was added along with some chili spice Sandy had brought over in 2014.  A couple of bay leaves were added and we let it simmer for 2 hours.

While it was simmering, we had lunch.   We had the thinly sliced ham as a sandwich and it tasted very good.

The chili turned out just fine.  We will get 3 or 4 meals from the batch.  That will make the meal decision process a little easier.

Sandy discovered a visitor on our outside window sill.  A young Goeland gull had come to visit.  The sun was out and it was getting some good sunshine.

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a young goeland gull on the outside window sill

We then took a short walk so we could buy a newspaper.  The Friday Ouest France newspaper contains the TV guide for the next week, so it was a must to get a paper today.  This afternoon has been bright and sunny, not at all like this morning.  But that is not unusual.  Wait a while and the weather is change.

This evening we plan to go out around 19:30 to see the high tide.  Then we will get a quick dinner at Chez Marcel.  He specializes in kebabs and Belgium fries. Very good fast food.

Well we changed plans and went to Chez Marcel before taking a walk on the ramparts to view the high tide.

wave spay at the top of the wall
high tide waves on the wall

Our picture album for April in Saint-Malo France can be viewed at 2016-04 April in Saint-Malo on Flickr.  The album will open in a separate window.

Our picture album for March in Saint-Malo France can be viewed at 2016-03 March in Saint-Malo on Flickr.  The album will open in a separate window.