The lady below us and her son arrived yesterday from Toulouse in southern France. She is probably close to 90 years old and he is in his 50’s. They keep pretty much to themselves. They arrive sometime between the first and middle of August and generally stay one month.
A comment Sandy has been forgetting is an item that is included on our salads at the restaurant B’ Art a Thè. The object appears to be the size and shape of a clear “Vitamin E” type gel cap but is full of balsamic vinaigrette. It is delicious! Wonder if we can find them in the US?
balsamic vinegar pearls
This morning we wanted to go to the Intermarche in Rocabey.We boarded the bus and wanted to get off at the first stop. We pressed the bell, the sign lit up showing a stop was requested. Sandy stood up, the man next to her also stood up and walked to the door. The driver drove past the stop. We called out “madame the stop please” in French and she kept driving. Another passenger said in English, you have to press the button. Sandy answered that she had, pointed to the red light, and finally the driver stopped at the next stop. The other passenger muttered to himself as we exited the bus. Apparently the driver was not having a good morning.
We were on our way to the Intermarche to look for packing tape. We found it in the hardware section with the adhesives.
We decided to walk home from the Intermarche and saw a lot of gulls on the basin.
GULLS on the basin
GULLS on the basin
GULLS on the basin
Later in the morning we packaged our two new watercolor paintings inside the tube, Christine gave us. We sealed it up with our new packing tape, and went to the post office. The lady who runs the post is always polite and patient when we mail items.
After lunch, the boules game was on and we were greeted by 6 players. It was almost too cool in the shady court, but the players didn’t have much choice. The sunny court was still quite wet from the recent rain while the shady court was dry.
There was an interesting ship moored in the basin: Sea Cloud II. We think this is the second time for it to be here this summer.
Civil ensign of Malta, not the official state flag
SEA CLOUD II from Malta
SEA CLOUD II from Malta
Lovely sunny day today.
mardi 20 août 2019 – Tuesday, August 20, 2019
At the market this morning, Sandy asked for 6 stems of small roses. The lady florist must think we’re frequent shoppers as she gave us 8 but only charged for five and a half. That was a nice discount and the flowers look great. Unfortunately, it’s our last bouquet here of the year.
After we shopped at the marché we took a walk through Saint-Servan and the Plage des Bas Sablons. It was high tide, although it was a low high tide, and the beach was very pretty and quite a few people were on the beach.
Plage des Bas Sablons
Plage des Bas Sablons
Another lovely sunny day.
mercredi 21 août 2019 – Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Sandy commented about less tourists being around this week, at least Intra-Muros section of Saint-Malo.
We walked to the Carrefour at Courtoisville, did our little bit of shopping, and then walked home on the digue. It was high tide and the waves were great to watch and listen to. It was sunny and bright. However, Sandy decided she was incorrect on the tourists. There were so many people, bicycles, scooters, strollers, joggers, that it was difficult to walk.
People enjoying the waves
pretty sails on the ocean
sailboats and small cabin cruisers
sail surfers in tow back to the beach
All of the parking lots we passed were full and there were lines of cars waiting to enter. Ugh!
We walked through the Esplanade Saint-Vincent and saw Bubble Guy! He is in the picture below with a purple shirt and white pants. The kids and adults love his act.
Bubble Guy was here and Sandy had just added to his take for the day.
In the afternoon we spent some time watching the boules game and then we went to the harbor.
Corsaire Ferries passing in the harbor
Corsair Ferries leaving the ramp
jeudi 22 août 2019 – Thursday, August 22, 2019
Sunny again, but cool, only 14C (58F).
Sandy spent two hours with her tutor Christine for the last time this year. Christine and her husband are taking off for two weeks at a friends home in southern Spain.
Phil purchased new interior door handles for our inside doors. The current handles were here when we purchased our apartment. Antique looking, brassy/gold in color and not always working correctly. The light fixtures and handles on our french doors are silvery/satin in color in a newer style. Phil was able to purchase enough to change all of the interior doors. They will look modern and in sync with the rest of the apartment.
We talked to Alain at the boules game in the afternoon. He told us Denise and Gilles, in Paris, are doing well. A beautiful, sunny, warm afternoon.
After talking with Alain we went to the harbor. We saw this great looking sailboat in the distance.
Love the sail on this boat.
Sandy spotted 3 cormorants in the harbor. They are awfully difficult to photograph because they spend a lot of time under water getting their food. When they surface they spend only a few seconds on surface and then they dive underwater. Since you never know where it is going to surface next it is difficult getting a good picture of the cormorant. Phil had been trying for about 4 years and had only succeeded in getting distant photos. But today Phil got lucky. He snapped off about 12 shots very quickly and got a great shot of a cormorant.
Cormorant swimming in the harbor.
vendredi 23 août 2019 – Friday, August 23, 2019
Sandy purchased a piece of watermelon, and other fresh fruit at the market. Monsieur Alix, his son, and lady assistant greeted us even though they didn’t wait on us. Always pleasant to see a smiling, friendly face.
We walked to Intermarche to pick up the last few needed items and walked home along the digue. We occasionally hear a jet or plane, but not often. We looked up, above the beach, to see the French equivalent of the Blue Angels flying in formation and spewing blue, white, and red smoke. We waited a few minutes and they passed again. Interesting!!
French military jets with a blue, white and red smoke trail
Interesting at the boules game today. Alain wasn’t there, which we knew, but another lady we’d watched all summer came and shook our hands and said bonjour. Probably if we were here another month we’d be on “bise,” kiss on both cheeks, terms.
Our son Michael is an assistant professor and librarian at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A photo of him while presenting to a class has been added to the library web site. So he sent us a screen capture of the web site with his picture. Very nice to see.
Michael on the Hope College library web site.
samedi 24 août 2019 – Saturday, August 24, 2019
The forecast for today is hot with a high of 30C (86F). Absolutely too hot!
However the water temperature st the beach was absolutely cold! The temperature in the water was 19C (64F) and super cold. It took quite awhile of continually moving around in the water before Sandy was numb enough not to feel the cold.
Sandy does not always do well in cold water. Here the temperature is 19C (66F).
On our way back, we met our neighbors that live in Versailles, France and own the apartment on the top floor of our building. They just returned from a trip to Beirut, Lebanon and said the ocean temperature there was 29C (84F). They invited us for an aperitif at noon on Sunday to see all of the remodeling they had completed earlier this spring and summer.
dimanche 18 août 2019 – Sunday, August 18, 2019
At noon we went up to our neighbors apartment on 5th floor (6th floor in the USA) for an aperitif. They are on the top floor of the apartment building. Natale and Nicolas were there with their son Corentin. They were spending just a couple of days here to take a look at the remodeling work they were having done on the attic apartment which is above their apartment. They had purchased the attic and were remodeling it so their children Corentin and his sister Gwenaëlle could use it as their own vacation spot. The remodeling was coming along very nicely and looked great. Gwenaëlle was not with her family because she is spending the college semester in Beirut, Lebanon.
We spent a good amount of time discussing family matters, world affairs and just about anything else you could think of. We really enjoyed the tuna dip and the lobster dip. Phil got to try a new drink which Nicolas mixed. Unfortunately Phil cannot remember the name of the drink, but it was a potent drink.
We had a great late afternoon dinner at the B’Art à Thé restaurant. This was probably our 6th time at the restaurant and every meal had been delicious.
Phil’s flank steak, potatoes, and salad.
Sandy’s bruschetta, with chicken and salad.
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A morning full of boats! We did not have anything special in mind for this morning, so we decided to take our camp chairs and head to the harbor. Most of the time there is something going on in the harbor and our chairs are nicer to sit on than the wooden benches at the harbor.
Within the first 75 minutes at the harbor, the following events occurred.
Spotted a cruise ship, the Silver Wind flying a flag from the Bahamas, moored in the harbor-too large to go through the locks.
Three of the Corsair Ferries arrived and departed for Dinard just across the Bay.
Two of the cruise ship’s tenders transported passengers back and forth.
A “working flat boat” docked in the harbor and two divers dove underwater. Both wearing wet suits. One with a helmet and air hose connected to the ship, the other with a tank and mouthpiece. Couldn’t tell what they were doing.
Captain Taxi arrived with passengers and departed with more passengers.
Six sailboats came through the locks and went out to sea.
The Condor Ferry arrived, unloaded cars, trucks + passengers and departed for the U.K. island of Guernsey.
A man standing on a paddleboard arrived and got out on the ramp.
A canoe with 4 people arrived and got out on the ramp.
A cormorant sea-bird appeared exactly in front of us, dove, then left the area.
AND Sandy got sun burnt in that little bit of time. The shirt she was wearing had shorter length arms and a lower neck line than usual.
cruise ship Silver Wind
Silver Wind tender
Condor Ferry
paddleboard
sailboat
cabin cruiser
canoe
Corsaire Ferry
Captain Taxi
dive platform boat
the cormorant was about 20 yards in front of us, Sandy luckily spotted it
We could not figure out what the divers were doing, but they were underwater for over 30 minutes.
Divers working from the dive platform boat.
After a lovely 3 kilometer walk on the beach in the afternoon at low tide we’d had enough outdoors for one day. Lovely, windy, and just a little warm in the sun. High of 23C (74F),
beach video
mardi 23 juillet 2019 – Tuesday, July 23, 2019
The forecast for today is HOT, a high of 34C (93F). It’s cooler here than in Paris where they’re expecting 38C (100F). Paris is expecting temperature highs in the 40’s the next 3 days. Glad we’re not there!
We went into the ocean just before noon! We walked to the Plage du Mole (beach of the breakwater) at high tide. The co-efficient was 60, so a fairly low-high tide. There was plenty of beach remaining and we didn’t walk far to reach the water. This is a very nice, sandy, beach and the shortest distance to walk from our apartment, about 6 minutes. The water was cold! The water temperature was 19C (66F). It was very refreshing but a shock to your system each time we dunked our shoulders underwater. We walked at the waters edge a few times and the current was strong. Parents really needed to watch their children because the pull back out of the waves almost knocked Sandy down. Lovely time on a very warm day.
half way in
two-thirds in
shoulders in
We ate the equivalent of a large chef salad for dinner.
mercredi 24 juillet 2019 – Wednesday 24 July 2019
Sandy met with her tutor, Christine for two hours. Phil accompanied Sandy from the bus stop to Christine’s house to see the improvements made by the city on the sidewalk and street. Phil shopped for pineapple yogurt for himself and rhubarb yogurt for Sandy before heading for the hardware store. He wanted to buy a small bracket to hang keys on but didn’t have much luck.
flowers …
we see on …
the way to …
Christine’s house
Today was another day of hot weather. Sandy stayed inside in the afternoon but Phil watched the boules game and talked to Alain and others. It was pleasant in the shade but too hot in the sun.
Phil read in the paper where the actual humidity in Paris was 19% with an air temperature of 40C (104F). Sounds like desert weather to us!
jeudi 25 juillet 2019 – Thursday 25 July 2019
We were out of the house by 8h30 to shop at the Intermarche grocery store. The store was already busy just 15 minutes after opening. We walked to the store since the temperature was still tolerable.
On our return, the bus was ready to pull away from the stop as we approached and Sandy waved in hope they’d wait. We made it!. We both thanked the driver for waiting for us. They usually don’t wait!
There was little to no wind this morning, but the air coming up from the Sahara Desert is supposed to shift around to the northwest by this evening. The high for today was 30C (86F) and the forecast for tomorrow is 20C (68F), much improved! Still hot.
Before lunch, we again walked to the Plage du Mole. High tide was at 13h00 so there wasn’t too much beach to walk through in order to reach the ocean. Cold, cold, cold was how it felt! The water temperature had warmed up though to 20C (70F). We spent a longer time in the water today than we had on Tuesday. Sandy actually swam a little and after your body was shocked with freezing water, it was very pleasant.
Phil, who cannot float
Sandy, who floats very easily
After returning, we felt much cooler and comfortable than we did in the morning. The cooler front came through late in the afternoon and it rained over night. Much better.
vendredi 26 juillet 2019 – Friday 26 July, 2019
It rained over night as the streets were wet when we walked to the boulangerie.
Today was the day for our second hair cut in France at Studio 3. The lady that cut Sandy’s hair was the same lady that cut it last year, the assistant. The owner of the shop cut Phil’s hair again this year. We are both very happy with the result. We made an appointment for the last week of August, in five weeks, before we leave for the USA.
Sandy after another successful haircut.
The city workers made the final repairs on the parking post behind our apartment building. Sandy took a photo of it this morning. We’ll see just how long it lasts with August a week away.
The newly replaced parking prevention post.
samedi 27 juillet 2019 – Saturday July 27, 2019
We walked to an art sculpture demonstration by artist Damien Colcumbet near the Rocabey market. We watched him while he was creating a rhinoceros out of clay, but the building was NOT air conditioned and we didn’t stay very long. Phil noted a picture in the studio was priced at 5 000€ euros.
Next we walked through the interior portion of the market to look for PIQUILLOS, the delicious sweet, non spicy pepper we have eaten this summer. We didn’t see any but spotted many vendors with green rhubarb, and courgettes rond (round zucchini). We walked through the exterior aisles but didn’t see anything we wanted.
Our next stop the was the Médiathèque la Grande Passerelle (new city library). We wanted to see the exhibition on the Moon Landing. After asking two different people, we found it. It was not what we expected, even after Sandy carefully read the description on the Saint-Malo tourism site. There were only about 8 posters and no photos. We had lost something in translation. Oh well, we had a lovely almost 5 kilometer walk.
Car chargers are becoming more common.
Car charger in the parking lot near us.
dimanche 28 juillet 2019 – Sunday July 28, 2019
This morning ended up being very much like Monday morning. We didn’t have any plans so we walked out to the harbor. It was just after low tide so we were not expecting a lot of activity. Wrong again. The harbor was a busy place once again.
While were at the harbor Sandy saw the cormorant. It was not diving for fish. Rather it was flapping its wings like it was going to fly. A few seconds later it took flight and we were able to get of video of it flying. It always seems to fly just a foot or two above the waves.
2019-07-28-cormorant-flying-mp4
Had a wonderful mid-afternoon dinner at the B’Art à Thé.
green salad
bruschetta
pork tenderloin
chocolate cake
After dinner we took a walk on the Mole, the breakwater, to see how crowded the beach was and what was going on in the harbor.
The Plage du Môle, the beach of the breakwater, was very busy.
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