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à Saint-Malo – in Saint-Malo

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the week ending August 4, 2019 – la semaine se terminant le 4 août 2019

05 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by philipdenotto in 2019-France

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Boulangerie de la cathédrale, brocante, chez marcel, corsairs malouins, debarquement, digue, el galeon andalucia, entre mer et plage, esplanade saint-vincent, Etoile du roy, gavroche, hotel quic-en-groigne, intermarche, kennedy bus stop, le français, Le pays malouin, Les Corsaires Malouins, paimpol, Place du Marché aux Légumes, plage du mole, porte de dinan, rocabey, Saint-Servan, scottish terrier, solider tower

lundi 29 juillet 2019 – Monday July 29, 2019

The temperature in our apartment this morning was 20C (68F). So much better than a few days last week. The forecast in western France is for very strong winds this afternoon and evening-up to 100 kph (62 mph). That should significantly affect the high tide today.

We wanted to walk along the digue (seawall) this morning and walked towards the Esplanade Saint-Vincent where the bus stop is located. A bus #8, which follows the coast was parked at the stop. We decided to take it to the end of the digue and then walk back. Convenient! Usually this bus is jam packed with people wanting to go to various beaches. Not today. We got off at the Kennedy bus stop and walked along the digue. The tide was out, lots of sea weed at this first beach but very breezy. It was the only place along the entire 4 kilometer walk that we saw a significant amount of sea weed.

  • Beach to the north
  • Beach to the south

Once we reached the Intra-Muros most all of the parking spots were full. Only the underground location had a line to enter and showed spaces remaining. We read in the paper that yesterday was the “change-over weekend” where people vacationing for the month of July were returning and people coming to vacation for August were arriving. We couldn’t see any difference or increase in numbers yet.

We had a nice if brief visit to the Plage du Môle to cool off in the ocean.

  • busy beach with the green flag flying to indicate it is okay to swim
  • Sandy in the ocean but not swimming at the moment.

mardi 30 juillet 2019 – Tuesday, July 30, 2019

It rained over night, but we didn’t hear a thing since our building is made from granite. The weather forecast was for rain and wind this afternoon.

As we walked past the basin this morning we saw the Spanish ship El Galeón Andulucia. It had come in yesterday for a 4 or 5 day visit.

The Spanish ship El Galeón in the basin.

We decided to walk to Saint-Servan, stop at the market, then head to the beach near the Solidor Tower where there is a brocante, an antique sale and flea market every Tuesday. Sandy wore a jacket for the first time since the evening of the July 14th fireworks. The wind hit us in the face as soon as we exited Intra-Muros. It was a constant 25 kph from the southwest with gusts around 40 kph. We held on to each other as we crossed the bridge. There seemed to be a lot of empty parking lots today. Maybe people returned home or stayed away with the weather forecast.

At the marché Sandy wanted round zucchini, having seen so many last Saturday. None today! She bought a yellow pepper and normal shaped zucchini instead. There were only about one third of the usual exterior stalls at the market. We also purchased a little meat at the butcher.

We walked towards the beach in Saint-Servan. Again, the wind was very strong. At the Solidor brocante only about half of the normal amount of displays were outside today.

We walked back over the bridge to return and decided it was too windy to stay outside any longer. We felt like we had fought the wind the entire 4 kilometer trip. In the afternoon there were at least 3 different rain showers. None of them lasted very long or were very strong but the wind continued.

mercredi 31 juillet 2019 – Wednesday 31 July 2019

The last day of July! Where did our time go and how could tomorrow be August already? Lovely cool but sunny morning. The wind from yesterday has moved on. Sandy read in the local paper about two events yesterday. The first, a sailboat with 4 passengers had capsized in the wind and had to be rescued by helicopter. The second, a swimmer, had to be rescued. Both articles repeated warnings to everyone to be aware of the weather when entering water either on foot or on a boat. Ditto for Michigan!!

Sandy met with Christine today. Christine’s daughter, who lives in Paris, is getting married on 12 September 2020 in Saint-Malo. The next year will be exciting for them.

Our afternoon walk again proved interesting. No boules game, possibly due to the wet court, but there was a lot of action on the ramp leading to the ocean. Since this is the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of France there are lots of activities to commemorate the event. There was a group of men dressed in American army uniforms from WW II, a jeep, a tow truck, another vehicle, and the landing craft docked a little way out into the water from the ramp. All of the vehicles appeared to be from the WW II period. We watched, along with many other people, while the soldiers backed the vehicles down the ramp, waded into the ocean, and parked the vehicles on the landing craft. The landing craft had it’s front ramp lowered into the water and indicated it was from Normandy. With all four vehicles, plus a group of men, it moved off slowly into the English Channel. It was bound for Granville on the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy.

We will have more about the World War II reenactments as we get closer to the date of the liberation of Saint-Malo by the American Army under General Patton on August 17, 1944.

jeudi 1 août 2019 – Thursday August 1, 2019

Cool, humid, and cloudy this morning. We purchased new monthly bus passes and started to walk to the Intermarché. Along the basin we saw the Etoile du Roy and the Le Français leaving the basin for their trip to Paimpol where there is a large festival scheduled for the next few days.

Paimpol is also home to the bi-annual “Festival du chant de marin” (sea shanty festival) which attracts thousands of visitors over three days in August.

Wikipedia contributors, “Paimpol,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paimpol&oldid=897649307 (accessed August 4, 2019).
Le Français setting out for Paimpol for the festival.

We did our shopping at the Intermarché grocery store and stopped at the Rocabey market. Sandy purchased two cordon bleu pieces and a piece of Comte cheese by herself. All went well.

As we walked to the bus stop to return, one of the lady boules players arrived. We greeted her and she responded with a smile and a “bonjour”. Nice to be recognized.

Our local paper, Le Pays Malouin (the Malouin country) had many articles concerning the military reenactments which use equipment like we saw at the harbor ramp yesterday.

Chez Marcel was our choice for dinner tonight. They are famous for kebabs. Not the “shish kebobs” that are well known in the USA but shredded lamb, shredded lettuce, fresh tomatoes all piled high in a pita type flat bread. The kebabs are served with belgian style fries and are delicious with their “fait maison” (home made) white sauce.

After eating we enjoyed an ice cream cone, chocolate for Phil, and rhubarb for Sandy from Sanchez as we waited for entertainment. Each Thursday night in August the Les Corsaires Malouins singers sing “Sea Shanties” from the area. To be included as a member of this group you not only have to have been born in Saint-Malo, but also still reside here. There were about 14 singers present last night.

vendredi 2 août 2019 – Friday August 2, 2019

Today was a day of high tide with a co-efficient of 100. We walked to the Porte de Dinan to see the ocean before shopping at the boulangerie. There were only 4 rows of stones showing at the top of the wall. Good thing there was little wind today or there would have been a lot of flooding. There were several warnings in the newspaper reminding tourists to be careful where they park. We’ve seen many cars underwater due to careless parking during a high tide.

Only about 4 rows of blocks are not covered by the high tide water.
The ramp at the harbor under water due to the high tide. The water is crystal clear.

Stopped in to visit with our friends Marie-Dominique and her husband Michel at their HÔTEL QUIC EN GROIGNE. Their hotel is listed as #1 hotel in Saint-Malo. We stayed with them the first two times we visited Saint-Malo for vacations back in 2010 and 2011. They were fine and so is their family.

Our next stop was the post office for stamps and a quick stop at a gallery where we purchased two inexpensive watercolors of the local area. We want to replace two pictures in our bedroom in Michigan and these will look great.

The line at the Boulangerie de la cathédrale at 11h.

We stopped at the boutique named Entre Mer et Plage to buy a key caddy. We found one made out of metal with three sailboats. Very appropriate for here.

Finally we stopped to see our friend Jean-Louis Jacob at his pottery boutique. Sandy purchased a candle for us to take to Michigan and another small gift. He had new fabric bags this year with his logo and Saint-Malo-Quimper on the front. He gave us two since we are good friends and also customers. It was a successful and enjoyable morning.

After watching the boules game for over an hour we headed to the harbor to check out the tide. This mornings 4 rows of stones showing turned into 28 rows of stones showing this afternoon. In fact, the entire wall was out of the water.

In the afternoon the complete wall of granite blocks was out of the water.

samedi 3 août 2019 – Saturday August 3, 2019

On our way to Saint-Servan this morning, we stopped to look at the high tide. It was about the same level as yesterday with a co-efficient of 104.

Saint-Servan was having their summer street wide flea market and we love to look at everything. We didn’t buy a thing, but wandered through the streets for over 5 kilometers, just browsing.

  • Saint-Servan braderie
  • Saint-Servan braderie
  • Saint-Servan braderie

On the way back from Saint-Servan we walked through the Solidor area by the harbor. It always seemed like we walked here at low tide, but today it was a beautiful high tide.

  • Some of the flowers in …
  • … the Solidor area of Saint-Servan.
  • Sandy by a flower bed in the Solidor area of Saint-Servan in Saint-Malo. The Tower Solidor is in the backgroud.

Before going to the apartment, we stopped at the harbor and saw this interesting site, a dog getting off a boat with its life jacket on. Cute and its owners care about its safety.

This dog just got off a boat and still had its life jacket on. Its owners care!

And we also saw the new rescue boat for the fire department.

New rescue boat for the fire department.

We watched the boules game in the afternoon and Pierre talked to Phil about joining them as a player next year. Sandy always thought Pierre had been a professor and Phil asked him. He taught music, especially the coronet. Another player, Philippe owns a white Scottish Terrier named Gavroche. He is a darling dog and very photogenic.

  • Gavroche
  • Gavroche
  • Gavroche
  • Gavroche napping in the sun

Lots, and lots of people with children in town today.

dimanche 4 août 2019 – Sunday August 4, 2019

Happy Anniversary to us! 46 years of marriage today.

We walked to Rocabey to look at the braderie (flea market) sponsored by the Handicapped Society of France. It is a very small event with only 4 tents. The items for sale have been donated by families when someone dies. There was a table full of books, religious artifacts, linens, and antiques / old, but not antique, household goods. Sandy always wants to teach them to organize the linens, but they just heap 4 folding tables with everything. If you’re looking for a pillowcase you literally have to search through dozens of other items. You might be lucky and find something or not.

We walked back along the ocean just after high tide. There was almost no beach all up and down the coast.

  • Looking North no beach!
  • Looking South no beach!

The weather forecast listed the air quality here as “Excellent!” today. We think it’s excellent everyday.

For our mid-afternoon 46th Wedding Anniversary dinner we again ate at the B’Art à Thé on the Place du Marché aux Légumes. We had a nice surprise, we got to taste the chilled cantaloupe melon soup. It was very good. The meal was delicious!

Chilled cantaloupe melon soup

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 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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le semaine se terminant le dimanche 15 juillet 2018 – the week ending Sunday July 15, 2018

15 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by philipdenotto in 2018-France

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

alain, arm, boulangère, boulangerie, corsairs malouins, grande maree, Iceland, La Fournee Malouine, la maison du pain, le mole des noires, Place du Marché aux Légumes, plage de l'eventail, plage de mole, Saint-Malo, Saint-Servan, sncf, world cup 2018

If you want to see the album of our pictures from June 2018, you can click on this link, June 2018.

le lundi 9 juillet 2018 – Monday July 9, 2018

We took the bus to the Carrefour Hypermarché located at La Madeleine Shopping mall. We wanted to buy things that aren’t available at the markets or the mid-sized Intrmarche grocery store where we usually shop. We bought dental floss, garbage bags (20 liter size, elastic at the top with drawstrings to close), lightly breaded fish (similar to the fish from “fish + chips”), and fresh ravioli filled with spinach. We only waited less than 5 minutes for the bus to return to the Intra-Muros. It was a successful trip. It was hot today on the bus. We sat on the sun side of the bus and the temperature was 25 C with very little wind.

We had a text from Michael with a gorgeous photo of white water falls from Iceland.

High tide took place around 16h30 this afternoon with a low co-efficient of 58. We walked in the water with the tide still coming in. There was still some beach visible at the Plage de l’Eventail. Some of the beach,  towards the Digue, was totally under water. It was nice to be in cool water on a very sunny day.

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the beach is very near the wall at this high tide, not much beach but we did not have to walk far to the water

le mardi 10 juillet 2018 – Tuesday July 10, 2018

This morning at La Fournee Malouine two new assistants waited on Sandy when she ordered our breakfast. They are not used to hearing her style of French and she is unfamiliar with them. Sandy had to repeat herself 3 times before her order was understood.

After breakfast and shopping at our local marché, we took the bus to the Rocabey stop. We needed to go to a para-pharmacy to purchase vitamins and other toiletries that aren’t available at the grocery stores. We went to the first para-pharmacy, Rocabey Para-Pharmacy, but they only had one of the three items we needed. We walked around the corner to the Para-pharmacy de La Gare for the additional 2 items. They were very busy.

We walked back towards Intra-Muros on the shady side of the street. The temperature was 24 C but felt much hotter. We were glad to reach our apartment.

During our walk back to the apartment we spotted a car with a license plate from Portugal in parking lot.

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car from Portugal in the parking lot

After lunch we reserved our train and hotel room for our return trip to the USA in September. Time goes fast.

An hour before the time of high tide we walked to the Place de l’Evantail to walk in the water. The wind had picked up and the temperature had actually dropped since our walk in the morning. However, the water was warmer!

le mercredi 11 juillet 2018 – Wednesday July 11, 2018

Today was the last day of Michael’s vacation. The photos he sent from Iceland this week have been almost magical. So much white water, rocks, cliffs, falls but very few trees. He returns to the U. S. late this afternoon.

It was only 15 C when Sandy shopped for our breakfast. She even wore a jacket today. We took the bus to the Intermarche grocery store, did our shopping, checked out quickly, and were back at the bus stop to return home in 45 minutes!

After lunch it was still cool in the shade, so we took our camping chairs to the harbor. The tide was coming in with at least 3 more hours until high tide. There were many things happening. We watched at least 4 fishing boats unload huge amounts of mussels packed in orange mesh bags, weigh them, throw the orange bags onto pallets, and load into refrigerated trucks. Four Corsair Ferries were coming and going, and when the locks opened we watched a Russian cargo ship and 10 sail boats exit the basin into the channel. The Condor Ferry was loading, and the Armorique a light house and beacon repair ship returned to the harbor. We had a very entertaining two hours!

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weighing crustaceans from a fishing boat

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unloading moules (mussels) from a boat

le jeudi 12 juillet 2018 – Thursday July 12, 2018

We received a text around 5h30 am this morning letting us know Michael was back in Grand Rapids. His cat was glad to have him at home.

Sandy asked the assistant at La Fournee Malouine if the boulangère was here this week. Sandy hadn’t see her since Sunday. The assistant thanked her, said that was nice, the madam was here all week just very busy making many sandwiches in the back. They do a large take-away sandwich business this time of year. With the new terrace, this boulangerie is even more enticing to have an inexpensive lunch and be able to sit down in the shade.

We watched Alain play boules for a few minutes and visited with him. He and his wife had just returned yesterday from attending Jean’s funeral in Paris.  They had spent 6 nights helping Denise in Paris.

We walked in the water at the Plage de Môle at low tide. There was a lot of sand to walk through!

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while on our walk in the water we saw these kids learning to sail

After dinner we listened to the “Les Corsairs Malouins” sing sea shanties. They were very entertaining.  We have fun watching and listening to the group.

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“Les Corsairs Malouins” sing sea shanties

le vendredi 13 juillet 2018 – Friday July 13, 2018

The town was very quiet when Sandy shopped for our breakfast.

We walked to the Saint-Servan marché to purchase meat. We arrived at the bridge while it was open and waited a few minutes for boats to enter the lock and the bridge to slide closed. The marché was busy. A lot of tourists in town for vacation and extra people in town due to tomorrow being the Fete National 14th Juillet. After 15 minutes in line, it was our turn.

We had an uneventful walk back home and since the wind was out of the north there was a cool breeze blowing.

Today was one of the days of the Grande Marée where the tide is exceptionally high. The expected co-efficient was 101. It was also one of the days of exceptionally low tide. There were warnings in the newspaper and on the radio for people to be observant.  It was a good day for “Pêche à Pied,” fishing by foot. People walk out a very long way in the sand to the sand bars to dig or rake for their dinner. The warnings were due to the fact that once the tide starts to come back in it does it very rapidly. We walked in the sand a very long way before we got to the ocean.  We were on the far side of the Fort National. It was farther than we’d ever gone to reach the water. We walked in the water for a while in both warm and cold temperatures.

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the beach at low tide, it is quite a walk to the water

le samedi 14 juillet 2018 – Saturday July 14, 2018

Today was the Fete National Quatorze Juillet (National Holiday 14th of July). A lot of visitors were expected in town. Signs had been posted at parking lots, entrances to the ramparts etc about the possible closure. The Intra-Muros was closed to all vehicular traffic starting at 17h00 unless you had proof of residency or owned a business. Restaurants and bars were busy!

We walked to the beach before noon today. A Grande Marée is scheduled for 8h45 and after 21h00 this evening. We wanted to walk in the water between a high and low tide to avoid walking through blocks of sand and yet have enough beach to walk on. The sky was brilliantly blue and the air fresh.

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great looking sail boat we saw on our walk on the beach

Later we walked out of the walls at 22h45 to be in place to see the fireworks. There were very large city trucks, garbage truck size blocking the entrance to all of the ports. Streets were blocked off and police were around.

At 23h00 the fireworks started. It was just barely dark but they were on time. They were set off at the Môle des Noires or the breakwater. We and several thousand additional people stood in the middle of one of the round points to watch. They were incredible and timed to music played over large speakers. It was amusing to hear songs from the USA, Ireland, France, and other countries. Several of the songs dealt with the sea, and one of the famous Saint-Malo songs Santiano was part of the entertainment. The fireworks lasted for 22 minutes, 6 minutes longer than last year. We were back in our apartment by 23:30. Time for bed!

le dimanche 15 juillet 2018 – Sunday July 15, 2018

It was relatively quiet when Sandy shopped for our breakfast. She passed several street cleaning crews trying to clean up after such a crowd yesterday.

After breakfast we took the number 1 bus to the Le Mouchoir Vert bus stop and then walked about 1/2 kilometer to the Vide Grenier (empty attic flea market) at Square de Biscayenne on the Rue de la Marne.  Every year it is a big market with lots of vendors.  Our friend Alain and his wife Mary-Yvonne were there.  Alain was helping at the concessions stand.

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the large crowd at the Vide Grenier

On the way back we missed our bus and ended up walking all the way back to the apartment.

This afternoon is the final of the World Cup from Russia.  France and Croatia are playing.  There are people all over the place in the Place du Marché aux Légumes.  There was a lot of horn blowing and shouting during the game.  France won 4-2 so everyone is pretty happy.   The game ended about 4 hours ago, but the celebrating is still going.

 

 

 

 

 

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