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~ Nos expériences dans la ville des corsaires. – Our experiences in the city of the corsairs.

à Saint-Malo – in Saint-Malo

Tag Archives: Croissants

le semaine se terminant le dimanche 29 juillet 2018 – the week ending Sunday July 29, 2018

29 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by philipdenotto in 2018-France

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

alain, Astor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, bricorama, carrefour market, Croissants, DENMARK LICENSE PLATE, espresso, europa 2, Hebridean Princess, le charly's bar, le mole des noires, Nantucket Bakery, Place du Marché aux Légumes, plage du Sillon, Saint-Malo

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

le lundi 23 juillet 2018 – Monday July 23, 2018

Sandy wore a jacket to shop for our breakfast. The temperature was 15C,  59F!

We walked to the post office to mail some postcards and stopped for an espresso at Le Charly’s Bar. The town was fairly quiet today. A lot of people in France have vacation during the month of August and will arrive next weekend.

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our view while drinking coffee at Le Charly’s Bar

Sandy sent the mayor and the person in charge of city parking an email. The two green posts in front of our building needed to be fixed in cement again. Each year, people desperate for parking places wiggle the posts until they can be removed. So, each year they need to be repaired or we can’t get into the door of our apartment.

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EUROPA 2 at anchorage in the harbor

le mardi 24 juillet 2018 – Tuesday July 24, 2018

We took the bus to Bricorama. Phil tried to buy piece of hardware to repair our kitchen curtain rods last week and they were out of stock. We were in luck! We stopped in at E.Leclerc to see if they had pineapple yogurt, which is Phil’s favorite flavor. They didn’t have the brand we usually buy, but the did have a “Mamie Nova” brand with pineapple and passion fruit. We spotted rhubarb flavor yogurt and bought it. We were back on the bus in less than an hour. Not bad for two stores, a few blocks to walk between them and the bus stop.  While walking through the parking lost we spotted a license plate from Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Very rare in Saint-Malo

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Bosnia and Herzegovina license plate

Sandy stopped in at the boulangerie on the Grande Rue. She usually buys a baguette tradition from them but they were out. She tried a baguette campagnie (country)which was good. It was twice as long as a regular baguette. It resembled a light wheat colored interior that was very dense. Sandy liked the inside, but not the crust. The crust wasn’t as crisp as she likes. Good experiment. When we were just around the corner from our apartment building. Sandy almost came to a complete stop. She has a phobia of snakes. A small boy was sitting next to another building with what looked like a boa constrictor around his neck. At a slightly closer look, you could tell it was fake because one of his hands and an arm was inside the head, just like a puppet. Ugh!!

The weather was odd, even for Saint-Malo. It was a little cool on our way to the store, quite cool when we returned and completely cloudy. The forecast had been for sunny and 22C, 73F, but the temperature was 19C, 67F.

Around lunch time the sun came out and the wind slowed down. We walked to check out the boules court but there weren’t any games being played. We walked almost to the end of the Mole or breakwater and then sat in the shade. The temperature had really warmed up and now there was little breeze.

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a beautiful view of the Intra-Muros from the Môle des Noires (breakwater)

le mercredi 25 juillet 2018 – Wednesday July 25, 2018

We shopped at Intermarche early in the morning. While on our walk back to the apartment we saw a license plate from Denmark, very rare for Saint-Malo.

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Denmark license plate

After lunch, we walked in the water as the tide was coming in. We kept having to walk closer towards the shore to stay in ankle-deep water. We could feel a variety of water temperatures as we continued our walk. Both of us had slightly wet shorts as the waves kept splashing higher on our legs as we returned to our starting point. The high temperature was 24C.

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Sandy posing in the shallow water during our walk

le jeudi 26 juillet 2018 – Thursday July 26, 2018

Today the forecast is for a high of 28C, 84F. VERY hot for Saint-Malo. Sandy opened all of the windows when she woke up to lower the temperature in our apartment before closing it up for the afternoon. There was very little breeze and it was from the east. Good thing we’re not still in Paris. The high temperature there today is 35C, 96F. Too hot to be in un-air conditioned buildings, buses, etc. After breakfast we took a walk before it warmed up. There was a ship, Hebridean Princess from Glasgow docked in the basin. Phil researched the price of this small ship. A 9 day cruise was priced at $6,500 per person.

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Hebridean Princess docked in the basin

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Hebridean Princess docked in the basin

Another cruise ship the Astor was anchored in the harbor.

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cruise ship Astor at anchorage in the harbor

The Brittany Ferry was leaving on it’s day cruise to Portsmouth, UK and the Corsaire Ferries were traveling to Dinard and back.  A group of tourists was aboard the Le Renard for a cruise around the nearby islands. A busy morning in the Saint-Malo harbor.

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Le Renard leaving the harbor with a few crew of tourists

We stayed in our apartment in the afternoon because of the heat and the sun. Around 5 pm the sky filled with clouds and it started to rain. It rained off and on until around 7 pm. There were times when it was a downpour, and other times when it was just barely sprinkling. When it stopped, the temperature had dropped at least 8 degrees and everything appeared cleaner.

We walked to Chez Marcel and enjoyed a kebab sandwich on his terrace.

le vendredi 27 juillet 2018 – Friday July 27, 2018

The forecast is again for a hot day with a high of 28C. Sandy could have worn a jacket on her way to the boulangerie because it was only 17C, 65F. City workers were replanting the flowers in the flower beds in Place du Marché aux Légume. They had become trampled during the celebration when France won the World Cup on July 15th. Last chance to spruce up the flowers before all of the tourists arrive this weekend.

Later in the morning we took a walk on the breakwater called Le Môle des Noires.

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Our walk on the breakwater resulted in this lovely photo of the Intra-Muros

An afternoon walk in the ocean was messy! There were a lot of sea weed type grass etc on parts of the beach. Since we walked just after low tide, we couldn’t get around the rocks near the Digue. There were lots and lots of tourists to walk through on our way home.

le samedi 28 juillet 2018 – Saturday July 28, 2018

Sandy wanted to buy milk and grenadine at our local Carrefour. Since she dislikes walking through hordes of tourists not knowing where they’re going, she stopped in at 8:30 am on her way to the boulangerie. No tourists in either the streets or the store.

We walked in the ocean at noon today. High tide was at 8:30 am and low tide at 14:30. The water was crystal clear and we didn’t see any sea weeds or grass. We walked around the rocks, through the water and turned around at the Digue.

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the tide was out – small waves coming in – clear beach – clear water

The wind was very strong from the southwest. Our laundry hanging on the balcony was dry within two hours.

A side note – anyone wanting to sample authentic, or at least very close to authentic, French croissants can visit the Nantucket bakery in Grand Rapids, MI. They are as close to any we or our son Michael have had in the USA. Michael was at Nantucket bakery 2 days after returning from Paris.  He taste tested their French croissants while the memory of real French croissants was fresh in his mind and taste buds. Almost identical!

The beach we walk on, Plage du Sillon has been awarded the Travelers Choice Award in 2018 as the Plus Belle Plage de France on TripAdvisor. Guess we really do have good taste in beaches!

After lunch we walked to the boules court and said hello to Alain. We took our chairs and tried to sit by the harbor but the wind was very strong. After about 15 minutes, we’d had enough wind and headed for home.

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the strong winds were great for the gulls – just gliding on the currents

le dimanche 29 juillet 2018 – Sunday July 29, 2018

29 July Sunday – It was raining when Sandy shopped for our breakfast. She shopped at Maison du Pain just a few steps away from our building to avoid getting wet.

With the weather being iffy, we settled in for a day of reading and working on a puzzle.

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April 6 in Saint-Malo – 6 avril à Saint-Malo

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by philipdenotto in avril poster 2016 - April 2016 post

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Tags

corsaire ferry, Croissants, france, harbor, homework, Ikea, Intra-Muros, la poste, poubelle, sailing ships, Saint-Malo

Today is Wednesday April 6 and it looks to be a cloudy day with a chance of rain in the afternoon.  We seldom have a totally rainy day.  More often we have totally sunny days.  But the vast majority of days have both clouds and sun, and that can change for hour to hour.

This morning we got a late start on things.  All the activity yesterday made us very tired so we slept in today.  Sandy didn’t go to the boulangerie today.  Pretty much an American breakfast today, coffee, cranberry juice, cereal with strawberries, yogurt, and a bit of yesterday’s bread.  Still a pretty nice start to the day.  And, we ate in the dining room / salle à mange with the curtains open and a view of the activities on our street.

After breakfast we took a walk to drop off the garbage and recycling.  In the Intra-Muros we don’t have garbage pick up.  The city has placed large recycling containers and large garbage containers at 5 or 6 collections spots throughout the Intra-Muros.  It is the responsibility of each household and business to take their garbage and recycling to one of the collection spots.

The garbage container is about 15 feet long, 6 feet wide and 6 feet high.  There are two buttons of the container and a door.  One button opens the door, you then place your garbage into the container, close the door and then press the other button.  The other button starts the compactor which is part of the container.  So your garbage gets compacted.  Every week or so the city switches out the fuller containers for empty containers and the process continues.

The recycling containers are smaller, 5 feet square and about 6 feet high.  At each collection spot there is a recycling container for glass and another container for everything else which can be recycled; paper, plastic, cans, etc.  These also are switched out every week or so like the garbage containers.  It all seems to work pretty well.

Outside of the Intra-Muros, the residents have garbage and recycling collection which is very similar to the collection process in the USA.

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Sandy using the garbage container

After disposing of the garbage and recycling, we walked out to the harbor.  It was too brisk to stay out long.  We reentered the Intra-Muros and walked to the butcher.  We were 5th in line.  We purchased 2 sausages and some shredded Carottes Rapées (grated carrot salad) for dinner tonight. Then we walked to the tabac/presse to buy a newspaper and a few postcards.  Sandy went to the Macaron Simon boulangerie and patisserie to purchase a baguette.  Then we headed back to the apartment.

Just before lunch our package from IKEA France was delivered.  Sandy had ordered some new duvets and duvet covers.  The last ones we purchased were also from IKEA so we felt confident in ordering again from them.

After lunch Sandy worked on her homework for class tomorrow.  The exercises are very worthwhile and reinforce the lessons we learn with our tutor Christine.

Phil had homework too, research the origins of the “croissant.”  There is some information on the origins of the croissant on the internet.  Most of the stories agree that it was first created in central Europe, either in Vienna or Budapest.  Apparently in the 17th century the town, either Vienna or Budapest, was under attack from Turks.  The Turks were digging tunnels under the city for an attack.  A baker was working late into the night and heard the digging.  He alerted the authorities who repulsed the Turks.  For his heroism the baker was allowed sole  rights to bake the croissant.  Apparently he fashioned the croissant in the form of a crescent which is the symbol of Islam and was used by the Turks.  For more information click on this link to see what Wikipedia has to say on the subject of croissants.

Late in the afternoon we took a walk to the post office / la poste in the Intra-Muros and mailed a letter to the USA.  We walked around the streets of the Intra-Muros.  It had become colder and more windy so we stayed off the ramparts.  We walked to Saint-Vincent gate and then to the basin.  We followed the basin around to the harbor.  In the harbor a few boats were queuing up  to enter the lock / ecluse so they could tie up in the basin.  A couple of nice sailing ships were in the group, along with 4 or 5 fishing boats.

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Sailing ships entering the harbor

Also in the harbor, the Corsaire Ferry was running.  The ferry runs between Saint-Malo and Dinard. They also have tours around the area including many of the islands nearby.  The boats are a lot of fun.  There were quite a few people queued up on the ramp down to the water, waiting for the ferry to arrive.

Corsaire Ferry
Corsaire Ferry
Corsaire Ferry passengers
Corsaire Ferry passengers

For diner we had the sausages we bought today along with the carrots and potatoes Sandy bought on Tuesday morning.

All our pictures for April in Saint-Malo France can be viewed at 2016-04 April in Saint-Malo on Flickr.  They will open in a separate window.

All our pictures for March in Saint-Malo France can be viewed at 2016-03 March in Saint-Malo on Flickr.  They will open in a separate window.

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