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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

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le semaine se terminant le dimanche 26 août 2018 – the week ending Sunday August 26, 2018

26 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by philipdenotto in 2018-France

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

brittany ferries, bubble guy, condor ferries, corsaire ferry, decouverte, digue, e leclerc, esplanade saint-vincent, gaia, go sport, interemarche, intersport, jersey, La Madeleine Center, Le Quai St-Malo, Paramé, Saint-Malo, stockholm, sweden, Tenacious

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

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

le lundi 20 août 2018 – Monday August 20, 2018

The people in the apartment below us usually arrive around 15th of August. Normally the elderly mother (70-80?), her adult son (close to our age), and another man probably in his 40-50 arrive together. Phil noticed their apartment door open and one of the window shutters open on Saturday the 18th. We haven’t seen anyone yet. Today around 7h30 there was a lot of banging noises and hammering. We don’t know what was going on at that early hour. When Sandy returned from the boulangerie she could see more window shutters open in the apartment below. Possibly the remainder of their family had arrived. We’ll see.

We walked to the Quai Saint-Malo to view the art show called “Salon Malo Métiers d’art”. In the past few years it was held outdoors at the Tour Solidor in Saint-Servan, just a lovely walk for us. This year the number of days open was extended from 2 to 3 and it was held indoors. There was a 2 euro per person entrance fee and in the past it was free. There were 45 French professional artisans and every stand had beautiful things. Some were expensive, but most were reasonably priced. Since we don’t need anything, we just looked.

Next we walked to the harbor. It was slightly foggy and misting. The lighthouses and peninsulas that we were able to see on Sunday were not visible today. We did see a sailing vessel from Sweden in the basin.  Not a common sight.

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the GAIA from Stockholm Sweden in the basin

After lunch we walked to the boules court to say hello to Alain and his wife. Then we walked to the harbor. The pilot-boat was just leaving and we noticed a large cargo ship in the locks on it’s way out of the basin. We stayed to watch the cargo ship leave. The lock must have just started to open (a couple of hours before and after high tide) and we saw several catamarans and sail boats enter. We have the MarintTraffic app on our phones and it details the arrivals and departures of ships in Saint-Malo. Sandy had read where another ship was due to arrive. We watched the Corsair ferries arrive and depart, the Condor ferry from the Channel Islands arrive, and the cargo ship arrive. It looked like a very busy harbor to us from the sidelines. Very interesting to watch though.

le mardi 21 août 2018 – Tuesday August 21, 2018

The people in the apartment below us are definitely here. Their telltale “scent” is the smell of burnt toast in the hallway at breakfast time. Sandy had confirmation, from the odor, of their arrival when she left our building to shop for breakfast.

We read that the store “GO Sport” was closing. We took the bus to La Madeleine Center to see if they had any camping chairs remaining. The store was empty of everything except shoes and clothing. Too bad we didn’t know of the closing earlier in their sale.

We walked to Intersport, about 10 minutes around the road and they had a large selection of camping chairs. We’ll remember this for next year in case we need to replace one of ours.

We also went into the Carrefour Hypermarché. We needed a replacement light bulb for the stove vent and Sandy was looking for rhubarb flavored yogurt. Since rhubarb is considered one of the “seasonal” flavors they were out but we did find a light bulb. Sandy also found Centrum vitamins from the parapharmacie section of the store. Good to know.

After lunch, we saw the ship “Tenacious” enter the basin following the Pilot Boat and then enter the locks. It was a very impressive, 3 masted, ship. It arrived from the Jersey in the Channel Islands.

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the TENACIOUS sailing vessel arrived from Jersey in the Channel Islands

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got lucky today and spotted a CORMORANT in the harbor, resting on a sign

le mercredi 22 août 2018 – Wednesday August 22, 2018

Sandy counted more than 7 empty parking spots on her way to the boulangerie. It has been cool, occasionally misty, and cloudy for the last 4 days. Maybe the tourists are moving away. Even though our temperature has been around 22C, close to 70F, Paris is still around 30C, hot. Glad we’re not there!

We shopped for groceries in the morning. The transportation was great because there was a bus waiting at the esplanade Saint-Vincent on our way to Intermarche.

On our return trip, as soon as we reached the sidewalk near the bus stop, we saw it turning the corner coming our direction. We noticed more than 600 available parking spots at 10h30.

Around 15h00 we returned to the Esplanade St. Vincent to catch either a #3 or #8 bus so we could walk on the Digue. A #3 pulled up and we were on our way. Even though it was cloudy and cool, there were many people on the beach and in the ocean.

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on our walk on the digue, a lot of kids participating in an activity in the water

We had a lovely, interesting walk back and decided to catch the #8 bus to return instead of walking. It was 20 minutes late. The ride is normally a 2 minute long ride but took more than 10 because of the traffic and pedestrians. We noticed the 600 available parking spots we saw in the morning had been reduced to 8. Busy day After all!

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the word COMPLET means the parking facility is full

le jeudi 23 août 2018 – Thursday August 23, 2018

Sandy spent two hours tutoring with Christine this morning while Phil took care of a little shopping at the E.Leclerc Hypermarché.

During the walk to Christine’s house there were a lot of beautiful flowers to photograph.

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The sun was out for only a couple of hours mid day today. In the afternoon we walked to watch Alain play boules for a while. Afterwards we intended to sit at the harbor to see what was happening. Sandy looked across the bay towards Dinard and commented that it was getting very foggy or raining. We decided it was rain coming across the bay and headed for home. We reached Porte Saint-Louis before it really began to rain. Glad we didn’t tarry to see if the rain was going to stop. It continued for over an hour.

le vendredi 24 août 2018 – Friday August 24, 2018

The temperature was 13C, 55F when Sandy walked to the boulangerie. She thought the people on the ground floor were gone since all of the shutters had been lowered. She also didn’t hear the dog bark when she opened the door into our building.

We walked to Saint-Servan to buy meat at the butcher in the marché. His assistant told us they would be starting their two-week vacation on September 2nd. I let her know we’d be leaving on the 12th of September, so next week we’ll tell them “au revoir” until next year.

In the afternoon we watched Alain play boules for a few minutes then headed to the harbor.

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the boules game, closest to the little silver ball gets the point

We have learned that when the harbor pilote boat leaves the harbor, he is usually gone for about 30 minutes. Once he returns, there will be a ship arriving in about 15 minutes later. He proved our theory while we watched.

While we were at the harbor, a cormorant was fishing near by.  Here it is.

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a CORMORANT on the surface of the harbor

le samedi 25 août 2018 – Saturday August 25, 2018

Sandy had been back from the boulangerie only 10 minutes when it began raining very hard. There wasn’t any forecast of rain, but you just never know being so close to the ocean. The rain only lasted for about 30 minutes but stayed cloudy and cool.

After breakfast we took a bus to the Intermarche grocery store located at La Decourverte shopping center. We wanted white dryer sheets which Sandy leaves between linens over the winter to stay fresh smelling. This store is always busy and even though they didn’t carry the dryer sheets, we bought 3 other items and the check out lines were long. We were in the self check line and waited less than 10 minutes.

After lunch, the sun came out and the temperature warmed up to 18C. There was a light breeze so we took the bus to be able to walk the length of the Digue. We got off the bus at 15h30, walked to the Digue and then along the length of the Digue.

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it was a low tide so a lot of beach – not very many people this afternoon

When we got back to the esplanade Saint-Vincent, the bubble guy was working his magic.

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the bubble guy on the esplanade Saint-Vincent, young and old like his magic

We were back in our apartment at 16h45. A really lovely walk in the sunshine.

le dimanche 26 août 2018 – Sunday August 26, 2018

The temperature was 10C, 50F when Sandy walked to the boulangerie today. She has had to use the hairdryer to dry her hair the last two days since the temperature is cooler. She doesn’t like to go outside with wet hair when the temperature is in the 50’s.

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la semaine se terminant le dimanche 10 septembre 2017 – the week ending Sunday September 10, 2017

10 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by philipdenotto in septembre poster 2017 - September 2017 post

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

alain, Aldi, cap sud, commodore goodwill, decouverte, digue, hotel quic-en-groigne, inta-muros, intermarche, l'oliver, labor day, lidl, magpie, Médiathèque, oeufs de lompe noirs, pepite, pie, pineau des charentes, porto, sliver muse, star pride, variety cruises

le lundi 4 septembre 2017 – Monday September 4, 2017

It is <<Labor Day>> in USA and the end of a 3 day holiday.  In France it is the return to school for children. It is drizzly and cool when Sandy walks to the boulangerie to buy our breakfast. First a quick stop at the <<poubelle>> (garbage bin) and recycling center to drop off garbage and recycling. At the boulangerie, Sandy purchased a pepito for our breakfast. A pepito is croissant dough filled with creamy yellow custard and semi-melted chocolate chips. It is rectangular in shape and big enough for two people to share. Delicious!

pepito

pepito

We had nothing planned for today so decided to go to the <LIDL> store. The store is advertised on the television, in the newspapers, and on billboards. From the advertising, we expected it to be similar to a <<Target>> with clothing, household goods, and groceries. We took the bus from Intra-Muros to the Gare (train station). Then we transferred to the #4 bus. We passed the <<E.LeClerc>> store and the IUT school. We got off at the stop called <<CAP SUD>, walked across the street and found the <<LIDL>> store. It is smaller than the <<Intermarché>> grocery store where we usually shop or about the size of the <>. It looked similar to an <<ALDI>> but seemed to have more variety than the <<ALDI>> we shopped at in Holland, Michigan. We looked at everything, but we didn’t buy anything. The prices were slightly cheaper than at Intermarché and Carrefour. It was easy to get to, no problem with the buses and a good excursion.lidl-le-blocus-des-agriculteurs-leve_2497184

By the time we returned, it had stopped raining and the temperature had risen. The streets were starting to dry.

 

 

There was a cruise ship moored in the basins called <<Variety Cruises>>. It arrived around 5h at high tide and will leave later this afternoon during the second high tide of the day.

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Variety Voyager

le mardi 5 september 2017 – Tuesday September 5, 2017

Sandy shopped for our breakfast croissants and as usual this time of year is amazed at the number of high school aged students she passes walking on the streets that live here year around. They were walking towards the <<Porte de Dinan> to catch a bus to school. You can never tell from walking down the streets during the summer, to the beach, or around the town just how many local citizens there really are living here.

First a brief stop at the marché for fresh fruits and tomato from the vendor <<Monsieur Alix>>.  Then we were on our way to the Intermarché grocery store. We needed cereal, juice, Perrier, etc that we can not buy at a market. The forecast is for a high temperature of 23C / 74F, but it was cool and cloudy during our shopping trip. There is another cruise ship moored in the basin called the <<STAR PRIDE>. It was at least 3 decks higher than the <<VARIETY VOYAGER> ship moored here yesterday.

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Star Pride cruise ship

le mercredi 6 septembre 2017 – Wednesday September 6, 2017

After breakfast we caught a bus to the Gare. We wanted to return library books to the <<Médiathèque>>.

Next we walked to the Intermarché grocery store. We were invited for an aperitif tonight at our friend Alain’s house. It is customary in France to take a gift when you visit people. We wanted to take some flowers.

France has school for 4 and a half days a week with students leaving early on Wednesday. As we walked past the middle and high school equivalent, we saw students pouring out of the building.

It was cloudy all morning but in the afternoon the sun came out of the clouds and the day was very nice. Sandy took advantage of the nice weather and brushed off the outdoor furniture from our balcony. We will store it in our second bedroom over the winter. It made her a little sad to have to put it away already for the winter season.

Our friend Alain picked us up and took us to his apartment. It is very near the hospital but in a gated area. There is only one building in his complex and it is surrounded by trees. Thee is a very pretty rocky wall behind his building and there are private houses on the other side of the wall. We sat at his round dining table which is in the middle of his salon. He has lovely furniture and decorations. He and his wife have lived there for 15 years. They have a fairly large balcony and feed many different kinds of birds on it. We enjoyed a glass of <<Pineau des Charentes>> for Sandy and Porto rouge for Phil. He prepared 3 different plates of appetizers. One was salmon(saumon), one of tuna (thon), and one of chicken (poulet). Some had pickles (cornichons which are pickled cucumbers much milder than USA cucumber pickles), cherry tomatoes from his yard, and some <> (fish eggs from the lumpfish, an alternative to sturgeon caviar). We really enjoyed our time and the conversation. He brought us back to the <<Esplanade Saint-Vincent>> where we took a bus to the <<Dugay Trouin>> stop just around the corner from the destination restaurant..

We met our friends Jean-Louis and Claudine at the restaurant L’Oliver for pizza. It was high tide at 20h22 and very windy. The streets had barricades on them with warnings of water on the pavement. We looked out the window just across the street at the waves going over the walls. The conversation and pizza were wonderful!

le jeudi 7 septembre 2017 – Thursday September 7, 2017

The forecast is again for cloudy and cool. Our friends told us last night that summer is over for this year. Last year everyone was still swimming and sunbathing this time of year. After breakfast we mailed a letter and stopped in at the <<Hotel Quic n’Groigne>>. We visited with Marie Dominique and Michel while drinking a cup of coffee. They are already fully booked for the <<Route du Rhum>> race in November 2018. Bravo for them!

le vendredi 8 september 2017 – Friday September 8, 2017

Sandy shopped for our breakfast and at the marché for fruit before we took the bus to Christine’s house for tutoring. The bus left <<Esplanade Saint-Vincent>> two minutes late, then we changed drivers at the Gare before arriving at the <<Paramé Mairie>> bus stop which is our destination, almost 10 minutes late. We walked quickly to Christine’s house. We were later than usual and the wind was quite chilly! The forecast is for rain later in the day and it did not rain on us.

On our return trip the bus stops at the Gare. There was a car stopped in the road, letting cars out of a parking lot and blocking the bus. The bus driver blew his horn at it. The man driving the car did not like it and decided to let several cars out of the parking lot just to irritate the bus driver. The bus driver leaned out his window and yelled at the car driver. The car driver got out of his car and came to the door of the bus to yell at the bus driver. All of the passengers were quite interested. Several passengers got off the bus with the bus driver to look at the location of the car. After another 5 minutes of yelling, the car driver got in his car and drove away. The bus driver continued on his route. It was an interesting trip for tutoring today!

le samdi 9 septembre 2017 – Saturday September 9, 2017

We wanted to go to a flea market in the Découverte area of Saint-Malo, but it was cloudy and drizzly when we woke up today. Since it really did not rain around 11h we decided to take the #2 bus to see if the flea market was open. It was a quick bus ride, but no one had set up any tables for the flea market. It began to sprinkle as we walked back towards the bus stop and the Intermarché grocery store located at Découverte.

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2 magpies (pies) across the street from our bus

We hurried to the store and picked up a light bulb, ice cream, and small macaroni. We waited 10 minutes for the bus and returned to Intra-Muros. The rain held off.

We had been home getting ready for lunch when it started to rain very hard. Living in a building made of granite prevents a lot of noise from reaching us, but we did hear this rain. It was over quickly.

After lunch, the sun came out and we spent a bit of time at the harbor. We saw the pilot-boat lead the <<Commodore Goodwill>> out of the channel and the shuttles from a cruise ship make trips back and forth from the dock to the ship. The ship was called the <<Silver Muse>> and was too large to enter the locks and the basin. Even though the temperature is cool, low 60F’s, the sun was wonderful and the air, as always, was fresh.

le dimanche 10 septembre 2017 – Sunday September 10, 2017

Around 6h there was a lot of noise coming from the apartment downstairs. As Sandy walked to the boulangerie she saw the lady and her older son from downstairs getting into their car. It appeared to be fully packed with shopping bags. We have noticed that people in France traveling by car take shopping bags instead of luggage. People use luggage when traveling on the train, planes, or ferries, but not cars. Our thinking is that cars are almost half the size here compared to cars in the USA and there just isn’t room in cars here for passengers and luggage. The younger son, from the apartment downstairs, was still in the apartment since there were windows open. They usually only stay one month and they had been here one month this weekend.

It was cool and sunny. We took a walk on the digue (sea wall by the beach) since the weather forecast was for no rain. It was sunny but very breezy. High tide had just occurred and the sea was crashing over the wall. We walked across the street for a while so we didn’t get wet. There were many people on the digue.  Some were walking, bike riding, jogging, rollerblading, and riding on a Segway. We also saw several dozen people in the water on surf boards. The wind was behind us as we walked towards the digue but on our return trip it was in our face. Very cool! It’s a wonderful walk that we both really enjoy.

waves by the digue
waves by the digue
waves by the digue
waves by the digue

For dessert, Sandy had purchased a couple of tarts.  One was a lemon custard tart and the other was an almond tart.  Very good!

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