lundi 15 juillet 2019 – Monday July 15, 2019

Spectacular fireworks last night, the 14th, with thousands of viewers, music, and entertainment. (cool enough for even Phil to wear a jacket and comment on how cool it was). It was very quiet this morning. Lovely to have been able to FACETIME with Michael yesterday afternoon. He looks good and so does the cat. He’s had quite a busy summer with a lot of traveling so he couldn’t make it here this year. Hopefully, next year he will make a visit.

We needed to buy milk and wanted to take a walk along the seawall (digue in French). We walked to the Courtoisville Carrefour Market through town because the wind was blowing very strong on the digue. This market is bigger than our Intra-Muros Carrefour City and busier.

We returned along the digue where many people were enjoying the beautiful, clear day. A wonderful 5 kilometer walk!

mardi 16 juillet 2019 – Tuesday, July 16, 2019

We were up early and out of our apartment before 7h45 am today. The ship “A.R.C. Gloria” from Columbia was scheduled to arrive in Saint-Malo between 8h and 9h. ARC stands for “Armada Nacional de la República de Colombia.” The ship was built in 1967. It is 76 meters long and 10 meters wide, and is the training ship of the Colombian Navy.

From the Saint-Malo tourism site: “At the arrival ceremony, which will begin at 8h at the breakwater at the entrance of the port, the ship will deploy a giant flag of Colombia and will shoot 19 shots greeting gun. Visitors will be able to tour the boat docked, from 16 to 19 July.”

There were probably at least a hundred people waiting with us on the breakwater to view the ship. The ship had a huge Colombian flag at its stern. As the ship entered the harbor, we counted the 19 cannon shots and Colombian music played from the A.R.C. Gloria. It was very interesting to watch and listen to. We recorded the arrival of the A.R.C. Gloria in the video below. Be sure your audio volume is not muted.

It was quite impressive as sailors were standing on all five levels of the masts and dressed in each color of the Colombian flag; yellow, blue and red.

In the afternoon, an organization that features local products was in Saint-Malo. The organization, their staff, and van travel Brittany and stop at a different locale each day. We’d wanted to see their display last year but missed it. We waited in line for about 10 minutes in order to “spin the wheel” to see if we won a prize. Sandy spun the wheel and landed on “KEVANO” which is from the Breton language and translates to “Au revoir” in French which then translates in English to “Sorry, you didn’t win.” Phil’s spin landed on “Suprise!” He had a choice of three different prizes, all from this area. First offer was a can of beef tongue, second was a glass jar of fish soup, and the third, which we chose was a 1 liter carton of milk from the Saint-Malo dairy. Everyone received a “goody bag” with a bag of Breizh chips, a Madeleine (cookie), a sticker, and a key chain. Certainly worth the 10 minute wait in line. We’ll be sure to stop again next year.

In the evening, we had invited our friends Jean-Louis and Claudine for an apéritif. This is a normal way in France to have friends to your house around 18h, but not prepare a meal. We served roasted chicken rillette on small slices of bread, Boursin cheese on bread with raisins on top, tapenade noire (black olive paste with anchovies) on bread, peanuts, dried fruit mix, fresh strawberries, fresh cherry tomatoes, cubes of cheese (flavored with tomatoes, ham, blue cheese), sesame crackers, and ham rolled around cheese. If the snacks are plentiful, and they were, this is a substitute for an early dinner. We spent a very enjoyable two hours with them with tentative plans to meet them at a restaurant before we leave in August.

mercredi 17 juillet 2019 – Wednesday 17 July 2019

Sandy likes to program our washer at night so the laundry is ready to hang on the line by the time she’s out of the shower in the morning. She feels lucky to have a machine that is a combination washer and dryer as most people here only have a washer. She prefers to hang clothes on the line on our balcony or extra bedroom, but uses the dryer for towels or when it’s not a good day to dry. Today, everything was on the line by 8h30.

After breakfast we waited in line for 10 minutes to board the ship A.R.C Gloria from Colombia. We were amazed at how high the rigging really is when standing on the deck. The sailors standing at attention yesterday along the sails, as it entered the locks, do NOT have a fear of heights!

Next we walked to the temporary Musée d’Histoire Maritime (MHM) of Saint-Malo. The old silos along the docks were torn down and a new museum is being constructed in their place. The projected completion of the project is 2022, two years before the Olympics take place in Paris. We had a private tour of the proposition, photos, and explanation of the plan. It will be beautiful when finished! There was also a 5 minute video to explain the project.

Sandy loved the folding chairs they provided while watching the film. Very comfortable!!. She is sure they are just the right chairs we need at FUMC in Holland, lightweight and fold-able.

jeudi 18 juillet 2019 – Thursday 18 July 2019

It was cloudy, cool with a chance of showers this morning.

In the afternoon Phil shopped at the E.Leclerc hypermarché while Sandy met with her French tutor Christine. He was still able to buy rhubarb yogurt and pineapple yogurt, our very favorite flavors!

Later in the afternoon we took a walk to the beach. The city was having a “sand and wind” afternoon on the beach. There were giant kites of green fish, orange fish, a hammerhead shark with its baby behind it, and a school of fish. There had originally been an octopus, but he was deflated so there must have been issues with it. The headline in the Ouest-France newspaper for this event was “Flying Fish in the Saint-Malo heaven.”

vendredi 19 juillet 2019 – Friday 19 July, 2019

Sandy bought deux cents grammes de haricots verts, 200 grams of green beans, at our market. The green beans here are consistently very thin, with almost nothing to stem. You only have to cook the green beans for 5 minutes to have them al dente (slightly crisp). It took Sandy a few years to be able to order food in grams, but now she knows how to ask.

We also purchased another bouquet of flowers from the florist. We asked the name, can’t remember it now, but the red appears to be small fruit instead of flowers. Very pretty though.

We walked to Saint-Servan marché to buy meat from the butcher and cheese from the fromagerie. We asked for cent cinquante grammes de fromage emmental râpé (150 grams of shredded emmental cheese-similar to Swiss but a little milder). This was the first time to purchase cheese at the market. In the past, we bought it at the grocery store. Getting braver!

The young lady assistant was back at the butcher. She not been there the last week or so. She said she’d been sick and pointed to her stomach. Doing much better now. She is very nice and practices her English with Sandy.

We took the bus from the Saint-Servan neighborhood of Saint-Malo to Rocabey neighborhood to get a couple of items at the Intermarché. We then walked home along the basin. We walked a little over 5 kilometers on this little excursion to two different parts of Saint-Malo.

samedi 20 juillet 2019 – Saturday July 20, 2019

Today was the day of the Grande Braderie de Paramé. We took the bus to Paramé and planned to walk home. After attending for several years, we know that the bus route to Paramé has a detour and it’s easier to walk home along the digue. Over 250 individuals and small, local business owners set up tables and stands for their annual flea market. It was packed as usual. We didn’t buy anything, but spent over an hour looking at a lot of stuff!

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped along the Boulevard Rochebonne at a boulangerie to have a croissant and drink an Orangina. We ate our snack at a table in front of the boulangerie. After our snack we continued down the street toward the digue and the ocean. We walked home along the digue and enjoyed the sounds and sights of the high tide.

The total trip was over 9000 steps and we were tired when we climbed our 34 stairs.

After a rest we walked to the Place du Marché aux Legumes and the restaurant B’Art à Thé for lunch. This is the new restaurant we had dinner at last week. We each tried a different dish and loved everything we had, including a wonderful chocolate, hazelnut dessert. Wow!

Late in our afternoon we got a text from our son Michael. The electricity is off in his part of Grand Rapids and was not expected to be back on until Sunday night. So he and his cat Kima are having a little vacation at our apartment in Holland. Glad to accommodate them!

dimanche 21 juillet 2019 – Sunday July 21, 2019

Today we took the bus to a flea market (braderie or vide grenier (attic cleanout)) which was held in the neighborhood of the Saint-Malo Hospital. Our friend Alain is one of the organizers of the vide grenier and he also works at the refreshment stand.

When we got back to the apartment there was a bit of excitement on our street. A person in the building next to us had fallen ill and an ambulance had been called to get him to the hospital. The ambulance staff were unable to get the man down the stairs so the fire department had to be called. They used one of their trucks which has a cherry picker to get a stretcher through a window into the 3rd floor apartment. The man was strapped into the stretcher and the fireman in the cherry picker lowered him to the ground. From there the ambulance took him to the hospital. We hope he is okay.

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 June photos in France

Click here for photos of La Roseraie Saint-Anne

Click here for the photos in Paris