the week ending July 28, 2019 – la semaine se terminant le 28 juillet 2019

29 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by philipdenotto in 2019-France

Tags

cabin cruiser, canoe, captain taxi, Christine, condor ferry, cormorant, corsaire ferry, divers, diving platform boat, haircuts, Médiathèque, paddleboard, plage du mole, sailboat, silver wind, studio 3, tender

lundi 22 juillet 2019 – Monday July 22, 2019

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.

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

the week ending June 30, 2019 – la semaine se terminant le 30 juin 2019

30 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by philipdenotto in 2019-France

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

bacs, bank of france, bastion de la hollande, boules, brittany ferries, canicule, carrefour city, chennevières-sur-marne, chez marcel, condor ferry, corsaire ferry, fleur-de-lis, haircuts, heatwave, jardiland, mahe de la bourdonnais, mole, secours catholique, Shara, trehouart

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lundi 24 juin 2019 – Monday June 24, 2019

It was raining when we woke up so we chose not to purchase fresh croissants for breakfast. The forecast for this week is extremely hot. A heatwave (“canicule” in French) is coming up from the Sahara desert. The forecast for Paris is high temperatures of 33C to 39 C (91F-102F) for six days. The forecast for here in Saint-Malo is 21C to 33C (69F-87F) with only two days being hot. There are few buildings air conditioned in France. The newer major hotels are air conditioned, but many older ones are not. Saint-Malo is located on the ocean or English Channel in the northwest of France. We almost always have a breeze, usually from the north or northwest which keeps it cool. When the wind is from the south or southeast, it is much warmer. Our apartment building is made of granite. We have shutters similar to hurricane shutters on all of our windows. When it is hot, we keep the windows and shutters closed and the apartment is fairly comfortable. It almost always cools off at night. We’ll see as the week continues. The high today was 19C (66F).

In the middle of the afternoon, tea time, our friends from upstairs came for tea. Denise and her son Gilles, age 62, brought a bouquet of fleur-de-lis. I didn’t have a vase that was tall enough, so Denise went upstairs to loan one of hers to us. We had a lovely conversation of French mixed with English for about 90 minutes. Denise and Gilles live in Chennevières-sur-Marne
which is a southeastern suburb of Paris.

Fleur-de-Lis in Dennis’s vase
Fleur-de-Lis in Sandy’s vase

You can click on a photo to see a larger image.

We had a bowl of chili for dinner that Sandy had made over the weekend. Different from the USA, but delicious!

We took a walk out on the mole, watched the Condor ferry depart and headed for home as it started to rain.

mardi 25 juin 2019 – Tuesday 25, June 2019

Sandy wanted to shop at our Intra-Muros marché before we did anything else today. She bought a melon, appears to be a small cantaloupe, but the variety is “Bowl of Honey.” She also bought brown mushrooms. They are similar in size to the white mushrooms sold in the USA, but have a stronger taste. Delicious when cooked with chicken. She also bought a lot of fresh fruit; cherries, peaches, and apricots.

Next we took the bus to the gare, waited for a #5, then took it up the hill, past the hospital to the Tréhouart stop. We were on our way to the Secours Catholic boutique and depot. We had a difficult time last year finding the new location that they moved to. We wandered through all kinds of neighborhoods, up steep hills and were hot by the time we located the building. Secours Catholic is the French version of a Catholic Charities shop or the Community Action House General Store in Holland. In three rooms are clothing for men, women, children, purses, shoes, small bags, and household linens. Sandy wanted another table cloth for our dining room table. The one we are currently using is similar to oil cloth purchased at a market in 2012. She also purchased aprons for Phil and herself. We wear aprons at church in Holland and thought it would be nice to have our own. She was also looking for a tall vase, so she could return Denise’s vase to her. We were directed downstairs to the depot. The depot is where breakable items are sold in addition to a few articles of clothing, shoes, beds, etc. They had several vases that were the correct size and we chose one made in Portugal. We also spotted an oven mitt and a decorative glass cutting board. Today is the final day the Secours Catholic boutique is open until September. Since we leave on September 1, this will be our one and only visit until next year. Au revoir jusqu’à l’année prochaine.

On our walk to and from the Secours Catholic we saw several flowers which were worth taking pictures of.

Sandy looking at the Pôle Surcouf which houses the Secours Catholic
flowers on our walk to/from
Secours Catholic
flowers on our walk to/from
Secours Catholic
flowers on our walk to/from
Secours Catholic
flowers on our walk to/from
Secours Catholic
flowers on our walk to/from
Secours Catholic
flowers on our walk to/from
Secours Catholic

The temperatures are still unbearable in most of France. The high temperature here in Saint-Malo was 20C (68F).

In the afternoon we took a walk out Port Saint-Louis to the môle (breakwater). It was a nice day and resulted in some pretty good photos.

planting flowers at the statue of Mahé de la Bourdonnais
Brittany Ferry in the harbor
Plage du Môle
Fort on Petit Bé
curve of the mole (breakwater)
swimming pool and sail boats
Grand Bé and Intra-Muros
Corsaire Ferry and Petit Bé
the harbor
Bastion de la Hollande

We had chicken, ratatouille, risotto and mushrooms for dinner. Chez Sandy restaurant! Delicious!

mercredi 26 juin 2019 – Wednesday 26 June, 2019

We planned to go grocery shopping today but had to make a stop at the doctor’s office on the way. Phil realized last night that he was having problems with his ear. While we were in Paris he had trouble with it for a day but it improved. Today we needed to make an appointment with the doctor. The receptionist remembered us from previous years. He was given an appointment for 11h40 and we were on our way to the local Intermarche store. When we boarded the bus, our neighbor Jean-Michel was there and he and Phil chatted until our stop. We were able to buy everything on our list today except for Cheerios. They had Cheerios two weeks ago, but nothing today.

We took the groceries home, put everything away and walked to the doctor’s office. The office only took cash in the past but today had a machine for credit cards. The diagnosis was an outer ear infection so we needed to fill a prescription for antibiotics. The pharmacy near the Carrefour City was still open at 12h15 (stores normally close between 12h and 14h for lunch) and we had the prescription in less than 5 minutes. The antibiotic is a powder that needs to be mixed with water before taking. Let’s hope they work!

After lunch we watched Alain play boules for a few minutes. The temperature was 23C (74F). It is warm in the sun but still a nice breeze blowing in the shade. All schools were closed in Paris today due to the extreme heat of 38C (100F) since school isn’t out for the summer until next week, and none of them are air conditioned.

After the boules match we walked to the harbor to watch the boats. The Corsaire Ferry was approaching the ramp on its return from Dinard.

jeudi 27 juin 2019 – Thursday 27 June, 2019

The forecast for all of France, except around us in Brittany, was for another day of the heatwave (a “canicule” in French). Our peak temperature was 28C (82F). Sandy had made arrangements to see Christine, her tutor, an hour earlier due to the heat. As with most things here, the buses are not air conditioned and they are hot.

Phil took the same bus and picked up a few items at E.Leclerc hypermarché.

After lunch, they watched Alain play boules for about 30 minutes. There was still a nice cool breeze in the shade. This is the first year that other boules players have acknowledged us and a few are even initiating conversation. After 8 years, they must have decided we’re okay.

We had our first haircuts of the summer later. The owner of the shop, Studio 3, cut both of our hair. Sandy took photos with her from last year to help the stylist. We were both pleased with our haircuts.

vendredi 28 juin 2019 – Friday 28 June, 2019

Today, we felt the heat. The forecast is for a high of 34C (93F). We have kept our windows closed and the shutters and curtains drawn when the sun faces the windows. Our second bedroom, dining room, and living room windows face east. The kitchen, shower room, and our bedroom face west. We always have daylight coming from one side of the apartment even with the shutters down.

After breakfast and a trip to the Intra-Muros marché we took a walk on the beach. Low tide was around 9h30 so the sand was fairly hard and dry an hour later. The temperature was great, low 20’s and the wind was blowing. We came across a fairly large group of people all digging in the sand. A closer look showed about 7 teams, with around 5 people on each team.

Bank of France employees from Paris in the team building exercise.

The man who appeared in charge was speaking English to some groups and French to other groups. Phil asked a lady who was taking photos what was going on. It was a group of employees from the Bank of France in Paris. The man speaking French and English was a champion sandcastle maker from Canada. They were in Saint-Malo for two days doing team building exercises. They were very lucky to escape the Parisian heat and enjoy the beach here. Interesting to watch.

These are pictures from our walk on the beach. The wide beach, sailboats, Brittany Ferries, walkers in the water and team building with staff from the Bank of France in Paris. Quite a few different things happening.

the wide beach to the south
the wide beach to the north
Sandy and the beach
a trimaran
the wide beach to Intra-Muros
walking the ocean with wet suits
Brittany Ferry to England
Us on the beach
Bank of France team building
Bank of France team building
part of the castle

By the time we were ready to return to our apartment it was hot! We stayed inside the rest of the day. Jardiland phoned and said they would deliver our planters, gravel and dirt between 8h30 and 10h30 tomorrow.

samedi 29 juin 2019 – Saturday 29, June 2019

At 7h it was wonderfully cool! The outside temperature was 17C and 23C in our apartment. We opened all of the windows and the temperature inside dropped quickly. On her way to the boulangerie, Sandy wasn’t able to see the ocean through the city gates. Fog was rolling in from the ocean. No wonder it’s much cooler today.

Phil waiting on the balcony for the Jardiland delivery

Our delivery from Jardiland arrived around 10h. Since we had already cut the black liner, the job went very smooth. Our neighbor above us, Madame Bertin, arrived and talked to us about the planters. She thought it was a nice idea and hoped it helped. We had one extra bag of dirt which Phil took to our cave (our basement storage room). The job was complete in less than an hour.

the new planters in front of the apartment building and Sandy

The temperature warmed up and it was hot in the sun. The high was 26C. Late in the afternoon the temperature dropped quickly and by 19h Sandy had a jacket on outside. Almost everyone walking around had changed from shorts to long pants and added a jacket.

We enjoyed a kebab sandwich and frites at the Chez Marcel restaurant. Every restaurant in the Intra-Muros was crowded. People had been enjoying Saint-Malo all day. We saw on the news where the heatwave in the south of France had destroyed many of the grapes on the vines. The photos they showed were dried up grapes, still hanging from the vines, with the appearance of raisins. A potential catastrophe for wine makers.

dimanche 30 juin 2019 – Sunday June 30, 2019

This morning we went for a walk around 10h30. We are invited to Denise and Gilles’ apartment for tea on Monday. We are shopping for a small gift to bring to them. Since they are leaving for Paris on Wednesday we won’t get them flowers and because of the heat we decided against chocolates. So we bought a small box of specialty cookies.

On the way back to the apartment we met Denise coming out of the butcher’s shop on rue l’Orme. We talked for a few minutes about our plans for the day. When we left her we started to head back to the apartment and met our friend Jean-Michel from building #6 next door to us. He was returning from a swim in the ocean. He apparently does this every day of the year! The water temperature is around 15C (60F) which is just a tad to cold for us. Ha!

Around noon we went for a walk on the beach. It was very interesting as usual.