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le lundi 31 julliet 2017 – Monday, July 31, 2017

Sandy walked to the doctor’s office to make an appointment for Phil. He will see another “sub” doctor at 16:45 this afternoon. Then Sandy made split pea soup with carrots, potatoes, and a little ham. We had some for lunch.

After lunch Sandy took at walk to the harbor. There was a very long line of people waiting for one of the Corsair Ferries to take then to Dinard.

Good thing it was cool today or they would have gotten sun-burnt waiting in the sun for their boat.

Next she stopped at the boules area to watch a game. She recognized several players, but our friend Alain wasn’t one of them.

We walked to Phil’s doctor appointment, saw the doctor, stopped at the pharmacy for 3 prescriptions priced at 25€ and were home within one hour. That was the fastest medical appointment we’ve experienced here. Phil has a sinus infection, lungs sounded good the doctor told him.

le mardi 1 août 2017 – Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Sandy shopped for fruit at the Intra-Muros marché and Monsieur Alix told her that there were no more strawberries due to the drought and hot temperatures. Phil is still resting in our apartment. She took the #8 bus to the Courtoisville Carrefour Market to pick up a couple items and look at the beach on the way.

She walked to the Gambetta bus stop and returned on the #3 bus, all within the 90 minutes use of one ticket.

After lunch Sandy spent some time on the beach walking in ankle deep water. She forgot just how shocking cold the ocean is. The air temperature was 69 F or 21 C and sunny. Great temperature to be outdoors. She saw a jelly fish laying in the sand (the tide was going out) as large as a dinner plate.

le mercredi 2 août 2017 – Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Phil woke up feeling much better today. Hurrah!

It was raining fairly hard this morning so Sandy purchased our breakfast from Maison du Pain which is very close. The lady in front of her bought the last 2 croissants so we had pain au chocolat for breakfast. Delicious!

After it stopped raining around 11:30 we took a walk to the Gare to purchase monthly bus passes. This allows us to ride as many times on the bus as we want within the month of August. It is much more convenient.

Then we crossed the street to go to the La Grande Passerelle Mediatheque, also know as the library.  We brought our most recent utility bill so our address could be verified and we could renew our library card. Sandy checked out a few books in English to read for pleasure and a few non fiction children’s books written in French to help her with vocabulary etc.

After lunch Sandy walked to the boules area to see if our friend Alain was playing. Surprise! The boules area was under water. We forgot how much it had rained in the morning.  A man was using a spade like shovel to scoop water off the field. Maybe it will be dry enough tomorrow because we were having very strong wind after the rain.

le jeudi 3 août 2017 – Thursday, August 3, 2017

Busy day.  We bought train tickets for our trip back to Paris as part of our return to the USA in September.  Shopped at Intermarche grocery store. The cashier told us to put my fidelity card number on the phone app.  We did download the app and will use it the next time.

We bought steak and chicken breasts at the butcher in the Rocabey marché.

We put the groceries away, and then walked to Charley’s Bar and spent the next hour people watching.

After lunch, we reserved a hotel room at the CDG airport for the night before we fly back to USA.

We watched the “course des garçons de café” at 4 pm.  Waiters from the restaurants race with a tray on which was placed a filled class of water and a bottle of water. The goal is to finish the race with your tray intact.  Not an easy thing to do, especially down the stairs!

That evening we had a delicious steak dinner and after dinner, stopped at L’Entre Deux Verres to reserve a table for tomorrow.

We then listened to Les Corsaires Malouins.  They are a local group of singers who specialize in sea shanties. They do a free concert each Thursday evening in July and August.  The crowd gathers on the steps and enjoys a great little concert.

le vendredi 4 août 2017 – Friday, August 4, 2017

Our 44th wedding anniversary!

This is first day for French tutoring with Christine.  I forget from last year just how exhausting it is to continuously concentrate for two hours!

On the way to the bus stop after tutoring, we admired the garden of Christine’s neighbor. Last year, we thought one of the shrubs in the yard had kumquats on it. The owner was out in the yard and Phil spoke to him. The shrub we had been admiring was a Passion shrub. The blooms are beautiful and the fruit resembles a kumquat. Interesting! We enjoyed a 10 minute conversation about his yard, then we had to hurry to catch the bus.

We were very tired when we arrived home. Had some lunch, took care of necessary chores, took a tiny nap and then had a coffee at Charley’s Bar.

We celebrated our anniversary dinner at a restaurant we’d looked at before, but not eaten at.  It was called L’Entre Deux Verres which translates to Between Two Glasses.

We counted 14 tables which comfortably seated two people at each table. There is seating outside, but it was too cool to enjoy eating there. We toasted our anniversary with red fruit billinis and sauvignon blanc. Phil had a kind of souffle fish and potato starter. Sandy chose lobster linguine for a main dish and Phil had chicken in a pastry with grains and vegetables. For dessert we had apple caramel tiramisu and pistachio crème brûlée. We had a 19:30 reservation and the restaurant didn’t fill up until sometime between 20:45 and 21:30.  A lovely way to celebrate an anniversary. It was delicious and a new dining experience for us.

le samedi 5 août 2017 – Saturday, August 5, 2017

Today is the grand braderie or flea market of Saint-Servan. We walked across the lock/bridge and the wind was fairly strong. Sandy wore a light jacket but Phil did not. Looking at all of the items for sale was interesting. We bought a brand new cutting board for 1€ and a book on the origins of all the Saint-Malo streets 10€.

le dimanche 6 août 2017 – Sunday, August 6, 2017

It is a beautiful day. After breakfast we walked to Rocabey for their flea-market. All of the tents with items for sale were from a charitable organization.  We didn’t purchase anything today. We did see every kind of aperitif glass imaginable!

We returned to Intra-Muros by walking along the Sillon beach. There were many people enjoying the cold water! The temperature of the ocean is about 17 C or 62 F. Too cold for me. We stopped in at Jean-Louis J’s store on the Grand Rue to make a couple small purchases. His boutique is very cute and everything is nicely displayed. As usual in France, he individually wrapped each item even curling the ribbon for a decoration. After lunch we walked to see if Alain was playing boules. While the course was in much better shape than the last time I saw it, no games were being played today.

Later in the afternoon, we walked to the beach and had an Orangina drink at the bar which is right on the beach.