Tag Archives: Place du Marché aux Légumes

le semaine se terminant le samedi 30 septembre 2017 – the week ending Saturday September 30 2017

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

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This is the last blog for our trip to France in 2017.  A little sad, but there is next year! Back in the USA.

le lundi 25 septembre 2017 – Monday September 25, 2017

Sandy walks through the Place du Marché aux Légumes her way to the boulangerie each morning. She noticed today that the trees lining each side of the place were full of birds. There was a lot of chirping, singing, etc. She wondered if they were getting together here in France as they do in the USA just before they migrate.

We had our final tutoring course with Christine for this year. Sandy has learned a lot from her and she makes learning fun. On the way to Christine’s house we went past a chocolate shop with a funny sign in the window.

mon cul fait mal - quoi? in Paramé

mon cul fait mal – quoi? in Paramé

 

While we were waiting for the bus to return a delivery truck stopped across the street at the butcher shop. We could see right inside the truck when they opened the doors. Two full size pigs were hanging by their feet inside. They had been skinned and the head removed. Too much visualization for us. Our bus trip to her house and back was uneventful and not crowded.

After lunch Sandy organized our prescriptions. She made a list of the kind and quantity of medications left in our apartment. That will make packing for next year a little easier.

le mardi 26 septembre 2017 – Tuesday September 26, 2017

Today was our final haircut in France. The coiffure is very skilled and we like the way she cuts our hair. We wished her farewell and a good winter. We told her we hoped to see her next year.

Sandy shopped for the last time at the marché. She told Monsieur Alix she would see him next year. He will also begin his vacation on Friday.

After lunch we returned Sandy’s last book from the library, mailed a letter at the Gare and bought a baguette to have with meatballs for dinner. We sat by the harbor for a while and the temperature was warm. Much too warm to even wear a light jacket.

le mercredi 27 septembre 2017 – Wednesday September 27, 2017

Our final day! Sandy brought home a baguette for breakfast to help us finish the butter. We cleaned, washed clothes, put away, sorted, and finished packing everything we could for today.

We took a last walk around the ramparts and spotted a cruise ship in the harbor. It was called Marina.

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Marina cruise ship in the harbor

On the ramparts we found a lot of gulls.  Sandy had some leftover bread in her pocket so she feed the gulls.

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Sandy feeding the gulls

While walking the 1 mile around the ramparts, we saw the court.  Our friend Alain was not playing today.

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looking down a the Bretonne Boules court

We did take time to get a picture of ourselves on the ramparts.

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on the ramparts with the sea behind us

We called our friend Alain, and emailed other friends to say farewell for this year. We checked our travel plans, train, hotel, airlines, and rental car. Our condo building distributed new door FOBS while we were gone and the old one we brought with us to get back into our building in the USA won’t work. Hopefully, our son left a new one so we could find it.

le jeudi 28 septembre 2017 – Thursday September 28, 2017

We were up, showered, dressed and walked to the boulangerie for breakfast before 8 am. It was still dark outside and Sandy was glad Phil was with her. We enjoyed delicious baguettes, croissants, orange juice and grande cafe creme for breakfast. We told the boulangere good-bye for the year and we would see her next year. We finished a few things in our apartment and walked to the bus stop. We got on the 9h35 #3 bus to the Gare. We waited just a few minutes, boarded a RER local train and departed. The train made 5 stops in 55 minutes before we arrived at our destination of Rennes. Rennes is a large city and the capital of Brittany. There was a lot of construction at the station and the noise was very loud.

We bought a sandwich to eat on the train, waited 55 minutes and boarded the train to CDG in Paris. Our trip was very uneventful. We traveled in 2nd class. The train car and seats were similar to Amtrak. We then took the CDGVAL, which is a tram that runs between Terminals 1, 2, 3 and long-term parking. We reserved a hotel room at the IBIS Styles hotel which is literally between the IBIS and Pullman hotels. It was just a few feet outside of the airport doors in Terminal 3. We had checked in online and our key was waiting. The hotel had been built after 2014. It was a decent sized room for Paris standards, was clean, everything worked and was very convenient.

We had dinner in the hotel dining room which was fairly small. There were 3 choices for a meal and 3 choices for a sandwich. We tried to check in online for our flight. We both received messages that said we were unable to check in and needed to see an agent. We didn’t understand this.

le vendredi 28 septembre 2017 – Friday September 29, 2017

We were up and eating breakfast just after 6h30. The breakfast was included with our hotel and was fine. The restaurant was busy even at that time.

We took the same shuttle from the previous day to Terminal 2A and were ready to get in line to speak to an agent. has many kiosks for self-service check in. There was an agent at the kiosks and Phil explained our need for an agent. He said he would help us at the kiosk. There was no problem checking in and printing a boarding pass. We dropped off our luggage to be checked and headed for TSA. In less than 45 minutes, we checked in, went through border control, TSA, and were headed for our gate.

However, we were very early (3 hours before boarding) because we thought we’d have to wait in line a long time to see an agent. We were relieved! It was almost boarding time when they called many names to see an agent – ours included. It seems Sandy was one of the randomly chosen people for extra security screening. We found out that the screening was the reason we couldn’t check in online. When we looked at our boarding passes, Sandy’s had printed on it. Phil’s boarding pass had different letters, none were an S. Sandy and about 20 other people were taken individually, to a spot at the top of the boarding ramp. She was asked to lift up her shirt at the waist to show she didn’t have pockets. She was asked to lift up her pant legs and roll down her socks. She had to open her purse and backpack, take both U.S and French cell phones out and lay them on the table. She and her items were scanned then the scanner was checked on the computer. After passing these measures, she and the other people were not allowed onto the plane or back in the waiting room. They waited about 20 minutes together before boarding the plane ahead of all other passengers.

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Gate A38 flight from Paris to Chicago then on to San Francisco

The plane ride home took off on time, was uneventful and landed 40 minutes early. We paid extra for first row of so we would have seats. It was definitely worth it! Phil stretched out his legs completely and there was no one in front of us. The meal that they served was delicious and the snacks were fine. Phil reminded Sandy that the food was prepared in Europe and that may have been the reason they were better to the food served on the way to France.

We landed at 13h40 local time which was 20h00 Paris time. We stopped at the Passport kiosk to print our re-entry ticket, waited to go through customs, picked up our luggage, stopped at the border control booth, and were in the rental car shuttle in 35 minutes! We were given a Jeep SUV for the ride back to Holland.

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Jeep rental car

The road traffic on a Friday afternoon was bumper to bumper on the tollways, but we had been in worse. Indiana highways were still under construction, but the traffic thinned out in Michigan. We stopped at a McDonald’s for a yogurt parfait, Family Fare grocery store in Holland for breakfast items and were in our condo parking lot by 20h00. We were exhausted after being awake for 20 hours. As soon as we put the clean sheets on our bed and unpacked necessary items we were in bed. It was a relief to be back.

le samedi 30 septembre 2017 – Saturday September 30, 2017

We both slept fairly well. The 6 hour time difference between Michigan and France is difficult. The eating and sleeping schedules are awkward. We returned the rental car and stopped at the grocery store for fruit and a few more food items. We took it easy and rested or napped a bit. We both still felt like our bodies were in motion.

la semaine se terminant le dimanche 3 septembre 2017 – the week ending Sunday September 3, 2017

03 Sunday Sep 2017

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le lundi 28 août 2017 – Monday August 28, 2017

Today is forecast to be hot! The weather channel predicts a high of 27C / 81F. The problem is that the wind is only 2 mph which is almost nothing. Normally there is a great cool breeze coming from the north-west off the English Channel.

We shopped early for groceries and the store felt cold because of the air conditioning. So few places here are air-conditioned, that when you enter a business that does have it, it feels shocking.

We mailed a package and wanted to stop at Charley’s Bar for a coffee. Not today! This is the first day since we arrived in France that they have been closed. They must think the tourist season is over. There were also very few people walking through town. Monday is often a slow day but maybe the predicted heat is keeping them away.

We did see a cat on a window sill across the courtyard.  Hopefully it had good depth

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cat on a 4th floor window sill

perception.

 

Our apartment stayed cool, under 24C by closing up the windows and shutters by around 11h until the sun moved to the west. After lunch, a cold sandwich and fruit, we walked outside of the walls to watch our friend Alain play boules. After exiting the gates, the air felt like a blast from a furnace. We said hello to him, watched a few minutes and headed for home. Too hot for us!

We had a cold “chef” salad for dinner with ice cream for dessert.

le mardi 29 août 2017 – Tuesday August 29, 2017

It is much cooler today. The forecast is for a high of 24C with a breeze out of the north by afternoon. Sandy shopped at the marché for fruit and salad. We walked through town stopping to buy a bottle of sweet cider, and a <<Kouign Amann>> cake on the way to mail a letter. Then we climbed the stairs to walk around the top of the ramparts/walls. When we looked over the walls at the ocean we could see fog (brume de mer). There was a cruise ship named the <Crystal Symphony> moored in the harbor and the Brittany ferry had just departed. The fog makes everything look spooky.

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cruise ship in the fog in the harbor

After a lovely stop for coffee and people watching at Charley’s Bar we headed home.

While Sandy was hanging laundry to dry on the balcony, we listened to jazz music from a musician playing in the <<Place du Marché aux Légumes>>. Entertainers often perform there and ask for donations from all of the people sitting on park benches, eating, or drinking in the restaurants and bars. Our apartment is so close that we benefit from all of the music.

Later in the afternoon the temperature started dropping. It was much cooler.

le mercredi 30 août 2017 – Wednesday August 30, 2017

Sandy wore slacks and a jacket to shop at the boulangerie. The forecast is for rain this afternoon and a high of 19C / 66F. We love these temperatures! All morning it drizzled and turned cooler. We watched pedestrians walk by in coats, with hoods, up and many carrying umbrellas. We stayed in our apartment, sorted out brochures and newspapers for recycling and read.

le jeudi 31 août 2017 – Thursday August 31, 2017

The temperature was 12C / 53F when Sandy shopped for our breakfast.

We took the bus to the Rocabey marché to purchase chicken breasts, farcie meat to make stuffed peppers, ground steak to make a little chili. and pork filet mignon de mariné.  Sandy asked the lady assistant about the pork. She said it was new this year, was not spicy hot, and tasted very good. We’ll try it tonight.

After returning to our apartment and leaving the meat in the refrigerator, we took a different bus and got off near the hospital. The Red Cross boutique was having a half priced sale on most items. We like to look at everything. We bought a short-sleeved, button up the front shirt for Phil, a <<Trivial Pursuit>> game, and a <<Scrabble Junior>> game. The two games should help us with our French.

flowers by the red cross
our new old games

On our way home we got off the bus at the Gare (train station) to purchase our bus passes for September. However, the line was VERY long with it being the end of the month and school starting on Monday. There are no seats to wait, so Sandy took the bus home and Phil stayed in line. He arrived home about an hour later than Sandy. But, the passes had been purchased!

The new purchase of <<filet mignon mariné>> was delicious! The pork here has such a wonderful flavor and is always tender. The marinade was not spicy but very tasty!

le vendredi 1 septembre 2017 – Friday September 1, 2017

It is drizzly and the temperature was 13C at 7h45.

Today we spent two hours with Christine for French tutoring. We did not see her neighbor today.  While at Christine’s house, it rained the entire time. Lucky for us it started after we arrived and ended as we left her house.

School resumes here Monday, but today must have been an orientation day. There were many students coming and going on the bus wearing new-clean shoes.

Our friend Alain stopped by this afternoon and invited us to have an aperitif at his apartment on Wednesday at 18h30. We are looking forward to that time. The sun came out as Alain was leaving, but it stayed cool today.

le samedi 2 septembre 2017 – Saturday September 2, 2017

The forecast is for sunny and 19C / 66F.

Today was the day for the <<Banque Alimentaire de Saint Malo>> garage sale and also the flea market at the Hippodrome or horse racing track. We have been to both in the past and really enjoyed them. There are so many huge wooden pieces of furniture at the <<Banque sale>> and they are very reasonably priced. You would need a huge home with extremely high ceilings to be able to use them. We are interested in the hinges, the hand carving decorations, the location of cupboard doors, and the keys that fit into the locks. Most are truly antiques.

elaborate furniture
big and elaborate

At this sale last year, Sandy purchased a pewter two piece chicken for an euro. Then later in the year in Winona, she found a matching duck made out of the same material and in the same style.  Earlier this year she found a similar but smaller duck at the Paramé flea market.  This year she found a duck, similar to the one she bought in Winona and Paramé, but much smaller still. It was priced at 1€ just like the other pieces.

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July duck on the left and new September duck on the right

We have come across a variety of characters in the years we have been coming to Saint-Malo. One gentleman we nicknamed the <<General>> used to be dressed in a French navy officer’s uniform. We have also seen him in French military camouflage colored clothing, and last year security clothing. He has cartoon style and length eyebrows and walks with a distinctive swing in his arms, but very upright.

We just commented this week that he must have moved away. While waiting for a bus to return home after the second flea market, he came out of his apartment building, crossed the street, and waited for the same bus that we were waiting for. This year he is dressed in <<secure incendie>> (fire brigade t-shirt) and trousers. We noticed that he had a monthly bus pass this year. In the past, he boarded the bus without a ticket. When the individual conducting the occasional bus company security checks saw he didn’t have a ticket, they would make him disembark at the next stop. At least he is legally riding the bus this year.

After lunch we watched our friend Alain play boules.  Then we sat at the harbor and watched the  passenger cruise ship <<Herbidian Sea>> as it left the basin to enter and then exit the lock as it headed out to sea. It had come into the basin at 5h this morning during high tide.

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 Herbidian Sea leaving the lock and heading out to sea

This was an absolutely beautiful sunny and cool day!

le dimanche 3 septembre 2017 – Sunday September 3, 2017

It was good that we were able to attend both braderies/flea markets yesterday because it was raining today.  It was also very cool and not pleasant to walk outside for very long.

On her way back from the boulangerie today Sandy passed a group of British tourists that  were walking to meet the ferry. They had dressed inappropriately for the day since they wore t-shirts, shorts and no jacket or umbrella. Good thing they were just 15 minutes from the dock.

Sandy did get two lovely desserts for dinner.36828815082_51b92efe17_o

 

le dimanche 13 août 2017 à Saint-Malo – Sunday, August 13, 2017 in Saint-Malo

13 Sunday Aug 2017

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le lundi 7 août 2017 – Monday August 7, 2017

The temperature is 12 C or 53 F. Chilly! Today is the day for the Intra-Muros braderie (flea market and store clearance sale). Sandy walked to the boulangerie (bakery) to get our breakfast at 8:15. The Place du Marché aux Légumes  was already full of tables, and blankets where individuals had set up their items for sale. A super interesting morning! First we saw our friend Marie-Dominique with her twin daughters and her oldest daughter. They arrived to secure their prime selling location at 5 am!! Next we saw our neighbor who is from Paris. He set up his table at 5:15 am.

To see the braderie, we walked down the main street, rue de Dinan.  As we were walking, a camouflage dressed soldier carrying an automatic rifle politely said “pardon madame” to Sandy.  Another first!

military patrol on the street
odd items on sale
crowd at the braderie

After a coffee at Charley’s Bar with a pain au raison and some people watching, we headed home.

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empty seats at Charly’s bar – people are always coming and going – within 5 minutes all the seats were taken

In the afternoon we walked to the harbor. The streets were jam packed with people shopping at the braderie tables. We actually had to stand still a few times to wait for the path to clear. In the harbor we spotted what looked like a military yacht moored in the bassin (basin). It was actually a private yacht called Skat and registered in the Cayman Islands. It was flying a Cayman Islands flag. It’s only 70 meters long and 14 meters wide. You can learn more about this super yacht by clicking here.

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SKAT berthed at the North Mole, Port of Gibraltar, By Moshi Anahory – http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosh70/9248727609/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27198522

le mardi 8 août 2017 – Tuesday August 8, 2017

It was raining hard enough that Sandy had to hold an umbrella open on her way to and from Maison de Pain which is the closest boulangerie to our apartment. Good thing she had remembered to bring a bag for the croissants and baguette or they would have been wet. We had set our alarm and woken up early to do some shopping.

Sandy was at the Intra-Muros marché before the veg and fruit vendor, Monsieur Alix, had even displayed all of his prices. Peach plat (flat peaches) are one of our favorite fruits here that we can’t buy in the USA. His fruit is always good and it is wise to take his recommendations.

After the marché we were on our way to the bus stop. We didn’t need our umbrellas, but our glasses were covered with rain drops. We took the 8:40 bus to La Madeleine Center which is where a huge Carrefour Hypermarché is connected to a mall which has smaller shops. The rain stopped by the time we arrived. We had a lot of unusual things on our list like Brita water filter, specialized light bulb for our kitchen ceiling light, mixing bowl, and shower squeegee. We finished our shopping just as Darty (similar to Best Buy) opened at 10. Phil was looking for a small battery operated radio but couldn’t find one today.

Next we walked across the parking lot to “GoSports” (similar to Sports Authority) to look at athletic socks. Sandy had good luck searching for socks. Three pair of just slightly above the ankle socks were 6€.

Back to the bus stop. On one side of the street the wait was 15 minutes, on the other side of the street, the wait was 7 minutes. It doesn’t matter which direction we travel, since both bus lines end at the gate to Intra-Muros so we opted for a 7 minute wait.

After unloading everything we were off to Charley’s Bar for a coffee.

None of the individuals had put out their items for the second day of the braderie due to the early morning rain.

Sandy made a delicious BLT sandwich for our lunch today on a baguette. We wanted to mail a letter at the “post office” so walked in that direction at 3 pm.

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Flower beds near the Post Office.

The streets were jammed full of people! Since everything had dried out, people brought out their wares to sale. Next we stopped at the Hôtel de Ville (city hall) for yellow recycling bags. They are provided free of charge as they are in the USA. Afterwards we went to the harbor to see what was going on.  A small weather front was coming in across the bay from the direction of Dinard.  The clouds were low and threatening, but no rain developed.

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le mercredi 9 août 2017 – Wednesday August 9, 2017

Sandy noticed the brick missing as she left our building. There has always been one brick against the inside entry wall so people bringing luggage etc inside could keep the door from closing.

The forecast was for rain in the morning and clear in the afternoon. That’s not what happened! It was sunny until 9:45 then the clouds and rain moved in. Every time that the rain stopped, the street dried, and we decided it was okay to take a walk, the rain started again. The temperature dropped and stayed to just around 60 F for the remainder of the day and night. If Sandy hadn’t gone to buy our breakfast at 8:30, she wouldn’t have left the apartment for the entire day.

We think the neighbors from Paris who own the apartment at the top of our building arrived last night.

le jeudi 10 août 2017 – Thursday August 10, 2017

It was definitely cool when Sandy bought our breakfast. People are wearing what appears to be winter weight jackets. We took the bus to Rocabey to pick up a few items from Intermarche grocery store. When we buy Perrier it is heavy to bring home, so we try to buy it when there isn’t other weighty items. I also had a discount for a shower squeegee on the fidelity card so we picked that up too.

Next we walked to the marché to stop at the butcher. While we waited in line (lengthy today because of tourists in August) Sandy asked Phil if he’d eat any of the rillettes (rillettes are a preparation of meat similar to pâté) as an aperitif. His answer was he’d probably have to be intoxicated for it to happen. Rillettes are a preparation of meat or pork or poultry (goose, chicken) or fish (salmon, tuna, etc.), or even crustacean (crab for example), cooked long over low heat in the fat. Then the flesh filaments are easily detached and form “rillettes.” By cooling, the grease goes up. It looks like a large dish of cold, congealed, light gray in color mixture; formally referred to as “Brown Pig Jam”. Not appealing or appetizing to finicky eaters. We ordered a small pork tenderloin, two slices of ham for sandwiches, and a thick piece of ham to have with a sweet potato. His meat has such a delicious flavor, it’s always a treat to eat.

A visit to the wine shop in the afternoon to pick up a couple of bottles.

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Sandy’s favorite white wine from the wine merchant – Cave de l’Abbaye Saint-Jean – 2 minutes from our apartment

After putting things away we enjoyed a coffee at Charley’s Bar. However, the temperature had dropped, now 57F, and we stayed less than an hour. At home, even Phil was cool enough to put on a fleece pull over.

le vendredi 11 août 2017 – Friday August 11, 2017

Sandy brought our breakfast croissants home and shopped at the marché for fruit and vegetables. Monsieur Alix advised her to try green plums today. They were delicious to eat with our lunch. We were out the door of our apartment by 9:20 to catch the bus for tutoring at Christine’s house. It is always entertaining at her house and we were tired after two hours of serious concentration. We had a few good laughs today when Sandy misunderstood one of Christine’s questions. She was soon straightened out.

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beautiful flower garden on our path to our French lesson

After lunch we walked to the quay where the 7 single engine boats participating in the VOR (Volvo Ocean Race). It is a race of 65 ft long single engine boats that are fully crewed. Beautiful boats!!

Volvo Ocean Race boats
VOR boat instruments
VOR boat profile

le samedi 12 août 2017 – Saturday August 12, 2017

The weather forecast is for 0% chance of precipitation and cloudy with a high of 19C or 66F. We walked to the harbor just at high tide (11 am) to see if the boats involved with the Volvo race were sailing. We watched several small birds, we don’t know what kind they are, dive into the sea, go completely underwater, then fly out of the water and away. They are fascinating to watch and since the tide was in, we could see the birds a few inches below the surface and through the water.   When we returned to the apartment we researched the diving birds.  They are “sterne_pierregarin” (a tern) and more information on them can be found at this link.

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Sterne_pierregarin

We also saw some new gulls wandering around the harbor.  They always look a little lost.

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Young gull

All 7 of the boats were waiting to go through the locks and the temperature began to cool off. Sandy walked back home for a heavier jacket for herself and a light jacket for Phil. She was back for maybe 2 minutes and it started to drizzle. Looking towards Dinard we could see the rain approaching. We headed for our apartment instead of a walk along the beach towards the Solider Tower.

In the afternoon we walked to the Plage Salbons (Salbons beach) area which is just south of the harbor.  It is a charming little area with a beach, boats, paths and cafes.

Sablons w/Intra-Muros in background
boats in Sablons with I-M in the background
walk around the beach

le dimanche 13 août 2017 – Saturday August 13, 2017

Today the weather is great.  Our challenge is we want to go to an outdoor marché which will be difficult to get to for us.  It is Sunday and the buses do not run frequently.  As it turns out we spent about 3 hours going and returning from the marché.  We only spent an hour at the marché.  The 3 hours of travel were really time spent mostly waiting for the buses.  There were severe delays and some buses just went missing.  Still it was an interesting and pretty place to visit.

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MARCHE DES CREATEURS DE ROTHENEUF Aire du Nicet – Avenue de la Varde

The marché is set right on the cliffs which descend to the ocean.  A really pretty area.

Aire du Nicet – Avenue de la Varde
Aire du Nicet – Avenue de la Varde
Aire du Nicet – Avenue de la Varde
Aire du Nicet – Avenue de la Varde
Aire du Nicet – Avenue de la Varde

On our return to the apartment we met our neighbor from the top floor.  He was on his way out.  We had a nice little discussion and caught up on what was happening in his family.

30 julliet 2017 à Saint-Malo – July 30, 2017 in Saint-Malo

30 Sunday Jul 2017

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Monday July 24 – Saint-Malo, France

Monday July 24, 2017 – The day started out gray, cloudy, and overcast. We walked down the main street to window shop. The stores are still holding sales as July is one of the “sale months” in France. Phil wanted a pair of slip on shoes, not for hiking, just for walking close in town. He had good luck a few years ago at the Bessec store. Again, he was lucky to find a pair at half off the regular price.

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blue but not suede

Sandy stopped in the Carrefour city for

Une bouteille de pineau des Charentes.

Une bouteille de pineau des Charentes.

Pineau des Charentes, butter, and salad dressing. Next we walked to the harbor. Last night, this morning, and tomorrow are the days for the grand maree this month. We could see where the tide had been very high up on the ramp where the Corsair Ferry docks. Stopped at La Fournee la Malouine for a fresh baguette to enjoy at lunch. Then to Bar Charley’s for a coffee. The waitress greets us with “deux cafes and deux verres d’eau” as we find a seat.

After lunch we again walked to the harbor to see if Alain was playing boules. He was not, but a bench was open in the sun. This was the nicest and warmest day so far since we arrived. After 20 minutes in the sun, to avoid becoming burnt, we returned to our apartment.

Tuesday July 25, 2017

Sandy shopped for melon, peaches, green beans, strawberries, and tomatoes at the Intra-Muros marché. We were on the 8:55 bus to LeClerc. We wanted chili beans but they were not available. We purchased things such as laundry detergent, coffee, spot remover (comparable to “Shout”), and Couscous. The next stop was at Bricorama for another 3M Command picture hanging kit. We were back on the bus within the 90 minutes allowed to use the same ticket.

Spent some time at the harbor watching the Condor ferry dock, Corsair ferries come and go, and the harbor pilot boat escort a Dutch cargo ship out of the locks.

Coffee at Bar 36048935961_f269a22d98_zCharly’s then home for lunch.

Housekeeping chores then took garbage and recycling to poubelle area before stopping at the post. Enjoyed an Orangina and the (low tide) view at the former Bar de Soleil now called L’Embraque.

We heard a noise in the kitchen all day coming from the vent to the roof. After dinner, Phil opened the window, closed the door from the kitchen to the hallway, and opened the vent. Did not hear anything after that.

Wednesday July 26, 2017.

Phil awoke with a raspy throat. It’s hair cut day. The lady coiffure told us that yesterday, there was a snake going down the road outside her shop. Rainy and cool today.

After haircuts bought a baguette, 2 croissants, and raspberry macaroon at Cathedral boulangerie. Enjoyed coffee and our croissant at Bar Charly’s.

Charly’s Bar

Two sparrows were inside the bar eating croissant crumbs. They panicked and were trying to get out a window. Phil and another customer helped them escape.  The bar has French doors and they are always open, so birds come and go.

Phil had to repair the curtain rod on one of our kitchen windows.

Thursday July 27, 2017

Sandy walked into  La Fournee la Malouine to buy a baguette for breakfast. The lady that waited on her last year, short, petite, blond, straight hair recognized her right away and greeted her warmly. When she asked for a baguette “tradition” the lady said “no, Festival” which is the kind of bread she ordered everyday last year. Funny, how the lady remembered her, but very nice too.

We rode the bus to Intermarche grocery store for the ingredients to make chili (neither LeClerc or Intermarché carries chili beans this time of year so we substituted red beans) and dried split peas to make soup. Then walked to the Rocabey marché for meat, potatoes, carrots, and garlic. We were on the bus back to Intra-Muros within an hour. Not bad for our one euro bus ticket. Sandy made the chili in the afternoon. Phil still has a sore throat.

Finally got a couple of pictures hung on the walls in the master bedroom.  We had purchased them last year but did not get around to hanging them until this week with the 3M hangers.

Friday July 28, 2017

Sandy shopped for our croissants and after breakfast shopped at the Intra-Muros marché for a melon, yellow pepper, two pears, and a small eggplant. Phil made a double batch of meatballs.  Yesterday at the butcher he had made a mistake in converting a recipe from pounds to kilograms and had ordered twice the amount of ground beef required.  So a double recipe. They turned out delicious!

After lunch we walked to the Médiathèque to renew our library card and check out books. Cool and cloudy with both of us wearing a light jacket. Phil wore shorts but Sandy a light pair of slacks. Lovely weather! Not successful. They require a tax or utility bill to prove you haven’t moved since last year. So we had a nice walk, one mile there and one mile back. We’ll return tomorrow. Phil had a terrible night coughing. He is sick!

Saturday July 29, 2017

Sandy ate breakfast alone and tried to stay quiet so Phil could rest. She woke him up at 10 am and took his temperature – normal, but he is sick! Very bad productive cough. She went to Carrefour City for Popsicles and ice cream treats. It is warm today, 26 C and breezy. The sun came out in the afternoon. Lots of people enjoying the beach.

Sunday July 30, 2017

A quiet Sunday with Phil still under the weather and planning on going to the doctor tomorrow.

Sandy saw the “lobster” and the “octopus” being set up by Bar Charly’s in the Place du Marché aux Légumes.  They are very popular with the little kids.  A great picture taking opportunity for families. 35344988704_5ef162f8b6_z

Sandy went out to see if our friend Alain was playing boules in front of the ramparts, but there was no game today.  We will try again on Wednesday to meet up with him.

16 julliet 2017 à Saint-Malo – July 16, 2017 in Saint-Malo

23 Sunday Jul 2017

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Hi, this is the start of the blog for 2017.  It will be published weekly on Sunday.  Hope you enjoy our little adventure.

Sunday July 16 – Holland, Michigan, USA

Today we will drive from Holland, Michigan to O’Hare airport in Chicago, Illinois. From O’Hare we will take an American Airlines flight directly to Charles de Gaule airport in Paris France. We will walk to the train station in the airport to take the train to Saint-Malo. From the train station in Saint-Malo we will take a bus to the entrance to the Intra-Muros part of Saint-Malo where our apartment is located. We will walk the last few hundred feet to the apartment.

So to get to our secondary home in France we will have 1) driven in a car, 2) flown on an airplane, 3) ridden on a train, 4) traveled on a bus and finally 5) walked to the apartment. Just a few different modes of transportation. This trip did not include a cruise. 🙂

So that was the plan. Here is how it turned out.

First we drove a rental car from Holland to O’Hare.  This did not turn out as planned. The trip is usually a 3 hour drive. Today it took us 4 hours. Good thing Chicago is in Central Time zone and Holland is in Eastern Time zone. The problem was construction on the highway throughout the 30 or 40 miles we travel in Indiana. It was construction from the Michigan-Indiana border all the way to the Indiana-Illinois border. Stop and go all the way. It was no fun at all.

We had checked in online for our flight the night before.  We quickly checked one small luggage each and breezed through TSA precheck.

The flight on American Airlines (at 18.30) was interesting. Sandy had used the majority of our frequent flyer miles to get both of us free tickets. We only had to pay the taxes which was $80 each. The problem was the tickets were in economy class, in the middle of the plane, in an aisle row and a middle seat. They were next to each other. The plane itself was wonderful, a brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The economy class amenities were pretty good, but the seats are incredibly cramped. At six-foot three-inches and 250 pounds I was really molded into the seat. I was unable to move and actually could not get my legs under the seat in front of me because the seat came down so low. But Sandy had told me to keep repeating the phrase “the ticket was free” over and over again. This did not help much.  Sandy, as a fairly normal sized person at five feet five inches and 125 pounds was able to move around a bit, but was not comfortable at all. She had trouble sleeping and kept getting cramps in her legs. So while the flight was very uneventful, it was not much fun.

Monday July 17 – Paris, France

We left the USA on Sunday and we arrived in France on Monday. Our scheduled 8 hour flight was completed in 7 hours and 30 minutes.  We had a good tailwind.

Upon arrival at CDG in Paris at 8:30 our plane was parked in the extra-parking area away from the terminal without a jet-way. We had to take buses to the terminal. This is not a big inconvenience and we had a lot of time until our train. We got through French customs very quickly and also got our luggage very quickly.

We then walked to the SCNF train station in the airport. We had second class tickets on the TGV which left at 12:40. A few interesting things happened while we were waiting for the train.

A man setting next to us was reading the Anthony Doerr novel “All the Light We Cannot See” which is largely set in Saint-Malo. I thought that was an odd coincidence. He did not travel to Saint-Malo as he got on a different train.

While we were waiting we saw the usual heavily armed military personnel walking through the train station.  An announcement was made asking whoever left a blue luggage by the RER (regional train) north platform to please retrieve their luggage. This announcement was repeated three or four times over the next hour. Then we heard a couple of loud whistle blasts, several SNCF police and military personnel appeared, and we were asked to orderly move to the south platform of the train station. That was where we were already, so we did not have to move far. The police and military kept us from leaving the area. About twenty minutes later we were allowed to return to the waiting area and the police and military left the area. We were not given an explanation. We can speculate that the authorities ended up moving the blue luggage and moved us to the south platform while this was being done. Not a real fun experience, but not a surprise given the world today.

Overall, sitting in the train waiting room at CDG is people watching at its ultimate level.

Our train ride was great. The second class train seats had lots of leg room, the seats were very wide, and by this time we were really tired (neither of us slept on the airplane). We had a quick connection from the TGV in Rennes to the TER train to Saint-Malo. We were a bit concerned because there was only 10 minutes to catch the TER and our train was running 3 minutes late. It turned out that our TGV train came in on the opposite side of the same platform as the TER train. So we had to walk 10 meters and were there in plenty of time.

At the train station in Saint-Malo we were able to immediately get on a bus to Intra-Muros. We even got seats. This ride is short, 5 or 7 minutes, depending on whether the bus has to stop at the one stop light on the route.

Our walk from the Intra-Muros gate to our apartment gave us a surprise. We were already talking about making reservations at our favorite restaurant, DIVERS’ CITE, and hoped to see the owners on our walk to the apartment. The surprise is that the restaurant is GONE! Apparently they sold it and are looking to do something different for a while. At least that is the story I got from the owner of the tabac next door. It was a real surprise, but we wish them well.

While I was in the tabac Sandy waited for me outside of the door. Someone drove by in a car and yelled “Sandy.”  It was our friend  Marie Dominique from the Hotel Quic-n-Groigne.  What a surprise in France to have someone recognize you.

The apartment was in good shape. Better shape than us. We were really tired. It was exactly 24 hours since we left Holland, Michigan. It was a busy and tiring 24 hours, but it was worth it.

We went out to eat at “Chez Marcel,” the kebab and fries place two minutes from our apartment. It was very good as usual.

After that we were basically useless and after putting clean sheets on the bed, we climbed in around 9PM.

Tuesday July 18 – Saint-Malo

We slept straight thru to 8 am.  We planned to have breakfast at La Fournee Malouine boulangerie on Rue de Dinan. After breakfast we went back to bed.  We did some house work and then back to bed.  At 11:30 we went to the Carrefour City market. Stopped in to see Marie-Dominique at the Hotel Quic-n-Groigne. Had spaghetti bolognese for dinner.

Wednesday July 19 – Saint-Malo

Early in the morning we stopped by the hair place to get appointments for next week.  Then we stopped at the doctor’s office to get an appointment.  The appointment was for later in the day.

Our friends who live on the fourth floor are in Paris and may not be able to visit Saint-Malo this year. They have their cousin Alain check on their apartment, water the plants and collect the mail. On his way up he stopped at our apartment and was surprised that we were there.  It was good to see him again.  He understands a lot of English and it is very easy to talk with him.  We exchanged some news and promised to stay in touch.

In the early afternoon, we stopped in to see Michel at the Hotel Quic-n-Groigne.  Then we spent some time looking around and watching boats in the harbor.

The appointment with the doctor went well.  I needed to get prescriptions for my medicines to get them filled at a local pharmacy.  That went well and the trip to the pharmacy was easy. However, Dr. Tuloup has retired. I saw a “sub” doctor and the new physician will arrive in October.

We had pesto pasta for dinner.

Thursday July 20 – Saint-Malo

We were up early to take the bus to Intermarche supermarket in Rocabey.  Here we got some canned goods and other items which are not available at the local markets.  Then we walked for about 4 minutes to the Rocabey market.  We went to our butcher who represents the “Ferme les Aubriais.” He and his assistant always have a meat counter in side the market.  It was nice to see them again.  He has gotten more and more friendly over the years.  Unfortunately, today my mouth and brain were not working well and I forgot how to order a pork tenderloin.  My verbal stumbles did get a smile from the butcher.  We got our tenderloin, a couple of chicken breasts, and two slices of ham for sandwiches.

We reused the bus ticket to ride home and then walked to Le Charly’s bar for a coffee.

On the way back to the apartment we stopped at the local fish seller’s shop.  We purchased a large chunk of cod.  We had the cod for dinner.

After dinner we went to a movie at the Maison du Quebec.  It was a fairly interesting French Canadian movie with English subtitles.  The subtitles were a nice bonus for us and the price is always great – free!

Friday July 21 – Saint-Malo

The small goal for this morning is to walk around a bit and then go to the Intra-Muros Carrefour City market to pick up some small items.  After the market we went to Le Charly’s for a coffee.

We had the pork tenderloin for dinner.  Very tender pork with a wonderful taste.  More about the food in France in a future blog entry.

Saturday July 22 – Saint-Malo

The forecast is for rain in the afternoon.  So we got an early start on the bus number 3 to go to the E Leclerc shopping area.  Our first stop was at Bricorama, the local hardware store. There we bought AA batteries and 3M Command strips to hang some pictures and our broom.  Then we walked across the parking lot to E. Leclerc where we bought printer paper.  After a short stop at the WC, we headed for the bus stop.  We had a short wait for the number 3 which took us to Paramé which was having a big flea market with 300 stands.  The stands are mainly local residents selling their goods like at a garage sale, but each stand is actually about 10 feet of street and curb on which tables and / or blankets are set out with their goods.  There is always a  lot of children’s clothing and toys, ladies shoes, and miscellaneous household goods. We purchased:

  • two DVD for 3€
  • two new bath towels for 6€
  • a duck miniature for 1€
  • cat metal key holder for 1€
  • a wallet for 1€
  • two pain-au-chocolat for 2€

At the flea market, we were lucky enough to spot our old friend Jean-Louis J.  He had his wares spread out on a blanket near the round-about in the center of town.  We have know Jean-Louis for 7 years now, having first come across his shop in Saint-Malo in 2010.  He no longer has the shop, but he does sell at flea markets.  It is always good to see him.

We took the bus back to Intra-Muros and walked to Le Charly’s bar for a cup of coffee, espresso.

Sunday July 23 – Saint-Malo

Today it is supposed to rain in the afternoon, so we have all our outdoor activities planned for the morning.  We walked to the Rocabey part of Saint-Malo to see the war memorial monuments.  The city of Saint-Malo, as it is now, was created 50 years ago when the cities of Saint-Servan, Paramé and Saint-Malo were combined under the Saint-Malo name.  Each city had their own war memorial.  The war memorials were very simple, but they do contain the names of all the deceased.  In 2017 Saint-Malo decided to relocate all 3 memorials to one place in the Rocabey quarter of the city.  We took a couple of pictures and read some names on the memorials.  Sandy stepped inside the church which faces the memorials and gave herself a tour.

On the way back we walked to the street which runs parallel to the beach.  It is a great walk with all kinds of interesting things to see.  We walked around the base of the castle, through Place Chateaubriand, through route Jacques Cartier to the tabac to purchase a newspaper.  Then we walked up the stairs to the Place du Marché aux Légumes.  It was a busy place as usual.  For today we went into Le Charly’s bar for our coffee.  Good coffee and good people watching. The coffee is priced 20 centimes cheaper if you drink it inside the bar instead of outside on the terrace.  The view is the same.

After coffee we went back to the apartment, sorted some socks and hung two pictures in our bedroom.

For dinner Sandy prepared chicken with risotto and eggplant.

It has been quite a week.  We are really glad to back in Saint-Malo.

13 septembre 2016 à Saint-Malo – September 13, 2016 in Saint-Malo

13 Tuesday Sep 2016

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Tuesday September 6, 2016

Tuesday September 6, 2016.  Today was the day of the Intra-Muros marché.  Sandy purchased pastèque (watermelon) , melon (cantaloupe), fraise (strawberries), peche plat

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pêche plat (flat peach)

(flat peaches) which are not available in the US, pomme (apples), poire (pears), salad (lettuce), tomate (tomato), pomme de terre (potatoes), and carrotte (carrots). We took a walk on top of the ramparts and happened to luck out and spot a ship in the harbor.  It was just high tide and the ship was waiting to enter the ecluse. It is called the  Nao Victoria and is the replica of the Magellan ship that made the first round the world  voyage in the sixteenth century.  The Nao Victoria has the following dimensions: – length ht = 27 m – width = 7 m – draft = 3.30 m – air draft = 22 m.  Imagine sailing around the world in this tiny, bucket shaped boat.  It will be in Saint-Malo for the next 4 days. Click here  for more information about the ship. While walking around the neighborhood, Sandy met and talked to our neighbors.  They will be returning to Paris on Thursday.

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The Brittany Ferry Bretagne is 6 times longer and 4 times wider than the Nao Victoria.  The Brittany Ferry goes between France and England.  The Nao Victoria circumnavigated the world, almost 500 years ago.

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Não Victoria

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Wednesday September 7, 2016

Wednesday September 7, 2016.  The forecast is for a high temperature of 31C which is 88 F.  Hot for here!  Sandy spotted the van of a painter we had been trying to talk to on her way back from buying our breakfast croissant.  After breakfast Phil walked over to talk to the painter.  They both returned to our apartment so the painter could see what we needed to have painted.  Hopefully he will follow through with his date to return.  We walked to the Sillon beach (Plage du Sillon) to see if we could walk in the water but the tide was too high.  So, we walked back to the Plage de Bon Secours beach to enjoy a lovely walk in the water.  There was a small cruise ship idling, probably waiting to enter the ecluse and we spotted not only one but two cormorants fishing for their lunch. We found out later that the cruise ship did not enter the basin but stayed moored off the Mole.

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Cruise ship anchored just outside the harbor.

Thursday September 8, 2016

Thursday September 8, 2016.  We made it through another hot day yesterday and it was wonderfully cool this morning at 17 C.  Our friends will be leaving for the train station just before 11:00 so we waited to say “bon voyage” to them before leaving our apartment.  We took the 11:10 bus to Carrefour at La Madeleine Center to shop for groceries.  There were very few people shopping and we were back on the bus to return to the Intra-Muros at 12:22.  After lunch Sandy worked on homework and we took a walk to the harbor around 16:30.  Phil spotted two young cormorants fishing for their dinner.  The Corsaire Ferry arrived and departed, and the Condor Ferry was loading passengers and cars.

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The local fish merchant delivering to a group heading out in the boat.

Friday September 9, 2016

Friday September 9, 2016 we spent two hours with Christine on French lessons.  We (all 3 of us) can have an almost fairly normal conversation in French with Sandy only asking for an occasional translation of a word or two.  Much improved from April!  The high temperature for today was 24 C but still felt very warm in the sun. We enjoyed BLT on a French baguette for lunch with a slice of watermelon  (the lettuce and also the tomato) fresh from the marché this morning. Our neighbors that returned to Paris called on the telephone and Sandy answered.  She was able to understand and answer a few sentences in French before panicking and handing the phone to Phil. A first for her and the phone!!

We ate dinner at La Chouamerie restaurant, ranked 14 of the 313 reviewed restaurants on Trip Advisor in Saint-Malo. It opened in 2012 and is just around the corner from us. It was a very pleasant evening.  There were 6 choices for a plat/main dish; a formula fixed menu, and lovely desserts.  Phil had bar (sea bass) and Sandy had beef.  For dessert we tried Lemon Posset and Coulant au Chocolat.  The lemon was a custard/creme anglais and the chocolate/custard was hot and bubbly on top with creme.  They were both delicious!

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La Chouamerie Restaurant

Saturday September 10, 2016

Saturday September 10, 2016 is cool and partly cloudy.  There was a chance of rain for the afternoon and around 3 pm started sprinkling.  All of France is very dry from lack of rain. We could really use a day or two of good soaking.  It continued misting or sprinkling until around 19:00.  It was cool enough that we had chili for dinner. We had a quiet day for sure.

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Flowers in the Place du Marche aux Legumes

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Place du Marche aux Legumes

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Place du Marche aux Legumes

Sunday September 11, 2016

Sunday September 11, 2016 and we woke up later than usual.  So late, in fact, that Simon boulangerie was out of croissants when Sandy shopped for breakfast.  Phil enjoyed a croissant almond instead.  We spent an hour and a half on the beach today.  We walked in the water at high tide since the co-efficient was only 32.  For the first time we walked in calf deep water on the side of the pool.  A co-efficient of 32 just barely covers the walls of the pool. We took our beach chairs and enjoyed an almost “private” beach with hardly anyone there after our walk. It was fairly cool all day with the high temperature only reaching 22 C and mostly cloudy.

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Sandy standing on the wall at the swimming pool when the high-tide was low.

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Wall around the swimming pool.

Monday September 12, 2016

Monday September 12, 2016 was very cool and drizzly when Sandy bought our croissants for breakfast.  The forecasted high was 29 C, hot for here but the morning was great.  We took the bus to the Rocabey post to mail a letter and walked to the Intermarche grocery store for Cheerios, gaseous water, and ice cream.  They actually had 3 check out lanes open today.  A first for our own parking lot behind our apartment building – there was only one car parked there today instead of the usual 11-13 cars all juggling for a spot.  Definitely fewer people around today.

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A couple of kayak classes heading out from the beach.

Tuesday September 13, 2016

Tuesday September 13, 2016.  Sandy shopped at the Intra-Muros marché for vegetables and fresh fruit.  She “played tourist” and walked through town looking in the tourist shops.  After lunch she worked on homework for our tutoring lesson.  Phil stayed in the apartment and took it easy since he was having problems with his foot the last day or two. Around lunch time we heard a lot of thunder and it rained off and on for a few minutes.  Later the sun came out and the temperature reached 27 C.  There were more thunderstorms predicted for later in the night.

29 mai à Saint-Malo – May 29 in Saint-Malo

29 Sunday May 2016

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Sunday May 29 is fête des mères (mother’s day) in France.

Sandy’s foot felt much better today.  Since it was mostly sunny this morning she spent quite a bit of time on the balcony enjoying the weather.

Around 13:00 we decided to try going for a walk.  Sandy’s foot was still swollen but she was able to wear a pair of sandals.  We walked to the Place du Marché aux Légumes and watched people and feed the little birds with left over bread.  We took a few pictures of the place from our nice comfy bench.

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View of the Place du Marché aux Légumes from our bench

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View of the Place du Marché aux Légumes from our bench

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View of the Place du Marché aux Légumes from our bench

Phil dropped off the recycling and garbage at the “poubelle” center.  He then visited the boulangerie and bought a baguette for lunch/dinner.

By the time we headed home Sandy’s foot had swollen so the straps from her sandals had made imprints on her foot.

Around 4 pm we ate “lunch/dinner” of pork chops, tiny boiled potatoes with carrots and salad.  Very tasty!

25 mai à Saint-Malo – May 25 in Saint-Malo

25 Wednesday May 2016

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Wednesday May 25, 2016 is a gorgeous day!

Sandy spent a very uncomfortable night due to the pain in her foot.  Phil shopped for a baguette for breakfast.

Instead of heading off to pick up our rental car to drive to Normandy, Phil cancelled the chambre d’hote reservation and the car reservation.  With Sandy’s foot hurting so much it was not a good idea to travel.  We will reschedule the trip to Normandy as soon as Sandy’s foot is better.

At 9:15 Phil stopped by the doctor’s office to arrange an appointment for Sandy. There was an 11:40 appointment available for today so he took it.  The doctor’s office is located in the Intra-Muros right next to the cathedral, a distance of only 300 meters (328 yards).  Very close, but also a long way when you have a sore foot.

While getting ready to walk to the appointment, Sandy had trouble finding shoes which would fit on her swollen foot.  It’s a good thing she had decided to bring a pair of sandals with velcro straps from the USA because none of her other shoes would have fit on her swollen foot.  A last-minute packing decision turned out to be essential, at least for today.

At the doctor’s office we waited about 20 minutes before she came to the waiting room to bring us back to her office. The doctor  was a very nice lady.  She told us her mother was English so language wasn’t a problem. Sandy was convinced she had gout, but had sense enough to go to the doctor rather than self-medicating. Sandy’s diagnosis of gout was mistaken, it was an infection.  Her foot was infected in the same spot where she had received an injection last February for arthritis.   The doctor drained the infected spot on Sandy’s foot, put an antibiotic on it and bandaged it. Sandy got 4 prescriptions and was charged 25€ for the appointment which with the exchange rate today was $28.

Phil took Sandy back to the Place du Marché aux Legumés and sat her down on one of the benches, then he went off to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions.  The 4 prescriptions, 2 oral and 2 topical for two weeks, cost 67€ or $75.

When Phil returned to Sandy, there were 2 gulls walking around in one of the flower beds.  It is not often that 2 gulls are found walking around this close to each other.  One usually chases off the other. But these 2 seemed to get along pretty well.27170339591_55754b92ef_k27205576256_4ad1cf9bb6_k27240072995_15c14487df_k

7 mai à Saint-Malo – May 7 in Saint-Malo

07 Saturday May 2016

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Saturday May 7 and the weather forecast is for a wonderful morning, but the possibility of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Our day starts with a walk to the esplanade Saint-Vincent to get the number 2 bus.  That bus will take us to the Hippodrome, the horse racing area.  There is to be a big garage sale there today.  We had some time to wait for the bus and during that time our friend Jean joined us at the bus stop.  He was headed to Rocabey for the marché.

Our ride to the Hippodrome bus stop was quick and it was a short 4 minute walk to the Hippodrome and the garage sale.  There is a cost to enter the garage sale, 1€ per person, but for that you also get a drink.

We walked around the garage sale and Sandy spotted a couple of clear glass dishes which will work as either small salad dishes or dessert dishes.  We bought them from the local animal humane society, so it is always nice to support them.

After lunch we took a walk to the harbor.  There were two cormorants fishing in the harbor near where we were sitting.  They are always interesting to watch.  First they float, then they do a surface dive with their whole body leaving the water, and then after a while they resurface usually a good distance from their initial dive.

low tide – cormorants by the pole
focus on the cormorants

We then went to the Place du Marché aux Légumes.  The Place was very crowded.  All the benches were occupied, so we did not stay long.  But it is always fun to look at the flowers.

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Place du Marché aux Légumes

Later in the evening we went out to look at the high tide.  The tidal coefficient was 109 on a scale of 0 to 120, so it was pretty high.  There was not much wind so the waves were very gentle.  The water was very high in the harbor, especially when you compare it to earlier in the day.

The photo on the left was taken at 12:00 today.  The photo on the right was taken at 20:00 this evening.  The pole in the center of the picture on the left is the same pole that is in the right side of the picture on the right. The water level has risen quite a lot!

low tide at 12:00 in the harbor
High tide at 20:00 in the harbor – height of the water on the yellow pole in the right foreground

 

In the basin Vauban we saw a new passenger ship had arrived, the Silver Explorer. It came into the harbor at 19:07 is evening.

Silver Explorer in the basin Vauban

Silver Explorer in the basin Vauban

May 1 in Saint-Malo – 1 mai à Saint-Malo

01 Sunday May 2016

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Sunday May 1, 2016 is a beautiful warm sunny day.  The expected high temperature was 14, but it felt so much warmer.  It looked like all of the outdoor tables were occupied at lunch with diners.  Great for the local businesses here.

May 1 is May Day in most of the world. In France, it is a tradition on the first day of May to give friends and family members a bouquet of Lilies of the Valley.  King Charles IX of France was presented with lily of the valley flowers on May 1, 1561. He liked the gift and decided to present lily of the valley flowers to the ladies of his court each year on May 1. Around 1900, men started to present a bouquet of lily of the valley flowers to women to express their affection. The flowers are a more general token of appreciation between close friends and family members these days.

Our neighbor, Jean, knocked on our apartment door at 9:20 this morning to give Sandy a bouquet of Lilies.  He had purchased a large bouquet for his wife from the florist on the corner.  On our way back from walking on the beach, the florist had a sign on her door saying “Sorry, out of Lilies of the Valley.”

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Lilies of the Valley (Muguets)

We walked out on the beach in our rain boots for over an hour.  High tide was expected around 2pm.  As we walked towards the piscine / swimming pool we could see people standing on the island called Grand Bé.  The path between it and the beach was already submerged by the tide.

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4 people stranded on Grand Bé – they were rescued about 30 minutes after this picture

We also saw a kayak with a man in it paddling back from Grand Bé. In the kayak was also a black dog. As we neared the kayak we saw it was Didier the owner of the “La Pie Qui Boit” hotel-restaurant that we like.  The black dog was Nino, his dog. Didier shook our hands and hurried up to put his kayak away.  We’ll stop by later in the week to hear all of the details.

Phil saw later in the day on Facebook where 4 people were stranded on Grand Bé.  We have heard that it is very costly to pay for being “rescued” by boat.  Apparently they did NOT pay attention to the tide forecast today.

Today the high tide was a very low high tide.  In fact the high tide over the last week has been so low that it has not filled up the swimming pool / piscine.  The swimming pool relies on the high tide to fill it up with water on a regular basis.  When the tide is not high enough water does not enter the swimming pool / piscine.  In the picture below Sandy is actually walking  in the very shallow end of the pool, but because of the low high tide, there is no water in the shallow end.  This is probably as close as Sandy will ever get to actually being in the swimming pool / piscine! Over the next few days the high tide will increase and by the end of the week the swimming pool / piscine will be filled.

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Sandy walking in the shallow end of the swimming pool / piscine

The ocean seems so clear at times.  Today it was crystal clear.  The picture below show that clarity.

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crystal clear ocean water

Some pictures from the Place du Marche aux Legumes.

 

Jour 50 à Saint-Malo – Day 50 in Saint-Malo

06 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in juillet poster - July post

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Nous avons pris 3 mile à pied le long de la plage au début de l’après-midi près de la marée haute. C’était très venteux, 14583130531_6834539d5d_ofrais et merveilleux de respirer l’air frais. Cet après-midi il y avait plusieurs artistes de rue dans la “Place du Marché aux Légumes” derrière notre immeuble. Il est très agréable de les écouter quand nos fenêtres sont ouvertes. Ce soir, nous avons été invités à appartement au dernier étage de nos voisins dans notre bâtiment pour un apéritif. Il est un ancien employé de la même société qui a pris sa retraite de Phil et elle est un directeur de la succursale de la banque que nous utilisons. Quelle coïncidence!

We took a 3 mile walk along the beach early this afternoon close to high tide.  It was very windy, cool and wonderful to breathe fresh air.  This afternoon there were several street performers in the “Place de Marché aux Légume” behind our apartment building.  It is very enjoyable to listen to them when our windows are open.  This evening we were invited to our neighbors’ top floor apartment in our building for an aperitif.  He is a former employee for the same company that Phil retired from and she is a branch manager for the bank we use. What a coincidence!

Jour 31 à Saint-Malo – Day 31 in Saint-Malo

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in juin poster - June post

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Aujourd’hui, c’était jour de coupe de cheveux! Le coiffeur qui a coupé nos cheveux l’an dernier à Gomina Coiffure travaillait aujourd’hui. Nous étions heureux de la voir et elle nous a rappelés. Nous avons eu des photos de la coupe de cheveux, elle nous a donné l’an dernier pour montrer comment court que nous voulions nos cheveux cette année.

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Place du Marché aux Légumes

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Place du Marché aux Légumes

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Porte Saint-Louis

Sur notre promenade du soir aujourd’hui, nous avons remarqué tous les parterres de fleurs, qui ont été plantés après nous sommes arrivés à mai sont belle et brillante de couleur! Les fleurs sont de grande taille et les plantes ont grandi ensemble. Ils ont commencé comme de minuscules “starter” usines de taille et ont prospéré dans le beau temps frais et ensoleillé que nous avons connu jusqu’ici.

Today was haircut day!  The hairstylist that cut our hair last year at Gomina Hairdresser was working today.  We were glad to see her and she remembered us.  We had photos of the haircut she gave us last year to show how short we wanted our hair this year.

On our evening walk today we noticed all of the flower beds, that were planted after we arrived in May, are beautiful and brilliant in color! The flowers are large in size and the plants have grown together.  They started as tiny “starter” sized plants and have prospered in the lovely cool and sunny weather we have enjoyed so far.