Tags
alain, arm, boulangère, boulangerie, corsairs malouins, grande maree, Iceland, La Fournee Malouine, la maison du pain, le mole des noires, Place du Marché aux Légumes, plage de l'eventail, plage de mole, Saint-Malo, Saint-Servan, sncf, world cup 2018
If you want to see the album of our pictures from June 2018, you can click on this link, June 2018.
le lundi 9 juillet 2018 – Monday July 9, 2018
We took the bus to the Carrefour Hypermarché located at La Madeleine Shopping mall. We wanted to buy things that aren’t available at the markets or the mid-sized Intrmarche grocery store where we usually shop. We bought dental floss, garbage bags (20 liter size, elastic at the top with drawstrings to close), lightly breaded fish (similar to the fish from “fish + chips”), and fresh ravioli filled with spinach. We only waited less than 5 minutes for the bus to return to the Intra-Muros. It was a successful trip. It was hot today on the bus. We sat on the sun side of the bus and the temperature was 25 C with very little wind.
We had a text from Michael with a gorgeous photo of white water falls from Iceland.
High tide took place around 16h30 this afternoon with a low co-efficient of 58. We walked in the water with the tide still coming in. There was still some beach visible at the Plage de l’Eventail. Some of the beach, towards the Digue, was totally under water. It was nice to be in cool water on a very sunny day.
the beach is very near the wall at this high tide, not much beach but we did not have to walk far to the water
le mardi 10 juillet 2018 – Tuesday July 10, 2018
This morning at La Fournee Malouine two new assistants waited on Sandy when she ordered our breakfast. They are not used to hearing her style of French and she is unfamiliar with them. Sandy had to repeat herself 3 times before her order was understood.
After breakfast and shopping at our local marché, we took the bus to the Rocabey stop. We needed to go to a para-pharmacy to purchase vitamins and other toiletries that aren’t available at the grocery stores. We went to the first para-pharmacy, Rocabey Para-Pharmacy, but they only had one of the three items we needed. We walked around the corner to the Para-pharmacy de La Gare for the additional 2 items. They were very busy.
We walked back towards Intra-Muros on the shady side of the street. The temperature was 24 C but felt much hotter. We were glad to reach our apartment.
During our walk back to the apartment we spotted a car with a license plate from Portugal in parking lot.
car from Portugal in the parking lot
After lunch we reserved our train and hotel room for our return trip to the USA in September. Time goes fast.
An hour before the time of high tide we walked to the Place de l’Evantail to walk in the water. The wind had picked up and the temperature had actually dropped since our walk in the morning. However, the water was warmer!
le mercredi 11 juillet 2018 – Wednesday July 11, 2018
Today was the last day of Michael’s vacation. The photos he sent from Iceland this week have been almost magical. So much white water, rocks, cliffs, falls but very few trees. He returns to the U. S. late this afternoon.
It was only 15 C when Sandy shopped for our breakfast. She even wore a jacket today. We took the bus to the Intermarche grocery store, did our shopping, checked out quickly, and were back at the bus stop to return home in 45 minutes!
After lunch it was still cool in the shade, so we took our camping chairs to the harbor. The tide was coming in with at least 3 more hours until high tide. There were many things happening. We watched at least 4 fishing boats unload huge amounts of mussels packed in orange mesh bags, weigh them, throw the orange bags onto pallets, and load into refrigerated trucks. Four Corsair Ferries were coming and going, and when the locks opened we watched a Russian cargo ship and 10 sail boats exit the basin into the channel. The Condor Ferry was loading, and the Armorique a light house and beacon repair ship returned to the harbor. We had a very entertaining two hours!
weighing crustaceans from a fishing boat
unloading moules (mussels) from a boat
le jeudi 12 juillet 2018 – Thursday July 12, 2018
We received a text around 5h30 am this morning letting us know Michael was back in Grand Rapids. His cat was glad to have him at home.
Sandy asked the assistant at La Fournee Malouine if the boulangère was here this week. Sandy hadn’t see her since Sunday. The assistant thanked her, said that was nice, the madam was here all week just very busy making many sandwiches in the back. They do a large take-away sandwich business this time of year. With the new terrace, this boulangerie is even more enticing to have an inexpensive lunch and be able to sit down in the shade.
We watched Alain play boules for a few minutes and visited with him. He and his wife had just returned yesterday from attending Jean’s funeral in Paris. They had spent 6 nights helping Denise in Paris.
We walked in the water at the Plage de Môle at low tide. There was a lot of sand to walk through!
while on our walk in the water we saw these kids learning to sail
After dinner we listened to the “Les Corsairs Malouins” sing sea shanties. They were very entertaining. We have fun watching and listening to the group.
“Les Corsairs Malouins” sing sea shanties
le vendredi 13 juillet 2018 – Friday July 13, 2018
The town was very quiet when Sandy shopped for our breakfast.
We walked to the Saint-Servan marché to purchase meat. We arrived at the bridge while it was open and waited a few minutes for boats to enter the lock and the bridge to slide closed. The marché was busy. A lot of tourists in town for vacation and extra people in town due to tomorrow being the Fete National 14th Juillet. After 15 minutes in line, it was our turn.
We had an uneventful walk back home and since the wind was out of the north there was a cool breeze blowing.
Today was one of the days of the Grande Marée where the tide is exceptionally high. The expected co-efficient was 101. It was also one of the days of exceptionally low tide. There were warnings in the newspaper and on the radio for people to be observant. It was a good day for “Pêche à Pied,” fishing by foot. People walk out a very long way in the sand to the sand bars to dig or rake for their dinner. The warnings were due to the fact that once the tide starts to come back in it does it very rapidly. We walked in the sand a very long way before we got to the ocean. We were on the far side of the Fort National. It was farther than we’d ever gone to reach the water. We walked in the water for a while in both warm and cold temperatures.
the beach at low tide, it is quite a walk to the water
le samedi 14 juillet 2018 – Saturday July 14, 2018
Today was the Fete National Quatorze Juillet (National Holiday 14th of July). A lot of visitors were expected in town. Signs had been posted at parking lots, entrances to the ramparts etc about the possible closure. The Intra-Muros was closed to all vehicular traffic starting at 17h00 unless you had proof of residency or owned a business. Restaurants and bars were busy!
We walked to the beach before noon today. A Grande Marée is scheduled for 8h45 and after 21h00 this evening. We wanted to walk in the water between a high and low tide to avoid walking through blocks of sand and yet have enough beach to walk on. The sky was brilliantly blue and the air fresh.
great looking sail boat we saw on our walk on the beach
Later we walked out of the walls at 22h45 to be in place to see the fireworks. There were very large city trucks, garbage truck size blocking the entrance to all of the ports. Streets were blocked off and police were around.
At 23h00 the fireworks started. It was just barely dark but they were on time. They were set off at the Môle des Noires or the breakwater. We and several thousand additional people stood in the middle of one of the round points to watch. They were incredible and timed to music played over large speakers. It was amusing to hear songs from the USA, Ireland, France, and other countries. Several of the songs dealt with the sea, and one of the famous Saint-Malo songs Santiano was part of the entertainment. The fireworks lasted for 22 minutes, 6 minutes longer than last year. We were back in our apartment by 23:30. Time for bed!
le dimanche 15 juillet 2018 – Sunday July 15, 2018
It was relatively quiet when Sandy shopped for our breakfast. She passed several street cleaning crews trying to clean up after such a crowd yesterday.
After breakfast we took the number 1 bus to the Le Mouchoir Vert bus stop and then walked about 1/2 kilometer to the Vide Grenier (empty attic flea market) at Square de Biscayenne on the Rue de la Marne. Every year it is a big market with lots of vendors. Our friend Alain and his wife Mary-Yvonne were there. Alain was helping at the concessions stand.
the large crowd at the Vide Grenier
On the way back we missed our bus and ended up walking all the way back to the apartment.
This afternoon is the final of the World Cup from Russia. France and Croatia are playing. There are people all over the place in the Place du Marché aux Légumes. There was a lot of horn blowing and shouting during the game. France won 4-2 so everyone is pretty happy. The game ended about 4 hours ago, but the celebrating is still going.
