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le semaine se terminant le dimanche 2 septembre 2018 – the week ending Sunday September 2, 2018

02 Sunday Sep 2018

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June 2018

July 2018

August 2018

le lundi 27 août 2018 – Monday August 27, 2018

Pretty quiet this morning when Sandy took our garbage and recycling to the center. She was 6th in line at the boulangerie today and several tables on the terrace and the interior were occupied. Tourist season is not over yet.

We took a walk in the morning towards the mole/breakwater. The temperature was so cool that even Phil wore a jacket. We reached the end of the Intra-Muros to look at the Plage du Mole ( breakwater beach ) and the wind was very strong. Sandy took her hat off so it didn’t blow away and we decided it was too windy to walk to the end of the pier. Instead we walked along the basin towards the esplanade Saint-Vincent, looked at the ocean then walked inside the walls to return.

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a Nissan Leaf electric car getting a charge at the harbor

We enjoyed an espresso at Charly’s bar and watched people, dogs, birds, gulls, and waiters going to and fro. It was cloudy all morning.

In the afternoon we watched a boules game for a while on our way to the Cathedral. They were providing tours of their bell tower as a way to encourage donations for the renovations of some of their bells. We were at the meeting point but the guide said there were too many people. We elected to leave giving tourist in town for the day a chance to visit. We’ll return on Wednesday at 5pm or Thursday morning.

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a cabbage growing in the garden by the castle

le mardi 28 août 2018 – Tuesday August 28, 2018

Sandy frequently sees unusual sites on her way to and from the boulangerie. Today on her return trip she spotted a lady walking down the street wrapped in a towel, heading towards the beach. There were no apparent swimming suit shoulder straps visible. This doesn’t mean much, except the temperature was 12C, 53F, and it was chilly. The beaches here are top optional, but not nude beaches. Maybe she was on her way to shower at a friend’s house.

At the marché Sandy was buying fresh fruit. Another customer from the UK was speaking to the assistant in English. Sandy heard him say that in Greece, an entire watermelon costs 1 euro. The assistant did not understand and was trying to ask him questions. Sandy helped and translated into French for the assistant. The assistant understood, then explained the whole conversation, including Sandy’s translating to Monsieur Alex.

At 12h00, Sandy agreed to meet Christine, our tutor at her house. She had invited Sandy to go to Rennes with her for the afternoon.They were going in Christine’s car which was not air-conditioned. It was a practical size for France, so fairly small but easy to park and drive on narrow streets. It was 22C in Saint-Malo, 27C and sunny in Rennes and hot in the car.

Rennes is a large city and the capital of Brittany. First they visited the Couvent Des Jacobins which had been turned into an exhibition hall. It was a beautiful, light and airy building with an interior cloister. The exhibit contained some of the artwork collected by a world-renowned collector named Francois Pinault. He has assembled over 3000 artworks of the 20 and 21st century. The collection was interesting and bizarre. Then they walked (Donna and Caron – you would be glad you weren’t with us) more than 7 kilometers in the center of the town.

Rennes reminded Sandy of Strasbourg. There were many pedestrianized small cobble stoned streets with bars, restaurants, and boutiques lining both sides of the streets. They were curvy, narrow, and fun to look at. Many houses were similar in style to the city of Dinard, France which has many half timbered houses that tilt one way or another. They also toured the grand Parc du Thabor, 25 acres in size, which is a very large park in the center of the city. It is considered an elegant and romantic French and British style garden. There was an aviary in the center and an Orangerie. They didn’t take time to visit the Orangerie or winter interior garden.

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ancient architecture in Rennes

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ancient architecture in Rennes

They stopped in the Cathedral which was a beautiful building built around 1845. They looked in several boutiques and arrived home close to 19h00. Sandy was very tired and her feet were sore. She enjoyed her outing, learned a lot about Rennes and practiced speaking French. Thank you Christine.

le mercredi 29 août 2018 – Wednesday August 29, 2018

Sandy was still tired this morning and chose to purchase our breakfast croissant at Maison du Pain, a very short walk from home. However, the sign on the door said, on vacation until September 5th. Sandy then walked to her usual boulangerie La Fournee Malouine but had extra steps since she didn’t intend to shop here.

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while waiting for the bus we saw this freighter being unload in the basin

She spent two hours tutoring with Christine. Christine is leaving for a vacation in Spain tomorrow and won’t return until 11th of September. Sandy will take a plant for Christine to “plant sit” and a check to Christine later on that day.

le jeudi 30 août 2018 – Thursday August 30, 2018

Again it was cool, 13C and quiet in the morning. We noticed shutters in neighboring apartments staying closed yesterday. Back to school time. School starts Monday in France so time for the tourists with children to depart.

We took the bus to the Carrefour at the Madeleine Center to look for white dryer sheets. No luck! They must have discontinued them. Alain had given us a plant when we first arrived in Saint-Malo. We saw the same plant while shopping and took a photo to remember the name. It is called a Bromeliacea plant. 42518831370_749048a303_z

We did see “The General” a local character on our bus.

We watched Alain play boules for a while in the afternoon.

le vendredi 31 août 2018 – Friday August 31, 2018

Very quiet this morning. After breakfast we walked to Saint-Servan to buy meat from the butcher. We told him good-bye, he wished us a good winter. His assistant thanked Sandy for helping her practice English and wished us a Happy New Year and a good 2019. Sandy thanked her for her help in practicing French.

We have a lot of tasty meals lined up until we leave! We saw several cars being packed for departure. It was a sunny day with a high temperature of 20C, 70F.

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Claude is 92 and still playing boules daily.

le samedi 1 septembre 2018 – Saturday September 1, 2018

Quiet again and Sandy spotted more people leaving with luggage, shopping bags etc this morning.

This weekend is the braderie at the Hippodrome or race track. In the past, an euro entry included a complimentary soft drink. This is the 50th anniversary of the event, so there was no charge, but also no free beverage. We walked around, looked at everything but didn’t buy anything. We spotted two pewter ducks, similar to our own, and a larger duck. We have never seen any of the pewter chickens that we have in Saint-Malo. Everything, the Gare, streets, stores are less crowded.

The temperature climbed to 26C, perfect beach weather. We walked in the ocean admiring the sail boats, the horizon, and enjoyed the cold water. We made a guess that there were only 10% of the number of people here today compared to the last time we were in the water. It seemed like paradise.

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Fort National looking good with a stiff wind coming in from La Manche (English Channel)

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the RENARD at full sails in the bay

le dimanche 2 septembre 2018 – Sunday September 2, 2018

There must have been a ferry leaving soon on it’s way to the UK when Sandy walked to the recycling center and boulangerie. About 8 British people were in front of her at the boulangerie. They all had backpacks, hand luggage, and larger luggage on wheels. They ordered something like 16 different vienoiseries (pain au chocolat, croissant, pain aux raisons, croissant almond) and each picked out their own order. It took quite awhile to get all of them purchased and departing before it was Sandy’s turn.

After breakfast and close to high tide, we spent awhile at the harbor. We watched a few boats travel in and out of the locks, Corsair and Condor ferries arrive and depart before heading home for lunch.

In the afternoon the temperature was 25C so we headed for a walk in the ocean. It was windier than yesterday but still lovely to enjoy the sun, fresh air, and sea water.

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gulls gathering on the rocks at low tide

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gulls, rocks, sea and sky, beautiful

trois semaines en France, se terminant le 6 juin 2018 – three weeks in France, ending on 6 juin 2018

10 Sunday Jun 2018

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This is the first blog entry for our trip to France in 2018.🇫🇷  We are looking forward to returning to our home away from home!  Back to Saint-Malo.

This entry will tell the story of our first three weeks in France with our friends from Illinois. Future entries will discuss the rest our stay in France which lasts until September 13, 2018.

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mercredi 11 avril 2018 – Wednesday April 11, 2018

FIFA U-20 Woman’s World Cup in France.

Today we had an interesting experience using Skype.  A month or two ago we had applied to be volunteers at the FIFA U-20 Woman’s World Cup which will be held in France in 2018.  The matches will be held in Brittany, our region in France, during August 2018.  Some of the preliminary matches will be held in Saint-Malo, our town in France.  So, we decided to try to volunteer for the events.  We will be in Saint-Malo in June, July and August this year so the timing is good.

We initially submitted written applications through the FIFA Volunteer Portal website.  The applications resulted in interviews which were held on Wednesday April 11.  The interviews were done via Skype.  A very nice person at FIFA did a lot of adjusting of his schedule to do the interviews with us.  Sandy did the first interview at 8h00.  I had the second interview at 8h30.  Hopefully we will be accepted as volunteers.  The biggest obstacle to our getting selected is the requirement for “intermediate French language proficiency” which we may not possess.

Anyway it has been a good experience and we will hope for the best.U-20 WOMAN'S WORLD CUP FRANCE 2018 DisplayImageHandler.axdU-20 WOMAN'S WORLD CUP FRANCE 2018 B DisplayImageHandler.axd

 

A different start to our visit to France

We are scheduled to fly to France in the middle of May 2018.  We will be traveling with our friends Bill and Caron B.  Bill and Phil have been friends since college (many decades ago).  Caron’s father was in the US military and she was born in France.  They left France when she was a small child and she has not been back.  So, Bill and Caron are going with us to France.  We will spend a week or so in Paris, then travel to Strasbourg for three days, then on to Saint-Malo.  They will be spending around three weeks in France.  We do plan a Normandy D-Day site tour as part of our agenda.

We and the B’s have been planning this trip for quite a while.  We purchased our Air France tickets in November of 2017.  We will be traveling to their town in the next week or so to finalize the plans.

Bill’s surname is of French origin.  He does have French heritage via Canada.🇨🇦

mercredi 16 mai 2018 – Wednesday May 16, 2018

“the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”

We are leaving for France today.  We will arrive in Paris around 8h00 on Thursday the 17th.  Our friends will not be flying with us.  Here is the story.

Bill B developed a leg problem about 10 days ago.  It caused him quite a bit of pain and discomfort.  It also seemed to baffle the doctors for a while.  The end result was that Bill’s doctor could not give him any guarantees about his ability to travel or about how he would feel in France.  So, Caron B came to the tough decision to continue her plans for France but without Bill.  Caron arranged for her cousin Donna to accompany her on the trip.  The airfare was a problem because Bill’s ticket could not be given to Donna.  She would have to purchase a new ticket.  Only 7 days before the flight the Air France ticket price was $3,200.  So, Caron cancelled her and Bill’s Air France tickets and got their money back because they had insurance.  Caron and Donna ended up with very reasonably priced tickets with Iceland Air and WOW.  They would fly via Reykjavik Iceland to and from Paris.  They would arrive in Paris just about 4 hours after Phil and Sandy.  All the rest of the planned arrangements, hotels, tours and trains, would be okay with Donna substituting for Bill.

So here we go!

jeudi 17 mai 2018 – Thursday May 17, 2018

Day 1 in France, Paris

Our Air France flight arrived almost an hour early.  As usual with a real early arrival our gate was not clear.  At Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) when this happens they park your plane a good distance from the terminal, place a staircase by the plane, have you exit the plane and descend to the tarmac using the staircase, and then board a bus that takes you to the terminal.  People with a lot of carry on baggage had some difficulty. More fun after an 8 hour flight.

With our plane landing early we headed to the passport control area.  Here we queued with passengers from other flights for about 45 minutes before getting passed through to get our luggage.  Luggage was easy, it was waiting for us when we arrived at baggage pick up.

Our plan had been to take the regional train (RER B) into Paris, drop off our luggage at the hotel and then return to CDG to meet Caron and Donna as they exited baggage pick up at their terminal.  But with the long delay at passport control we had to give up that plan.  So now we had about 2 and a half hours until their plane arrived.

We took the CDG shuttle called CDGVAL (it is a light rail train between the terminals) to Terminal 3.  First we bought 20 tickets which would be good on the Paris metro and Paris buses.  Then we walked to the Hilton Hotel which is only about 100 meters from Terminal 3.  The restaurant was closed, but we were about to get breakfast at the bar.  So our first croissants were eaten at the bar in the Hilton.  We stayed a little over an hour at the bar. They had comfortable chairs, it was quiet, and their restrooms were free, close to the bar, and clean.

Then we took the CDGVAL to Terminal 1 and waited for Donna and Caron to arrive.  They were on time and had little trouble getting their luggage.  The good thing about flying through Reykjavik was they went through European Union passport control there instead of Paris.

We then took the CDGVAL back to Terminal 3 and rode the RER B train.  The trip was direct, with no stops and only took about 30 minutes.  We arrived at the Paris Gare du Nord without trouble.

Our next step was to take the number 26 or number 43 bus to the hotel.  We got lucky and a 26 bus was at the stop.  Using the tickets we had already purchased we took the bus to the hotel.  The trip was only about 10 minutes.

Checking into the hotel was easy.  Around 18h00 we headed out to visit the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann which was about a 15 walk from the hotel.  Well a couple of wrong turns caused us to walk a bit extra, but no harm.  After all it is still Paris!

After the Galeries Lafayette we walked back toward the hotel.  We ate at a nice restaurant called Abradavio which was only a couple of blocks from the hotel.  Sandy and I recognized the waiter from our visit here a couple of years ago.  A very nice man.

If you are looking for pictures of France you will have to click on this link 2018-France.  Our 2018-France album at the Flickr website will open in a new window. We have not sorted all the photos to put in the blog since there are almost 750 pictures currently out there. Maybe we’ll get around to it later.

vendredi 18 mai 2018 – Friday May 18, 2018

Day 2 in France, Paris and a trip to Bourron-Marlotte

Why a trip to Bourron-Marlotte?  Well Caron B was born in France.  Her father was in the US military at the time.  She and her parents lived in France for a little while before returning to the USA. Bourron-Marlotte was and is a little village near Fontainebleau which was the site of the US military base where Caron’s father worked.  Many of the US military personnel were housed in Bourron-Marlotte.  Caron had not returned to France so this was her chance to see the village where she and her parents lived.

We planned the trip to Bourron-Marlotte.

  • take the number 7 Paris metro line to Opera station
  • take the number 24 Paris metro line to the Paris Gare de Lyon train station
  • take the RER R train to the Bourron-Marlotte Gerz train station
  • play it by ear from here

We started out around 9h30. All went well and by approximately 11h15 we were standing at the Bourron-Marlotte Gerz train station with no taxis in sight.  Phil talked with a man and found out that it was about a 15 to 20 minute walk to the center of Bourron-Marlotte.  The man was Portuguese and was very helpful. We also talked with the train station attendant and got the same direction.

So we took a walk into Bourron-Marlotte.  We walked past farm fields, past horses and donkeys, and past the entrance to the Château Bourron estate.  We will have to save that for another day.

Our first stop was at a brasserie called Le Martingo.  We got some soft drinks and had a nice rest in the shade.  Then we started walking again.  We were headed for 151 Rue Général Leclerc.  Leclerc was a hero of the French army in World War II.  The street we were on was Rue Général De Gaulle.  De Gaulle was the leader of the French army in World War II.  He later became president of France.  The map showed us that Rue Général De Gaulle turned into Rue Général Leclerc in the middle of town, so we were headed the right way.  Our walk took us past the local Office de Tourisme where we stopped in and checked our directions.

A few minutes later we came to the address 151 Rue Général Leclerc.  The house Caron had lived in had been torn down.  She already knew this from viewing the location on Google Maps.  The house had been replaced with a modern looking home from perhaps the 1960s.  There is a high wall and high shrubs around the house and little could be seen.  We could see through a window in the house that someone was home. A small cow bell was hung on the gate and Caron rang it a couple of times, but the person in the house did not seem to hear it.  So after a few photos we headed back to the restaurant for lunch.

We had a very nice lunch at the Le Martingo.  By this time it was 15h00 so we headed back to the train station.  We got back to the hotel around 17h30 without any excitement.

samedi 19 mai 2018 – Saturday May 19, 2018

Day 3 in France, Paris

The plan today is to visit Notre Dame in the morning and then figure out the afternoon while eating lunch.

As usual the line to get into Notre Dame was quite long.  Sandy guided Caron and Donna through the process, but did not accompany them into Notre Dame.  She and Phil kept busy people watching by the statue of Charlemagne until Caron and Donna returned from their visit.

With all of Paris to see and just a few days to get it all in, we decided to investigate one of the hop on hop off bus tours, Big Bus.  We ended up purchasing the two-day Big Bus ticket which included a Seine boat ride.

So for the rest of the afternoon we took the Big Bus around Paris.  It was actually quite nice.  Each person was given earphones to plug into the audio description of the sights.  They had about 8 languages covered.

dimanche 20 mai 2018 – Sunday May 20, 2018

Day 4 in France, Paris

Today we will use the Big Bus to get us to the Arc de Triomphe.  It was fun taking the bus again and we did not have to wait long to get into the Arc de Triomphe.  The only issue was that while we thought there was an elevator we could not find one.  We ended up walking up a +300 steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.  It is a wonderful sight to look out over Paris and the massive roundabout below.

After the Arc de Triomphe we walked down the Champs-Élysées to the Cafe George V.  We got an outdoor table and had a nice lunch.

We returned to the Big Bus stop by the Arc de Triomphe and saw more of the city.

lundi 21 mai 2018 – Monday May 21, 2018

Day 5 in France, Paris

At 6h30 we took a taxi from the hotel to PARISCityVISION at 2 rue des Pyramides for our day trip to the D-Day memorials in Normandy.

Our tour took us to the following locations in Normandy.

  • the D-Day memorial museum in Caen
  • the Pointe du Hoc where the US Army Ranger Assault Group landed
  • Omaha beach where elements of the US Army landed
  • Juno beach where the Canadian Army landed

It was a very interesting tour and very emotionally moving.  We returned to the hotel at 21:30 that evening.

mardi 22 mai 2018 – Tuesday May 22, 2018

Day 6 in France, Paris

Today is PARISCityVISION Skip the Line Tour of the Eiffel Tower.  We took a bus to the Eiffel Tower area and walked around until we found the meeting place for our tour.  The tour was not due to start until around 16h00.  So we looked around and did some souvenir shopping.

Around lunch time we stopped at a local restaurant and had a very nice lunch.

The weather forecast was for afternoon showers.  As the day progressed the sky got more and more overcast until it was a dark gray.  As we started out with the tour group it became pretty dark and started to sprinkle.

By the time we got to the second level of the Eiffel Tower it had started to rain.  Rather than stay at the second level we took the elevator to the Summit.  Here it was really raining hard and small hail was accumulating on the floor.  So we were at the top of the Eiffel Tower in a thunderstorm.

We still managed to look around the Summit level.  We got to see more storms coming our way which was quite interesting.  We eventually found the Champagne Bar at the Summit and had a flute of champagne to celebrate.  Then back to the ground level.

It continued to rain as we walked toward what we thought was the nearest bus stop.  It was close, but it was also not operating due to road construction in the immediate area.  So we headed to the next stop, but that was about 10 minutes away.  By the time we arrived there we were pretty wet. At least the temperature was in the 70’s F.

The bus ride home was interesting.  By this time it was around 17h30 and there was a lot of traffic.  The bus got caught in a traffic jam at the Opera.  We were stopped there for almost 20 minutes.  A tour bus from Italy was trying to go the opposite direction and the driver was getting frustrated.  Twice he got out of his bus to direct Parisian drivers to move their cars in an effort to unblock the jam.  Caron saw another Parisian directing traffic.  He was NOT a policeman.

Rather than going to the hotel to dry off, we walked towards the hotel and headed to the Abradavio restaurant for dinner.  We even ate inside the restaurant to try to warm up from being so wet.

We had intended to take our Seine boat ride after the Eiffel Tower tour, but with the rain it was a washout.

mercredi 23 mai 2018 – Wednesday May 23, 2018

Day 7 in France, Paris

So today is the day to do some laundry.  Donna and Caron were going to explore the Opera area which was near the hotel.  Sandy and Phil had made plans to visit their friends in Chennevières-sur-Marne a suburb of Paris.

To get to Chennevières we took the Paris metro line 7 from Cadet to Opera to take the RER A train to Chennevières.  We were early for our 14h30 visit to our friends apartment, so we had lunch in a very nice restaurant near the train station.

According to the map, we had about a 20 minute walk to our friends apartment.  Unfortunately the map did not indicate that much of the walk was straight up the side of the valley created by the Marne River.  So after a 40 minute breathless walk we found our friends apartment.  We had a wonderful and emotional visit with them.  It was well worth our time to get to Chennevières.

If you are looking for pictures of France you will have to click on this link 2018-France.  Our 2018-France album at the Flickr website will open in a new window. We have not sorted all the photos to put in the blog since there are almost 750 pictures currently out there. Maybe we’ll get around to it later.

jeurdi 24 mai 2018 – Thursday May 24, 2018

Day 8 in France, Paris and then on to Strasbourg

We took a cab to the Paris Gare de l’Est for our train to Strasbourg.  Unfortunately our train was a victim of the labor strikes being held by the SNCF (French state train company) workers.  We were able to get on the next train and had to just spend a couple of hours in the train station waiting.

We had a short 10 minute walk from the train station to our hotel.

For dinner we went to an interesting Alsace restaurant called L’Ami Schutz (Friend Schutz).

vendredi 25 mai 2018 – Friday May 25, 2018

Day 9 in France, Strasbourg

As has been the pattern in the past when flying to Europe, Phil has always developed a sinus infection a few days after arriving.  So, today is the day the sinus infection really set in and disrupted his stay.

Sandy took over the translation, navigator and tour guide duties that she had shared with Phil.  So while he stayed in the hotel room, Sandy, Donna and Caron toured hot Strasbourg.

Strasbourg is in the Alsace department in eastern France.  Alsace has bounced back and forth between France and Germany for the last few hundred years.  It is very close to Germany, only separated for it by the Rhine River.  But being this far east it is affected by continental air masses which come in from Germany, Poland, Russia, etc.  So the weather is often hot and humid in the summer.  And so it was during our visit.

The ladies walked through an outdoor market featuring ready to eat food, fresh vegetables, fruit, cheese, and meat.  They inquired at the tourist office about visiting the Strasbourg Notre-Dame Cathedral and the astronomical clock, and a boat ride on the river Ille.  They took a “petite train ride” learning about the area, and “Petite France” the historic part of Strasbourg.  We bought our lunch at the French department/grocery store Monoprix and took it back to the hotel to eat.

We had reserved a half day wine tour while still in the USA which was scheduled for the afternoon.  Donna, Caron, and Sandy met the tour guide and two other Americans in front of the post office.  They enjoyed 4 hours of driving through the Alsace region, stopping at two family run vineyards and sampling 4 or 5 different varieties of wine at each location.  Phil, rested in the hotel.

samedi 26 mai 2018 – Saturday May 26, 2018

Day 10 in France, Strasbourg

Phil is still not feeling well, so the ladies are on their own again.

Today the temperature was 29 C – very hot!! The ladies walked to the Strasbourg Cathedral to reserve spaces for the astrological clock presentation at noon.  Reservations are only available each morning until space is sold out.  Sandy relied on her French to ask questions and make reservations.  She thanked the lady at the Cathedral for speaking slowly and clearly. Her practice all winter on Duolingo French (a language app) had helped.

After making the reservation for the clock, they walked to the Batorama boat tour office.  They reserved spaces for the 15h00 tour that afternoon.

There was a flea market going on so they walked through all of the tables and looked at everything.

Then it was time for the noon astrological clock presentation which was very interesting.

Sandy left Donna and Caron on their own for lunch so she could check on Phil back at the hotel.  She again purchased lunch at the Monoprix while Caron and Donna ate burgers and fries at a cafe.

The boat ride in the afternoon was on an enclosed, air-conditioned boat with glass sides and ceiling.  It sailed by the European Capital building and many other interesting places.

dimanche 27 mai 2018 – Sunday May 27, 2018

Day 11 in France, Strasbourg and then on to Saint-Malo

Up early to walk to the Strasbourg train station for our train to Saint-Malo.  This train ride was pretty uneventful.  Our Strasbourg train took us to Rennes and from Rennes transferred to another train for the last hour to Saint-Malo.

The biggest problem on this leg of the journey was the lack of taxis at the Saint-Malo train station.

When we got to our building at 4 Rue de la Coudre in the Intra-Muros part of Saint-Malo we found Monsieur and Madame Roussel waiting for us.  We had rented the Roussel’s ground floor apartment for Bill and Caron.  So now Caron and Donna were able to use the apartment.  Phil rested and the ladies enjoyed dinner at one of the local restaurants on the Place de Marché aux Legumes.

If you are looking for pictures of France you will have to click on this link 2018-France.  Our 2018-France album at the Flickr website will open in a new window. We have not sorted all the photos to put in the blog since there are almost 750 pictures currently out there. Maybe we’ll get around to it later.

lundi 28 mai 2018 – Monday May 28, 2018

Day 12 in France, Saint-Malo

Sandy went early in the morning to get Phil a doctor appointment at 11h15.  The doctor was impressed with the severity of Phil’s sinus infection and prescribed mass quantities of antibiotics and vitamins.  A visit to the pharmacist completed his morning.

Sandy, Donna, and Caron took a city bus to the Intermarche grocery store.  We bought items for breakfast, lunch, and essentials.

mardi 29 mai 2018 – Tuesday May 29, 2018

Day 13 in France, Saint-Malo

Sandy, Donna, and Caron shopped for fruit at our neighborhood market.  Sandy was glad to see Monsieur Alix, vegetable and fruit vendor, and he recognized her immediately.  They took a city bus to the Saint-Servan Rosarie to look at the beautiful rose garden.  Then they walked down hill to the marché to buy meat.  The butcher and his assistant were glad to see Sandy and they asked about Phil.

Next Sandy took Caron and Donna to the Condor Ferries office to see about visiting the Channel Island of Guernsey.  They were able to reserve spaces and a hotel for Friday night, returning at 9:30 pm Saturday.

mercredi 30 mai 2018 – Wednesday May 30, 2018

Day 14 in France, Saint-Malo

The ladies toured the Saint-Malo castle museum and walked out on the sand at low tide towards Fort National island.

In the afternoon Phil felt well enough to accompany them on a bus ride to the La Cite d’Alet.  It poured rain on the bus ride but the sun came out by the time we arrived and it was a lovely afternoon.   We walked on top of the Alet which has a the German bunker with a museum.  The walk on the Alet goes past 6 German at the military pillboxes, each pillbox weighs 47 tons. The wonderful ocean views are in contrast to the military relics.  It was a long walk home but we stopped at a beach cafe for ice tea and lemonade before returning to our apartment.

jeudi 31 mai 2018 – Thursday May 31, 2018

Day 15 in France, Saint-Malo

The ladies wanted to take an Island cruise on the Corsaire ferry but found out it wasn’t available until 4:30 pm.  So, they took the boat across the bay to Dinard.  They walked through the market, admired the 4 story bell epoque mansions, cliffs, and had lunch at a beach cafe.  They took the ferry back in the afternoon.

vendredi 1 juin 2018 – Friday June 1, 2018

Day 16 in France, Saint-Malo

Donna and Caron took the Condor Ferries ferry to Guernsey for an overnight stay on the Channel Island. Phil and Sandy took the bus to the Intermarche for another grocery store trip.

samedi 2 juin 2018 – Saturday June 2, 2018

Day 17 in France, Saint-Malo

Phil and Sandy took the bus to Paramé to shop at the market for meat.  The butcher and his assistant were glad Phil was feeling better.

Donna and Caron returned from their trip to Guernsey.  The ferry arrived a couple of minutes late at around 21h00.  We met them at the ferry terminal and walked them back to the apartment.  The reports from Guernsey were good, including a high tea, a nice hotel, and a visit to a castle.

dimanche 3 juin 2018 – Sunday June 3, 2018

Day 18 in France, Saint-Malo

We went to lunch at the Hotel Brasserie Armoricaine.  The Armoricaine is a traditional French restaurant.  White table cloths, old-fashioned decor, traditional Sunday menu and a professional wait staff.  We had a very nice lunch as we always have had in the past at this restaurant.

lundi 4 juin 2018 – Monday June 4, 2018

Day 19 in France, Saint-Malo

Sandy joined Donna and Caron for lunch and some tourist shopping. Back at the apartment Phil made meatballs.

We had Donna and Caron over for dinner this evening enjoying the meatballs with spaghetti.

mardi 5 juin 2018 – Tuesday June 5, 2018

Day 20 in France, Saint-Malo and a trip to CDG

We all took a taxi at 9h30 to the train station.  Caron and Donna’s first leg of the trip back to CDG was on the local Brittany TER train.  That train would take them to Rennes where they would get on the SNCF TGV train for the trip to CDG.

Later in the day Caron called from their hotel at CDG.  They didn’t have any problems getting on the second train in Rennes. However they got lost in the train terminal at CDG.  They went up and down escalators and asked for directions. The escalators are hazardous with luggage and you can easily lose your balance. Caron fell down the escalator with her luggage landing on top of her.  Donna yelled for help and another traveler stopped to help them up.  They finally made it to the hotel and were ready for a rest.  Caron was a bit bruised but a trip to the hospital was not needed.

mercredi 6 juin 2018 – Wednesday June 6, 2018

Day 21 in France, CDG and Reykjavik, Iceland, and Chicago, Illinois, USA

Caron and Donna left France almost two hours behind schedule.  Apparently there were weather related delays at CDG.  They were flying WOW airlines to Reykjavik with a connecting WOW flight from Reykjavik to Chicago.  WOW airlines got them on the flight to Chicago and they landed at Chicago O’Hare Airport a couple of hours late.  But they made it!

A special note should be made that according to Caron’s Fitbit, Sandy, Caron and Donna walked around 5 miles each day in France!

So ends the three week soujourn of Caron and Donna.  Well done!

If you are looking for pictures of France you will have to click on this link 2018-France.  Our 2018-France album at the Flickr website will open in a new window. We have not sorted all the photos to put in the blog since there are almost 750 pictures currently out there. Maybe we’ll get around to it later.

 

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.

April 22 in Saint-Malo – 22 avril à Saint-Malo

22 Friday Apr 2016

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April 22 is a day for us to be in Rennes.  Rennes is the capital of the region of Bretange (Brittany) and the city we have to visit for our VISA validation.

Friday April 22, 2016 is the day we’ve been dreading and are relieved that it’s over! Our appointments with the Office français de l’immigration et de l’integration (French Office for Immigration and Integration) were at 9:00 and 9:30 today. We left our apartment at 6:15 am to catch the bus to the train station.  It was still very dark and of course, we came across a group of young men that hadn’t been home after partying all night.  Fortunately, we avoided their path and they ignored us.  We arrived at the train station very early because the buses weren’t running very frequently at that time of the day.  There was a train in the station going to the same place we were and we took it, leaving 30 minutes before our scheduled departure.  It was a TER (Transport express régional) regional train instead of the super fast, deluxe TGV.  We had two very comfortable seats together and arrived without any problems.

The map worked on Sandy’s iPhone and we found the building without difficulty.  There wasn’t anyplace around to buy a cup of coffee for the hour we needed to wait.  There was a girl waiting by the side of the road and Phil asked her if she knew of a cafe or bar near by. She did not. But a man walked by, heard the conversation and told Phil there was a bar/tabac nearby.  He gave us directions, in French of course, and directed us to the bar/tabac.  It was a 4 block walk and a great place to have an espresso.  Sandy also ate the pain a’chocolate that she’d brought with us.  As it was raining, we were happy to have a dry place to wait.

We arrived back at the Office français de l’immigration et de l’integration  just before the scheduled opening at 9:00 am.  We showed the receptionist our passport and official appointment letters.  She checked us off her list and directed us upstairs, all in French.  We waited in a waiting room.  Sandy was called first for her chest x-ray.  She was directed back to the waiting room after the x-ray was taken.  Next a nurse called her to ask questions, check over immunizations, measure her height and told her she might need to visit a doctor in Saint-Malo for a booster immunization.  Again, Sandy returned to the waiting room. By this time, Phil had talked to the nurse and had his x-ray taken.  Sandy was next called to go with the doctor for an examination. It was in French too and she didn’t have any problems.  For the 3rd time, she was directed back to the waiting room and Phil was called.

The administrator was the last person to see.  He examined our papers showing proof of ownership/residency of our apartment in Saint-Malo.  He asked for our photo and proof of 241€ payment. He put an “official” sticker and stamp on our passports.  He also explained how to request a “Carte Sejour” in August. We had to meet alone with each of the four Immigration officials but finally we were finished!!!!

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The VISA validation stamp we need.

There were two other people there going through the same process.  A young man from Tunisia was also going through the process for the first time.  He is a student in Rennes, but plans on returning to Tunisia at the completion of his studies.  The other person was an asian woman who spoke English but very little French.  He company in Asia had transferred her to France and she was enjoying her stay.  She was developing her French and she was really enjoying the desserts.  It was very nice to talk with both of them.  We had a lot in common with them and since we were all going through the same process we all had a lot of empathy.

We walked to the metro stop to take the Rennes metro to the

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main train station in Rennes.  The main train station in Rennes is going through a major renovation.  It is part of the SNCF plan to improve the rail service by increasing the speed of the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse / high speed train) in Brittany.  That means improved rails and facilities.

The whole time we were in Rennes it was drizzling or raining.  Beautiful city, but not a good day for touring.

The train ride back to Saint-Malo was good.  Sandy had bought baguette, ham and lettuce sandwiches to eat on the ride back.  That and an Orangina made for a nice one hour ride on the train.

When we got back to the apartment after 14:00 / 2 PM we had about had it for the day.  But it had been a successful day and we were very grateful.

April 21 in Saint-Malo – 21 avril à Saint-Malo

21 Thursday Apr 2016

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First an update. On April 7 we had a very high tide here in Saint-Malo.  A local group created a nice short video of the high tide which can be viewed at this link.

Today is a cloudy day with an 80% chance of rain. We will see if the forecast is accurate.

Our French lesson is at 10 AM.  We left the apartment at 9:20 to walk to the esplanade Saint-Vincent. The number 2 bus was at the bus stop so we got on it right way.  The gare / railroad and bus station was just a 5 minute ride.  At the gare we waited about 10 minutes for the number 5 bus.  The ride on the number 5 bus is about 7 or eight minutes to the stop Jacques Hesry which is the closest stop to our tutor Christine’s house.  From the bus stop it is a 4 minute walk to Christine’s house and we arrived at 9:59.

The only rain during our trip was two drops while we waited at the gare.

During the bus ride we were interviewed by a person who was taking a survey for the bus company.  He asked us some questions about our use of the bus that day, the bus stop where we originally got the bus today, the purpose of our trip, what type of ticket we had (single ride ticket, day ticket, or monthly pass) and other questions about our demographics.

The French lesson was interesting as usual.  Michel, Christine’s husband, stopped by to say hello.  He and Sandy briefly discussed their visits to the dentist this week.

By coincidence we got the same survey on the way back from our French lesson.  We thought they might not want us to take the survey again, but they did.  Hopefully we gave the same answers as the previous survey.

At the gare we had to again change buses from the number 5 to either a number 1, 2 or 3.  While we waited for the bus, we saw 10 or 12 boys playing a version of rugby.  The ball was being tossed around quite quickly.

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Rugby pick up game at the gare, the boy on the left in the gray shirt has the rugby ball.

After getting our bus at the gare, we took it to the end of the line which is the esplanade Saint-Vincent at the foot of the Intra-Muros.  We walked through the Transat RACE VILLAGE in search of give-aways.  We got a few pastry items.  Sandy picked up a half of a ham and cheese sandwich.  I guess she was a little hungry.

No rain on our walk back to the apartment.  So the forecast was not exactly accurate.

There were a lot more boats in the basin Vauban today.  Not sure how many, but probably all of those that will participate in the race.  Since there are different classes (types/sizes) of boats participating in the race there is quite a variety of ships in the basin.

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boats moored at the quai Saint-Louis in the basin Vauban

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marques with give aways

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double-decker bus advertising the race

After lunch we worked on our French lesson homework and reviewed things we learned in class today.  Then we spent quite a bit of time checking on our paper work for the visit to the OFII office in Rennes tomorrow morning.  We have quite a bit of paper work to take with us and hopefully the right ones.

Later in the afternoon we did get a little shower, so perhaps the forecast was not too far off.

Tonight we are going to bed early.  We have to catch the 7:17 train to Rennes in the morning.