Bonjour à tous et toutes!
So this past week I had the wonderful chance to explore Bretagne (Brittany) with my dad and my step-mom, Ashley. We met up last Sunday, then spent the whole week roadtripping through Bretagne and discovering new (to us) places, foods, and people every day. They are in the middle of heading back to Maine right now, after we spent a wonderful (if tiring) week together exploring.
I'm just going to blast through an overview of each day, because I don't think I can explain all of every day in anything less than a 7 page report. Which is a lot. So here's an overview of our trip through Bretagne.
Day 1: Sunday
I met up with Dad and Ashley around 2pm at the train station. From there we picked up the rental car, and had our first experience with Samantha, our rather iffy GPS, who took us the long way to Mont Saint Michel, where we spent the night. Once we got to Mont Saint Michel we walked around for a bit, got settled into our hotel room, then found some sandwiches to take for a picnic lunch on the side of the Mont. After that we wandered back toward our hotel (which was within the walls of Mont Saint Michel), and found a bar/restaurant where Dad and Ashley tried their first Breton cidre (hard cider), for which Bretagne is famous. (It's pictured below). Then we settled in for the night, with plans to get up early the next morning to visit the abbey.
Day 2: Monday
We got up nice and early and were pretty close to the front of the line to enter the Abbey when it opened at 9:30am. While I had already been to the abbey with CIEE it was wonderful to go back and experience it again with Dad and Ashley, because I noticed things that I did not see the first time.
After touring Mont Saint Michel (and seeing the amazing beauty that is the high tide that almost completely cuts the Mont off from the mainland), we got on the road. We stopped in St Malo (which I have written about previously), where we once again saw beautiful high tides. That was also where all of us had our first salted caramel crèpes, which were amazing.
After Saint Malo we kept on the road until we cam to Saint Brieuc, where we stayed that night. We stayed in a nice old house that was run by a lovely older woman. She recommended a seafood place to us for dinner, where, after I gave her name, I received a personalized vegetarian meal, despite the fact that there was no vegetarian food on the menu. It was a pretty fancy and very delicious meal.
Day 3: Tuesday
On Tuesday morning we set out from Saint Brieuc and made our way on up to the rose granite coast, where we walked on a beautiful, rocky beach, and picked up some rose granite, which can only be found in Bretagne and two or so other places in the world.
Then we made our way on down to Saint Thégonnec, where we spent the night in a beautiful château. The château, Quélennec, is run by a wonderful couple, who made a delicious (and fancy) dinner for us that evening. They also have an adorable lab named Bruno, who made for adorable company.
Day 4: Wednesday
Wednesday morning we got started pretty early so that we could get out and see the enclosed churches for which Bretagne is known. These are mostly in the western part of Bretagne, and there are many rather close to each other. So we church hopped all the way down to Quimper, hitting a whopping 7 churches throughout the day. That evening we stayed on a lovely farm a little south of Quimper, in the town Combrit. We ate at a restaurant on the waterfront (river, not ocean), where I had the best galette of my whole trip so far.
Day 5: Thursday
Thursday we had a bit of a lie in, so we didn't hit the road until around 11, after a lovely breakfast put together by the couple who run the farm. On Thursday we worked our way down into southern Bretagne, where we drove to a town called Quiberon, on the tip of the peninsula (you should really look at a map of Bretagne). Then we went back up a bit to see the Megaliths at Carnac, which are huge stones in straight lines that have been in place about as long as Stonehenge. It was really cool to see them and to walk around them with my dad.
Day 6: Friday
Friday we headed on up to Rennes, stopping around 11 to visit the big car museum that's just south of Rennes, where my dad got to see a ton of awesome cars, and where I got to hear his explanations of why those cars are awesome.
Then we made our way back up to Rennes, and that evening Dad and Ashley came to my host parents' house for dinner. It was fun to have them all together, although very tiring since I had to translate a quickly moving conversation, as I'm the only one who fluently speaks both languages.
Day 7: Saturday
Saturday morning we set out for Rennes' huge and famous farmers' market, where Dad and Ashley picked up a variety of treats, some of which we ate during our picnic-y lunch in Parc du Thabor (the one with the awesome waterfall). We wandered the park and the market for about an hour and a half each, as there's a lot to see in both places.
After that we split up for a bit so that everyone could have some rest time since our week was super tiring.
Then Dad and I met back up around 5:30pm to explore Rennes. We walked through most of the downtown, and he got to see the Cathedral, the Parlement, a lot of other reaaalllyyy old buildings, and some of my favorite places to eat. We wound up in one of the pubs that I've been to with my friends a few time, where we had the extremely French meal of burgers (veggie for me), beer (Dad), and Irish hard cider (me). While it wasn't the most French way to end his trip, it was nice to switch it up a bit.
It was so phenomenal to be able to show my Dad around this city that has become really important to me; it was definitely one of the biggest highlights of this past week.
So, as you can tell it was a pretty crazy week, but it was definitely worth the craziness to have the chance to get to know this region better, to meet some awesome people, and to get that hug from my dad that I've needed for the past three months.
So, here are some pictures to share a bit of Breizh (the Breton word for Bretagne, or Brittany) with you, I hope you enjoy.
A la prochaine fois,
Evelyn
So this past week I had the wonderful chance to explore Bretagne (Brittany) with my dad and my step-mom, Ashley. We met up last Sunday, then spent the whole week roadtripping through Bretagne and discovering new (to us) places, foods, and people every day. They are in the middle of heading back to Maine right now, after we spent a wonderful (if tiring) week together exploring.
I'm just going to blast through an overview of each day, because I don't think I can explain all of every day in anything less than a 7 page report. Which is a lot. So here's an overview of our trip through Bretagne.
Day 1: Sunday
I met up with Dad and Ashley around 2pm at the train station. From there we picked up the rental car, and had our first experience with Samantha, our rather iffy GPS, who took us the long way to Mont Saint Michel, where we spent the night. Once we got to Mont Saint Michel we walked around for a bit, got settled into our hotel room, then found some sandwiches to take for a picnic lunch on the side of the Mont. After that we wandered back toward our hotel (which was within the walls of Mont Saint Michel), and found a bar/restaurant where Dad and Ashley tried their first Breton cidre (hard cider), for which Bretagne is famous. (It's pictured below). Then we settled in for the night, with plans to get up early the next morning to visit the abbey.
Day 2: Monday
We got up nice and early and were pretty close to the front of the line to enter the Abbey when it opened at 9:30am. While I had already been to the abbey with CIEE it was wonderful to go back and experience it again with Dad and Ashley, because I noticed things that I did not see the first time.
After touring Mont Saint Michel (and seeing the amazing beauty that is the high tide that almost completely cuts the Mont off from the mainland), we got on the road. We stopped in St Malo (which I have written about previously), where we once again saw beautiful high tides. That was also where all of us had our first salted caramel crèpes, which were amazing.
After Saint Malo we kept on the road until we cam to Saint Brieuc, where we stayed that night. We stayed in a nice old house that was run by a lovely older woman. She recommended a seafood place to us for dinner, where, after I gave her name, I received a personalized vegetarian meal, despite the fact that there was no vegetarian food on the menu. It was a pretty fancy and very delicious meal.
Day 3: Tuesday
On Tuesday morning we set out from Saint Brieuc and made our way on up to the rose granite coast, where we walked on a beautiful, rocky beach, and picked up some rose granite, which can only be found in Bretagne and two or so other places in the world.
Then we made our way on down to Saint Thégonnec, where we spent the night in a beautiful château. The château, Quélennec, is run by a wonderful couple, who made a delicious (and fancy) dinner for us that evening. They also have an adorable lab named Bruno, who made for adorable company.
Day 4: Wednesday
Wednesday morning we got started pretty early so that we could get out and see the enclosed churches for which Bretagne is known. These are mostly in the western part of Bretagne, and there are many rather close to each other. So we church hopped all the way down to Quimper, hitting a whopping 7 churches throughout the day. That evening we stayed on a lovely farm a little south of Quimper, in the town Combrit. We ate at a restaurant on the waterfront (river, not ocean), where I had the best galette of my whole trip so far.
Day 5: Thursday
Thursday we had a bit of a lie in, so we didn't hit the road until around 11, after a lovely breakfast put together by the couple who run the farm. On Thursday we worked our way down into southern Bretagne, where we drove to a town called Quiberon, on the tip of the peninsula (you should really look at a map of Bretagne). Then we went back up a bit to see the Megaliths at Carnac, which are huge stones in straight lines that have been in place about as long as Stonehenge. It was really cool to see them and to walk around them with my dad.
Day 6: Friday
Friday we headed on up to Rennes, stopping around 11 to visit the big car museum that's just south of Rennes, where my dad got to see a ton of awesome cars, and where I got to hear his explanations of why those cars are awesome.
Then we made our way back up to Rennes, and that evening Dad and Ashley came to my host parents' house for dinner. It was fun to have them all together, although very tiring since I had to translate a quickly moving conversation, as I'm the only one who fluently speaks both languages.
Day 7: Saturday
Saturday morning we set out for Rennes' huge and famous farmers' market, where Dad and Ashley picked up a variety of treats, some of which we ate during our picnic-y lunch in Parc du Thabor (the one with the awesome waterfall). We wandered the park and the market for about an hour and a half each, as there's a lot to see in both places.
After that we split up for a bit so that everyone could have some rest time since our week was super tiring.
Then Dad and I met back up around 5:30pm to explore Rennes. We walked through most of the downtown, and he got to see the Cathedral, the Parlement, a lot of other reaaalllyyy old buildings, and some of my favorite places to eat. We wound up in one of the pubs that I've been to with my friends a few time, where we had the extremely French meal of burgers (veggie for me), beer (Dad), and Irish hard cider (me). While it wasn't the most French way to end his trip, it was nice to switch it up a bit.
It was so phenomenal to be able to show my Dad around this city that has become really important to me; it was definitely one of the biggest highlights of this past week.
So, as you can tell it was a pretty crazy week, but it was definitely worth the craziness to have the chance to get to know this region better, to meet some awesome people, and to get that hug from my dad that I've needed for the past three months.
So, here are some pictures to share a bit of Breizh (the Breton word for Bretagne, or Brittany) with you, I hope you enjoy.
A la prochaine fois,
Evelyn