day nine (1): st-malo / dinard / dinan

St-Malo

Philippe put the top down on his Peugeot 307CC and we were on the road...

After a 45 minute drive, north of Rennes, we arrived at the sea side, fortified city of St-Malo.

Jacques Gouin de Beauchesne...



Port St-Louis...



Once inside the city walls we walked around a bit...





Cathedral de St. Vincent ...




The Breakwater...

After a short walk within the city, we climbed the Ramparts for more impressive views...

Public beaches below the ramparts...

Plage le Môle:




Plage de Bon Secours:

A view from the ramparts:
Foreground: Plage de Bon Secours with the famous seawater swimming pool...
Behind the pool: Le Grand Bé
Behind and to the left of le Grand Bé: Le Petit Bé.

Jacques Cartier. He was born at St-Malo...



In the distance, Fort National...



Place du Québec and Robert Surcouf...

After walking along the Ramparts, we went outside the city walls and since it was low tide we walked to le Grand Bé...

Two views from le Grand Bé, looking toward le Petit Bé...

A view of St-Malo from le Grand Bé. You can see the bell tower of the Cathédrale de St-Vincent...

descending le Grand Bé...



Walking along the path toward St-Malo (This path is submerged at high tide)...



Another view of le Fort National...



After the walk to and from le Grand é we headed back inside the City walls...



And eventually took a rest at le Café Univers...



...where we had a wonderful view of l'Hôtel de Ville...

After our rest, we walked along the street where there were many local artists. We particularly liked the work of this artist and bought a tryptic... actually the one in the lower left corner of this pic...

...and here's the proof of purchase...



After a couple hours walking the streets we headed back to the car and headed across the bay to Dinard...

day eight: rennes

Early morning... 8:30 or so, on the train: Nantes to Rennes. Off to visit La Reine de Rennes... M. Philippe.

A couple hours later and voila... Rennes. Once we get to Philippe's he does what any self respecting Frenchman would do... pours some Champagne...

Here's a couple pics of the view from his apt. The front:





The back:
(ain't that the biggest cherry tree ya ever did see?!)

After a short rest and Champagne (of course) we went off for a walking tour of the city.

Rennes is quite a beautiful city, with a lot of history, as you'll soon see from it's archetecture... going back, oh about 500+ years or so...

My ankle curses you... oh cobbled streets!



In the distance you can see the bell tower of the abbey church of Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine



...and a little bit closer...



Through the gates toward the Parc Thabor...










...and back again to the abbey church of Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine...




The Gendarmerie...



A miscellaneous window...



La Poste...



L'Hôtel de Ville, Place de la Mairie.



l'Opéra de Rennes...



...and to the right of the Opéra is Le Picca,...


...where the who's who of Rennes are seen...

...oh look here they are now...

Le Parlement de Bretagne (Parliament of Brittany) probably the most famous 17th century building in Rennes. It was rebuilt after a terrible fire in 1994. It now houses the Rennes Court of Appeals.

Miscellaneous other buildings in the city...

I can only assume that a relative of mine owns this place... oddly enough showing my passport and family name of Ellis did not entitle me to any freebies. Dommage.

The only remaining medieval Gate of the original fortifications of Rennes: Les Portes Mordelaises. From the exterior...

...and the interior...



This is Gael and Jacques in front of le Restaurant Creperie des Portes Mordelaises... but more of that later in 'a la carte"...