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Published: July 25th 2008
Well, I made it to Rennes yesterday and arrived on what must have been the hottest day of the year. Rumour has it that it was 36 degrees yesterday.... The hostel is pretty nice, even though they have lockout hours from 10am to 3:30pm. I have two Canadian roommates (at least that's it so far) and they're both really nice. Marina is from Victoria and is anglophone, and Justine is from Quebec and is francophone, though her English is quite good. We've been conversing the whole time in English because Marina doesn't speak much French, unfortunately.
After I dropped off my bags, hit a supermarket for my much needed water, and was able to set up my bed and everything, I went on a walk around town before meeting with Adé. The city is really neat, with old wood-timbered buildings, cobblestone roads, and lots of little cafés. I did about half of the walking tour that the front desk of the hostel had suggested before I met Adé. I'm glad that she was able to find me, because I had no idea what she looked like. We went for a drink, and conversed in French. I had a kir (white wine and crème de cassis) and she had a beer. While we were talking, I discovered that she and her boyfriend will be coming to Toronto in Sept. to see our mutual friend Thomas. Maybe I'll drive them to Niagara Falls since I know Thomas and his girlfriend Caroline don't own a car in Toronto. We'll see how that all works out.
While we were talking (and I did okay!) I found out that her boyfriend was going to join us for dinner and that we'd probably hit a creperie, typical Bretagne food. Once he arrived, I discovered that there were going to be 12 of us in total for dinner. Yikes! Speaking French with one person isn't too bad, but trying to converse at a dinner with that many people is a little overwhelming! Fortunately they were all nice, and there was in fact another anglophone there, whom I spoke some Englisht to, since her French is more limited than mine. It was quite late when we left and I got back to the hostel around midnight. I think I woke up my roommates when I came in. Oops!
Today I headed to Fougères to see the old castle. It was an hour bus ride there, and an hour back, and there really wasn't too much to see in that town aside from the castle. Lots of little restaurants to attract the tourists, but no bakeries selling sandwiches as far as I could see. It was much cooler today, and I actually was cold in my T-shirt and shorts. It didn't help that it also started to rain on my way home. I'm very glad that I learned from my time in Caen that you must always carry an umbrella, since the weather changes so frequently here.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to go to Vannes, which is on the Morbihan coast. It's about an hour by train each way. Then I'll probably finish the tour of Rennes that I stopped halfway yesterday. I had planned on doing that today after Fougères, but the rain and a headache made me decide to put that off.
I think that's about it! Sunday I'm off to Paris for a few days! Hopefully it will be nice and sunny there!
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Louise
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Lucky!!!
Crepes.....I am so jealous....we had bulgogi (sp?) for breakfast today and that was a major highlight.... think I should do Europe next year just for the food!