2023    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Fougères - Sept   
2022    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2021    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2020    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2019    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2018    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2017    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2016    Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr    May    Jun    Jul    Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   
2015                                                                               Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   


The most recent entries are at the top of this page. Earlier entries follow in reverse chronological order.

30.12.2017

When John and I were walking through Oberthuür Park today we saw a bunch of bronze animals and a plaque near them. The translation of the plaque's text is

"Bronze, marble of Bardiglio The set of twelve sculptures designed for the roundabout at the entrance of town on the old agate of Nantes was split into two entities, the five marble pieces are still visible on the platform of the roundabout while the bronzes, disassembled for reasons of security, are now re-implanted in the garden Oberthur. These ambiguous animal forms chameleon / elephant, imagined an origin according to the rules of motor traffic, playing on left-right inversion effects, we call henceforth a walk freely in one direction or another around the newly redesigned pool."

The text is a bit cryptic (which may be the result of the translation) but basically these bronze animals came from some traffic situation and now adorn our park. Lucky us. They are cool looking and fun.

The plaque explaining the scultures.	One of the scultures in the park.

19.12.2017

The movers delivered our furniture today. They were great, nothing was lost or broken and they kept in touch with us to our satisfaction. The name of the company is Les déménageurs bretons and we recommend them highly. Ditto the realtor: Blot and the agent is Justine Fritea. The agent we had in Nice would seldom answer our emails but this one is right on it. And more. She's great and we recommend her.

We are so happy to be in our new place. And we have a garage so we can store our bubble wrap, moving boxes and anything we seldom use. Woo Hoo. A garage! We could even keep a car in there (if we had one). But transportation is so good and easy we don't want a car. On weekdays there is a 5 minute wait for the metro and a 12 minute wait for the buses. On weekends the wait is twice that.

17.12.2017

The Place du Parlement de Bretagne has a very nice Christmas market, a temporary outdoor ice skating rink, wandering musicians and tons of shops. There are Christmas markets throughout Rennes. We watched little kids skating with plastic animal push carts to keep them steady. Sometimes very little ones rode in the carts while their mom or dad pushed. Very cute!

We followed a drum circle playing holiday music. Everyone was dressed in red wearing Santa hats. Then we spent some time in the historic quarter (Old Town) visiting shops and just admiring the architecture.

We visited the park (Oberthür) near our soon to be new home. Though primarily a host to botanical gardens (including a huge rose garden), ducks, terns, swans, herons and many other species of birds visit or live there. Squirrels and other small animals do, too.

Our new apartment building in Rennes.	View from our bedroom window.	The joys of unpacking.
We love exploring the cobblestone streets of the historical quarter of Rennes.	Christmas penguins and a ghostly reflection of John taking the picture.	Christmas village in the Place du Parlement de Bretagne.
We enjoyed watching the ice skaters in the Place du Parlement de Bretagne.	Rennes is both a university and a family town.	This was a fun little Santa marching band.
Medieval half-timbered house in historical quarter of Rennes.	Historical quarter of Rennes has shops, restaurants, and 800 year old churches.	Our Christmas tree unpacked and set up!
Ruth in her snow man hat watching the stream at Parc Oberthür.	Many ducks in the pond at Parc Oberthür this day.	Two hotels border the northern edge of Parc Oberthür.

06.12.2017

Today we signed our apartment contract. We'll be home soon!

This afternoon we visited the very large Colombia shopping center and place. The center has pretty much everything you would need and it was decked out beautifully for the holidays.

Christmas activites in Rennes are scattered over the city, but a large portion of those activites occur in Old Town and near the Parliament. The areas of town near the large shopping centers also have a lot of Christmas action. We didn't get out as much as we wanted to but we saw enough Christmas cheer to keep us happy.

This holiday season program from 2015 gives you an idea of typical winter holiday activities in Rennes.

In Rennes there is always a festival, a concert or an exhibition to go to. A number of cultural events are organised throughout the year, such as the Transmusicales, the Mythos Festival, the Tombées de la Nuit festival, Rock'n Solex, the Travelling Festival, Mettre en Scène, the Maintenant Festival and the contemporary art biennial festival. Music, arts, cinema, theatre, dance, and more come to the streets from January to December. There are even many events on Sundays, with shows and free entrance to the museums the first Sunday of each month.

Rennes is a college town with lots of entertainment and activites. A very nice place for retirement (and school).

The weather -- without winds it is very pleasant. Sometimes very cold, sometimes rainy but not at all unpleasant. With the winds, however, you'd better be triple bundled because the cold with wind is bitter. I hate it. Happily that happened only on 2 days when we were outdoors and then on 3 more other days, according to the weather report. Fortunately I brought my very warm coat from the states and I bought boots in Nice when we went to the (snowless) Alps last year in January. The rain here is usually light, somewhat infrequent (for winter) and short in duration. Periodically we have bright blue skies and relatively warm weather (60s) which is when John and I trek around town.

We were jazzed to learn that Rennes has a consulate but we now know that it is not a full service consulate and we will need to go to Paris for most services we may need.

But if we need to (or just want to) go to Paris the train trip is an hour and 25 minutes each way. The train goes to Paris Montparnasse, Paris Gare de Lyon, Paris Gare du Nord, Paris Gare de I'est, and a couple of others. There is also a train between Rennes and Charles de Gaul airport.

Just an aside - soon there will be an express train from central Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport (and back).

04.12.2017

Today we checked our mail at general delivery which was so simple. John had all the steps for our move scheduled and pretty much everything went as planned (thank you, John).

This afternoon we spent an hour visiting Park Thabor (there is much more to see).

As part of the Dimanches du Thabor (Sundays at the Thabor) initiative, the open-air theatre and pavilion host concerts, shows and dance performances every Sunday in May, June and September. Free shows start at 3pm.

Thabor park has several levels with a variety of sights, sculptures and statues, water features (ponds, streams, fountains and falls), plants and animals and activities. The lowest level entrance has a stone waterfall between large stairs made of brick.

Just above these stairs are the waterfall and waterways, an area known as the Catherinettes Garden. Manicured but beautiful.

There are also a lot of big beautiful parks here. Parc des Gayeulles is the largest park in Rennes. It's located North-East of the city and covers over a hundred hectares. As a great place for leisure, outdoor and sporting activities, it has a countryside feel to it with mountain goats, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, deer, a hundred different bird species (including green woodpeckers, owls, nuthatches ...) and more. The swimming pool we want to use is located in that park as is an indoor ice skating rink. The pool has laps areas and a big twisty slide, a wave pool and medium sized pools of varies shapes and depths. It's a cool place. John wants to do laps there. I want to play.

Known locally as "Rennes' Central Park" Parc des Gayeulles provides facilities for a wide range of activities. You can picnic, barbecue or just hang out by the water, as well as run, hike or bike. It has two loops for running (4 and 6 km), fitness machines, multi-sport fields, a family swimming pool, an ice skating rink (Le Blizz), a mini-golf course, a zip line tree-top adventure course (Forêt Adrenaline), a skate park, etc. There is also a playground, gardens, an animal enclosure, paddle boats and a 3-star municipal campsite.

This park is only a 10 minute bus ride from our apartment.

We watched workers setting up the ice rink outside the Parliament building when we were out looking at winter displays.

The art in and near Old Town is fun. There is a lot of good quality street art near our hotel. A mural near the canal a couple of blocks away had several scenes including jelly fish, a fisherman trying to snag a giant whale and stylized bubbles before an underwater city street.

You'll see advertisements for the local specialty food 'galettes' which are crepes made of buckwheat flour. I think buckwheat pancakes are OK but I didn't care for the galettes which vary in their ingredients but are often served with a sunny side up egg on top. Not my cup of tea, but it's famous here. I prefer the crepes which are thin sweetened or salted flour based batter made with sweet (nutella or fruit compote) or savory (meat with sauce) filling. In fact they sell those crepe wraps in stores here and they are very good. Plus they don't stick to each other in the package. Mmmmmmmmmm ... Local creperies sell both gallettes and crepes and other foodstuff.

Gangways tie the houseboats to the shore.	Many shops have interesting signs in the historic quarter of Rennes.	The sign for "The Drunken Boat Bar".
"Like a Fairy" toy store.	The window display for "Like a Fairy" toy store.	Most of the streets in Rennes' historic quarter are cobblestone.
The rain gutters of the Parlement de Bretagne are dragons!	Workers set up the ice rink in the setting sun in the Place du Parlement-de-Bretagne.	Street art of a giant weasel in the historic quarter of Rennes.
Entrance stairs to Parc du Thabor in central Rennes.	A waterfall at Parc du Thabor.	Parc du Thabor has many charming hiking trails.
Another nice trail at Parc du Thabor.	Parc du Thabor origins date back to 1610.	Parc du Thabor has a little aviary with many beautiful birds.
Some of the larger birds in the aviary were secretary birds, pheasants and guinea hens.	The tower on the roof of the aviary was a dovecote for free flying doves.	There seemed to be more than a hundred parakeets and little finches.
Waterfalls in Parc du Thabor.	Great view leaving Parc du Thabor.	Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine (14th Century) is at the western entrance to Parc du Thabor.
Beautiful ironwork gate at the exit of Parc du Thabor.	Lunch at a local creperie.	Street art on the wall of a bar and restaurant across from the hotel that we stayed at.
We found this great mural on the local canal.	Jellyfish detail from the canal mural.	More of the canal mural. We really like finding the local street art.
A rare sight! Blue skies in Rennes in late autumn.	Ruth staying warm while waiting for a bus.	Église Saint-Étienne de Rennes, a 17th Century church.
A more modern (1980's) apartment building.	Music store is ready for Christmas.	We admire the way the French are always maintaining and restoring their architectural heritage.