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25.09.2017 - 27.09.2017

After extensive research we had decided to investigate Rennes (the capital of Brittany) first hand as a possible new home. We spent three days there seeing sights, looking at apartments to buy, testing the public transportation system and sampling a couple of the Mexican restaurants.

Rennes is lovely. It reminded John of Oregon. He was happy to see so much greenery. Lots of trees. "Ruth, look! Moss!"

Annual rainfall in Rennes is 100 mm less than in Nice. In Nice the rains are heavy in the autumn months and non-existent in the summer months, whereas in Rennes it rains light to moderate amounts 14 or more days every month including all summer long.

In Rennes in late September about 1/3 of the leaves on many trees were bright orange. In winter it snows a little for 4 or 5 days. It will be pleasant to see the changing seasons each year.

In Rennes when the locals speak English they say "wren" for the city name. When they speak French the say IHRen with a gutteral sound beginning the second syllable (they say the two syllables very quickly). John and I will continue to say "wren" until we are able to pronounce the French pronunciation. There are two languages local to Rennes: French and Breton. Many of the street signs are written in both.

Metro stops are conveniently located to the apartments we viewed. Because the physical size of the city is more compact than Nice, it is a quick 5 minute metro ride to the markets, interesting parts of town, large stores and cultural events. There is a lot of construction in progress for a second metro line that should be completed next year. One thing that we have noticed is that the French are ALWAYS improving on their infrastructure.

From Rennes we can take the TGV (high speed train) to Paris in 1 hour and 25 minutes. Of course from Paris you can travel throughout France and Europe.

The TGV also directly connects Rennes with Bordeaux, Ille, Montpellier, Avignon, Strausbourg, Dijon and Lyon.

Rennes is also an hour train trip from Saint-Malo an historic city and beach resort on the English Channel.

A great surprise was the amazing art nouveau mosaics of Isidore Odorico that were hidden throughout Rennes. In the 1920's and 1930's he and his family created mosaic art in public buildings (interior and exterior), private homes, churches and even cemetaries. There are more than 3000 mosaics that they created in northern France.

Britany's cuisine is considered a great foodie experience in France. Farmers' markets are in many locations in Rennes.

The food in Northern and Southern France reflects regional products. Restaurants in Nice use olive oil whereas restaurants in the dairy rich area of Brittany use a lot of butter. In Rennes there's plentiful seafood from the Atlantic and beef from cattle farms.

I love Mexican food. We dined at 2 of the 7 Mexican restaurants in Rennes. The food was wonderful. I am very happy that there are good Mexican restaurants in Rennes.

In Rennes there are a lot of "half timber" buildings which sometimes look like whacky shacks with their tilted cross timbers that aren't parallel. Some buildings don't have the timbers but have the effect painted on the side of the building. It can be a slightly disorienting experience. Painted designs of Xs, dots and varied herringbone patterns are also common and colorful.

John got all excited about the Eurasian magpies here. He misses the blue jays in Oregon. The Eurasian magpies are the most intelligent birds, and it is believed to be one of the most intelligent of all non-human animals. The expansion of its nidopallium is approximately the same in its relative size as the brain of chimpanzees, orangutans and humans.

John and I want to start swimming again and Rennes has many pools to chose from including the art nouveau Saint Georges swimming pool decorated with mosaics of Isidore Odorico.

One day after I told our friend Marion we were moving to Rennes she sent us a link to a news article about an earthquake that had just happened south of Rennes. It was a 3.9, which is a minor earthquake, but the earthquake history in Brittany is not trivial. Brittany is the most active earthquake region in France.

The Brittany quakes are caused by the push northward of the African plate. This push reactivates old faults in Brittany and in other part of France (the Alps, the Pyrénées, the Massif Central, and the Rhenan rift). I had read that there have been occasional earthquakes in northern France but tonight I read that over the last 50 years Brittany has been particularly hit by quakes compared to the rest of France. However, none have been greater than 4.0 and almost all are less than 2.0 The large number of small earthquakes is good in that they relieve the stress built up by the African plate against and under the Eurasian plate.

The strength of the earthquake increases an order of magnitude with each whole number increase on the Richter scale. The Earthquakes Magnitude Scale and Classes are listed on this web page. Refer to the table below for earthquakes magnitude and effects.

Magnitude - Effects - Estimated Number Each Year Worldwide
________________________________________________________
2.5 or less - Usually not felt, but can be recorded by seismograph. 900,000
2.5 to 5.4 - Often felt, but only causes minor damage. 30,000
5.5 to 6.0 - Slight damage to buildings and other structures. 500
6.1 to 6.9 - May cause a lot of damage in very populated areas. 200
7.0 to 7.9 Major earthquake. Serious damage. 20
8.0 or more - Great Earthquake. Can totally destroy communities near the epicenter. 0.15

John and I spent almost 3 decades in California. There were several 6.0 or larger earthquakes in California including some not far from San Diego.

The Peace March

The city seems to be run by college students - at least in terms of politics and culture.

"On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, the Rennes Committee of the Peace Movement and a group of associations launch the 2017 edition of "Tout Rennes Cultive La Paix". They will once again offer exhibitions, lectures and debates, radio programs, art and peace workshops, theater and local cinema in the neighborhoods from 21 September to the end of November."

"To develop our popular education activities in school or other environments, we have exhibitions that have been developed by ourselves or purchased. They are at your disposal for a minimum contribution, according to your resources."

Available exhibitions:

Women ambassadors of peace
Faces of Peace
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Youth in search of the future-Israel Palestine
Child Soldiers
Discrimination, sources of conflict
Nuclear disarmament
Embroidery of the word "peace" in 40 languages
Bretons at the UN
Women for Peace

We immediately saw that the architecture of Rennes was much different than Nice. A Metro train runs every 2 minutes.
Every 4 minutes on Sunday and holidays. 		Palais du Commerce in Rennes
Rennes' City Hall The newspaper building in Rennes The art nouveau mosaics of Isidore Odorico were in unexpected places.
600 year old St. Germain church was next door
to our BnB.		 Our host had little Venus Flytraps
growing in his kitchen. [FEED ME!!] 		A carousel in the Place de la Mairie
Our first Mexican restaurant in over a year! Ruth had fajitas. Ruth's extra ingredients came in little bowls.
John had enchies! Opera House at Rennes Medieval half-timbered houses.
The street signs were in both French and Breton. Many of the buildings still contains walls
built in the Middle Ages. 		A statue of a former mayor of Rennes.
The Parlement building of Brittany The entrance to the Parlement Saint Georges swimming pool. An art nouveau gem built in the 1920's.
The entrance to Saint Georges. Detail of entrance to Saint Georges.
More mosaics of Isidore Odorico. 		Interior of Saint Georges. Each side
is lined with little changing rooms.
Detail of one of the mosaics at Saint Georges. Interior door at Saint Georges. One of the many canals in Rennes.
The main post office had Isidore Odorico's mosaics on the floor... ... and the wall. Bus stops in Rennes had digital signs displaying when the next bus was due.





14.09.2017

Ruth and I went to the Prefecture today to renew our residency cards (titre de séjour). We had scheduled an appointment at 9 am (when they opened) to avoid waiting in a long line. It turned out that 100 other people were also scheduled at 9am, so we had to wait in line anyway.

We're still learning how French bureaucracy works.

We had all the documents needed along with two photos each according to the requirements listed on the website. At 10 am we were given a new form to fill out. So, Ruth and I got busy translating the document and filling in our answers in French. We got most of it correct and the helpful civil servants helped us finish.

The only other problem was that we needed three photos each instead of the two mentioned on the website. The Prefecture had three photo booths available to take pics (shades of Amélie!). The most difficult thing this morning was to figure out how those machines operated. We work on learning French every day, but there are always situations where we encounter vocabulary that we haven't seen before and are absolutely stymied. For quite a while we were stuck in a loop while following what we thought were the instructions for taking photos. Eventually a helpful passerby showed us the way. THANK YOU HELPFUL PASSERBY!

As I've frequently stated in this blog, the French are generally kind, helpful and understanding of newcomers. Ruth says "Mwah! Mwah! (kissy kissy). We love you Frenchies".

The evil photo booth