header header

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   





01.11.2018

On All Saints Day John and I walked along nearby canals exploring. The paths along the canals sometimes opened to little courtyards or brought us to little waterfalls where the water level changed. One of the canals we explored split in two creating an island. La Vilaine river flows on both sides of this little island. The green ambiance, old, ornate buildings and flowing water made for an enjoyable sojourn on All Saints Day.

On All Saints Day (a national holiday in France) we spent time exploring the canals in Rennes. The paths along the canals sometimes
opened to little courtyards. 		We saw a couple of these little waterfalls
at level changes.
At this point the canal splits in two
creating an island in Rennes. 		La Vilaine flows on both sides of this little island. On most walking paths in Rennes
there are outdoor exercise machines.
There are many examples of street art in Rennes. This is a typical building in the canal area.





08.11.2018

John and I had appointments to get our residency renewed (we have to do that every year until we get our permanent residency after 5 years). My appointment was today. Visiting the Préfecture in Rennes is a better experience than it was in Nice. Our appointments start on time and last only a short while. The staff are always a pleasure to deal with. Most customer service in France is less than great but face-to-face customer service by the government is generally very good.

In the waiting area at
the Préfecture d'Ille-et-Vilaine 		The French staff were very
courteous and efficient.





17.11.2018

Back at the Marché des Lice John showed me an expansive section of seafood where I hadn't been before. There were large sections of fresh salmon, other fish, clams, mussels, live shrimp, live crabs, escargot, eels, crayfish and hot prepared seafood dishes.

After the market we walked through the nearby historic quarter which is always interesting. The 16th Century Saint-Yves Chapel, which use to be the chapel for the local hospital, is now a Tourist Information Center. The very narrow streets, the mix of old and new architecture (and now some modern small scale light animations displayed through windows from inside a couple of old buildings) made for an eclectic collection.

Fresh salmon at the Marché des Lices. These shrimp were still moving. Escargots!
The crabs were still moving, too. Lots of clams. After the market we walked through
the historic quarter to get to our bus stop.
Some of the streets in the
historic quarter are very narrow. 		And some are even more narrow. 16th Century Saint-Yves Chapel is now
a Tourist Information Center.





18.11.2018

Again we've been hanging out at our little park doing late afternoon duck feeding. Once again many babies, toddlers and other young children were there with their moms or dads. Our rice, oatmeal and bird seed mixture is always popular with both the ducks and the little kids who want to interact with the ducks. John hand-fed a couple of the ducks which I don't do because one time one of them caught my fingers. It didn't hurt - it just startled me but now I'm leary of putting my fingers near a ducks beak.

I looked up more info on duck food and learned that ducks like fruit including bananas. I had some bananas in the freezer I had intended to use for smoothies which I thawed and took to feed the ducks. The thawed bananas resembled poopy in it's texture and some parents cautioned their kids who ventured near. Several ducks tried the bananas but they shook their heads afterward. I think the bananas were too cold.

At least 2/3 of the ducks have left and a bunch of seagulls were hanging out in the pond.

The leaves of many of the trees are turning orange now. The autumn landscape at Parc Oberthür is beautiful.

Late afternoon duck feeding at Parc Oberthür. Our rice, oatmeal and bird seed mixture is always popular. John hand-fed a couple of the ducks.
Autumn is beautiful at Parc Oberthür.





24.11.2018

It was John's turn to make Thanksgiving dinner so today we had take out "Thanksgiving" pizza. And we started decorating for Christmas.

Our upstairs neighbor came by to ask if we smelled gas in the hallway. We smelled something like machine oil but not the smell of gas we knew in America. I told the neighbor I wasn't certain that natural gas smelled the same here as it did in the states - if the additives were the same. I googled the question and learned that the same ingredient is used here to make natural gas stinky. I had wondered if there might be different preferences of the public or health or environmental concerns on each side of the pond regarding the additive that makes natural gas stinky. There aren't.

The smelly ingredient put in natural gas in the U.S. and throughout Europe is mercaptan, also known as methanethiol. Back in 2013 the Lubrizol plant in Rouen (Normandy) which makes mercaptan had a leak and the gas cloud crossed the English Channel and was stinking up southwest England causing great concern. Also, winds from the west blew the strong odor past Paris and caused another scare. There's been construction that has been going on all day and for the past few days in our apartment building. That might explain the machine oil smell.

Speaking of gas, the yellow vests fuel price protests (mouvement des gilets jaunes) have been going on since May of this year. Large demonstrations began on November 17 and continued every weekend since (primarily on Saturdays.) The November 17 demonstrations were disruptive preventing access to businesses including fueling stations. On November 24 106,000 protesters came out across France. 8,000 of those were in Paris where property damage and physical violence occurred over a significant area of the city.

Most analysis of the participants are that the far left (Communists) and the far right (populists/fascists) are responsible for the aggression, violence and much of the policy proposals. It's a complicated situation. Almost all of the issues center on economic hardships to the middle and lower economic classes. There are many articles about the movement that started in France and has spread to several other Western nations. One good background article by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone is "The French Protests Do Not Fit a Tidy Narrative".

Rennes and Nice haven't experienced burning cars and other property damage but Nantes has. Nantes is the city close to Rennes where the giant mechanical creatures live. One of our Democrats Abroad friends there posted some photos on Facebook of what she saw (fires) one morning on her way to work. There were (still are) significant protests in Rennes but no violence. Although the number of protesters in Paris is only 8,000 the violence there on Saturdays makes access to the iconic Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower difficult and unsafe.

Our friend Allison took this picture at Nantes... ... and this one, too.





27.11.2018

We're excited that we'll be going to Paris soon to see Christmas markets and displays and to go to the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery, an exhibition of murals, sketches and other works of Alphonse Mucha at the Luxembourg museum and we will visit the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter. There are several buildings in various European cities named the Pantheon and modeled on the Greek structure. The word Pantheon is a Greek adjective meaning "honor all Gods" and each building is for honoring the ancient gods of the different cultures.

Today we went to see the Crimes of Grindelwald (one of the JK Rollins follow ups to her Harry Potter series). John refers to the movie as the Crimes of Johnny Depp (Depp plays Grindelwald.) One of the major scenes in the movie takes place at the very ornate Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris which will visit in December.

We saw the Crimes of Johnny Depp movie at Cinema Gaumont (Rennes) in 3D in reclining faux leather extra large seats with speakers in the headrests. It was a great movie going experience.

The French Crimes of Grindelwald poster It was quite a surprise when we saw the seats. We could not believe how comfortable
the seats were.