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03.12.2018

My laptop died last month so we visited a nearby computer repair shop. At the shop we saw a mouse and mousepad styled with the Brittany flag. Our area of France has a unique history in terms of its political identity. Refer to 29.12.2018 entry below for more info on that.

At a local computer repair shop we found this with the Brittany flag printed
on the mouse and mousepad. 		Flag of Brittany (Bretagne).





04.12.2018

After John's doctor's appointment (regular checkup) he wandered through the downtown area and took some pictures. He likes to wander and explore streets he hasn't been on before.

One of the many locks on the canals running through Rennes. Part of the old city walls that
still survive in Rennes. 		Christmas decorations on the
windows of a wine shop.





14.12.2018

Oooo it's cold, cold, cold but could we have a little snow? No, of course not. The temps won't be cold enough for snow for at least another month. That Artic front came in last year in February. There are no guarantees one will blow our way this winter.





15.12.2018

Friends have been asking us about the riots in Paris and elsewhere around France. Here's some info to put much of that into perspective. The protests started more than a year ago but the property and bodily violence just started at the end of November. Paris and some other cities suffered violence during their protests but Rennes has not. Transportation is periodically disrupted here but the webites for trains and buses are very good at keeping us informed. We haven't been taking flights lately so we haven't kept up with that situation.

Following are some links to good articles having detailed information about the movement, progress made and the possible future of the movement.

Gilets Jaunes: Protests in days and weeks ahead

Thousands of 'yellow vests' hit French streets in fifth Saturday of protests

Why France's 'yellow vest' protesters are so angry

Search Results for yellow vests on connexionfrance.com

The original "yellow vest" was the motor mechanic Ghislain Coutard, 36, from Narbonne in southern France. Nicknamed "vestman" on social media, a video he produced encouraging people to show their opposition to the gas tax by wearing a yellow jacket quickly went viral, with 5.4 million views.

Another social media "gilet jaune" popular with the media is Jacline Mouraud, 51, a hypnotherapist and accordion player from Brittany. She is part of a group called the "Free Yellow Vests," who are calling for demonstrators to stay away from Paris because of what they say is a "trap" set up by the government, which they accuse of pursuing "a strategy of chaos." "I don't see the point in marching on Paris, that is a piece of theater. This is not a game, everyone needs to understand now, everyone needs to realize what we have achieved and the fact we have been given the right to discuss," she told French newspaper Le Parisien. These leaders did not encourage the violence. They never intended that the protests become violent. Here's more information about other "gilet jaune" leaders.

In large part the yellow vest protests are targeting President Macron and his economic policies. He's very unpopular now. Macron is not a progressive but he's certainly not a fascist either. You wanna know what kills me about how the French people feel about Macron? His popularity is at 23%. Trump's popularity is at 43%. I guess the French people, in general, have higher expectations of their politicians?





20.12.2018
Paris

Our winter holiday trip to Paris was pleasant in so many ways. Some of the things you'll often see in Europe during the winter holidays are huge Ferris wheels, elaborate animated light shows projected against buildings and expansive mobile amusement parks. The Christmas markets display and sell crafts, decorations, toys, blankets, warm clothing, savory foods like sausages and some of the 246 kinds of cheese, mulled wines, roasted chestnuts, and coffees. Stalls selling sweet treats like old fashioned USA style candied apples and cotton candy and traditional European sweet treats such as crepes, French pastries, chocolates, macarons and croissants with fruit or chocolate also abound in the Christmas market stalls.
* Charles de Gaulle, "Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage ?" -- How can you govern a country that has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?

Did I make you hungry with that last paragraph? There's more to come. Moving on from French party food to Mexican dinner food (my favorite). Mexican restaurants are far from plentiful in France - unless you are near Notre Dame in Paris. We found 6 Mexican restaurants near Notre Dame and the one we selected, Fajitas was enjoyable with good food and decor. Dinner was our first stop and then we visited the Christmas market at Tulleries.

Paris has several Christmas markets fairly close to one another. In addition to the one at the Tulleries there are the markets along the Champs-Élysées and at the base of the Eifel tower and even more.

Here are some images and information about the nearly two dozen Christmas markets throughout Paris. [COMPARISON NOTE: Rennes has 3 Christmas markets.]

Separate from the Holiday Markets are the Holiday Lights displays and here's a general list of holiday things to do in Paris including lights, markets, concerts, plays, holiday museums' specials and more.

This is the closet we got to
Notre Dame on this trip. 		Place Saint-Michel We spent time looking at the Christmas displays.
We found a great little Mexican restaurant
online called Fajitas. 		We liked the decor and the food! We crossed the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) (1578) as the sun was setting over the Seine.
Ruth on the Pont Neuf. The Métro took us right to the
Jardin des Tuileries Christmas market. 		The huge Ferris Wheel towered over the Christmas market.
There were over a hundred stalls to choose from. Animatronic Christmas tree Little garçons at a fishing game.
There were lots of variety in the stalls. There were several multi-storey fun houses. Nice Eiffel Tower display.
There were many animatronic scenes.
This orangutan family was one. 		Lots of snack shacks. There were a few dozen of these Santa Claus statues doing different things.
Lots of fun at the ice rink. I liked these little wooden carvings. Animatronic elephant
This was a virtual reality roller coaster.





21.12.2018
Paris

We had planned to visit the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery but the wind and rain changed our minds and we went to the Louvre instead. This was our second time to visit the Louvre since we moved to France. There is still so much more to see. We spent a lot of time in the Louvre museum and our staying warm and dry there was terrific, so we skipped the Alphonse Mucha at the Luxembourg museum and the Pantheon - for now. We'll go back to Paris soon. And possibly improvise again, depending on circumstances.

Across the street from our hotel was Cimetière du Montparnasse which we had considered visiting in the future (possibly at Halloween). When we saw that the cemetery was across the street we took a few pics, but the rain and wind precluded our wandering there.

In the Louvre we saw dozens of gorgeous statues in the Cour Puget (Puget Court).

The Cour Puget display features outdoor statuary from the royal parks (Versailles, the Tulleries), stately homes, and the inner court of a Paris mansion which includes Pierre Puget's dynamic, large-scale works in marble.

John took many photos of a variety of works including statuary, room decor, furniture, a sarcophagus, paintings, wood carvings, weapons, jewelry, watches, masks, clothing and much more. I'm sure you already knew that the contents of the Louvre are huge in number (the largest museum in the world) and diverse and are changed periodically but for some details you can use this map and descriptions of the contents and the rooms.

The view from our hotel window.
Cimetière du Montparnasse 		The Puget Court from the second floor. The Four Captives (1682) in the Puget Court.
Venus Teaching Cupid How to Use his Bow (1755). The Child Oedipus Revived by the Shepherd (1818). Hercules Fighting Achelous (1824).
Joan of Arc Listens to her Voices (1852). Another view of the Puget Court. Gold and bronze Byzantium plaque
from the 9th Century.
Ivory carved horns from the 10th Century. French 13th Century sword. 9th Century ivory religious carving.
Braque Family, Rogier van der Weyden (1399) François 1, King of France (1530) by Jean Clouet. Albrecht Durer, Self portrait (1493)
Not a famous painting, but I really liked it.
Ruins of a Medieval Abbey (1850). 		The Astronomer (1668) by Johannes Vermeer. The Lacemaker (1669) by Johannes Vermeer with a beautiful wood inlay frame.
Pocket watches from the 1700's. Detail from King Henri II's armor. The Lourve pyramid and courtyard
on a rainy, windy day.
Pistolet from 1537. Louis XVI's bedroom. Marie Antoinette's sitting room.
Greek statuary from Cyprus. Sarcophagus from Carthage, Tunisia,
3rd Century. 		Second Century relief from Syria.
Three views of the Winged Victory of Samothrace... ..Second Century B.C.E. Discovered on the island of Samothrace in 1863.
Greek helmet 5th Century B.C.E. John having lunch at the Louvre. Lion Relief from the palace of Darius I, Babylonian, 5th Century B.C.E.
Pillar topped with a bull statue
from Daruis 1 palace. 		Another view of the Babylonian bull pillar. Ehih-il, Middle Euphrates, 2400 B.C.E.
Frieze of archers, from the Palace of Darius the Great (548-486 BC) at Susa, Iran Diana the Huntress, 3rd Century,
Roman copy of Greek bronze. 		We saw copies of this in the Vatican Museum and in Thabor Park in Rennes.
Venus de Milo from three views.... ... 100 B.C.E. Discovered in Milos in 1820.





23.12.2018

As is the case in most cities, Christmas time in Rennes is flashy and eventful. Here is a consolidated list of Markets and other Christmas festivities in Rennes.

We spent part of this evening at the Columbier Christmas Market. Then we went to the Rennes fun fair amusement park which has 25 rides and tons of activities, gifts and treats. I got cotton candy but this time I was a sticky mess as the winds picked up and the rain began to sprinkle.

A small 1950s train circles the track to the sound of Christmas music. This and other vehicles have been renovated by Régis Masclet for use in fairs and carnivals.

France has Christmas markets in every city and many smaller locales. The locations of the Marches de Noel throughout France are shown on this web page.

Animated projections on buildings for winter and other holidays is a common event in Europe. In Lyon a couple of years ago we saw a citywide display that covered many of the city's buildings including a few Roman ruins. This year we saw the light show projected against the walls of the 1700's building that houses our city hall in Rennes. Here's a video that shows part of the display we watched outside city hall. After you finish downloading it in your browser just click on it to play.

The Opera House with Christmas lights. The lightshow begins on the city hall. It was surrealistic.
Place de la République was decorated. And so were our windows... ... another window.





24.12.2018

We have a "Christmas" tree and a scene under it which is staged with Christmas themed stuffed animals. Our neighbors often come by and little kids squeal in delight. One little girl got very excited and pounded on the window. We put up a sign reading "please do not touch the glass" and there were no more banging incidents. It's nice, though, to hear and see the people oooh and aww about the decorations. We brought our flags with us from the states and we have six winter holiday flags which we used for decorations. I'm very glad we brought those. They make great quality decorations that can be put up and removed quickly.





25.12.2018

We fed the duckies today, Christmas Day at Parc Oberthür. I wore the candy cane striped hat I bought last year at one of the Christmas markets in Rennes. I let some ducks eat out of my hand - nothing to worry about with that. They're very cute. None of the seagulls were at the pond when we visited this time although we still hear them occasionally from the surrounding area. The English Channel is only 70 km north of us and the Atlantic is only 80 km to the southwest. The bright orange foliage on the towering trees near the pond is still autumnly beautiful.

Here's a video we took of the ducks eating our oatmeal, rice and bird seed mixture. After you finish downloading it in your browser just click on it to play. You can hear the typewriter sounds (for those of you who remember typewriters) of the duck's bill drumming on the boardwalk.

Ducky Claus came to bring Christmas goodies
to the ducks at Parc Oberthür. 		They got extra helpings of wild rice, oatmeal
and bird seed. 		The white duck was accepted into the flock.
We were happy to see that the parks department was composting the autumn leaves.





27.12.2018

A couple of days after Christmas we visited the Alma shopping center - all decked out for the holidays. Christmas music still played. The decorations were plentiful at every turn. When we exited Carrefour we were next to the backside of a giant lighted reindeer. Reindeer butt.

Making Mexican food here at home is more involved than it was in the states. I finally found a small bag of dried black beans at the Carrefour store in Alma shopping center in Rennes. That was a very nice Christmas present to myself. Mmmmm creamy black bean soup!

The Alma shopping center always decorates
for the holidays. 		This reindeer was 20 feet tall.





29.12.2018

Another Saturday of "gilets jaune" (yellow vests). Twitter has this long video of yellow vests in Rennes today -- chanting, performing brief street theater periodically and singing "La Marseilles" (which has some very gruesome lyrics, btw). You can read the lyrics for La Marseilles in French and English. Protesters were also waving Bretagne flags. Brittany has a political situation somewhat resembling Catalan. Both have a regional dialect very different from the rest of the country, both have a strong separatist movement and both have self-governing provisions which exceed those of other local governments. Today's Rennes gilets jaune march was peaceful. Other than Paris and a few other large cities the marches throughout France have been peaceful.





31.12.2018

To ring in the New Year I put up some strings of flashing lights and a couple of holiday flags. My New Year's Eve celebration this year was in jammies at home with our cats (John goes to sleep well before midnight). I toured the Internet on how Paris and the rest of the world were celebrating the New Year and I posted some Facebook well wishes. Did you see what those people in Times Square went though New Year's Eve? At only 6 PM their time the weather was raining, windy and cold and the people were crowded together shoulder to shoulder (good for staying warm, I'd guess) and no toilet was available so they had to improvise a solution (adult diapers). Ewwwww! I don't know what the potty situation is on the Champs-Élysées but the number of people there is fewer than 300,000 whereas Times Square is packed with more than a million people.

On New Year's Eve France deployed 150,000 police nationwide in anticipation of possible violence from the Yellow vests protesters and from terrorists. As far as I can tell there was no violence. When midnight came to Rennes the fireworks popped and kaboomed and teens and young adults rallied in the streets shouting, woo-hooing and laughing as though France had just won a major soccer match. The kitties perked up.

The French New Year's Eve song is called "Chant des Adieux" (Song of Farewell). It is sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. I love the words and sound of this song. I heard it the first time at midnight during my first New Year's Eve in Nice. I was atop the Ferris wheel while the crowd below sang (in French). Here is a version of "Choral des Adieux" by amateur musician Eugène Achi. Brought to Louisiana as a child refugee from war-torn Lebanon, Eugène was educated and trained as a neurologist. He now lives in Abu Dhabi.

Happy New Year to all of you from both of us and the cats.

Snoopy helped us ring in the New Year.