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5.06.2019

Our blog recently attracted the attention of John and Christine, an American ex-pat couple who recently moved to Rennes. After a few email exchanges we met them for lunch and introductions and information exchange. They had already been living in Center City Rennes for a while so they were familiar with a very interesting part of town, which is where we met them for lunch (see images below). We also sent them some info about activities around town and some of the ins and outs of living here. John and Christine are interesting and fun to be with. They also happen to have very similar world views to ours which is an added plus. After we get back from Toulouse in early July we'll show them Parc des Gayeulles with the Adrenaline Forest near a lake with well kept walking paths and benches. A nearby large penned area has deer, goats, swan and other animals. Across from the animals is our favorite indoor swimming pool. When friends come to visit we always take them to Parc des Gayeulles among a half dozen other interesting sites. If they stay long there are dozens of events and places to see and things to do. The tourist's office has the up to date things to do listing.

Some of the half-timbered houses
in Place Sainte-Anne. 		Place Sainte-Anne is pedestrian only
except for service vehicles. 		The ivy is in full leaf on the Basilique Notre-Dame de Bonne Nouvelle de Rennes.





8.06.2019

Alley and Gaultier were married last year. Many people who wanted to attend the wedding couldn't so Gaultier and Alley had an anniversary party this year. I went to their party which was held in the courtyard outside their apartment. I only stayed a couple of hours but I finally met her husband for the first time (VERY charming gent) and some of her friends.

To get to Alley's place you go to the Couvent des Jacobins (you can't tell from the image below but it has horizontal gold blinds across all the windows - it's hard to miss) and then turn left. The convent has an interesting place in the history of Brittany - for one thing it's where Anne of Brittany was forced to marry Charles VIII to save Brittany's autonomy. Like her other husbands he died young. Go figure.

The party guests were playing a game with a piked stick and a wooden ball on a string which had a small hole for putting the ball on the spike. The device is called a bilboquet and it reminded me a bit of Balero - the Mexican ball and cup game. The game at Alley's was more difficult because you had to put a wooden ball on top of a spike instead of in a cup). Of course there are many competitions and impressively experienced participants.

Shortly before I left the party Gaultier's group of musicians set up for a concert. The overall ambiance was quite impressive: beautiful weather, great food (Mexican, my favorite, Alley's too), wine, beer and live music. Who could ask for more?

If you have Facebook you can see a short video of Gaultier (in a long sleeve grey shirt) dancing with friends. Have a listen to a taste of the music (which to my ears resembles Cajun sounds). We've noticed that the French dance a lot - young and old. Just being in their audience is uplifting.

Here's a Facebook video of someone who is VERY good at bilboquet.

Couvent des Jacobins Friends gathered in the courtyard. Alley munching a tostado.
Alley and friends being happy. Musicians in the courtyard. More Bilboquet players.
Gaultier playing Bilboquet. A very skilled Biloquet player.





21.06.2019

Fête de la Musique, also known as Music Day, Make Music Day or World Music Day is a pleasant diversion throughout France but I didn't learn of it until this year. The first all-day musical celebration was in Paris in 1982. Music Day later became celebrated in 120 countries around the world.

There are a lot of festivities in France. Not just the big holidays but dozens of smaller fetes throughout the year. I love a good party. The Tourism office here keeps the public well informed of holiday, fetes and events.

During Music Day the major parks in Rennes host live music all day. Our next door park, Oberthur, hosted amateur musicians (mostly seniors) and we wandered over to hear the tunes. It was sweet with folk music (sung in French, of course), our neighbors gathered and pleasant weather.

A tree covered path leads to the chalet
where the choir waited. 		The small seniors choir sang sweet French ballads in the century old chalet. There was a yoga class enjoying the sun.
A second yoga class was on
the north side of the park. 		The office buildings at Parc Oberthür have mosaics from the Odorico family as does
the chalet. 		The mosaics covered the entire terrace of the office buildings.
Don't know what these pretty purple flowers are, but we appreciated them.





29.06.2019

Europe has been baking all week, with cities springing into action to prevent heat-related fatalities. The hottest day in much of France was yesterday, June 28, with temps exceeding 100+F in Paris. The hottest temp recorded in France was 113.2 degrees F (45.1 degrees C) in Southern France. French authorities have taken a number of radical steps this week to prevent a repeat of the tragic consequences of the 2003 heat wave that left around 14,000 people dead. Around 4,000 schools were closed in the country on Friday and the opening hours of parks and public swimming pools have been extended." In addition to those actions there need to be cultural changes. Most deaths in 2003 occurred in August in part because it is the hottest month and there were weather anomalies which exacerbated the heat. However, it was the tradition of almost the entire nation, including emergency medical workers, going on vacation for all of August which prevented the ill and wounded from receiving life saving help.

So far there were a few deaths in France during this brief wave - almost all from drowning of people trying to cool off in fast moving waters. There were a a small number of heat stroke deaths. There were 14,000 deaths in France in 2003. There were 9 last week. When the heat rises appreciably anywhere for a length of time, the infrastructure fails to protect the people. If you live in the Southern U.S. you're used to hot humid weather and everyone there has air conditioning. If you live in Northern Africa where summer temperature commonly exceed 110 degrees F you will not only have A/C but the buildings are well insulated and well vented. In France A/C is not common even in newer buildings, so as the temps rise here the infrastructure doesn't protect the populace as well as it should. It's all relative. The UK situation is even more dire as temps are much cooler there but this month temps rose past 100 degrees F for the first time ever. Keep in mind that it's only June and we have 2 hotter months to come. This past week the temperature extremes were caused by a high over Europe drawing winds from the Sahara to surge over Europe. Roads, bridges and railway tracks were also damaged by the heat this past week. With climate change the infrastructure in vulnerable areas will start to change but at significant expense.

The past five years have each now ranked among the five warmest on record. According to NASA, 18 of the 19 warmest years have occurred since 2000. The warming of the planet is unambiguous and irrefutable. I suspect this year will make 19 of the last 20 years.

I was checking temps of other cities I know in France. Paris and Nice were often at least 10 degrees F higher than here. Nantes (the city with the giant mechanical animals slightly south of here but very close to the Atlantic coast) was 5-10 degrees F cooler than here and Toulouse (where we are headed in 2 days) is 15-20 degrees F hotter then here. When we arrive in Toulouse it will be 25-30 degrees F warmer than in Rennes. The heatwave in Rennes is over. With Toulouse being far south and not near a coast, their heatwave will continue for several more days. So it will be in the 90s degrees F while we are visiting Toulouse (and joining our friends Doc and Marion). Thankfully a fair amount of our site-seeing will be indoors. We can also sit on the banks of the Garonne river enjoying the breeze. But no swimming so we don't drown! More details on Toulouse will be in our next blog.