Brittany: Part One

ST LUKE'S: Well I'm back at home (or work as the present case may be) after our Easter sojourn in Brittany and while I have posted a couple of pics I thought you'd probably want to hear about our cider and cheese soaked adventures.

Day one started with a Eurostar journey, a cross town Metro ride to Montparnasse, and then a TGV train on to Rennes. A time hiccup meant we weren't able to find our seats for the first leg of the TGV trip but we were able to stand in the bar carriage harrassing some ageing French pop star so it wasn't a total write off. In Rennes we spent the afternoon devouring steak and chip baguettes (a national delicacy) and visiting Elerig's grandma before Kate and I were picked up by Lisa's parents. We spent the night with Lisa's parents devouring fine French food and making conversation in mangled English, translation and my bastard French.

The next day was a trip to the walled city of St. Malo, lunch by the beach, a visit to another beach, and then a long drive to the spectacular church of Mont St. Michel as depicted below. The whole scene is incredibly touristy but then it is quite spectacular and sometimes you just can't have one without the other. We spent an hour or so walking the walls, climbing little staircases, looking out over the acres of beach exposed by the low tide, eating ice cream and sipping beers in quaint little restaurant. Maybe the whole thing was a little disappointing but then the whole time I was there I couldn't get Monet's fantastic pictures out of my head. It would have been wonderful to be cashed up enough to stay in one of the hotels on the rock, eat a world renowned omellette (apparently) and watch the tide come and go. In king tides it washes over the causeway and the carpark turning the entire rock into an island.

We finished the evening off with dinner at Lisa's parents. The meal included steak, some of the nicest beans I've ever tasted and, most significantly, the best chocolate I have ever consumed. You know the elephant chocolate brand? Well same brand but this block included tiny bits of salt that offset the sweetness in the most exquisite way.