DAY 23 – Monday, September 20, 2010
This was a very productive day painting. Completed the “Briton Grand Archaud”. It was a quiet day and glad to spend some time getting more work accomplished. Watched a couple of movies to occupy the empty sound space. Chris has hundreds of cd’s of music on her IPAD and we have listened to all of them –hum…probably 10 or 15 times. It was hard to plan how much entertainment we would need for 30 days, especially when there is no television or internet. I am one of those people who cannot go to sleep without noise – a tv, music or something so I am re-watching the movies we have. Tried to join Netflicks, but when they figured out that my computer was in a foreign country, they said they couldn’t download any movies. Damn! Did get a couple of audio books downloaded. The first one was one that I had ready read (my fault for not keeping a log); the second one was great – a new Vince Flynn book –“Pursuit of Honor”. I love his books as his main character – Mitch Rapp – is always getting the bad guys – usually the terrorists. Only if it were that simple in real life! I’m big on patriotism and country…if you didn’t know that by now. Oh, and the third book I tried to download got lost in cyberspace since the internet connection kept popping off! So back to square one.
DAY 24 – Tuesday, September 21, 2010
After painting for a while, Chris and I decided to go to Best Western and catch up on our blogs and other things. It is hard to have to be organized enough to get everything you need to get done using someone else’s internet access. They are very nice there and we have become friends with the bar tender (only coffee and cokes…well occasionally a glass of “vin”.
It was productive and got a lot done. Decided to stop at another restaurant on our street. It was advertised as an Italian restaurant and they did have pizza. However, their menu was so diverse, we decided to try one of their specials. If I didn’t say before, most of the restaurants have a “fixed price” area of their menus which include an appetizer (starter), a main course (entrée), and dessert. It is usually the best way to order and you get at least three choices of each items. Again, a fabulous meal and may be the best we have had yet. Chris had a steak with a green pepper corn sauce; and I had pork tenderloin with a mustard seed brown sauce. OMG was it fabulous. Chris was dipping her “frites” in the sauce. And I really wanted to bribe the chef for the mustard sauce. So I will say…it is all in the sauces! And bread! Think I am ready to do the Julia Child’s French Cooking cookbook…one recipe at a time! (Just like the movie!)
DAY 25 – Wednesday, September 22, 2010
ROAD TRIP! Headed west to Saint Brieuc and points north on the coast. The history of St. Brieuc is closely linked to its evolution as a centre of religion. In the 5th century, Brieuc, a Gaulish monk, founded an oratory there. The city was sacked in the late 16th century during the Wars of the Holy League. The city is situated between the valleys of Gouedic and the Gouet and is the capital of the Cotes d’Armor. (Views of the valleys here is incredible extremely deep!)
We happened to arrive on their “farmer’s market” day. The market is set around the Cathedrale St. Etienne which I imagine has been taking place for hundreds of years in the same place. We walked around the old town area – again amazing how today’s life exists in these very old buildings. The cathedral was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Also, St. Brieuc is a cultural center for literature and art and very friendly people. This man saw us taking pictures across the street and came out of his restaurant to pose for us and invited us in for tea. He is Greek and we so enjoyed him and the woman, we think is his wife. We weren’t sure what they were saying to each other, but sounded like a husband and wife conversation. He had limited English and we have limited French, but we did exchange names. I took several photos of him and his wife that I want to send to him.
Alright! On up the coast. Our map was too broad and didn’t show exact road numbers and our friendly GPS “Mandy”, wanted more specific information. (They need to design a system that is more flexible…like we just want to go in that direction…attitude!). Anyway, we wanted to travel up the coastline and headed first to the port of St. Brieuc (which use to be a fishing port for New Founderland fishermen and is now an industry for scollops.) We found the port and headed north keeping the sea on our right side..How’s that for good navigation? The tide was out and we had the opportunity to see the famous Brittany low tide scenes. The docked boats were sitting on the sand, we kept driving and stopped to see where the water started. I would say the tide was at least 2 miles out, leaving the sandy bottom of the sea. We climbed down a small path to the beach and picked up shells and took pictures of the coastline. They have a road built down to the sea bed where they haul out sand when the tide is out.
We stopped along the way to just sit and look at the water (English Channel). It is so beautiful and peaceful. Chilling out!
We stopped in a small village named “Binic”.
The one thing we have discovered is that we do not understand the meal schedules here. Between say 3pm and 7pm, you cannot get food at any restaurant. You can have drinks, but no food. Service starts at 7pm sharp! The waiter must have thought that we were desperate to eat, so he found some bread with tuna salad spread (probably left over from lunch), but we didn’t care. Anyway, it was about 6pm, so we decided to head back as we were only an hour from home…and there would be food there! We stopped at “our” country restaurant “Le Cochon” for dinner. Chris enjoying her salad.
It was a great trip and a good break. We are planning our next outing to the northeast area to Mont St. Michel.
DAY 26, Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Dinan’s Day for the Farmer’s Market. Walked there struggling with “Le Matterhorn” hill as I think I was still tired from the cliff climb yesterday . I made it – again! Since I had already been to the market, I was able to head to the items I wanted to purchase for gifts and then the bread guy, the salami guy, the fruit guy, etc. Becoming a native, I guess. First day I have noticed that it was getting overcast. We have had so many sunny days, my mood immediately changed. Didn’t like seeing the clouds.
Chris met me for lunch. There were mainly salads for lunch, but after the climb I had just had on an empty stomach, and wanted something more. They had a “calzone” on the menu. It did say it had ham, cheese, tomato sauce, egg and crème. I wasn’t sure how those ingredients worked in a calzone (being use to American style). It was different. After cutting into it and having everything run out onto the plate, I think I was suppose to just cut the top open and eat down. It was unusual, could have done without the cream and tomato sauce. I just used the bread part and sop-up the creamy stuff. (Not sure if that was appropriate, but it worked!).
We took a leisurely walk back through the town stopping in lots of shops and taking our time to work down “the hill”. Just as we turned the corner onto our street, the sky opened up to a major rain!
We ducked into a terrace café and sat there for about an hour. It got lighter so we made our way home and got a bit wet. It’s 10:30pm and still raining. Afraid our dream weather may be over…we’ll see in the morning. Going to get in a little painting tonight since I have started a large “yellow cherries” painting and would like to finish it before I leave.
DAY 27, Friday, September 24th, 2010
Think the fabulous weather we have been so fortunate to have is over. It rained off and on all day and there is a definite change in the temperature. Lots of "sun" showers and not too hard. I painted all day and enjoyed the fresh smells of the rain. We decided to eat light and go to our favorite restaurant. Yes, we have narrowed down what we think it the best we have had. It is just on the turn off our street (rue de Quai) to rue de Petit Fort. I am still not sure of the name, but we had another fabulous meal. We actually switched the same meals we had before. Chris tried the pork tenderloin and I have the beef filet. Again, its all about the delicate cooking techniques and the sauce. I have decided no more envelope sauces for me...I am going to learn to make some of these.
Oh, I did finish my Giant Yellow Cherries painting. They are called Mirabella Cherries.
More updates to come...I am certainly enjoying sharing my experiences with you and hope you are enjoying our adventures. Only wish I could send you some of the delicious flavors we are sampling.
