Rennes and Thanksgiving

Another week, another blog! This last week was very enjoyable. Just as I published my blog about the rain in Nantes, the skies decided to open up and let a gorgeous sun come out for 5 days in a row. I took advantage of Apollo's chariot to ride my bike, have picnics at the park, read outside, and plan an impromptu visit to the city of Rennes.

Rennes is the capital of Brittany. It's a smaller city, of 140,000. The trains that go there are TERs, which are regional trains, as opposed to the TGVs that cover longer distances. So, instead of going 280kms/hr like I did when I went to Paris, I traded for a slower version going at 170kms/hr. I have decided that apart from the frequent stops, voyaging by train really is the best way to travel in France. You travel comfortably, at very reasonable prices ( I get a 60% discount when I reserve in advance just for being under 25), and you arrive at the very heart of the city. Perfect for tourism!

I arrived at the gare in Nantes at 9:30am, and settled into my seat with a croissant, a coffee, and newspaper. After what felt like 20 stops later (I swear, there were little stations EVERYWHERE, and we had to stop the train at ALL of them), I finally arrived at downtown Rennes at 11:45am. When I got out of the train, I realized that I had left my map of the city at home. So what did I do, you ask? Well, I decided to not freak out, and just wing it. I started walking, and decided I would go wherever the road would take me...it's not like I was in a metropolis of 20 million. I know, I live life on the edge.. hahaha

Even though it's only 2 hours away, it's incredible how much the feel and architecture changes from city to city. Rennes is famous for its timbered houses, dating back from the Middle Ages. The city's old downtown is charming at every turn of a corner. The houses with different coloured wood planks, crisscrossing on the facades give the streets a cozy, narrow feeling. Some of them are crooked, and leaning into each other, giving you a slight feeling of being inside one of Dr. Seuss' stories. The whole time I was exploring, I was looking up at the facades, which makes for a dangerous hobby, since I almost crashed onto oncoming people and poles more than once.

The city is also host to the Portes Mordelaises, the last vestiges of the city walls from the Middle Ages. To be there and touch those 700 year old walls is very exciting for a History geek like me. I actually took a picture of my hand on the bricks (you can check out the pics here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2102307&l=6e2a0&id=122504569)
After a couple hours of aimless wondering, I got hungry, and decided to splurge on a nice meal at a nice restaurant. I had baked oysters for the entree, a fish cassoulet for the plat principal, and a pineapple crepe for dessert. After that, I visited the parliament building, which was burnt down in the 1700s and re-built exactly the same 2 years after. Since the sun was shining, and the benches were so inviting, I laid down for a good half hour, just enjoying the peaceful surroundings, and resting from all the walking.

On my way back to downtown, I stopped at the Musee des Beaux Arts. I had heard they had a good collection of 18th century French paintings that I wanted to check out. Unfortunately, the paintings wing was closed due to reparations, so I had to settle for a tour of the Egyptian and Greek artifacts wing, and the French sculpture patio. On the plus side, since some of the museum was closed, I only had to pay 1 euro for the entrance :)

There was an accordion festival going on downtown, so I enjoyed listening to some Breton accordion, and later on to a Celtic bagpipe from an excentrically dressed man. As the time was arriving for me to leave, I walked to the train station, and took the train back to Nantes. Watching a gorgeous sunset outside the window, I had the chance to reflect on the pros and cons of traveling alone:
Pros:
1) You don't have to follow anyone's agenda but your own. You can linger for as long as you want in the Victorian antique lace and doilie store (or whatever you fancy) without anyone throwing furtive looks at their watches, or impatiently tapping their foot.
2) You don't have to worry about entertaining someone on the train, plane, etc. If you want to sleep, do it. If you want to read, do it. If you want to make a royal ass of yourself, do it, knowing that no one will be embarassed that you do.
3) You get lots of time for self-reflection. You know, to ponder about things like the world economic crisis (see following blog post), what colour to paint your toenails, and how many situps you have to do to counteract the pineapple crepe you had for dessert...
4) Helps you grow and become stronger and more self-reliant, as well as learning how you react to situations when there's no other people around. Metacognition!!
5) You never have to carry anyone else's stuff.
6) You never have to be seen with someone who wears ridiculous clothing when they travel. This includes moo-moos, "Canada girls kick ass" t-shirts, ugly animal print, CROCS, sandals with socks, tiger-head t-shirts from the 8th grade, and other fashion monstrosities.
7) You may wear moo-moos, "Canada girls kick ass" t-shirts, ugly animal print, CROCS, sandals with socks, tiger-head t-shirts from the 8th grade, and other fashion monstrosities without anyone criticizing.

Cons:
1) You never have someone to take your picture, this often results in the awkward approach to a local (or other tourist), in which you exchange a polite conversation asking to take a picture with the monument/sight/famous building/street name that is the same as yours. With this option, you run the risk of getting ugly pictures b/c you're too embarassed to ask for a re-take. Not to mention, the friendly local/tourist may be a thief looking to run away with your camera. Bastards.
2) You have no one with you to help you make fun of other people.
3) You have no one to drag with you to the "romantic tour for 2" of the city's castles/gardens/river, etc.
4) No one's helping you with your luggage!
5) No one will bail you out from the annoying male/female who is hitting on you on the town square, and who will just NOT take the hint that no, in fact, you don't want a personalized tour of the city's biker bars.
6) Meal times are always spent alone :(
7) There's no one to split things 50/50 with.

So after a lovely and productive train ride of much thinking and list making, I arrived at Nantes, ready for a night out on the town. My friend Dan, from my class, had accepted to go salsa dancing with me. He brought along 4 other Americans, and after a drink to "lubricate the joints" as Dan calls it, we headed to Casa Canne. I gave group-wide lessons of salsa, merengue, bachata and reggaeton, and we had a total blast... not to mention that my students are now resident experts on all Latin dances. I'm that awesome.

After such an agitated 24 hours, I sure would've loved to sleep in. But since I was hosting the first ever French-Colombian-Canadian-American Thanksgiving, I had to make do with 6 hours of sleep.This was my first time cooking a whole Thaksgiving dinner by myself, so I was very excited, but also nervous to screw things up (in spite of my excellent cooking skills.. hahaha) Prep started at 1pm, and at 3:30 the help came. Dan, who has no idea about Canadian thanksgiving, gave me a hand with some of the cooking. At 7pm we had aperitifs with the family, as well as Melanie, a friend of Pauline's from her faculty. Dinner was a lovely, drawn out affair, where we enjoyed roasted chicken, stuffing, gravy, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and green beans, brussel sprout casserole with wine and parmiggiano, and a made-from-scratch pumpkin pie. Dan had brought us a delicious wine to have with dinner, and we all laughed, talked, and even sang while practicing our French. If you haven't seen pics yet, go here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2102330&l=f8b69&id=122504569
It was so nice to be able to share a little bit of home with this family who has shown me so much of the French life.

All in all, a perfect weekend! I hope you all had a chance to share it with your family and friends too! Oh, and on a side note: I am instilling a new Thanksgiving custom: since my French family didn't know what Thanksgiving was all about, they thought maybe we gave each other presents. So they got me a beautiful necklace, as my Thanksgiving gift, and also to thank me for making dinner, and sharing it with them. I was very touched, and had a little tear in my eye ( yeah, b/c it's so hard for me to cry...) So, in future years, if you're coming to my house for Thanksgiving.. dont' forget your present for the cook!
Until next time!