I think they are talking about ancient Rome or Augustus.

So there was quite the crowd gathered near the cafe and it’s because there was an archery contest!  Fascinating.  Just something you don’t see much of back at home.

They are standing so close to each other!

We wandered to the beach to see the Adriatic since the weather was sunny.  It’s pretty much sandy beach from Ancona to the south up to Rimini.  The beaches in Senigallia are known for their velvety sand according to Berto.

The pier near the beach.

The Chen siblings in front of the Adriatic Sea

In front of the Rotonda.

Usually in the summertime, there are beach chairs lined up down the beach, but it's still off season. Italians were bundled up.

After a quick pizza lunch, Ern and I headed back Viterbo but on Robert’s recommendation, we went took a road through a gorge with a tunnel dating back to Vespasian in 76 AD (crazy!  how did they burrow through??) and cafe that used to host Mussolini when he traveled through that road to visit his mother.

Driving though a gorge - it reminds me of the Taroko Gorge in Taiwan.

The plaque to the left states that the tunnel dates back to the times of the emperor Vespasian

This cafe has a back room that is dedicated to Mussolini and his relics. The woman there said that he dined over 50 times there in that small room. It felt a little eerie to be in the same room.

Plate and utensils used by Mussolini

A letter from Mussolini

That night was the last night of the flower festival in Viterbo, so we just wandered around the city as the sun was setting.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t coordinated enough to grab a porchetta sandwich, so dinner was some fresh fava beans and some tomato flavored crackers.   Yes, a little lame, but Rome tomorrow!

We went to an agriturismo nearby for a delicious lunch and then joined up with Berto’s friend, Fabiana, and also Rina and Marta again for a tasty seafood dinner.

OK, so here are photos.  The photos of the house are from 2006. It rained the whole time, so I didn’t take any photos on this visit, but these photos are from September 2006 and you can see how beautiful the grounds are, the vistas and the building.  When it gets renovated, it will be stunning.  It’s already beautiful.  When I daydream about escaping Seattle, I like to think my backup is moving to Italy to help Berto renovate.  And then I remember how much we bicker.

Fugiano (from the bocce court)

The front portion is the lodge, to the right is the chapel and to the left is the carriage house.

The chapel

View out one of the windows

The view out one of the bedrooms - no this isn't a painting.

So in between the design sessions, we headed to lunch at Le Bettule – a local agriturismo that has great food.  I remembered the pasta with the truffle cream sauce and it didn’t disappoint.  FYI, here’s their website: Le Bettule

Homemade ravioli with a white truffle cream sauce and wild asparagus at Le Bettule.

Then we headed back to Senigallia to meet up with Berto’s friends – this time his friend Fabiana joined us for a fish dinner.  It was very interesting in that we essentially had fish based appetizers, one plate of cold preparations and one of warm seafood preparations.

The cold appetizers - from upper right - salmon, tuna, squid, some sort of whitefish spread and squid again. All very tasty and unique.

The warm appetizer plate - from upper left - breaded swordfish, something I can't recall, a proscuitto stuffed fish and prawns.

I had a coffee semifreddo for dessert, others had pineapple or strawberry semifreddo and cake.  It was an interesting conversation in that I didn’t speak Italian, and Fabiana didn’t speak English, but yet, when Berto said something cheeky in Italian, I could understand and give him a little punch, and ditto for Fabiana when he said something in English.  A women’s intuition or something like that!

Dinner with friends is always more fun. (L-R) Marlene, Berto, Rina, Ernie, Marta and Fabiana.

OK, Friday morning, I slept in a little and while Ern told me it was maybe 15 minute bike ride uphill to Bagnaia where Villa Lante was, he also offered me Yvonne’s car, so my late start necessitated that and let me tell you, it is NOT a fifteen minute ride uphill…..it’s a 15 min ride in the CAR.  I would have been so crabby and overheated and more importantly, late to meet Ern in the afternoon, so the car was the way to go.

Before leaving Viterbo, heeding the advice of Mel who made this trip last year at this very time, I went to Ernie’s local delicatessen, Gigi & Mena’s, and picked up a sandwich.  I had previously been introduced to Gigi as “sorella di Ernesto” and thus was warmly welcomed.  Mena hadn’t been introduced so she was a little more curt until Gigi explained who I was, and then she warmed up.  She put together a nice prosuitto and cheese sandwich on fresh bread and I was off.

Villa Lante – I’m less inclined to tell you the history of it, and you can read about it here, but it’s formal garden full of formal trimmed hedges, fountains and sculpture, described as being Mannerist style.  I would have guessed Renaissance, but evidently Mannerist is “high” renaissance leading just into the period when everything went overboard in the Baroque period.

Water plays a role as it does in so many gardens.  What I noticed about this (and so many of the other buildings, palaces, cathedrals) were some of the personal details.  The man who commissioned the garden was a cardinal named Cardinal Gianfrancesco Gambara and I’m not sure if it was just wordplay or if the actual spelling of shrimp in Italian is gambara with an a, but he used the crustacean imagery on occasion around the garden.

There were only four other visitors at Villa Lante. I had the place all to myself.

This runnel runs on axis with the entire garden.

The runnel flows into this fountain with these two huge reclining figures

In front of the statues is this long table on axis with everything else. There's something about long communal tablees that I like.

After this, I ate my sandwich on a bench in the sunshine in the park next door.  It was a totally relaxing morning.

Ern and I headed out on the road to visit Berto in Le Marche.  By the time we rolled into town, it was about 7pm and we met up with Berto and his friend Rina and Rina’s sister, Marta, for dinner.  Marta’s English is fantastic and Rina’s is much improved.  They both understand English very well.  We discussed movies (Rina, Marta and I share a common love of Ryan Gosling we learned) and television.  They watch some of the current shows, but Ernie and I steered them towards The West Wing and Friday Night Lights for more American references.  If they can follow the extremely wordy writing of Aaron Sorkin, then they’ll be fully fluent.  FYI, they learned English, believe it or not, but watching Alf.  Yes, I was also amused, but they love Alf and if my Italian could be as good as their English, I would have watched the Italian version of Alf too.

It’s about an 1h20m train ride to Orvieto with a transfer and changing platforms.  I had forgotten all about train travel and how nice and relaxing it can be, but then recalled all of the validating, and changing platforms and trying to listen for any changes in a foreign language.  It’s a wonder I didn’t end up in Naples or something.

Orvieto is another central Italian hilltown – beautiful vistas, massive wall fortifications, charmingly crooked streets and alleys.  It’s most famous structure though is it’s cathedral.  You study so many cathedrals in Art History that I had forgotten that this one was the cathedral with the crazy striped banding and the lively facade.

So when you arrive by train, you take a funicular up to the top and then you’re at the base of the corso – the main commercial street and a ten minute walk from the cathedral.

There’s a small fortress right behind the funicular with some nice views and it was nice to let the bigger pack of tourists go ahead and catch some quiet time.

View from the fortress right behind the funicular in Orvieto

Hard to capture quality of light, but texture and shadow on the building facades help.

I knew there was an outdoor market today in Piazza del Popolo so I took a right towards that area and found a bunch of stalls with fruits, veggies, meats, kitchenware, clothing, etc.

Artichokes!

The non-food stuff wasn’t that interesting, so I just picked up an apple and some strawberries in addition to a pizza bianca with zucchini that I’d previously purchased on the walk in to town.  There was a set of steps that led up to a vantage point over the piazza.

Pizza bianca with zucchini snack overlooking the market at Piazza del Popolo in Orvieto

I overlapped with a large group of Spanish speaker seminary students. They were very clean cut.

Knowing that the duomo closes at 1pm for services and that almost everything closes down between 1 and 4:30, I headed over to the central area to catch both the Museo Emilio Greco and also the cathedral.

The Museo Emilio Greco highlights the work of this Italian sculptor who did the design for the bronze doors of the cathedral.  Not unlike the competition for the doors in Florence, there was a competition in the 1960s to design the bronze central doors at Orvieto.  The doors are divided into panels and tell stories from the bible, but the style is uniquely modern and quite unlike any of the other work in and around the cathedral.  The museum was small, but had quite a few pieces – I liked the elongated figures and abstracted faces.

Museo Emilo Greco in Orvieto

The bronze doors of the cathedral

The facade is extremely animated - there are four sculptures across the front, just beside the base of the arches that are animals representing Matthew, Mark, John and Luke - I didn't know they had representational animals.

So inside the cathedral, the horizontal banding continues, but also the architect angled the walls in slightly so from the back, the cathedral looks much longer than it is – the reverse happens when you’re at the front.

Inside the cathedral are mini chapels and there is one to the right called the Chapel of the Madonna of San Brizio.  It is significant because of the work by the painter Luca Signorelli.  You can’t take photos, but you can read about the chapel here.  It tells the story of the the damned and the redeemed in colorful glory full of natural disasters, including angels that appear to be shooting lasers from their eyes – just kidding – sort of…..

Interior of Orvieto Cathedral

So at one we were promptly ushered out of the cathedral and dumped on to the steps of the cathedral.  I found a spot on the left side of the front facade and ate my strawberries while watching the large tour groups.  I am grateful not to be travelling in such a group, but I noticed all of a sudden that today was the first day of my travels where I was completely alone.  It felt very different – both liberating – I could stop and do what I wanted whenever I wanted, but also a bit lonely – a very different feeling than before.

Strawberries (from Spain which appears to be the fruit capital of Europe)

So knowing that all of the shops were closed, but not hungry because of the strawberries, I wandered to the far west end of town for a walk along the walls and views out.  My favorite part was at the quiet west end where there were few if any people around and I could just grab a spot and sit and read or write or think.

Italians will park anywhere...including between these benches!

So after a few hours of walking, I returned closer to the center of town and grabbed a very late lunch of some salumi and cheese.

I also tried to peruse through the Italian paper and was only able to guess by looking at the photos – lots of talk about the upcoming royal wedding, but I particularly loved this photo of Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi – the expression on Sarkozy’s face…

Since things were still closed (the Italian lunch siesta and I are so not in sync…I find myself wandering amongst closed shops all the time in Italy!), I took a walk along the north side of the town back to the funicular entrance where on the recommendation of my brother, I went down in St. Patrick’s Well which was built in the 1500s when a pope who was hiding out here ordered the well to be dug so that Orvieto could always have water.  It’s some 246 steps down in a double helix formation, so that people going down are not crossing people going up – it’s quite ingenious for when they actually used it – i.e. donkeys could go up one way and people another, etc.  This experience also confirms that I have a slight fear of heights – going down – but not climbing up.  It’s like I have no issues climbing up scaffolding up a building, but walking down scaffolding to go into an excavated site, I do.  The same slight panic happened here.

And looking up from the bottom

The funicular ride down was particularly fun because I got caught amongst a group of Italian middle schoolers – mainly boys jamming themselves into the funicular like a clown car…

OK, tomorrow – Villa Lante and off to see Roberto in Senigallia!

So this is a week ago now, but here goes…

I stayed at the apartment above Ernie’s school (SYA – School Year Abroad Italy) on via Cavour.  He usually stays at his host mother’s apartment (chosen so that he can improve his Italian – which is quite excellent!) but while I was in town, we stayed at this apartment where his colleague, Yvonne, and her 10.5 yr old daughter, Jadzia are staying.  The apartment is huge, so there’s tons of room for everyone.

Ernie and Yvonne had to teach on Wednesday, but Jadzia was still out of school for one day, so I got her version of the Viterbo tour and we headed to Civita di Bagnoregio for a visit.  Viterbo, like many Italian cities is a walled city with meandering cobblestone streets, tight alleys and many piazzas.  The modern city sprawls around the walled city, but yet cars still manage to drive through the crowded streets inside the center.

Ernie is a regular at Cafe Bagalino on Via Garibaldi. I learned very quickly that the Italian cafe is much stronger than the French, so I adapted my drink to be a cafe macchiato - shot of espresso marked with milk foam.

Jadzia and I started the day by walked around Viterbo – she gave me her opinions on her favorite places – bread bakery – good pizza bianco, but the lady behind the counter is not so nice, L’Antica Latteria – best gelato in town, buy the intero yogurt but lemon is not good – you get the picture.  It’s nice to have a local!

Architectural word that I learned – profferlo.  A common Viterbo element with a half story of steps and then a straight run of steps hanging off the front of the building – providing a way to get up to the upper level and providing protection for the lower level.  I wonder how they didn’t need to have a railing on the far side, but maybe people just learned not to walk drunk up the steps.

An example of a "profferlo" in Viterbo - sort of - I think most of the profferlo hang out in the middle of the air - not connect to a side building, but you get the picture

Jadzia in Civita

The walk up to Civita di Bagnoregio

If you’re not familiar with Civita, it’s a tiny hilltown only connected on this one side by this one bridge.  It’s a steep climb up, but the views are lovely.  There’s a small piazza, a few shops, a few residents and of course a church.  I tried to contact my co-worker, Jon and his partner, Lauren, who are in Civita on a fellowship, but our timing didn’t work out.  I felt kind of lame because really, it’s a TINY town and I couldn’t manage to say “Dove Americanos?” and find them?  But I digress.  It sounds like Jon and Lauren are doing great and finishing up this month.

The best seat in Civita...

...doesn't quite fit me.

Jadzia and I headed back to Viterbo and stopped by the ipercoop (one of the supermarket chains in Italy), and eventually hit the favored gelato place which is actually a dairy store that also sells fantastic cheeses, yogurts, panna cotta, in addition to their gelato.  Jadzia made her recommendations – pistachio, nocciola (hazelnut) and something flavored with cinnamon.  I went with the pistachio, cinnamon flavored one and got a croccanti al rhum – a rum flavored gelato with some crunchy bits of cookie.  All very delicious.  After a side trip to the playground so Jadzia could swing, we headed back to the apartment.

Dinner was over at Anna’s (Ern’s host mom) place.  Anna is a wonderfully warm and excellent cook.  We dined on homemade pasta (apparently when there is a dry wind from a certain direction, she makes pasta).  To tonight was a tagliatelle with a ragu with wild boar and rabbit (sorry vegetarians!) and also lamb with roasted potatoes.

The highlight of dinner was when Anna’s daughter and grand daughters joined us for dinner.  They speak so quickly and animatedly.  I was only able to follow with the assistance of Ernie’s translation, but their energy was infectious and charming.  The affection between Ernie and Anna is very clear and I love how she corrects his Italian and he’s very good about checking in with her.

Ernie, Anna and I

The morning began with sunshine and warm weather again, so Ernie and I decided to take it easy and read the International Herald Tribune and my book (Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton – thanks Stesha!) at a cafe in the sunshine.  I had never quite explored the town of Versailles much since both times before I’d arrived by train.  Ironically, Ern and I didn’t get much farther, but we did manage to find a sunny cafe spot for an hour or so.  That’s something about vacation that we don’t have in our daily lives – time to linger. Or maybe I just need to not schedule so much stuff – including extra work.  Hmm….perhaps a breakthrough…or just vacation talk.

So we stopped by our last boulangerie where I picked up an interesting cake with cherries.

I accidentally took off a bite before photographing, but it gives a better sense of the filling. It was like a butter cake with cherries in the middle

Oh and Ern went to a barber shop – coiffure des hommes – for a shave.  I thought Mom and Dad would want to know that.

So we then drove to Orly to catch our flight (Vueling – I believe the less expensive version of Iberian Airlines) to Rome.  While in the airport we ran into two of Ernie’s SYA students.  One just turned 17 that day.  She lamented jokingly about being old and I think I just about choked on my yogurt.

So in true Marlene fashion, I slept the entire flight (1h40m) to Rome and upon stepping on Italian soil, Ern seemed immediately refreshed, renewed and excited because everything seemed familiar.  He kept saying, Northern Europe is so different.  It’s pretty, but it’s so civilized. No one honks, or yells across the street and it’s so clean.  His other observation is that it’s lovely, but in Italy the ugly is uglier and the pretty is even more beautiful, I can believe that.

The weather in Italy is what I expected for Paris – in the low 60s, with grey skies and some showers.  So I was underdressed as we waited for the train to Viterbo, but I soaked in the chatter around me, recalling the terms, “binario” (platform, I think), uscita (exit)…it all sounds familiar, but I tend to reply in French right now – oui, instead of si.

We made it into Viterbo by 8pm and lugged my bags to the apartment in the old town.  Ern stayed here last year, but now lives with his host mom, Anna, outside of the center of town, so his colleague and daughter live here.  Ern crashes here from time to time.  We headed to his favorite pizza place, Il Monastero, where the pizza is classically thin crust, like a cracker, and I kid you not, comes on two plates, so you essentially get two pizzas.  It’s a little ridiculous, and it costs about 6-7 euros.  Take that Delancey!  We ran into the faculty having a reunion dinner there for a former SYA instructor.  I think I had multiple people say that I was so like Ernie, or that we were so alike – expressions, gestures, etc.  I so don’t see it, but others have said the same, so it must be true.  I need more data though.

So here’s the ridiculously large sized pizza.  Mine was broccoli sausage on the left and proscuitto mushroom on the right.  Seriously two plates.  I think we tried to justify this because we skipped lunch…..

Broccoli and sausage on the left. Proscuitto and Mushrooms on the right. At Il Monastero

It’s exciting to be in Italy.  I like seeing how Ernie flourishes here and how he embraces how expressive the Italians are.  Walking down the street, he said hello and spoke with every other shop keeper.  I think Ernie and Italy are a good match – louder and more expressive.  France might be a bit too restrained for him.  It’s lovely and he can appreciate it, but he’s more at home in Italy.  It’s partially the language and that people here care for him, but it’s the character of the people around him too.

Chartres cathedral from the south side - the west facade had scaffolding on it...note the different towers. The church originally burned down in the 1200s, and they managed to rebuild the whole thing in one generation - some 70 years. Amazing! The stained glass windows are difficult to capture in photo, but they are stunning inside.

Rib vaults in the ceiling of Chartres. The stained glass windows tell stories, though Ern and I weren't sure how people could see them. We couldn't really see them with our contact lenses in. I don't think the pilgrims had corrective lenses....

Interior of one of the local churches - St. Aignan Church - very colorful!

The interior of Chartres cathedral is also being restored with the years of dark dirt and grime being cleaned to reveal the creamy stone beneath. Here you can see an example of how brilliant and colorful a church interior could be at St. Aignan.'

It's difficult to capture the quality of light coming in from the windows (these weren't even stained glass), but the best I could do was here at this table covered with linen.

Chartres is divided in an upper and lower town.  Upper being where the cathedral is and lower is where the river is.  The river housed a number of businesses that were not so great for the river – butchers, fabric dying, tannery, but then those businesses moved out and they did laundry on the river until about the 1960s.  Now it’s just a quiet picturesque part of town.  Again, this was the Monday after Easter so the town was very quiet.  I can only imagine how crazed it was the day before on Easter Sunday.

It's kind of ridiculous how serene this looks. I think it also had to do with the sunny weather.

And there's the cathedral from the lower town

Just as we were walking up, Ern noticed one of the tiled installations that I recall being highlighted in the movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which some believe to be a hoax by the artist Banksy, but it still highlighted work by this Paris urban artist who puts up these tiled pieces, some small some larger in urban areas.  We saw some in Paris, one in Nantes and now this one in Chartres.  All of the characters look like the pixelated characters from the game Space Invaders.  Not sure if this is a real one, but I liked how it was tucked into the corner detailing.  Ern’s feedback was that he liked the work – it was easy, simple, colorful and easy to understand.

Work of the public artist Space Invader?

For lunch, before we headed to Versailles, we voted for non-bread items and had salad.  Salad Auvergne for Ern (salad with blue cheese, walnuts and egg) and a Salad Nicoise for me

Salade Nicoise

Then it was about an hour and 40 minute drive to Versailles with a bit of trafffic.  When we pulled up into Versailles, we noticed how everyone had parked along the side of the D10 highway and that you could just walk in.  I had forgotten the gardens were free, so we did the same, pulled the Citroen onto the curb and parked in the grass like everyone else.

I think Ern and I had had enough of each other and I was fixated on renting a bike to reach the far corners of the gardens while Ern wanted to walk and find a quiet place in the sun to read, so we split up.

In 2000, I came here with Sallie, Erin, Victoria and Mike. [Update:  In 2000, Sunny and Anna were with us!  I completely forgot which days we overlapped, but they were part of the cycling crew too!  Apologies!!]  We had stumbled upon the bike rentals near the end of our time at Versailles, so we only were able to bike for a short while, but I remembered thinking, “Next time, I’m at Versailles, I’m skipping the castle and just wandering the gardens”.  I wish Sallie had been with me to explore, but I had a delightful two hours from 4:30 to 6:30 on the bike in the sunshine and warm weather just cycling to wherever I wanted to go.  I went to the farthest ends of the grounds, at the ends of the axes of the canals to where there aren’t paved trails, just ruts in the grass.  So far I even got stung by nettles and ran into dead ends.  It was glorious and I just wished Sal had been there with me!

Can you see the chateau in the far distance? There's a long grassy lawn, then the two mile long canal, then some more gardens and then the chateau.

This photo's for you Sal! You really can't see the chateau now, my head is in the way....but I kid you not, the weather was so perfect, a dress and a scarf for color was all you needed to ride around for two hours.

On the far end of the gardens. Only ruts in the grass (I admit though, I took a small tumble when I couldn't stay on the path, sort of like getting your tire caught in the train tracks in South Lake Union - oh wait, I've done that too...) Anyhow, I have also learned, I must install a basket on my bike. It makes all the difference. Panniers be damned!

Towards the end of the day, the lines of trees with their geometric shapes continue to reinforce the axial views and forced perspectives.

And then my favorite picture of the day…

These two little boys were so enamored with whatever was on the video. The one on the left kept grabbing the boy on the right when he got scared. The boy on the right's body language is so engrossed in the video. Too cute.

I can’t describe the freedom I felt just pedaling around on the bike.  I could ride away from crowds near the canal and find my own little corner of the gardens.  Way out, there is wild anise/fennel flowering.  The weather in France has been summer-like, except that it’s spring and the flowers are all blooming.  It’s like there’s a nice bubble over France as the rest of Europe is still about 10 degrees cooler.  I met up with Ernie at 7:30 after my afternoon of riding and I felt refreshed.  I also slept really well that night.

Off to Italy…(but returning to Paris in a week!)

A bietot!

Today is also Easter, so we expected many things to be closed – which Nantes was.  It was a bit of a bummer, the town is 500,000, but it was pretty sleepy.  All the shops and cafes were closed, so it was a bit of a letdown especially after how lively Rennes was, but we wandered over to the large Castle of the Dukes of Brittany.  I was able to walk around the ramparts.  It used to have the Loire River flow right outside the ramparts, but has since been filled in.

The chateau of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes

FYI, lunch was nothing special, we just got a kebab sandwich since the cafes were mostly closed.  I think at some point on a trip to Europe you end up having a kebab….the other option was McDonald’s or a very sad panini stand which since Ern lives in Italy and I’m heading there on Tuesday, it didn’t make sense to have something Italian.

We then made the long 1.5h drive to the chateau of Chenonceau.  This is where all of the tourists were on Easter.  We got there after 5pm and thankfully most people were leaving, but wow, that parking lot was crowded!

The chateau had an interesting history, but in short, was seized from its original owner by the King of Francis I.  Later King Henry II (who was married to Catherine de Medici at the time) gave the chateau to his mistress Diane de Poitiers.

The chateau is unique in that it spans the River Cher.  The servants quarters and kitchens are in the piers of the castle.  The most interesting thing we learned was that the River Cher was the line of demarcation between occupied and free France during the 2nd world war and the gallery pictured below was partly in occupied france and partly in free France!

Standing guard at Chenonceau

Spanning the River Cher

At the far door is the door to Free France. This gallery spans over the river.

Hello!

Looking out from the gallery to the river

All over the chateau, there are fresh flower arrangements.  This weekend, they were all Easter themed since today is Easter.

Can you see the bunny in green behind the hedgehogs?

I may have turned into my mom. I seem to be taking many photos and spending lots of time in the gardens.

I really loved these glass cloches for the plants.

These flowers were so large! I think I saw them at Monet's garden as well. Maybe Melissa knows what they are??

Today was a lot of chateaux.  Tomorrow is the cathedral at Chartres and the gardens of Versailles.  I hope the good weather holds.  I want to bike around in Versailles!

Kouign Amann

It was about an hour drive to Rennes which is the capital of Brittany (which encompasses a few regions).  Rennes is a city of about 250,000 and very charming with a lively market on Saturday.  There are signs of its medieval past in the timber frame buildings that lean ever so slightly.

Just a little to the left....

Ernie and I were lucky enough to hit Rennes on Saturday on a sunny day when sitting in one of the many places having coffee and our treats was just what we needed.  We’re lucky in Seattle to have so many markets, but this was just so large (it’s second largest to the one in Paris) and colorful.  Just look at the photos below:

The color combination of these flowers caught my eye. I would have bought them if I lived in Rennes.

White asparagus is in season and very popular. The tomatoes were almost a little too perfectly imperfect, but they were still pretty. It's nice to know that they have to import produce as well (I think these were from Spain)

Bread here is sold by the kg. Some loaves were 2' long. Everything looked so fresh.

We bought some fresh strawberry yogurt (yaourt aux fraises) and Ern bought some rice pudding.

I think this is the parliament building....the administrative capital of Brittany.

From Rennes, we headed down to Carnac on the southern coast of Brittany.  Carnac is the site of several fields of prehistoric alignements of stones.  They still haven’t come up with a reason, but the wonder is that these were erected during the Neolithic era (between 4500 and 2000 BC.).  They are placed just so and in such order, it’s quite impressive.  However, it was my late afternoon crankiness that led to me just not being that excited and I’m sure others will cringe at my “stones in a field” statement, but it did feel that way at the end of the day.  I do recognize the feat of technology when they didn’t have any building techniques.  I think I just wish I knew the explanation…

The prehistoric monuments at Carnac. These go on for several kilometers. Some are small 3' high, some are quite large - 6'-8' high.

I kept thinking - how far did they have to dig down? Today there would be a cast in place footing and several pieces of rebar sticking up into this stone...

I was trying to get the sign, and managed to get part of the Breton sign that says "Karnag" which is Carnac in Breton

This was the giant menhir (standing stone). It wasn't in a field, but a ten minute walk away.

Since we had crepes last night, Ernie requested seafood for dinner.  We drove to nearby La Trinite-sur-Mer, a small sailing town (there was some event there that day) and we found a great seafood joint, where we enjoyed a huge platter of fruit de mer – crab, shrimp, clams, oysters, winkles (small sea snails), and larger winkles (called something else I can’t recall).   The platter was delicious, messy and came with a vinegar with shallots sauce and some aioli.  The only thing that threw me were the clams which were raw….but I went with it and pretty much satisfied my shellfish ration for the half year.  Stesha, I think you might have gotten hives from walking into the place .

Fruits de mer (or as Ern had to translate Frutti di Mare)

It was a long day, but it ended nicely at this place for dinner – Ern had a good point, it was a French tourist place.  Lots of french families sharing moules frites (mussels and fries) and plates of oysters.  I wish my parents and grandparents could have been there to enjoy.  They would have loved it.