Sunday, June 13, 2010

ZE TRIP - PART ZE FIRST

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Well, in the interest of keeping Geewits happy (cause I have to keep Geewits happy otherwise she harasses me by email), here are some pictures from the trip.....

We arrived in France on Friday, spent the night at a friend's place near Paris, and Saturday morning... ok, more like Saturday noon, we were off:



See, ze French road, ze French sky, ze Quebecer toes and ze lovely GPS we had the presence of mind to buy before leaving. And of course ze French car... which was actually an Opel, so technically it was a German car...

Brittany is far far away from Paris it is. A good 6 hours away. The next person who tells me France is tiny and distances are really small will get slapped upside the head. Yep....

The view from N&R's deck. They live just outside a tiny Breton village called Hôpital-Camfrout, so called because, it seems there was a leper hospital there back in the 1100s or something. Though I can't help but think a hospital back in the 1100s is definitely a place I wouldn't want to be...


Lucky for us they live close to the ocean. The ocean!!! Getting a regular salt water fix is important to my sanity, so it just couldn't get any better.... The pretty boat parking lot in Camaret



Look!  A Breton fisherman! Totally could be a fisherman anywhere in the world. But he's Breton he is!




And his boat was in much better shape than these...



The church on the pier (or whatever it's called - I'm not much for the right terms, as you might have noticed when I pointed out that "pretty boat parking lot") where I guess fishermen stopped off before they set out...


And the inside of the church. Isn't that ceiling cool? I love that it looks like the bottom of a boat. I actually saw several churches like that...



The fortifications:



Course we had to wander around town, more old stones for you Violetsky.


And some really old stones. Dolmens left by the druids thousands of years ago. Funny, really how you expect these places to be all silent and spiritual, not standing 20 meters from a bunch of modern houses.





The next day, on to Concarneau, a great town with a wonderful medieval walled town.... Obviously, this isn't the walled town... Just me and Mr. Jazz on the pier in front of the city... Ain't it nice that Mr. Jazz is able to keep his eyes open for a photo? One of his many talents it is. A talent that obviously I am sorely lacking.


A church where drunken homeless sailors could take refuge. There were, apparently, large numbers of drunk sailors in Concarneau, which is a major seaport...


A Concarnese cat checking out the pigeons... you could pretty much see the lust in his eyes. If he'd had wings...

A tavern that's been there for hundreds of years. It used to be out in the outskirts of town - it's about 300 meters from the walled town: the Korrigan Tavern. Korrigans are, according to Breton folklore a sort of fairy or dwarf-like spirit. At dusk they appear beautiful, but in the daylight they are ugly, with wrinkled skin and red eyes, so they tend to hid out during the day. Unfortunately, as I have to earn a living, I cannot hide out during the day when my eyes are all red and I'm not looking my best. Amazing what candlelight can do for your looks. Maybe Korrigans were actually just middle aged ladies in the times before good makeup and lighting.


The entrance of the walled town.


Inside the walls...







And to finish off the day - a purty French flower....

22 comments:

secret agent woman said...

I especially like the decrepit boat sand the flower at the end. Also the photo of you Jazzes.

I agree about the need for a periodic ocean-fix.

Jocelyn said...

This is all completely THE NUM, especially the pic of you two beauties. Thanks for the travel fix; it'll tide me over for a few!

Gaelyn said...

I could handle tipping a few with the Korrigans.

Dumdad said...

What fab fotos! It's a pity we didn't get the time to link up but perhaps next time.

Kay said...

It all looks charming and as if you are getting some great weather to boot! awww... vacation :) Have Fun!

Jazz said...

SAW - yeah, cause life without the ocean... not fun

Joce - Soon you'll be gone for a whole year...

Gaelyn - Yeah, that would be cool

Dumdad - Yes, it is a pity. Maybe you'll end up in Quebec at some point.

Kay - Yeah, the weather was great in Brittany. Surprisingly from what I'm told. Unfortunately, it's all over...

furiousBall said...

awesome pictures! i especially enjoyed the one of you and mr jazz!

Anonymous said...

Next time, I'll definitely have to get around to seeing the rest of this amazing country. And, I suspect that when people say European countries are small, they're talking as the crow flies. You probably weren't driving highways most of the time, were you?

Joanie Hoffman said...

Thanks for the pictures. I will Probably never travel to France so it's wonderful to see your photos.
Welcome back.
Joanie
p.s. you look so normal.

Jazz said...

Furball - thanks

XUP - No we didn't spend that much time on the highways. But who the hell pretends they're a crow?

Joanie - I am indeed abysmally normal and average in all things. Now I can't help wondering how exactly you were picturing me...

geewits said...

These are great! What a gorgeous place and so many wonderful things to look at. I may spend the day here looking at these pictures. It was worth the wait.
Thank you, Jazz.

VioletSky said...

What pretty, pretty, stones!
And at least you didn't have to drive for three days to get to the coast...

Just wonderin' - are you like me and wait for ages for all the people to disappear out of your shot and thereby making the place look as if aliens had descended and absconded with the populace. Or were they all still sleeping?

Jazz said...

Geewits - More to come, including a medieval castle...

Violet - Lots of the pics were take between noon and 2:00 pm. For some reason the streets seem to empty at that time, though I do admit to waiting for people to disappear. I hate pics with tons of random people in them.

Anonymous said...

what a FABULOUS set of pictures. I MUST MUST MUST vacation in Brittany before I die.

I should probably learn basic french too.

I especially love the picture of you and the Mr. you both look so gloriously happy and beautiful. But my favorite pic is the one of the cat. That tugged my heart, it did.

(oy, your writing style is rubbing off on me!)

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos, Jazz - especially the one of the dashboard of the Opel and your toes. This may be another instance of you and I being East Coast/West Coast twins: there exist a number of photos similar to that one, but with MY toes on the dashboard instead. I maintain that it is by far one of the most comfortable ways to ride in the front passenger seat while on a road trip.

Jazz said...

Rachel - Yes, you MUST. It's beautiful and if you add the food and wine to the mix... Mmmmm.

Pink - Yeah, it is... Of course the contrast would have been better had I been wearing bright red or pink nail polish...

Anonymous said...

I wanna go back to Europe! Lovely photos and found the tour delightful. And terrific picture of the two of you.

Guillaume said...

Hey cool! You are in Brittany! We go to Brittany pretty often, as my parents-in-law live there. It is also a great place for myths and legends, which I am really into, so every time we go there I am like a kid in a candy store. Funny you mention korrigans, as I did often in my blog:

http://vraiefiction.blogspot.com/search/label/Korrigans

When I was teaching French to kids in Saturday classes, I even read fairy tales about them. I think they come from too much drinking (and by the way La Bolée des Korrigans is a great cider, Bretons also have lovely beers). But my favourite Breton character is l'Ankou:

http://vraiefiction.blogspot.com/search/label/l%27Ankou

Oh, and try to go to Brocéliande (Forêt de Paimpont) if you have time. Great place for Arthurian legends.

cPaul said...

LOL at Boat Parking Lot!!

Jazz said...

Ian - GO! Go to Europe!

Guillaume - Actually I was back when I posted this. I never seem to be able to find the time (or energy) to post while I'm on vacation.

Paul - What do you all those in English? Port de plaisance in French. Still, it really IS a parking lot for pretty boats!

lime said...

i just love the old stone buildings. i think my favorite shot is the one looking down the road a bit on an angle. the one with wooden shutters. so lovely.

Warty Mammal said...

Don't you guys look great?

I enjoyed your other travel photos as well.