Running Around Rennes

La place Sainte Anne, named after Anne de Bretagne, who was forced to marry in order to unite her country with the enemy, at the age of 12. I'm glad I live in 2007. The "Rue de la Soif", or in other words, the street where people like to drink the most - "Thirsty Street" - is off of this square. Also, you can see a little blue store on the left; I used to develop my photos there. And I went to the cafe on the right many times. If you keep walking straight ahead, eventually you'll get to my school at Allee Ste Marie.

Last night, after talking to Trevor on the phone for the first time in what felt like a million years, I FINALLY succeeded at falling asleep. It took a long time. My brain was going a billion miles a minute. So many things have happened! So many memories just keep coming back and coming back!

I was wicked embarrassed when Claire woke me up at noon. I felt like the most rude person in the entire western world. Seriously.

She had put her kids at La Garderie pour que l'on puisse aller voir le Musee de Bretagne, and that we did. The museum was en construction when I lived here 4 years ago, so it was really neat to see it realise quoi. To faire la tour avec Claire, une vrai Brettonne, because you realize, I didn't just live in France; I lived in la Bretagne.

It's so weird. All my French comes back. I have a horrible accent, but I understand everything. It's awesome. I can't believe how much I understand; I'm positive that I understand French better now, after 4 years of learning and living and growing, than I understood at 16 years old. So weird, how languages work.

I thought this was an interesting picture. There was a whole exposee on la Deuxieme Guerre Mondiale dans le Musee de Bretagne. Seriously. World War II - we think about it as history. It still touches peoples' daily lives here.

Right now, I am writing this blog message from la salle de bains au 1ere etage. The outlet in my room, or I should say, in Marion's room, destroyed my surge protector. I'm glad that I didn't plug in my computer; a fuse must have blown, it had nothing to do with the charge of electricity or any of that stuff, although I did ask the guy when I went to buy un clee usb (usb port) at the electronics store with Julien and Pierrick tonight.

La salle de bains is just next to les toilettes. You know, in France, the rooms are completely different, and it's extremely useful. They also have sinks in most of their bedrooms, the kids I mean, which is very nice, too. Actually, the BEST part about the architecture of a French house is that usually they have light switches right next to the bed. I think that is a true mark of how advanced their civilization must be. Seriously, it's the most convenient thing in the world to be like, "Dang it, I forgot to brush my teeth - oh, okay, I can handle walking 3 feet to get to the sink! Oh dang it, I'm already under the covers and I don't want to cross the whole freaking room to turn off the light, oh, okay, I can handle reaching my hand up four inches to flick the light switch!"


This is my French mom, Claire, looking at one of the old genealogy books in the Musee de Bretagne. She should hook up with my dad; they'd have a blast. They're both "Genealogy Nuts", like the plaque in my dad's room!

This was pretty interesting; Claire remarked that it was the first time she's ever seen something from the Middle Ages...how do you say that in English? Les Moyennes Ages...is it Middle Ages or is it something else? I dunno. You know. Crusades, Feudalism, that kind of fun stuff...yeah, she remarked that it was the first and only time she's seen a statue that depicts the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all together. Usually, the one lacking is the Father. The big one is him, in case you can't tell.

A traditional Brettonne Frock.




This right here was an exposee on Breton Bedframes. I had a pretty good laugh with Claire - "If these beds could talk...wow they'd have some stories!"






I was waiting for Julien and Pierrick for a while at the Place Sainte Anne. This is un Manege - a merry-go-round. They have them at all the major squares in Rennes. They also had some market-type people selling wares. Mmmm cabbage!



















The second largest open market takes place in Rennes. All these tiny details come back! I thought they were lost, but they really aren't. It's crazy - living a memory, a dream!