Some Things Are Different in France: Recycling

Many more things get recycled here, including all forms of packaging, even plastic wrappers, caps, and bags. Surprisingly, paper towels and tissues go with the compostables, not with the other paper goods. Glass goes in a totally separate container, which you have to go find on the roadside. Of course they’re large (all those wine […]

Our Beach

The Plage de Caméros (Caméros Beach) is just a short walk from our rental in Brittany. On the way we enjoy the flowers all around the home of our landlady’s parents, and wonder what they are going to do with all those apples and pears – at the moment they’re just dropping to the ground. […]

Hiking Crozon: (Sunny) Pointe de Pen Hir

We enjoyed our first hike to Pointe de Pen Hir on a gray and drizzly day (see our earlier post). We returned to Pen Hir this week on a brilliantly sunny day; the views were upgraded to spectacular. The water color really is extraordinary in the sun. First, however, we fortified ourselves with galettes (savory […]

Hiking Crozon: Pointe de Dinan

While entering a church in Umbria (Italy), we heard a tourist coming out say, “What can you say? Another beautiful church…” Here in Brittany, what can you say – another beautiful hike! The weather was particularly fine, not a cloud in the sky and about 20C (68F). In tribute to the weather gods, J changed […]

Quimper

We took a quick trip to Quimper a couple of weeks ago to eat at an Indian restaurant we really enjoyed two years ago, when we stayed in Plozevet. The restaurant was, sadly, not the same, but downtown Quimper was delightful. Why don’t U.S. cities and towns have more flowers?

Hiking Crozon: (Almost) Pointe du Toulinguet

Mornings near Crozon are almost uniformly gray. The sun doesn’t rise until around 8 AM, so there’s half the morning gone already. If people in Brittany tell you they get up with the sun (like us), it definitely doesn’t mean they are early risers! Around lunch time, however, the skies lighten, the clouds break up, […]

Hiking Crozon: Pointe de Pen Hir

Every day in Brittany can’t be sunny, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go for a hike! We headed out toward the southern tip of the “trident” at the end of the Crozon peninsula and something unexpected appeared… But what caught our attention first: The naval architect may be retired, but ship artifacts will still […]

Mont Saint Michel

Yes, it’s iconic and it’s on everyone’s bucket list… but it wasn’t that great. The views from afar and the slowly increasing size of the mount as you walk across the salt marsh were definitely the best part. If I had it to do over, I would skip the tour of the abbey. Lots of […]

Saint Malo: Ya Gotta Go!

Our friends G&B visited Saint Malo last year and highly recommended it. J’s former French teacher, upon hearing we are in France, said we have to go not just to Saint Malo but specifically to Le Beaufort hotel. (Carol brings small groups over for guided tours of France, so she’s found all kinds of great […]

Hiking Crozon: Cap de la Chèvre

The Crozon peninsula has an embarrassment of great places to hike. Our first expedition was to Cap de la Chèvre (Cape of the Goat). The flowering heather and gorse could be in Cornwall or Scotland…until the next hiker goes by and says “bonjour.” We continue to marvel at the many colors of the water, which […]