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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2010 18:59:01 GMT
After leaving Cancale the other day, I needed to get a refuge from the icy windswept bay of Mont Saint Michel. Saint Malo has those nice protective walls to keep you warm. Well, sort of. I still had a few kilometers to cover along the coastal road and couldn't resist a short stop at the Pointe du Grouin. It's a little nature reserve with some rocky outcroppings and the usual German souvenirs. And of course a lighthouse to keep ships off the rocks. Never forget that in France, everything has been destroyed so many times that most of what you see is just a recreated version of how things used to be. (Remember this about Saint Malo.) A couple of kilometers along the way was this lovely house, accessible on foot only at low tide. (more on the way, obviously)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2010 19:39:31 GMT
Unlike some of the lucky members here, I have always stayed outside the walls of Saint Malo intra muros, and this was no exception. Nevertheless, I got an excellent internet rate at the Mercure, including the buffet breakfast and the indispensable unlimited wifi.
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Post by bjd on Nov 30, 2010 19:45:27 GMT
What nice colours on your first few pictures! did you do something special?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2010 20:50:33 GMT
Bjd, I mostly just use the 'autofix' function on Photobucket which restores the washed out colours. Anyway, a bit of recent history about Saint Malo. It was a German stronghold in WW2 and needed to be liberated. The British bombed it first, but the Americans finished it off in August 1944. More than 80% of historic Saint Malo was completely destroyed. Basically, they changed just about everything except the outer walls and the cathedral. The hospital and prison that used to be there were booted outside the walls and a completely new grid of streets was created. The buildings used to have all sorts of ornate touches, but these were abandoned for a more 'austere' stony look imposing granite and slate exteriors. The actual interior of the buildings is plain concrete. It is a problem? Not really: everybody thinks it looks great. And so, as the day waned, I entered intra muros. Frankly, the whole first section could be confused with a shopping mall, since every shopping mall shop is represented there. All of the shops were open even though it was Sunday -- the stores have the authority to be open on the four Sundays before Christmas. But the principal commerces that were busy were the ones selling junk food to the tourists. What the hell is a kouign amann? Oh, okay, no thank you. I was more interested in walking the ramparts before night fell completely. (more on the way, sooner or later)
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 1, 2010 2:41:32 GMT
Kerouac, this is really dreamlike, despite all the modern touches in it. Doesn't that part of France have lots of myths and traditional tales? It certainly has the spookily beautiful landscape for it .... those craggy rocks, the low tide house, the lichen, the golden light .... it's great. Kind of depressing to see people gobbling fried dough spread with Nutella, especially since Saint Malo must have the same gorgeous seafood you showed in your Canale thread. It's almost impossible to believe that a thriving city was rebuilt out of all that rubble. It's a monument to the spirit of the people there. Can't wait to see more.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 1, 2010 3:08:30 GMT
There is a pâtisserie here called Kouign Amann, after the Breton cake (though I suspect it was from the more "Breton" part of Brittany).
Of course St-Malo has a lot of resonance for us.
I do find the reconstruction very austere - I guess they couldn't fiddle around with architectural details, but it also makes it seem very ancient.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 5:57:28 GMT
By then I was frozen and it was dark, so it was time to go back down into the city. (to be continued)
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Post by lola on Dec 1, 2010 16:22:41 GMT
So beautiful, Kerouac. Dreamlike indeed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 16:24:43 GMT
You've really captured the evening and night time so well in these photos. I'm amazed at the tree trunks implanted to protect the sea wall. How does that work? I can't imagine it provides that much protection.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 1, 2010 17:10:20 GMT
Those are really stunning photos Kerouac! I agree with you completely about the tourist eateries inside the old city walls. I thought them completely out of character. Our hotel was not expensive and also not 5 star of course but very adequate. Because the room faced the square it was very noisy until about 3AM - the waiters talking loudly was the most noise!
Bixa - you would think like I did - Oh yummy mussels. Wrong! tiny little impregnated with seasand is what we got - yuck!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 17:45:40 GMT
You've really captured the evening and night time so well in these photos. I'm amazed at the tree trunks implanted to protect the sea wall. How does that work? I can't imagine it provides that much protection. I imagine that the tree trunks make the waves splash a bit farther out at high tide so that less water sprays onto the road and cars.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on Dec 1, 2010 18:22:34 GMT
It may also have something to do with keeping the ocean from eroding sand away from the base of the wall.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 18:31:30 GMT
Back down in the city, I headed for the brighter parts but first came across this mysterious (to me) sign. I looked up "véhicule de répurgation" and discovered that it was a fancy word for garbage truck (and also any other vehicle involved in cleaning and hygiene). It is nice to learn new words. The WW1 monument had fancy (perhaps inappropriate) lighting. Passed one of the "minor" churches and then I was back down on the main streets. I skirted the cathedral that was closed by then. The junk food was beginning to look better as the evening progressed. Then I found myself back in front of the waffle place. You remember the one. I can't remember eating a waffle in at least 15 years (perhaps in Brussels?) but I decided that it was my duty to buy one in the interest of research. There are made right in front of you on a battery of waffle irons. The batter is poured in, and the iron is closed. After about 15 seconds, it is flipped over and allowed to cook for awhile. At one point, the waffle maker takes a knife and slices off all of the overflow from the iron. Then he flips the iron over again for continued cooking. Steam pours out the entire time, and I admit that it starts to smell pretty good. Here is my waffle cooking. I had chosen a " chocolat et chantilly" waffle, and that is indeed what I was forced to choke down. The waffle guy filled all of the little indentations with chocolate chips, and then he hit the whipped cream machine. A moment later, I was holding the noxious item in my hand. What a terrible mistake! They should have been selling rolls of paper towels with the waffles. Every bite covered my face with whipped cream, which I would try to wipe off with the tiny napkin. But after a few bites, the damned thing started to disintegrate (both the waffle and the napkin). Plop! A big gob of whipped cream detached itself to fall on the cobblestones, grazing my coat on the way down. Luckily, I did have a packet of tissues in my pocket, and I needed it. I tried to eat carefully without losing too many chocolate chips, but then disaster struck. The next whipped cream boulder rolled down the entire coat and made a wet messy sound hitting the ground, enough to make heads turn. I wiped it away as best I could, but I had whipped cream between the teeth of the zipper, and it is not easy to clean zipper teeth individually when one hand is still holding half a waffle. Well, anyway, I finally made myself presentable and finished the damned waffle. I will know better in the future.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 19:42:21 GMT
I thought this shop of nautical items and souvenirs looked interesting. I went back to the "tourist square" at the principal gate of the city. I have eaten in one or two of the restaurants here in the past, and the food was quite decent. Of course, you are paying more for the atmosphere than the food. (It was 18:30 when I took these photos, a good 30 minutes before French mealtime, so it can easily be imagined that the rare customers at that time were foreign tourists.) The city hall is located in a building that is part of the city walls. Satisfied with my twilight tour (except for the fact the Christmas decorations looked great but had not been turned on yet -- we complain about places that do it too early, but we quickly complain about the places sticking to more traditional dates. ), I exited intra muros and returned to the 'real' city. And I am indeed sorry that I arrived in Saint Malo so late in the day so that I could not give intra muros justice and visit the more traditional sights. I was running a sort of tight schedule, so I couldn't hang around the next morning, but I took a couple of pictures to give an idea of the place in daylight. (and where would I go next...? but this is the end of 'St Malo')
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2010 20:18:41 GMT
Kerouac wrote:
I never thought of that, but it makes sense.
FMT Wrote:
That was actually the first thing that came to mind for me as well.
The rest of those photos are very interesting as well. Especially the night scenes.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 1, 2010 20:27:39 GMT
I love those photos, particularly the one with the buildings reflected in the water in daylight. I can't help but wonder if a place as beautiful as this can be constructed from a pile of rubble in relatively modern times why we don't just build places like this from scratch!
And I'll have to remember never to have a take away waffle.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 3, 2010 2:53:22 GMT
Those kouign amanns look good though!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2010 6:16:58 GMT
Someone on another site was disappointed not to see any seafood in my report.
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