saint malo to nantes: goodbye france

dear friends,

so another coup out post.

so after all the complains and hate mails that i have been receiving, i will be nice with my postings from now on and not write anything that will portray myself as being nasty. i will censor stuff on this post and put the uncensored one on another site. but seriously, i am actually really really nice.

how is everyone doing by the way, instead of complaining, how about some updates on your lives ? i would so love to hear about what i have been missing down under too. its not a one way street u know.

anyway ...

Saturday 20th : Rennes
Day 37

(great recovery at rennes)

great. absolutely fantastic. i finally managed to get out of bed, caught the train and made my way all the way to rennes. my chest still hurt but no longer that much. i m finally exploring again. i actually feel as if its the first day of my trip again. the same feeling i had when i landed in amsterdam. felt so alive and well. also i m happily snapping away with my camera. rennes is a very nice city. somewhat reminiscent of strasbourg and carcassonne combined. every corner is interesting and inviting. there were some kind of demonstration there. i couldn't read what they were going on about nor i care if i did anyway. i just walked around them. just when i thought my luck has turned, i got another LOUD snorer in my room. this time i got up and sleep in the common room. as quiet it may be there, i woke up with a chest AND back pain ! hell. decided i hate this place now, i packed up and left.


Sunday 21st: St. Malo revisited - Day 1
Day 38

(st-malo: sunny days are here to stay)

an absolutely beautiful day to arrive. the sun was out and it was actually warm for a change.

didnt find chai-i. i guess she must have went to the mont saint michel to see the tides. instead, i went to sit by the beach to just chill and relax. also will go and have pizza at the same restaurant on my previous visit. got this sudden craving for pizza.

chai-i came looking for me in the evening. apparently she decided not to stay there because the tides only comes twice a month. every 15th and 30th of the month. instead, we went to the old city and have a really good dinner. we found this really cool little restaurant that serves local food. had a great night.


Monday 22nd: St. Malo revisited - Day 2
Day 39
the sun went away today. it was absolutely freezing. we went to the old city to hang out instead. chai-i had this craving for spaghetti and i had my pizza craving. we managed to find this other really cool cafe that serves both spaghetti and pizza. i resisted the pizza eventhough when i looked around at other people's pizza, they looked so good. i am saving my pizza craving for tonight, back to the other shop. when chai-i saw the pizzas, she couldn't resist it either. she held back and got her spaghetti.

we hung out at a really cool coffee bar after lunch. again, small, interesting and only patronized by locals. very nice.

the journey back to the hostel was a killer. it was freezing. it was nice and warm back at the hostel. anyway, i kinda made chai-i get out of the hostel to the pizza place. she swore at me all the way to the restaurant coz it was fucking cold and u know what ? when we reached the restaurant, it was closed. hah. we decided to skip dinner because it was a bloody long walk to the old city. We met a really cool canadian traveler but i think i shocked him with my inquisition ice-breaking question. hah.


Tuesday 23rd: St. Malo revisited - Day 3 + Dinan
Day 40

(dinan: nice)

woke up today to a beautiful day. so we decided to stay another day. we decided to do a day trip. we worked out that the only bus to dinan was at 12.30. chai-i still had spaghetti craving, so we headed to the same lunch place. same situation. we resisted and ordered the same thing.


(dinan: cats galore)

dinan is beautiful. so glad we came. such an amazing old city. we walked around the place, stalked a few people and relaxed. i will let the pictures speak for themselves.


(dinan: nice)

the bus back to saint-malo didn't come. so we had to run to the train station to catch the last train back. we kinda just made it.

back to saint-malo, it was fucking freezing again. finally made it to the pizza place and boy i was satisfied.

after having such a great time today, we did some research on where to go next. it was either bayeux, chambourg or some closer destination. unfortunately, the train line and schedule didnt quite work out the way we planned, we decided to stay one more day here before saying our goodbyes.


Wednesday 24th: St. Malo revisited - Day 4
Day 41

(st malo: the tide)

the day today is pretty cloudy. so declared it a lazy day. we had to go back to the same place for lunch this time coz chai-i had to have the pizza there and i ended up getting the spaghetti hah.

hung out in a really cool tea house the whole afternoon.

on the way back, we saw the most amazing tides. the waves came sweeping into the street. apparently its very dangerous and every year, there are a few deaths. people thought its amazing, they stand there and watch, a big wave comes and take them in.

we decided to cook that night and chai-i made a feast. it only cost us 2 euros each. hah.


Wednesday 25th October - Friday 2nd November: Nantes revisited - Days 1 - 9
Day 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50

(nantes: revisited)


(nantes: revisited again)


(nantes: in japan)

eventhough i didn't see the sun at all for the first 3 days, it felt so good to be back in nantes. there is something about this place which i just cant describe. its just a feeling i guess. totally love it. it feels so much like i belong here. i just wanna settle down here. when the sun finally shone, it felt GREAT !

stephane came here for the weekend and as usual it was great hanging out with him. he gave me a great tour and history lesson on nantes.

i found a art house cinema here that actually shows english films in english with french subtitles. i ended up watching 2 films.
1. control - an english film about the lead singer of joy division
2. paranoid park - a gus van sant film. i used to watch every single gus' film right up to psycho. was a big big fan. suddenly i stopped. i dont really know why but after watching this film, i m killing myself for not having watched his other films. now i have to go back to sydney and dig out all his other films that i missed.

found some extremely cool coffee bars :-
1. the cult cafe
2. live bars
3. le lieu unique
4. hangers a bananas

be sure to check these places out should anyone chose to visit me here in the near future.

found a shop that makes sting instruments. how cool.

there is a little japanese garden here. u can actually experience being in japan in nantes. cool.

above all, i did have a traumatizing experience. i needed a haircut bad and since all the french look so good, i thought i wanna look like them. so i went into this hairdresser. she spoke no english at all.
she went "blah blah blah"
i went "just a trim. A TRIM"
she went "blah blah blah" and cut cut cut and "ok ?"
i went "no enough not too much"
she went cut cut cut somemore ? "ok ?"
i went "yes enough ok ok ok"
and she went "yes ?" cut cut cut somemore and "ok?"
and finally i shouted "stop !"
and she went "good good good ok !"

note:
kaori !!! I MISS YOU. at times like this, i really really feel homesick !

also managed to talk to quite a few locals here. its interesting to dwell into the minds of the french people. apparently there is this little competition between rennes and nantes. almost like the sydney and melbourne thing. people here seems to be angry with the current political situation. i dont like controversy so i won't post it here. their president isnt very popular at all. young people here have big hopes and dreams. they actually believe that there should be a fair world. they so should grow up.

ok thats the end of france.
lets do abit of summary ...

the valuables:
lost : susanne's rainbow umbrella, my cap, my beanie, one white t-shirt (dont even ask me where it went), a sock (not a pair but one)
damaged: my sunnies, the straps on my day pack
bought: a pair of gloves, a new cap, the science of sleep DVD

the past:
left sydney: 58
in europe: 50

the lows
coughing days: 40
chest aching days: 5
rainny days: 26
snorers: 2

top 5 top french list
1. absolutely everyone there looks incredibly good. slim, cute and beautiful. if you see anyone fat and ugly, they are either a. american or australian tourist, b. married with kids, c. not french.
2. nantes
3. annecy
4. friendly local people. contrary to what the rest of the world thinks of the french, they are really nice people. just dont tell them you are english. hah
5. coffee bars

bottom 5 bottom french list
1. dog shit. u just cant look up when u walk. dog shit everywhere.
2. dogs. the french loves their dogs. they take them absolutely everywhere. even to trains and restaurants. we all should be EATING dogs !
3. fat and ugly and loud american tourists
4. grenoble
5. montpellier

xxx. j.