Rennes and Dinan
Rennes Opera house. Emily and Jos have played here several times and work together with the administration to develop musical shows.
Rennes
Rennes is a charming city about 50 minutes inland from Dinard. It has a 2000 year history and took a prominent administrative role in ancient times before Brittany was incorporated into France. Currently it is home to eight universities and therefore has a very young, hip vibe. It has become what they call in French, quite bobo (a more-or-less, depending upon your point of view, agreeable combination of bourgeois and bohemian). Since the pandemic Rennes’ population has grown significantly due to urban flight from Paris. It’s slightly cheaper to buy an apartment in Rennes than in Paris and for those who still have to work on location in Paris, there is a very fast train between the two. Life is a little more countrified here.
Rennes is also a shopping haven, with all kinds of very lovely boutiques and restaurants, which was our main reason for visiting.
La Gavotte is considered the best galette restaurant in the city.
We had visited Rennes with Cass and Billy last time they were in town, in 2022. At that time we all went to a show at the Rennes Opera which Emily and Jos had directed. We discovered some very nice shops then which we were anxious to revisit and we also had dinner with Emily and family in an unusual crêperie called La Gavotte. We made reservations for lunch this time.
We were charmed to see how the restauranat indicatates a reserved tables for its patrons.
A galette is a galette is a galette, although as indicated in my last blog post, there is a right way to make one. However, the most important difference are the ingredients in the filling. This menu offers very unusual ones and almost every galette at La Gavotte comes with ice cream on the side—mustard. rosemary , tomato or roquefort, to mention just a few of the unusual flavors available.
I love this photo of my friend Cass as I think it captures a couple of her delightful qualities; intelligence and interest in the world around her.
I wasn’t as adventurous as others, since my galette had nut ice cream to partner with my roquefort, pear and apple filling. Cider, either apple or pear, low in alcohol, high in flavor, is the best accompaniment.
The galettes are as delicious as they are beautiful.
We had many a pleasant lunch with Cass and Billy during our travels through northern France. Traveling, chatting and eating seem to go so nicely together.
Rick contemplating his options.
After the important luncheon hour, we got down to the real business of our visit to Rennes, shopping. Our friends had gifts to purchase for children, grandchildren and friends, and I had it in mind to visit again a shop Emily had introduced us to in 2022, a shop with the most beautiful and exotic paper products and art accessories I’d ever seen. It is called Bahon Rault. They call themselves a Papeterie x Flânerie which maybe could be translated as a paper stroll? More like strolling through a paper wonderland. Let us just say that the shop is a paper emporium with so many beautiful objects made of paper or supplies to be used with paper that it is almost dizzying. I bought only a few small supplies but they are things I had not seen anywhere else. It’s one of those shops where you keep picking things up and then must use your utmost will-power to put them down again, since even though you’d love to have them, you really don’t need them at all…
The lovely municipal swimming pool. France has any number of gorgeous art deco public pools.
Rennes has several lovely neighborhoods. This time we only visited the center, but in the past we have spent time in the beautiful public gardens which are positively extraordinary.
The river Vilaine runs through Rennes and over the last several years the city has installed floating riverbanks. The river is fully bound by walls and for years the river flowed through town with no riverbanks at all. A project of creating artificial banks, planted with native shrubs and trees was begun a few years ago. It is now the largest installation of its kind in the world at over 7000 square feet.
Rennes is a bustling and friendly city, the 10th largest in France.
There are many reasons to visit Rennes. It has much of the elegance and cultural opportunities of Paris, but in a more compact space and leisurely pace. Rennes combines youthful energy with old world charm. It is one of Emily’s most favorite cities. Its proximity to the sea makes it a very desirable place to live.
A canal that connects the Rance Rivee to the Ille River, which flows into Rennes is particularly beautiful. If you click this link, you will see what I mean. Rennes provides urban opportunities with rural possibilites. It ranks high for quality of life in France and apparently has more jobs to offer than any other French city.
The very beautiful and picturesque facades of old town Rennes, albeit with less traditional inhabitants.
We enjoyed ourselves throughly in Rennes, but toward the end of the afternoon, we decided it was time to head back towards the coast.
Higglety Pigglety store fronts.
Dinan
On our way back we stopped by Dinan, a beautiful historic old town between Rennes and the coast. As one of Cass and Billy’s family members put it when sent a photo, this view of Dinan looks like the street where Harry Potter bought his wand. The whole old town on the hill above the river has this other-worldly quality. This is actually a place where the unspoiled historic center is pretty much the only center of the town.
Old town Dinan.
We walked around the town for awhile, window shopping, gift shopping, hat shopping, taking in the atmosphere. Suddenly I began to imagine a piece of carrot cake, which seemed just the thing that was called for at that moment. I mentioned it to my companions. Amazingly enough, as if dreams can come true, we wandered past this Salon de Thé on a side street and what did we see in the window? A most beautiful handmade carrot cake, un-cut and ready to accomodate us. We took it as a sign and walked in to enjoy a very pleasant interlude, a cup of tea and a delicious piece of carrot cake, made exactly the way I like it by the pleasant proprietor. It was a stange experience because I think the last time I ever even imagined carrot cake would have been twenty years ago. I don’t associate it at all with France.
Sometimes life gives you exactly what you want. Better still, I suppose, to want exactly what life gives.