Day 34: Brittany: So many Crepes!

June 22, 2012

Our friend Aurel stayed with us at the farm for a few weeks a few years ago as part of a farm homestay program. Now he (and Chloe) opened their lovely apartment in Nantes to us so kindly. More than that, Aurel took a day off work to show us around.

Nantes has been part of the Pays de la Loire region since the 60's, but before that it was the capital of Brittany (Breton). The city, like most in Europe, is ancient, having been founded by the Celts around 70BC. It has a chequered history as a centre of the slave trade, a triangular setup in which trinkets were transported from here to Africa, traded for slaves, and the slaves moved to the Caribbean in exchange for tropical goods which were returned to here.

So there is a narrow cobbled street section of town. However, this is also a modern, developing city, and there are modern sections of town too.

Aurel took us to both sections.

Here in the modern section is a theatre workshop built atop a former blockhouse:

an example of "new" Nantes - La Fabrique is a theatre workshop. It was built on top of a WII bunker.

He also included (in the modern section) a unique attraction in which artisans are fabricating mechanical animals. The showcase of this is a 40 foor tall mechanical elephant. Cool! (The elephant sprayed people with a water mist from its trunk - visiting school kids loved this.)

The elephant is on the move. It travels quite far around the area

Also modern, but not necessarily typical was this pair:

Back along the river, we noted a line of buildings that used to be on the waterfront - probably homes or businesses of slave traders or other prominent citizens. The river has been relocated, so these buildings are no longer water side.

The building on the right is sinking. Buildings along the Loire were built on piles. Now the Loire has been relocated and the piles have shrunk. The other buildings are straight because they are recent (post war) construction. The original buildings were destroyed during the war.

Across the river from Nantes is an interesting former fishing village, called Trentemoult. The buildings here are not arranged in streets exactly, but seem just placed individually, creating narrow crooked laneways. These laneways combined with a unique pastel painting scheme reminiscent more of the south of France, make for a photogenic spot.

Trentemoult is a former fishing village (and pirate hangout?) on the south bank of the Loire. The area was subject to much flooding before dredging of the river, an d houses had floodable lower areas and dry upper floors.

Trentemoult is very photogenic, and, Aurel says, very expensive.

Aurel next buzzed us out past the rather unremarkable industrialized St. Nazaire (we did however see three cruise ships under construction). Closer to the mouth of the Loire are the villages of Le Croisic and Batz.

So that put us out pretty much at the end of land, and the closest to Canada in this area.

Salt making is a special activity here, and pink salt from the region is a gourmet specialty.

Le croisic has to be the crepes capital of the world. Every restaurant is a creperie, and there are lots of restaurants. Now we really know why crepes back home are always called crepes Bretonne. The town is also super photogenic.

Aurel and Chloe had to rush off to a family affair over the weekend, but they left us their apartment for as long as we like. What sweeties! Actually, though, we are eager to begin the Eurovelo 6, the bike route that was always the centrepiece of our planned bike travel. It is just over there, by the Loire, and tomorrow we will give it a shot!

BONUS: CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

If you travel to a country with a really different culture and economy from your own, you expect the big differences and while you may have culture shock, it is part of the package. However the little differences from North America to Europe can also be quite noticeable. I have already mentioned the big difference between "coffee"" at Tim Horton's, Mcdonald's, or even Starbucks, and coffee here. This resulted in the "faux pas" of asking in a cafe to have my large(ish) thermos refilled. Readers will recall that the cafe owner made a valiant effort to fill the thermos with teeny European cups of espresso.

Today's featured faux pas is about how to use the shower. Aurel and Chloe's modern, elegant, apartment has a hand held shower. So far so good, there is a hand held shower at our house too. But the hook for suspending the shower is one foot above the tub floor. Hmmm. Well, I used the handset to make myself wet and the next thing is usually to apply soap. But that takes two hands, what with dispensing the shower jell fromn a bottle. So I put the shower head down on the floor of the tub, facing down, and paused to read the jell bottle to make sure it was not hair conditioner or something. In the few moments of inattention, the shower head rolled over, and it rained all over the elegant shower room. The tub, you see, also had only a small, partial, shield.

In the later debriefing, Aurel mentioned his own puzzlement when in Canada: With the shower running overhead continuously, how do we Canadians get to apply the soap without it being immediately washed off? Well you just step slightly aside, of course. (Canadian tubs or shower enclosures are big enough for this). Well in Europe, you just turn off the water, of course. It's more environmentally sound, anyway.

Shower - a slight mystery about how to use this thing.

Speaking of environmental soundness, this apartment features a quite small stove, a small fridge, and a front load clothes washer with no dryer. The small fridge and stove also fit in with the large number of excellent restaurants just down the street (or any street), and the practice of going out (walking out) to buy fresh food quite frequently.

It's a big difference from driving your SUV 10 mikes to Costco for a two month supply of frozen fries, or whatever!

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