Mes Vacances, Partie 2: Saint-Briac-sur-Mer

And on to Part 2! Tuesday morning, Atticus and I took the TGV to up to Saint-Malo on the northern coast of France in Bretagne (that's Brittany for you English-speaking scrubs). You know that episode of The Big Bang Theory when the guys take a train to a conference and Sheldon is overcome with excitement about the train? Well, I wasn't quite as weird as him, but I was pretty excited. I really like trains. They're fun! Here was the silly train selfie I made Atticus take with me:

Why were we going to the north of France where it is cold and often rains, you ask? Well, brief history of the life of Meghan for those who are just joining in: our family friend Michele lives in a little town called Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, and when I was 16, I spent a few weeks living with her family there. And it was awesome. So of course I wanted to go back! Michele was at the station when we arrived, and we drove the few minutes on to Saint-Briac-sur-Mer. Driving into town was exciting for me because it was like a step back in time to four years ago. I have all of these images in my head, and the place still looks so much the same! It's really beautiful. All old stone houses with ivy crawling up the sides, fleets of boats on the sea - it's the perfect little seaside village!

We only stopped at her house to drop off our bags though, because it was a beautiful day, and we had to take advantage of it! I mentioned that we came in to Saint-Malo. Well, the old city of Saint-Malo is a walled island with a pretty interesting history. The island was the home of the French corsairs, privateers who were authorized to raid the ships of nations French was at war with. Translation: they were pirates paid by the king. Jacques Cartier lived in and sailed from Saint-Malo as well. It has been through a lot of wars and had to be almost completely rebuilt after World War II, but it still retains a lot of historical architecture and the wall that protected it from enemies.

There is a boat shuttle that takes tourists over to the island, and we hopped on one and headed over for the afternoon. We walked along the wall and ate a picnic lunch while watching the tide go out. Another cool thing about this region: the tides are insane. The difference between high tide and low tide is enough that what an island at high tide is completely connected to the mainland at low tide. This was Atticus' first view of the region's tides, and he was pretty impressed! We walked out onto the nearest "would-be island" and enjoyed the sun.

 This island was connected at low tide, and we walked to it. Also cool, the pool on the left is filled at high tide by sea water and stands as a pool in the middle of the beach as low tide.

Afterwards, we headed into the town of Saint-Malo. It's mostly just tourist shops today, but the old church still stands at the center of town. The stained-glass is so beautiful and intricate!

The one other thing that must be done in Saint-Malo is a stop at a creperie! Atticus was really excited for this part. He actually wouldn't shut up about it. Of course, he was mostly excited for the hard cider for which this region is famous. After listening to him complain for an hour about wanting crepes, (even though we had just had lunch!) we finally stopped at one of the creperies that are every few feet along the street, and he had his first real crepe. Though I do miss American pancakes, the crepes really are delicious.

Our next two days were not quite as eventful as the first, but they were very nice and relaxing. We biked around Saint-Briac, walked along the beach, hopped around tide pools, had picnics on the sand, and played Scrabble by the fire at night. Atticus continued to be impressed by the tides, particularly by the boats that are left to sit on the sand as the water they were in recedes with the tides. It is a pretty cool difference.

Boats on the water at high tide and...

...Low tide! The difference is pretty cool. (Click on the pictures to see them up close). I was also very excited to discover I can do panoramas on my phone.

Atticus was bragging that he always wins at Scrabble, so I decided we had to play. I won and was very proud of myself.

Michele and I also had a good time looking through old pictures she has of my family. We even found one of my parents from when my dad visited my mom during her time abroad in France 28 years ago! Please excuse the haphazard taking pictures of printed pictures...

Nice hair, Mom.

 This life-size cardboard cutout lived in our basement for most of my childhood. It terrified me every time I walked downstairs in the dark. And apparently, it was also at my parents' wedding. That's Michele kissing him.

 Michele and my grandmother when my grandparents visited decades ago.

My cousin Andy - so cute :)

This part of the vacation was filled with lots of delicious food thanks to Michele, relaxation, and a lucky amount of nice weather! Pretty close to the ideal vacation in my book! But we couldn't stay forever, and on Friday morning, we had to take the train back... Which will be shared in part 3 of this little series! It's fun writing these - like reliving my vacation!