Rennes Scenes

Rennes is the capital of Brittany, a very old city, now a high tech center, and France's 10th largest city. The chief draws for us were its Saturday market--reputedly France's 2nd largest--and its traditional and historic architecture. Yes, half-timbered. Tall half-timbered, as we'll see in a subsequent post. But first some other sights about town. Oh, we stayed in a free aire adjacent to the municipal campground and took the bus. Actually, we stayed two nights in Rennes, but that's another story.

You get off the bus right in the heart of the city and think you
are in a flower market or at least an outdoor garden store; but no,
it's just the open public mall with hundreds (thousands) of
flowering plants in pots on these stands, going on for blocks

After the market (next post) we went to the
Rennes cathedral; these Romanesque towers
are all that remain of the two previous
cathedrals on this site since the Middle Ages;
these great buildings don't always stand the
test of time, and in particular, a part of the
first Romanesque building collapsed in
perhaps the 12th or 13th century; a Gothic
building followed but it began throwing stones
in the 17th, and so was taken down

What then was built, and which stands today, is a sort of
Baroque neo-classical; not very French-looking, but interesting

Elaborate chandeliers throughout; a very dark place, as one might
imagine

Central dome/tower/oculus

Pantokrator, sort of

Dying, no, Dead Gaul

Pretty organ

Our next church--I failed to get its name--has
been turned into the TI and city history display;
the building actually slopes downhill and features
this outdoor holy water thing

Barrel vaulting inside

Many interesting historic displays; note slope

And historical photographs; this is a line of mounted soldiers
guarding the building where the second Dreyfuss trial was going
on, in Rennes; tough times in France...gross maldistribution of
wealth, emerging socialism vs nationalism, toss in a dose
of racism...sound familiar?

Interesting window treatment

Plus the usual funnies, carved in wood

Ditto

Down the street, a cobbler's shop

Speaking of which, an incipient shoe wall (mixed)

Actually, being a bastard is not always a draw-back; worked
for the mayor, worked for William the Conqueror, among others

Today's wedding photo

St. Malo, 2015

We had visited St. Malo at least twice before, in 1989 with Rebecca and Rachel, for a walk on the beach, and then again in 2009, just passing through, stopping overnight at a marina aire. Vicki read All The Light We Cannot See this summer, and she wanted to spend a little more time in St. Malo. So we drove up from Dinan and spent most of the day there, doing what tourists do in St. Malo: viewing the ramparts, walking the ramparts, walking out to the tidal isalnd Grand Be, viewing the beautiful bay and its many islands, shopping, and, of course, eating. Old St. Malo was pretty much destroyed in WWII but rebuilt completely and faithfully in the succeeding decade. One has to look very hard for evidence of the artillery and naval bombardments it suffered.

Marina view

Truly a walled city, the "city of the corsairs," of old

The tidal island Grand Be

Bay view from Grand Be

Ditto

St. Malo from Grand Be

Ditto

Ditto again

Rebecca, Rachel, and I walked out onto the tidal flats in front
of those buildings, in 1989

Thus, collecting shells

Ramparts closer-up

Low tide view of Grand Be

Up on the ramparts

Ditto, ditto

Islands in the bay, with Cape Frehal beyond

Street scene

Old buildings

Thus

Not so old markets

Street scene

Ditto, restaurants as far as the eye can see; even for France,
St. Malo has a lot of restaurants 

Ditto

Ditto again; I had had plenty of seafood in recent days, so we
had galettes for lunch

Dinan's Basilica Saint-Sauveur

Friends and relatives will be glad to know we do go to church nearly every day in Europe, sometimes several churches. In Dinan we looked in at a former convent and a newer (non-Medieval) parish church. But the one that really got our attention was the Basilica Saint-Sauveur, another of those wonders where Romanesque is on the south side and Gothic is on north; or vice versa. With some exceptions and other items of interest.

Nice Romanesque porch...

Thus

South side, Romanesque, where maybe something got started
but not finished, or started and blocked off...

North side...actually just an aisle, but a big architectural statement

Knave view

Elevation, sort of

Chancel

Not entirely clear what happened here, but the
red line through the bottom image is a bit disturbing

This is how they clean the high windows in a
parish church like this; I wonder what they use
at Amiens...a helicopter...maybe a Holy Drone?

The windows at this church are all modern; but
 we liked them: they told the relevant Biblical
stories and not some artsy-fartsy abstractions

And they threw some great light

Thus

Thus

Thus

Thus

And thus

There were also some fearsome gargoyles

And a funny face or two

Another interesting old church