Rennes/Bretagne

Rennes/Bretagne was the next stop along the way, which in fact is out of the way but I thanks to a little improvisation was able to catch a ride at the last minute with my cousin. If you like cloudy skies and wind you'll like Bretagne. Super cool area though, it's the home of crepes and galette so you know it's gotta be half way decent. Was able to visit some super cool towns like Dinan and Dinard. We passed by the smallest town in France in fact along the way, didn't see any lepers though. Went to St. Malo, home to Jacques Cartier, infamous pirates, and my grandmama. Caught up on reading some Asterix comics in the process. Got a little taste of the sea with some raw oysters and bulots (the escargots of the sea). Got to relive the life of a 13th century monk for about an hour at the Mount Saint Michel. Experienced a bit of the night life in Rennes. It's difficult to sum up, but overall food+family+old stuff+food = awesome.

Caen/Normandie

Well I think it's been long enough since my last entry to write about what I've been doing, and after about 5 weeks I'd say that the one thing that I could write a dissertation about is the obsession that the french have with food. Obsession may be a bit strong, but seriously you could just walk up to a random French person on the street and start a 10 minute conversation about the fabrication of bread.

Anyway, I've been lucky enough to stay with a number of family members over the past couple weeks in several regions around France and it's pretty amazing what a country the size of Texas can fit.

Caen/Normandie of course was my first destination, and was filled with plenty of outings and saw ton's of family. Went to the beach a couple of times. However, February isn't exactly the time of the year to lay out on the beach and take in the sun in Normandie, but it was still good to just hang out. Visited a couple of cool little castles William the conqueror style. Went to the landing beaches of course. Attended a French hip hop concert. Saw a hockey game interesting enough French style, which means it kind of had the atmosphere of a soccer game and the hot dogs come in a baguette with mayo (seriously) which I'm not gonna lie it was actually really good. Watched a bit of soccer on the tele along with some rugby which is fun to watch, but would probably be more interesting if I understood the rules. I was able to eat some amazing food thanks to Tata Francoise, and along the way got to try for the first time some frogs legs and escargots : ) .. Watched plenty of movies in French and one in English (never had seen the godfather and the French voice overs kind of killed the film). Overall, it was a great time. I imagine I'll be making a few more visits in the future.