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2015                                                                               Aug    Sep    Oct    Nov    Dec   





09.12.2020

One of the positive things the pandemic brought us is familiarity and comfort with virtual experiences. "3 stunning virtual Christmas markets in Alsace France. Three French regions are rescuing the spirit of Christmas and inviting people to explore their markets from the comfort of their sofa. With Christmas carols in the background, a cosy tartan jumper and a hot drink in hand, create a festive atmosphere and wander around the red and gold chalets in virtual format. " Ameins Christmas Market

We haven't been to Alsace yet (although John was stationed nearby at Zweibruken AB in the 1970's). It's noted for it's fairy tale appearance. There are many quaint buildings and beautiful landscapes there. Holiday activities are prolific and Strasbourg has the best Christmas markets in France. The city lights there are also spectacular. Although they had to scale back on Christmas markets and shows, the city was decked out in holiday splendor.





23.12.2020

The City of Rennes provides a lot of activities for it's residents, especially for the university students and for the children. Normally twice a year the Monsieur Sharkey parade comes by and for a few blocks pied pipers children in costume. This year it came in March (10 days before our first confinement) but not in September. You can see the Monsieur Sharkey parade in the March 2020 entry of our blog).

A Santa and an elf in very elaborate costumes came to our neighborhood today and posed for pics (from a distance) and the elf took a pic of Santa standing near us at our kitchen window. The elf gave us the tiny polaroid pic (about 1.25 x 2.25 inches). Very nice. There are a ton of kids around here so there are many activities for children and being a big kid myself I get to partake too.

Santa and his elf visiting us
outside our apartment window. 		Santa's Elf took this picture
of us with Santa.





24.12.2020

The kittens we had before were curious and sometimes would mess up our things but these 2 kittens - especially Buster - are programmed for trouble every single day. I keep forgetting to leave doors closed to all the off limits rooms. I left a sliding door to our pantry open just a crack and the kitties left us a Christmas Eve surprise. See the first image in the third row below. They are both way too cute to be frustrated for long.

Buster and his partner in crime Charlie toppled our fake xmas tree 9 times before I gave up and set up a holiday display of dolls, holiday hats and stuffed toys in our floor to ceiling window next to a white fabric draped bench. Little kids come by often and when Buster hears them he dashes to the window. Other times Charlie or Tommy are on the bench. The same kids come back and new kids arrive daily. The word is out: a big cat and 2 kittens are part of a christmas scene at this place. I smile a lot over that dynamic.

Recently a little girl and her mom came by and I happened to be holding Buster so I set him on the holiday pillows on a bench facing that window. The little girl became very animated so I got Charlie and put him next to Buster. The mom and the little girl both lit up. Then I put Tommy (5 times the size of the kittens) in the window. I thought the little girl was going to take flight she became so excited. I love those moments. One of the pleasures of living in an apartment vs a house.

Today I visited the shops nearby (less than a block from our little Parc Oberthür) and raided a fromagerie and a boulangerie. At the frommagerie I bought some of my favorite cheese, the heart shaped (Neufchâtel). The texture and taste of Neufchatel resembles feta wrapped in Camenbert. It's excellent on a baguette or melted as a dip.

At the baker's I bought an unusual (to me) Bûche de Noël. All the little signs, labels and end squares of that yule log are made of chocolate. I had intended to buy the traditional yule log that looks like a chocolate cake log with merengue mushrooms and powdered sugar snow. They only had the unique designs like you would find in Parisian gourmet houses, boulangeries and patisseries.

Parisian chefs created unique yule logs for the 2020 holidays This article contains a dozen links to categories of unique and unconventional yule logs.

My ophthalmologist's office is in lovely St Anne Square. I had my second cataract surgery on December 1 and then a follow-up doctor's appointment a week later. John took many lovely photographs of the surrounding buildings and shops.

Buster climbing the Christmas tree. Buster using Charlie's butt as a pillow. The camera angle makes him look giant. He's not. Buster sleeping while John is
working on the computer.
Buster enjoying a winter's sun nap. Closeup of Tommy. Buster hiding because he knows
he's in trouble.
Buster and Charlie burgled their way
into our pantry. 		Brothers napping. Buster in full yawn.
Lots of goodies at our local bakeries. Especially at Christmas time. This was Ruth's favorite.
We love this older architecture in the
historical district of Rennes. 		Saint Anne's Square. Basilique Notre-Dame de
Bonne Nouvelle de Rennes.
Ferrets in the windows. Wonderful stonework on these older buildings. Ruth liked this sign in English
"Authentic French Takos".
This part of town has great shop signs. This sign was for a children's clothing store. This sign was on the side of a camera shop.
A "Dr. Seussy" wall mural on the ground floor
of Ruth's eye doctor's building. 		Christmas window display in a coin shop. Napoleon, the Queen, her Corgis, Einstein
and a dinosaur. Very Christmassy.
Christmas lights in the historical quarter. Our Christmas display with the notorious RBG and Frida Kahlo.





25.12.2020

We watched the movie Elf for our holiday treat. I'm not a fan of Will Ferrell movies or any other stupid comedy movies but I heard from several sources that "Elf" was good so we gave it a try. It started out OK - better than other stupid comedy movies but then it got worse for about 30 minutes. The last 25 minutes of the movie was very sweet and funny and worth the watch. Unfortunately you need to watch the previous 1 hour+ of the movie for the backstory that made the last 25 minutes so sweet and funny.

We are managing to do some fun holiday things even from a distance. Regularly during holidays here and elsewhere in France the city displays light shows on buildings. Normally they project elaborate stories with artistic animations. This year Rennes is doing light show projections on buildings but continuously, not at a set time so as not to encourage crowds. Last year they displayed an elaborate light show based on the Nutcracker but it was scarier and weirder than what we'd seen before. It was a VERY weird version of the nutcracker with witches and ghosts and monsters - it felt like a Halloween exhibit. You can see some pics in the blog entry for December last year.

Tonight we went to our town square (St Anne's Square) to see the shops, Christmas lights and light displays on the buildings. We avoided being close to other people and we stayed outside. It worked out well that the show was continuous and the crowd was subsequently not large.

The lights originated from stand-alone lighted neon-style flowers. Each flower had a projector in its center that displayed lights up, down, front and back, so there were changing colored dots, circles and symbols everywhere. There were also a couple of giant Christmas trees and holiday lights across many streets. There was also a large carousel (those and Ferris wheels are big time holiday events for all ages). It was all very nice. Except for the cotton candy maker who shaped the cotton candy using his bare hands.

Here is a link to information about the end of year illuminations and displays in Rennes. To translate the article: if using Chrome right click and select translate. Otherwise paste the web page address into the left side box of https://translate.google.com/ and then click on the link in the right side box.

We hope you are well and happy! Joyeux Noël!

A Christmas photo from our friends Dave and Charlotte now living in New Zealand. Christmas lights in centre-ville Rennes. More Christmas lights leading into
Place de la Mairie.
Lights in one of the many sidestreets
of the historical quarter. 		The carousel with the Opera House
in the background. 		The French attempt social distancing
during Christmas.
The Opera House, the carousel and
a cotton candy booth. 		The view leading to the Palais de Commerce. Light animations were projected on the buildings in the Place de la Mairie.
The city hall of Rennes
(Mairie de Rennes). 		The giant flowers had
fog machines in them. 		Light towers projected
the light animations.
Another view of the light towers and flowers. A little Santa Pup. We walked a couple of blocks to
the Parlement de Bretagne.
The biggest Christmas tree in Rennes. Classical older French buildings
with a modern light show. 		John (in red circle)
near the Christmas tree.
Ruth (in red circle) showing
how big the ornaments are. 		Light animations on the Parlement de Bretagne. Another view of city hall.
Getting darker. We successful avoided the crowd
while in a crowd. 		Returning to the Palais de Commerce
to catch the bus home.
Place de la République Place de la République is where
we catch the métro or our bus. 		A chandelier under the Palais de Commerce.





26.12.2020

The Georgia Senate runoff elections have had more than 2 million votes so far. Estimates are that 4.5 million voters will turn out, about 1 million less than the November elections.

For information about the election contact your county registrar and How to Vote in Georgia.

Election day in Georgia for the 2 US Senate races is January 5. You can get voting info from the Georgia Voter Guide or your county registrar.





27.12.2020

Covid-19

France's coronavirus vaccine will be free of charge. One million people are set to be given the vaccine in January. John and I will likely receive the vaccine in February or March.

France started vaccinations in nursing homes today.

France has one of the highest vaccine skeptic populations in the world although those figures are dropping as the availability nears. Currently 40-50 percent of the people in France are not certain that they will get the Covid-19 vaccine. One of my few major disappointments with France.





28.12.2020

Next time we go to Rome we will visit the Colosseum again. Italy will rebuild the Colosseum floor soon. Officials plan to host concerts and theater productions on the new, retractable platform. The history of the Colosseum is unnerving but the architecture is impressive. It is definitely a must see destination if you find yourself in Rome





31.12.2020

Our New Year's Eve celebrations were subdued. We visited our Park and fed the duckies. A few of them ate from our hands. One tried but kept pecking at my finger tips. John said my hand was too high because he was shorter than the other two I fed by hand. We met a young woman, Mathilde, and her brother, Bruno, while feeding the ducks. Bruno and their mother live in an apartment nearby and Mathilde lives in Paris. Mathilde's English is very good but she said she is happy to have an opportunity to use it. Her brother, Bruno, speaks less English but enough for us to have a cursory conversation in English with him. I should have taken a photo of them.

When I took photos of our kitties in the window a young man and his very young daughter were watching me. I went inside they came to the window to watch the kitties. We love sharing the kitties with people who live nearby.

Wearing masks are mandatory in Rennes' parks. The ducks come quickly
once we start feeding them. 		We start by making little piles of
bird seed for the ducks to sample.
Today there were a few terns
who visited our pond. 		One tern came to see what
the ducks were feeding on. 		John hand feeding the ducks.
The large white one is a Muscovy duck.
Ruth hand feeding a duck. A beautiful winter day at the Oberthur Park,
a block from our apartment. 		Charlie and Buster in our Christmas window.
Charlie spends a lot of time looking at the ceiling. Like a kitty astronomer.