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Search RuthAndJohn.com NOTE: click on the link then put your search words inside the quotes on Google
We went to a little bakery coffee shop for brunch after taking care of some medical tests and it was the first time
we had done so since Covid. We had to show our vaccination certifications to enter. There was outdoor seating available
for those who did not have that certification. John waxed poetic over the fresh orange juice machine.
On the way home John took many lovely photographs of willows, a canal, old and famous buildings, autumn foliage and street
signs in Rennes which are in both French and Breton. You can see those images below.
There are a few pictures of the Parliament building (where they show the fascinating projection mapping videos) and
some half-timbered buildings in the historic quarter. I refer to them as "wacky shacks" because the diagonal boards
make the buildings look like they are tilting in different directions.
The St George swimming pool is amazing inside with a huge number of mosaic tiles and materials for a wide variety of
special events. You can see some images of the entrance and inside on this webpage.
The Palais Saint-Georges, which is now the headquarters for the police and fire departments of Rennes, hosts a lovely garden with some interesting statues.
Below you can see a mural near our home. In our neighborhood murals are created and changed
several times each month. It's a very pleasant surprise each time there's something new.
It's autumn now and the leaves of many trees are changing colors, but not the willow trees. The willow trees around town,
often near waterways, are lovely. We have a few in our Parc Oberthur.
Languages
Breton, one of the languages spoken in Brittany, is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, modern-day France. It is the
only Celtic language still in use on the European mainland. There are six living Celtic languages: the four continuously living languages
Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh, and the two revived languages Cornish and Manx.
The Celtic languages are a language family inside of Indo-European languages. They are divided into two groups, Goidelic (or Gaelic) and the Brythonic (or British).
The three Goidelic languages still spoken are Irish, Scottish, and Manx. Scottish is the main language spoken in parts of north-west Scotland
and Irish is the main language spoken in the Gaeltacht in Ireland. Manx is spoken mainly by people interested in the language.
The three Brythonic languages are Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Of these Cornish became extinct in the 18th century but people have started
speaking it again now. Welsh is spoken everywhere throughout Wales, but is mainly first language for people in the western part of Wales,
in the area some people call the Bro Gymraeg. Breton is spoken mainly in west Brittany, and is the only Celtic language not mainly spoken
on the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Because Brittany is part of France, the language is in danger of becoming extinct, just like
Cornish, and there are ongoing efforts to prevent this from happening.
Scottish Gaelic also has a native community of speakers in Canada where it was once very widely spoken, and there are
Welsh speakers in Patagonia, Argentina.
We understood some of the importance of keeping languages from going extinct but never so much as we do now, witnessing close up
first hand a culture that speaks a language different from the language of its dominant culture. John loves history and archeology so
living in Brittany - living in Rennes - is a special pleasure for him. And it's cool for me because he tells so many interesting stories
about our new home and shows me more of how his mind works, which brings us even closer together.
There have been many wars ( " the Sun Never Sets on the British Empire " ), refugees, people moving to better lands throughout history
or people enslaved and moved to other areas of the earth and each of those groups brought their culture, dialect and language (when they could).
These enclaves of surviving or imported cultures exist in many places throughout the world.
More on the lovely city of Rennes
Our friend Kathleen sent us another link about how nice Rennes is. The first time she sent a link about the joys of
Rennes we went there to see for ourselves and here we are, living the good life in Rennes.
Rennes is the third city in the list.
Notes: Rennes is the capital of Brittany. Today the population is probably about 222,000. The land area is 20 sq miles. Perfect for mass transit.
Parc Thabor is about 6 blocks from our home. It is beautiful but so are several other parks in Rennes.
The Brittany tourist agency has a lot of info about facilities and activities in Rennes.
"The Local" website has interesting news about Brittany, Normandy and France, For example:
France promises to end government sanctioned sadism against migrants.
Yikes! Disconcerting to say the least.
Another news article from "the Local":
France extends use of Covid health pass until July 2022
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We have lots of street art in our neighborhood. |
Our first sit down indoor food in a year and a half was at a pastry shop - Brioche Dorée | The amazing orange juice machine! |
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Early morning maintenance on the roof of the Parliament of Brittany |
Parliament Square |
Some detail on the 600 year old buildings in the historic quarter of Rennes. |
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Street signs in Rennes are both in French and Breton. |
Saint-Georges swimming pool |
"Le Magicien" a bronze sculpture in the Garden of the Palace of Saint-Georges |
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| Ruth and "Le Magicien" | The Palais Saint-Georges which is now the headquarters for the police and fire departments of Rennes. | Émile Zola High School And Middle School |
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| Autumn leaves near our bus stop. |
Weeping willow and a canal lock in downtown Rennes. |
Halloween is not a big holiday in France but we've seen cakes, candies and waiters decked out for Halloween while
in Nice. We've seen a smaller amount here in Rennes but this year we had some actual trick-or-treaters.
I walked into the kitchen and saw a bunch of teens at the window admiring our displays. There were more than the
3 in the pic below (there were about 8) and it was great to see them. I scooped up Victor and Emily from the Corpse Bride
and showed the dolls (or action figures as some call them). The teen girls squealed just like the very little kids do
when they see the kitties in the living room windows. One told me that they don't usually trick ot treat at the
apartments but instead go to nearby houses.
The costumes for Halloween here are not cute, they are all scary: witches, monsters, skeletons and devils. But when the little
ones wear such costumes they can't help but look cute! I love Halloween.
You can see images below of our kitchen, three of the teenagers and the kitties with graveyard Mickey.
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| Buster and Halloween Mickey | Charlie, Buster and Halloween Mickey | Our Halloween kitchen |
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| Halloween window display | Buster | Visitors |
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| Kitchen window | Outside our kitchen window |
Edgar Allen Poe's raven went on a diet. Claude Monet looks drunk. |
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| Corpse Bride characters | Halloween treats |
When I was trying to determine what was happening in Rennes this Halloween I found some interesting events. The web pages below are in French but you can
right click on the web page and select "translate" to see the page in another language.
CitizensKid.com has events for little kids all year around and had a
listing for Halloween. The University of Rennes
sponsored some events for the college kids. The city also put together
a Halloween guide for the holiday.
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CitizenKid.com lists popular Kids' Halloween festivities in Rennes |
University of Rennes students carve pumpkins | and act silly |