After breakfasting at the old farmhouse table, we piled into the cars and headed for the big outdoor market in Rennes. (Except Matt and Kim, they went up THE HILL(tm) for the day) The drive down was fairly easy, till we argued with the maps and ended up diving right down into the center of town. As it turns out, that was the simple way to get to the market, yet the most difficult. Early Saturday traffic on market day is far from hectic, it eases comfortably into shambolic. We were very, very impressed by Clayton's ability to stick with our frantic and often impulsive turns.
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| Rennes is full of hidden gems like this old place. |
Finally finding the parking lot we needed, a very kind woman helped us find the market. Once near it was kinda hard to miss...
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| This is about 1/10th of the street vendors at the market. |
The Saturday open market in Rennes is the larges in Brittany, and reportedly one of the 4 largest in all of France. Large it is! Centered on the 2 large iron Halles left over from the 1800's, the street market snakes its way along multiple streets for block after block. The Halles hold butchers and cheese vendors, the outdoor stalls are vendor after vendor of farm fresh fruits and veggies at dirt cheap prices. Best in the world produce and fruit so concentrated in flavor that they nearly explode when you bight into them. Hundreds of folks offering samples, street cooks with everything from Indian roti to a big ol guy selling cajun food, the market had everything you could possibly want.
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| One of the 2 old iron and glass Halles |
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| I swear this chick is following me... |
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| Chickens with gizzards and pluck all included. |
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| This is just one of the dozens of butchers under the Halles. |
We all split up to explore the offerings. Niters and I ended up just mooching through the Halles, marveling at the butchers and their cold cabinets of critters. As usual we ended up buying too much sausage and a bit of fruit.
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| Raspberries, strawberries and currants! |
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| Avignon radishes in the sun. |
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| See? There she is again. |
This market is a wonderland of food fun. No crappy junk sale vendors here, just farmers and food folks. Much nicer than the other markets we have attended.
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| Top of the flour market, 3 blocks long. |
Noon or so we jumped back into a relatively calm drive back to Dinan, stopping for a quick grocery run at the InterMarche'. A cart full of wine and cookies satisfied the day's needs and off to the house we went.
All afternoon we hung out in the comfy living room snaking our way through the sausages, olives, wines and cidres. Luckily for me, the damn Ice Cream Hotties were open and my claims of ice cream 27 steps from our door was verified. Damn good ice cream!
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| Afternoon snackies and cidre! |
Mid snack, we heard a tremendous commotion from the street. An ATV snarled past the door and clapping people were lining the way up THE HILL(tm). To our shock, runners began streaking by our house on their route of a major Brittany run. Sponsored runners, individuals without support crews, some young, some old, some looking like they were praying for death all grimly wound their way up THE HILL(tm).
Half way through the mass of runners, people started hooting and hollering at a group of young runners dressed in "traditional" Breton granny's clothing. Looked suspiciously like French maids uniforms to us...
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| Running in plastic uniforms? Nope! |
As the runners thinned out, our neighbor caught our attention and held up 2 fingers with a big smile. Those crazy bastards were making 2 full circuits of Dinan and THE HILL(tm)!
We found some solace in the comfy couch and chairs, secure in the knowledge that our marathon needs had been safely outsourced to France and no further action was needed on our part.
Thank God.
After the sun went down, a sudden squall of health blew through the house and Nita, Deb, Kim and Deanna beat a stupendous chef salad into submission while us menfolk sampled 4 different cidres in the living room. Best to stay out of their way, really.
A salad and 6 bottles of wine later and some FANTASTIC desserts Matt and Kim picked up, it was time for bed.
Matt and Kim leave us for Chartres and Paris in the morning. They are great folk, independent travelers, patient with our shenanigans, and we really wish they were here longer. Having the house full to the max of 8 people has been really easy on us all. SCA folk are used to sharing accommodations, and that tends to lead to an unspoken understanding. We have been delighted at how simple fun this has all been!
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