We arrived in Rennes very late Saturday night and quickly found our hotel. After a quick crepe dinner we went straight to bed. We didn't have any set plans on Sunday so we explored the city on our own all day. The first place we visited was the large park in the city called Le Thabor. We spent a while trying to get into the park but used our good map skills and finally did it! The park was full of flowers and plants of all kinds. We especially liked one section full of roses. We ran into an aviary as well filled with various kinds of birds. There were lots of fountains and other interesting things to explore. After we left the park we wandered around the city streets before we decided to find a good place to eat lunch. We noticed, being Sunday, that every single shop was closed. There were a number of restaurants open but no commercial stores. We found a very cute street and ate at a great pizzeria. After lunch we continued exploring much of the east side of Rennes... we even stumbled across a chocolate store with the French name of my cousin Jeffrey Brugge... it was closed, of course. The weather wasn't cooperative Sunday afternoon so we decided to visit the Rennes Planetarium and see a show about the stars at night called "Le Ciel Cette Nuit". Sunday night we enjoyed one of our best meals in France at a local restaurant near our hotel, fish for mom, chicken for me, it was delicious!
Monday we awoke early to a packed day of plans. First, we went to a meeting at the Franco-American Institute (IFA). We went there so mom could meet with the new liaison for the ATAD program in Rennes. We had a fantastic meeting with her. She learned more about ATAD and we learned more about the IFA. Once our meeting was done we had lunch with her boss, the director of the IFA. She took us to one of her favorite restaurants in Rennes, again we enjoyed a great meal! We got to talk to her a bit about the ATAD program and how it is evolving and we brainstormed ways to continue our relationship between Rochester and Rennes. We returned to the IFA after lunch and had another meeting, this time with two students who are going to come to Rochester through the ATAD program. The students and their families asked many good questions and we are excited to have both of them come to Rochester! Late in the afternoon we had a FANTASTIC opportunity - one of the members of the Sister City committee in Rennes volunteered to give us a tour of the historic center of the city. We were so excited to see that she was going to be showing us some parts of the city that we had not explored on our own the day before. We learned so much about the history of this great city and walked a lot around the west side of the downtown area. She made it a point to show us many of the oldest things in the city that still remain such as, the old roman walls, old homes and buildings, public markets and the juncture of the river and canal. My absolute favorite thing about Rennes was all the old wood and stucco homes that are sprinkled around the city. At one time that was the style of most of the homes but many were destroyed in various fires. The ones that still remain lean ever so slightly to one side, mom and I couldn't get over all the crooked houses! When our tour was finished she even invited us to her apartment right in the center of the city for tea. We met some of her family and had a wonderful time. We are so grateful for her giving up her time to show us the city from a "local" point of view. After another delicious dinner we went straight to bed because Tuesday was a very early travel day. I can't promise you how much we slept that night... we had Izmir on our minds!!
Suz
Mom in Rennes, France!
Suzy in Rennes, France!
