My few last days in France I spent travelling to Rennes, the capital city of Bretagne (Brittany) region, north-west of France. It was very interesting travelling experience for me, because I used ‘covoiturage‘ (car-pooling) to get there and stayed at Enora’s place during my stay there, using Couch-Surfing. It was very nice because I was travelling alone and that way I could meet new people and travel more economically. As soon as I got to Rennes, Enora picked me up to her place and welcomed me very warmly.
Rennes’ train station
Enora’s extra room for couch surfers (big recommendation!)
Then I took a self guided walking tour around the old city. It’s a very beautiful medieval city.
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A coccinelle (ladybug in French) joined my tour
Art deco public pool
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I finished my tour exactly on time for dinner. I met with Enora and two other girls I met through the Couch-Surfing website for a dinner at LÉON LE COCHON, a traditional meat restaurant.
The daily menu on the blackboard, 3 course for 23.9 euro. Two options in each category. I took a menu like this.
The wine list arrived at our table in the shape of an ipad thing, first time I’ve seen that.
The ‘house wine’ was light but pretty good
Salade de ris d’agneau et shiitakée
Salad of lamb sweetbreads with shitake mushrooms
It was nice but the veal sweetbreads are better than the lamb.
Quasi de veau confit et petit lègumes
Confit rump of veal and small vegetables
hmmm… maybe I should have chosen the other option, confit just wasn’t the best way to cook this meat.
Sabayon de fruits rouges
Red fruits with sabayon
I really liked it
Leon our host in person
Next morning I took the morning bus to Mont Saint Michel.
Basically this is it.
I walked the alleys while eating soft pistachio-vanilla ice-cream
Should I wait in this queue to get to the abbaye (church) at the top? Well I did because anyway I was stuck on this island until the bus leaves at 4pm. And I had a free entrance for youth so I thought why not.
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Green garden with a well
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I still had time until my bus so I stopped for lunch. Very touristic indeed, but I love fresh oysters with lemon.
Eating them slowly with bread and butter and a glass of white wine, I thought it might be the last time I’m gonna have any oysters for a long time. So sad but the salty tears matched well with the oysters strong sea flavor
All good things come to an end…
Read here about one of the best days of my life, opening and eating unlimited amount of fresh oysters with great wine.
Then I had mussels in cream sauce, I had better in my life, this type is small and not so great, but it’s fun to eat it like a snack.
Of course with the must side of French Fries!! The French knows how to do their fries, that’s for sure.
I love mayonnaise with my fries, but most places don’t keep it at all in the kitchen. I always ask for some and many times I get a “sorry we don’t have any” but this time – no problem. I waited and waited… After a while I got this: freshly made specially for me! With a lot of black pepper! Was worth the wait.
Instead of a dessert I took the fromage option (warm Camambert) which was a bit disappointing but oh well, it’s the region specialty. Warm on a toast with a lot of thyme.
From there I took the bus to Saint Malo. A port city with an old city behind a wall, a beautiful sandy beach with a extreme tides.
Fish soup in a jar
This is the famous kouign-amann, a Bretagne specialty that I had already the chance to make myself.
Another local specialty is the Far Breton, it’s like flan with prune inside.
KER-y-POM is apple covered in pastry crust in the oven.
One amazing Sardines and other fish cans store. I was for the first time truly exited from canned sardines, bought some to my brother who’s known to be a sardine fan.
Apart from sardines I got him this wonderful assorted fish pâtés package
The tide is low
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Bye bye Saint Malo – back to Rennes!
Back in Rennes, Enora took me to the night lights projection show on the Parliament building, it was magnificent
The next day I had the worst luck when all the restaurants I wanted to go for lunch were closed or closed on me when I came too late (13:15). Kinda sad and upset I decided to go to a crêperie and have a galette and cidre – some more specialties of Bretagne. I was really happy at the end.
The traditional cup for cidre
This was a buckwheat galette with scallops and confit of leeks and cream sauce
Very yummy lunch
Crisp outside and soft inside.
Before leaving Rennes I tasted Enora’s rhubarb tart. She had a huge amount of rhubarb from growing it here and there and now was the time to cook all of it. The smell of the tarte woke me up in the morning and made me happy. I met her again in the train station before going on the train back to Paris. Thanks Enora for your hospitality!
Next morning was my flight from Paris to Tel-Aviv, with a day connection in Berlin. Thanks Hakim for helping me with all these suitcases. This was literally all my life in Paris packed in few bags.
In Berlin I had the national meal – a deep fried sausage three times as long as the bun
The bubble tea new age – the bubbles are liquid spheres in assorted flavors. I took cold green-tea-white-chocolate flavor with yogurt bubbles. Extremely different from the original but I enjoyed it while waiting for the free tour around the city.
The tour begins with this funny weird tour guide.
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For my collection
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The tour finished…
Unfortunately the fried sausage was too fulfilling and I had no space to get the famous Flammekueche. The school version of this tart here.
Graffiti
This guy is a walking food stall!! WOW!! My next Purim costume 🙂
My day in Berlin was over and I took the plane back to Israel, where I had my last German food: a pretzel filled (!) with salted butter and tomato juice.
The ending of an era.
Shana Tova
Fantastic pictures, especially the ice cream – if you take good look; it seems like a melting face
Thanks, yes I can see it, it’s a big nose with a mustache 🙂
“All good things come to an end…” said the walrus to the carpenter?
very poetic of you 🙂
…”The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”
“But wait a bit,” the Oysters cried,
“Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!”
“No hurry!” said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that….