Rennes and Nantes

Armistice Day

While the US celebrates Veterans Day, France celebrates Armistice Day.  The armistice that ended World War I was on November 11, 1919.  It's a national holiday, so most of the country is off of work.  I decided to take a day off of work at NI (because I'm still working on an American calendar) and make a three day weekend out of it.  We found an excellent fare on the rail company for $34 round trip per person to Rennes, a small city in northwestern France about 200 miles west of Paris.  Rennes is such a small city, so we decided to spend one day there and two days in Nantes, a modern city about an hour (by train, of course) south of Rennes.

 Rennes

We arrived in Rennes Friday night and went to our hotel.  The hotel was about 1/4 mile from the center of Rennes' nightlife, so we bundled up and wandered out to see the city.  Since the city is so compact we were able to just follow the crowds to an area with a bunch of bars.

Rennes is a university town, so it's got more than its fair share of bars.  We wandered into one, got a drink, and hung out for about an hour.

It rained all Saturday morning, but that didn't stop us from exploring Rennes' main market, set in the same streets lined with bars from the previous night.

Roman turret

After we saw all of the market (and tried more free samples than we probably should have) we saw one of the original Roman walls of the city.

Near the far end of the market we found a welcome taste of home: ¡Ay Mexico!  We ate there to fill the missing space in our stomachs hearts for Texmex.  It was delicious. 

A couple of timbered buildings

Rennes has some really cool architecture.  It feels a lot older than Paris because there are timbered buildings all over the place. A lot of the timbered buildings were clearly repaired over time, which showed the city was interested in keeping the old architecture around.  The insides of a lot of shops had exposed timber supports -- some real, some fake -- which gave the city its own unique architectural style.

More cool architecture

Nantes

Nantes is a very different city than Rennes.  It's modern and built up.  What it's missing in the typical small-French-town charm (which Paris desperately tries to cling to) it makes up for in modern amenities.  There may not be cobblestones everywhere, but they're replaced by perfectly smooth pavers.  A lot of the older architecture has been removed in favor of newer buildings, which means that our hotel wasn't drafty and had a full size elevator (although it didn't go to the top floor).

Nantes was one of the major slave-trading cities of Europe for over a century in the 1700s and early 1800s.  The city now has a stirring museum dedicated to the abolition of slavery.

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The elephant!

One of the islands in the middle of the river running through Nantes has a large amusement park dedicated to machines.  The artists there create tons of machines for parades around Nantes.  Every year they create a large fairy tale spread across the city. At the museum there's also a huge animatronic elephant that you can ride.  The elephant holds about 50 people and drives around.  It can move its head and trunk in any direction (independently).  The elephant's legs move and track realistically.  Its eyes open and close. Its ears move, too.  And of course it trumpets.

Oh...yeah...The elephant could pee.  I thankfully didn't see it or get peed on.

Queen Anne was born in this castle

On our second day in Nantes, we went to the castle.  It's been recently renovated, and parts have been rebuilt throughout the centuries, so it's hard to say what's original.  The museum inside details the history of Nantes.  As a maritime city they focus a lot on ships and maps of the river.  It gets a bit old, but it was still worth seeing.

The last thing we did before leaving was go to the Passage Pommeraye.  It's a cool little mall built between two streets in the mid 1800s.  There are a lot of neat stores inside and it's got a big staircase in the middle of it.

Our trip to Rennes and Nantes gave us another new perspective on France.  It also gave us a belly full of crêpes :-).

Crêpey crêpe crêpe crêpe

I'd never been to northwest France, and Catherine had never been to either of those cities (something which is pretty rare for her).  I hope we'll get to travel more in France.  And I definitely wouldn't mind drier, warmer destinations.

Summer recap

Forgive me reader, for I have not been updating the blog regularly. You see, Mike and I have been very busy.

In May, we were in New York City. I spent a few weeks with my favorite people who live too far away from me, and then I graduated from law school.

Three of my favorite long-distance friends (Yi Han, Paavana, and Kyndra) on a cruise on the Hudson River.

Seriously, why did I move away from these people?

It rained sideways during the commencement ceremony. Columbia generously gave out a $4 umbrella to each graduate. And they say a law degree isn't a good value!

Is that soggy regalia I smell?

After graduation, I headed back to Houston to study for the Texas Bar Exam. The three-day exam took place at the end of July. About 25% of out-of-state law students don't pass the exam, which is required to practice law in Texas. So I was a little nervous. Mike was back in Austin at the time, working at the main office of NI and probably being very grateful to not have to deal with bar exam stress. 

Practice MBE day.

Color-coded highlighters. Gross.

I have repressed all memories of the actual exam. It was the most mentally exhausting experience I've ever had. (Spoiler alert: I passed though! More on that later.)

In between studying, I got to catch up with friend in Texas. God bless Texas, and God bless my Texas friends, who always let me pick things up right where we left off nine months ago. They're awesome enough to convince me not to move to Europe full-time.

At Free Press Summer Fest with Melissa.

Fourth of July in Austin. Waiting for fireworks on the S. Congress Bridge.

Midnight House of Pies run with Lily and Rory (and Anna and Sarah!).

Okay they're not really from Houston, but Sarah and Mike came to Houston to get ENGAGED!!!

And of course, there were some furry friends who had missed me while I was away.

Daisy

Lance and Rusty

After the bar exam, though, I was ready for a vacation. So I headed to Peru with Heaven, who also took the Texas Bar Exam (and who's been through just about every important life event with me since age 11).

Don't be fooled by our faces; we hated this place.

I LOVED getting to vacation with Heaven. But I would not go back to Peru. We met a couple of really nice people there, but 95% of our vacation was a series of getting robbed and lied to. Bottom line: if you have to go to Peru, hang out with actual Peruvians and stay away from the entire tourism industry.

By September, we were gearing up for the wedding. I went to Las Vegas for the first time ever with all of my bridesmaids. I didn't expect to like the city so much, but all of the Vegas veterans showed me how much fun it could be. 

Not the real Eiffel Tower.

We also had a bridal shower with my mother's friends, most of whom still can't believe that I'm grown up. 

In my free time during the summer, I ran around planning wedding details. I was so lucky to have my mom with me to help with everything and give advice! In August, she went with me to the campus of Rice University for my bridal portraits. Mike and I met at Rice in 2007, and he proposed there last summer. 

My mom and I at the end of the portrait session.

And then finally, on September 14, it was our wedding day! The hardest thing about weddings are how quickly they fly by. It was hands-down the happiest and most memorable day of my life, and I wanted it to last forever. We felt so overwhelmed by the love of our family and friends, who came from far away just to celebrate with us on our special day. I still don't know how to ever possibly express my gratitude to everyone who went out of their way to be there for us. (Except, of course, to be sure to attend their weddings when the time comes!)

Our family and our best friends (who might as well be family)

What's a wedding without cake?

This is, of course, a blog about our time in France, though. And although this entire post is about our summer outside of France, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that our wedding had plenty of French touches.

La croquembouche!

Des macarons.

As of October, we're back in Paris. (All of us, including the bird and the cat!) And we promise to keep you updated with all of our coming adventures.