The Peabody Papers 2019, Paris and Brittany, Unmapped
 

The Peabody Papers 2019, Paris and Brittany Unmapped

Last spring Air France successfully tempted my winter-depressed soul with an offer I couldn't refuse: Round trip ticket to Paris in September for the price of a car payment. We had never been to Brittany. Megaliths! Oysters! Kouign amann, whatever that is! Six months to plan! Pulled the trigger. Mrs. P and I were going. Of course, AF was selling basic economy, which meant no checked bags, weight and size constraints for carry on bags, no refunds, no changes, no upgrades, almost no miles, no nothing, no way, no how. And our spinner carry on IT bags were 2 cm too big. Found one old smaller carry on in the basement, got a vintage 2-wheel roller at a tag sale that was just the AF size, decided to use shirts and underwear for multiple days, and we sneaked in under the limits.

The plan: Two nights in Paris for jet lag correction, TGV to Vannes, rental car pickup, see Brittany for a week or so, TGV from Saint-Malo back to Paris for 3 final nights. Searched for hotels, B&B’s, etc that fit our requirements of price and facilities suitable to our aging frames, and plenty of foodie-type restaurants. The last task: Lose 15 pounds in preparation.

So, just after Labor Day, Mrs. P and I donned sport jacket or sweater and trench coats (what you wear doesn’t count against the kilograms), cabbed to the airport, passed screening, squeezed into mini-seats, and we were off. The airline food continued to give airline food a bad name, but the flight landed on time. Buy a SIM chip. Grab a cab, and Hotel Atmospheres, here we come!



Paris, First Part

Chose Atmospheres Hotel for location (we like the Fifth Arrondissement), large bed, walk in shower, price under 200 euros. Room compact without being cramped, modern bathroom, A/C, quiet. Very friendly staff. Good value for Paris. Modern design. Hotel Atmospheres, 31 rue des Ecoles Paris 75005 +33-1-43-26-56-02

First day jet-lag lunch: Sandwiches from Eric Kayser a few blocks away: Tuna salad, marinated salmon, both on exceptional bread. Took a walk to the area book stores to browse French cookbooks and to find the new Paris map book with the new bus routes to replace our Indispensable that remained at home. No one had one. Even the Metro stations had no bus maps. The map apps on the phone had the old routes. For our time in Paris, we were and remained unmapped and directionally impaired. Ouch. So we returned to the hotel, sacked out ‘til dinnertime.

Dinner: L’Atlas, an attractively decorated Moroccan restaurant. We had tagines, saffron seafood and scallops with pleurotte mushrooms for Mrs. P, lamb with apricots and mint leaves for me. Desserts suitably sweet and exotic and a nice bottle of Moroccan rose wine made a fine meal. Highly recommended.

Next day morning spent relaxing in final travel recovery. Pastry from Kayser helped immensely. Lunch at a Vietnamese place near the Pompidou that looked good as we walked by, Pho Banh Cuon (I think it’s a pun on the French Bon Coin). We had one plate specials that were good and cheap. The Pompidou had an exhibition entitled “Prehistory” which we thought would complement our visit to neolithic sites in Brittany. We almost always end up at the Pompidou on trips to Paris due to liking modern art and their usually interesting special exhibitions. This one was disappointing, mainly sketches and such from their collections that had caves or dinosaurs or other “prehistoric” elements and scattered minor actual prehistoric artifacts displayed in a rather non-instructional and uncoordinated way. Oh well.


Then we went to Fragonard’s perfume place. Picked up soaps and such. Moving from here to there without a map was frustrating. The little map on the phone screen needed you to figure out which street in real life corresponded to the lines on the map which often had no labels. My refrain, asking for a street sign often hidden somewhere on a building behind a business’s sign had me chanting, “Lord, give me a sign!” We wandered, saw whether the dots on the screen moved in the right direction, used the Metro, and walked all over, but had no clue on buses, including which direction to take a bus. But we got there, after the Deity revealed an occasional sign.

Dinner, near the hotel, was at L’Invitee. Apps were a crab preparation and chicken on a stick, and mains were duck and a vegetarian moussaka. All were very nicely accompanied and sauced. Desserts were the usual superb French creations. Wine: Complementary Champagne aperitifs for our wedding anniversary, and selected wines by the glass for each course. Recommended.

The next morning we picked up pastries and sandwiches at Kayser, cabbed to Gare Montparnasse, and took the TGV to Vannes, site of the next installment. No pictures, though. In keeping with my tradition of forgetting something important at home, this time it was my camera.

Sign me on, please! I enjoyed an Eric Kayser near Montparnasse station. Too bad about the map updates.

Surprised about your map difficulties. Were you using google maps? It has replaced my AtoZ for London, although I haven't tried it for Paris. It has been great for buses, even in Japan.

Looking forward to Brittany.

on for the ride

Brittany, First Part, Vannes

When Mrs. P and I decided on Brittany, we researched places to see and stay. Vannes stood out as a first goal. It had a TGV direct from Paris, nice restaurants, and proximity to neolithic sites among other tourist type destinations. I bought TGV tix on line as soon as our travel date opened, 45 euros each. I chose the Maison de la Garenne, a B&B with great reviews close to the old city and the port. Only 5 rooms in the family occupied mansion set in a garden with a swimming pool, great breakfasts, a large comfortable bed in a room larger than any I have ever had in Europe, a bathroom larger than any hotel room in Paris (and fully modernized), amiable hosts with an adequate smattering of English. Did I mention the fig preserves made from their own fig tree? Recommended, but know that there is no A/C it being very near the coast. Maison de la Garenne & Spa, 2 rue Sebastien de Rosmadec, Vannes +33-2-97-67-00-31.

The on-line car rental was a bit of a chore. AutoEurope/Kemwel refuse to rent out of Vannes even though there are three major rental agencies there. Hertz and Avis would not rent an automatic there. So I used Europcar, which took almost three days to confirm an available automatic for rental. They were kind enough to send a surgical kit so I could pay the required arm and leg. Then they sent an email that they had closed their office at the Vannes Gare. I would pick up the car at a nearby hotel instead. That actually worked. We got a Peugeot 2008. The car guy programmed the GPS for our B&B, which was a life-saver for the mapless. We named the GPS “Jeeps” at first, but changed it to “Jeeves” as he guided us for the rest of our driving.

We didn’t need the car for Vannes itself. Its old city and ramparts are compact. Both the old city and the port are within walking distance from Maison de la Garenne. Funny thing, our first walk from the B&B to the Port took almost an hour. No map, remember. A single 180 degree wrong turn led us into a very circuitous walk, but we did get to the port in time for dinner at La P’tite Souris. The name is a pun, meaning small mouse but also small lamb shank, which is on the menu, of course. Their forte is fish. Memorable from the meal were a ceviche of cod and vegetables in coconut milk, mains of cod and bar, and some delicious desserts. Small place, highly recommended, reservations needed.

Getting back to the B&B in the dark was somewhat of a trial. In truth, we got lost. My imprecations for a sign revelation yielded no street signs anywhere. The smart phone stayed stupid. Eventually we found a business still open on an otherwise deserted street where they pointed us generally in the right direction, sort of. Still lost, I suddenly heard a voice from my pocket: “Turn left!” It was Mrs. Google, via phone app. We must have entered a reception zone. We turned left, were guided by Mrs. Google, and soon recognized our location, allowing a return to the B&B. The next time we were going to the port, we turned left instead of right near the B&B entrance and got there in 5 minutes rather than 55. We didn’t need Mrs. Google again in Vannes.

The next day was dedicated to menhirs and alignments. Jeeves guided us to Carnac and its Museum of Prehistory. It’s an easy drive that was highlighted by a magnificent view of a mile-long field of aligned standing stones at the museum entrance. The museum itself was instructive. The alignment field is fenced off to protect it, there were very few scheduled tours for entry (none in English), but the views are clear and the fence is quite close to some of the thousands of stones. Instead of a tour, we took the overly cute little train, which towed several cars of tourists through Carnac to the coast then around several neolithic sites with the requisite multilingual narration choices. Half hokey, half interesting. We then drove into Carnac itself, didn’t buy souvenirs, and got wonderful local moules frites at the Creperie de la Pompe. Servings were copious bowls of very fresh mussels and a big heap of homemade fries.

We let Jeeves guide us to some of the megalithic sites, the outstanding one not seen from the train being the Geant du Manio. Well, Jeeves wanted us to drive along a footpath, so we parked and had a nice 20 minute walk through a forest on an easy path, until we came to a clearing with a 30-35 foot tall menhir. Impressive.

Dinner was at Le Rive Gauche at the port. It’s small, reservations required. Aps were scallops and duck croustillants, mains gambas with risotto and bar with rosemary, plus the usual delicious desserts. Highly recommended.

The next day, a Sunday, we drove to Suscinio Castle. Well, we tried to drive to Suscinio Castle, but Jeeves repeatedly sent us into a pedestrianized town center 10 kilometers away until I turned Jeeves off and followed obscure road signs down narrow country roads. Suscinio is both impressive and well set up for touring. It had the best castle tour (self-guided) of any we have been to, although the last portion was more fantasy show projected on walls for the kids. We found a nearby creperie for lunch, then headed for Rochefort en Terre, a village of noted beauty. Out of season reduction in visitor numbers allowed us to park easily. The village is small and cute, devoted to servicing daytrippers. We avoided the usual souvenirs in favor of ice cream and listened to a pair of musician street performers.

The well reviewed restaurants in Vannes are generally not so open Sunday evening, but we had a decent time at L’Atlantique on the port. It bills itself as a brasserie, has a large outdoor section. Our B&B host said the food there was “ordinary,” an accurate description especially when compared to the extraordinary meals of the previous two nights, but it served. I had oysters followed by cotriade, the Breton fish soup resembling bouillabaisse with less flavor. Mrs. P was satisfied with a “millefeuille” of crab and guacamole and a brochette of lotte and shrimp. In truth, the same restaurant would do quite well if it were near us at home, but it provided one of our less impressive meals in France.

We returned to the B&B to pack for the next day’s departure toward the pink granite coast.

I'm enjoying your trip report very much, especially the Vannes segment. We had a Europcar vehicle as well and dropped off our rental car at the front desk of the Ibis hotel across from the Vannes rail station---easiest drop off we've had in a long time.

It's great to know that you enjoyed the Maison de la Garenne. It was "runner-up" for our June Vannes stay (we stayed outside of Vannes instead), but we did take time to look at it and thought it would indeed be a nice choice for a repeat visit, as it's so well located next to the gardens and the pleasure port.
And we could use a repeat visit some day since, alas, we didn't have time to take the boat trip from Larmor Baden to visit the Cairn Gavrinis. Having read French Mystique's report about the megaliths, it was the megalithic site I most wanted to see. Nor did we have time to fit in Rochefort en Terre or Suscinio Castle. The Golfe of Morbihan is just filled with wonderful places to visit.
Eager to read more!

>> AutoEurope/Kemwel refuse to rent out of Vannes even though there are three major rental agencies there. <<

That's odd - we rented one out of Vannes last year through AutoEurope. It was from Europcar and was a manual. Friends are returning a car in Vannes next week - I think it was from AutoEurope/Kemwel. If you go to the AutoEurope web site and put in an October date for Vannes - there are plenty of cars available - even automatics.

Maybe every car was already "booked" for your arrival date.

Stu Dudley

Perhaps you were only considering the Europcar office AT the train station, instead of the larger office a bit east on the main north/south road through Vannes. That's where we picked up our car. I tried to switch our pick up location from the office east of town to the train station place, and AutoEurope said that the train station office was a bit "different" - and they could not use that pick-up location.

Stu Dudley

Automatic transmission is extremely hard to guarantee except in the biggest cities in France unless you tell them something like "I'm going to rent it for a month." Then they'll find one.

I tried to use AutoEurope initially since the internet info was that they are there to back you up if there is any trouble with the actual rental agency. Their website said they couldn't fulfill my request, or something like that. I called them up since they have a US call center, and the service rep also failed to find any available car. I asked why, and she said something to the effect that "We don't work with rentals in Vannes." I then had failure to book with Avis in Vannes and Hertz in Vannes on the web also. When I went to Europcar on line, they took my request for the car in Vannes but sent an email that there would be no confirmation of rental for several days, even though I was paying in advance including full protection and a second driver. On the third day I got a confirmation. The real life pickup and dropoff both went absolutely smoothly, by the way. Drop off was in Saint-Malo with the car undamaged.

>> AutoEurope .......I called them up since they have a US call center<<<<

In case you didn't know - their call center is also their headquarter office - in Portland Maine.

I also dropped of a car in St Malo this past July - with damages.

Stu Dudley

AJ,
Our Europcar (manual) rental was arranged by phone through Auto Europe with pick up in Rennes/ drop off in Vannes. But our voucher indicated the drop off at the Vannes Europcar office at Rue du Général Baron Fabre. That I didn't understand, since there is a Europcar "office" listed online in the Ibis Hotel across from the Gare. We needed to drop it off in the am then catch a TGV to Montparnasse, thus, our desire to drop off at the rail station.

We didn't want to risk not finding the main office easily that morning or waiting for the agent to call us a taxi to the Gare (it's not close), not knowing how long that would take. *So we found the Général Baron Fabre office the day before. The helpful agent there told us that we could, yes indeed, drop the car off in the outdoor lot across from the Gare in their designated Europcar slots and drop off the keys at the Ibis front desk. No problem. It was so easy!

Not sure about the Auto Europe saying they don't deal with Vannes rentals--perhaps because at that time they didn't have any automatics for your dates? *At any rate, I'm glad you found the pick up easy. *
And I’m eager to hear about your next Brittany adventures! *We loved our nights on the Pink Granite coast and wished we had allotted more time there. *On to the next installment!
*

Brittany, Second Part, Ploumanac’h

Well, saying we were without maps is not exactly true. I did have the two yellow Michelin maps that covered our selected departments in Brittany. The problem was that they are too big to use while driving, but for areas of interest they are too small. So we depended on Jeeves. The GPS was apparently programmed to mess with us. Every once and a while Jeeves would tell us to go the wrong way on a one way street. He had a propensity for directing us onto one lane farm roads instead of a highway. And once I found myself on an almost less than one lane trail, probably an unpaved bike path. But we survived with the car unscathed.

Back to the report: We drove north, with a lunchtime stop in Pontivry. It was supposed to be a nice town to see, but Monday had most stuff closed, the town center was in the throws of major roadwork and detours, and it was starting to rain. So we found a place that was open and almost full for lunch: Le Colibri. Mrs. P had a good salad nicoise, I had a gessiers salad and then (horrors!) a hamburger. I am philosophically against having American food in Europe. My last attempt, a Wimpy’s hamburger in the 1960’s, was suitably punished. But it sounded good, and it was. Compared to an American fast food burger, the meat was better, the roll was better, the cheese was different, the fixings were as good, and, well, the fries were frites. I had been noticing places offering “American Sandwich” and other such offerings. The curse of American food is spreading, but the French seem to have twisted some improvements on it.

We drove through the rain to our hotel: Hotel des Rochers, 70 chemin de la Pointe, Port de Ploumanac’h, Perros Guirec +33-2-96-91-67-54 which lived up to its reviews. Nice room, modern, with a private outside terrace bigger than the room itself that gave a view of the port. Very comfortable. Also, the hotel has two well rated restaurants, one of which was open that day, a Monday, Restaurant le Duplex. It has a comfortable upper level glassed in with views of the port, a hard surfaced lower level more like a bar lounge (no views), and a lot of outdoor tables that were not available in the rain. I had made a reservation a day or two earlier and was a hotel guest, so we were a bit dumbfounded by being shunted off to a back corner downstairs view-less table. They said that the restaurant had been fully booked for two weeks. Mrs. P was visibly upset and walked out. I presented our case to the hotel’s desk clerk, who arranged an upstairs table with a view. I think it was the “just in case” table held off the reservation list for VIP’s and upset wives. We were rapidly assuaged with excellent food. Apps of tuna cut up with a sweet coating, foie gras with smoked white fish, mains veal fillet and beef fillet, wonderful sides, sparkling rose wine, sweet wine for the foie gras, and more, topped off with chocolate desserts, including an artfully constructed “mystere.” Best meal of the trip so far. Highly recommended but reserve weeks in advance.

The next morning we drove into Perros Guirec in search of pastries for breakfast, getting rewarded at Ty Coz and La Chaumiere. Yes, double breakfast and you would, too, with the delicacies they were selling. We then returned to Ploumanac’h and walked off one of the breakfasts on the coastal path. The pink granite seascape views were appropriately spectacular even without the photographic enhancements you get on the postcards. Giant blocks of pink-hued granite piled atop each other, eroding from the breaking waves, every view better than the one before. The path was not daunting too much to our aged physiques. It was a walk, barely a hike. Around lunchtime we took a branch path to what probably was the commercial center of Plounanac’h. Well, it had souvenirs, another hotel, restaurants and creperies. We had nice gallettes. Then it was only a 10 minute walk back to the hotel since our hike was a loop around the tip of the peninsula.

For dinner, we ate at the hotel’s other restaurant, Les Rochers, their higher line place. No trouble with our reservation. We dined on a crab construction, bar with apricots, a seafood platter, lamb chops, a cheese course, and kouign amann (a pastry that now I know what it is). Curiously, the food, although quite good, was not quite as good as that of their lesser restaurant from the night before. We returned to our terrace and relaxed.

Anyone who has followed my occasional trip reports will note that this time we spent most of our time relaxed rather than filling every minute. Brittany will do that to you. Next stop: Saint-Malo.

If you people keep having pastries for breakfast, the tourist places will soon make it obligatory. The French have viennoiseries rather than patisseries for breakfast, if they are not eating a simple tartine.

As for GPS in rural areas, you should absolutely never believe it if you are on a road where the signs have indicated a different route. Follow the signs! A GPS will send you on a cow trail if it is 300 meters shorter than the main road.

So I found out!

The Hotel des Rochers was also our "runner up" on the Pink Granite Coast. Although we decided to splurge mid-trip on a luxury hotel in Trebeurden (indoor pool for my husband), we did have a chance to check out at the Hotel des Rochers (thanks to kja's rec) and our other "runner up", the Castel Beau Site (thanks to Stu) when we drove to Ploumanac'h to walk the coastal path. Either would have been fine.
I wish we had timed our visit for lunch at le Duplex. Glad that you managed finally to secure the special "upset wives" table!
Looking forward to your St Malo installment of the papers!

So I found out also. Ridiculous!!!

Stu Dudley

I'm glad it worked out for you -- I loved that place!

I'm glad you checked it out and are letting others know of your assessment. :)

Brittany, Third Part, Saint-Malo

The drive from Ploumanac’h to Saint-Malo had only minimal Jeevesian foolishness. Our hotel, L’Adresse Appart Hotel et Resort, 3 rue des Poulieurs, Saint-Malo +33-2-99-19-93-93, is a three minute walk to the old city and is only a half block from the shore. When we chose it, there was copious on street parking, but the parking was now a construction zone, so we parked in the hotel’s underground facility. The spots are very tight. It took all my parking lot kung fu plus guidance from Mrs. P to get in and out with the 2 cm clearances. No damage was done to the car, while my blood pressure soared temporarily as the car's collision warning wailed. The hotel rooms have closet kitchens and the necessary appurtenances for self-catering. We didn’t use it. Modern rooms and bathroom, more spacious than Paris rooms by a square meter or two, very comfortable large bed, A/C, etc.

We walked to the intra muros old city, picked up a map (yes!) at the tourist information center, and explored. The old buildings with narrow streets that changed name every block were full of high end tourist stores, low medium and high end restaurants, and the usual products of Brittany emporia. We did discover a wonderful spice store with just about every spice you could imagine. Several of the restaurants we were interested in had no on line menus, so we checked out the menus at the restaurants themselves, walked in, and made reservations. On the way we discovered the Breizh Cafe, whose Paris branch is known as a hard to score table on the foodie web. We were granted the only walk in table for 2 for our lunch, getting the best crepes (gallettes actually) of the trip. Recommended. Probably should reserve.

We ate dinner across the street at Absynthe. Seafood, deliciously augmented with chantarelles, girolles, berries, dashi broth, baby fennel, etc. The underlying asparagus, squid, St Peter fish, and rouget named ingredients were wonderfully enhanced. Wine list had a St Veran as good as any Chablis. Desserts, as usual, were great. Recommended, reserve.

The next day we drove to the Chateau de Fougeres. It’s a big place, the best old castle we have visited. They include an audio guide with the entrance fee. Spent plenty of time touring the large place, as the structures and history of the castle and the various owners were described. Lots of stairs. Had a simple lunch at a place in front of the chateau entrance, quiche and croque monsieur of adequate quality, with, of course, fine frites.

Dinner was at Le Chalut. It was Mrs. P’s choice after seeing its menu in the window. We reserved by walk in the previous day, as they sell out. The meal was the most expensive of the trip. It was the best meal of the trip. Actually, it was the best meal of several trips. The amuse bouche was the size of a usual appetizer, cream of lentil and mussel soup with a side of fish rillettes. Great. The actual appetizers were the size of main dishes. Mrs. P’s rouget fillets had 5-6 fillets, so we happily shared them. My appetizer was the best single dish I’ve had in years, an artful bar of crab covered with perfect scallops (raw) topped with marinated salmon, and other things in a citrus cream sauce. Divine. Then came a surprise of a perfect oyster of maximum size. Main courses were equally delicious, then came the cheese course (perfect) and desserts, more perfection. My notes, affected by wine and over-satiety, are indecipherable after the oyster, but I do remember us getting bowls of roasted baby potatoes added in there somewhere. I was so stuffed I could not finish my crème brule. If you are going to be anywhere near St-Malo, make a reservation. Highest recommendation.

The next day we drove to Concale for oysters and the Emerald Coast. We grabbed the last spot in the oyster farm’s parking lot, found out that the English tour was at 2 pm, so we walked a mile to Cancale and the oyster market. The oyster market turned out to be about 8-10 stalls selling oysters, which Mrs. P does not eat raw and, to tell the truth, the available ones were not that impressively sized, so we looked elsewhere for lunch. We were creped out, didn’t want a fancy meal, so at Bistrot Chez Julien had bistrot burgers. Good meat and a ton of toppings (chorizo, cheese, peppers, fried onions, eggplant, sauce) and, of course, frites. McDonalds should take lessons. My fear of European hamburgers has been obliterated.

La Ferme Marine oyster farm tour looked to be a loss. We got back there 25 minutes before the scheduled tour but the ticket and gift shop was now dark and locked up tight. Since this was the last day in the season for English tours, we figured they cut out early on a Friday afternoon, much to our dismay. Just to annoy them, we called their number. They said someone would reopen the place in 5 minutes, and 20 minutes later the lights went on. The tour was moderately interesting with explanations, a movie, a show and tell of shells and equipment, followed by a tour of the actual industrial scale oyster sorting and packing facility, followed by an oyster tasting (one each, but I also got Mrs. P’s). One tourist had never had a raw oyster before. He survived. The tour guide, hearing I was from New York, asked how theirs compared to our Long Island oysters (I was diplomatic, preferring Blue Points). We then spent a few minutes in their shells of the world museum. We drove back to the hotel along the Emerald Coast, periodically ignoring Jeeves’ tendency toward impossible routings. Scenic.

We returned to St. Malo, wandered the old city, found the Boulangerie Patisserie de la Cathédrale, bought too many pastries for the next day, then headed to our last dinner in St-Malo at Bordier’s Bistrot Autour du Beurre. The meal starts with a butter tasting (Bordier is the big name in top quality French butter). Eight cubes of different flavored composed butters and nice crusty bread. Unique and tasty. Aps were a “chaud-froid” of tuna and langoustine fritters with baby vegetables. The chaud-froid was a trick name. Instead of tuna in a sauce that gels when cooled over it (a true chaud-froid), the tuna was a hot preparation interspersed with a cold raw preparation. Very good. Mrs. P had a main of cod with oysters (cooked) while I had the declinaison of lamb pre-sale, excellent. My notes are more legible due to sticking to wine by the glass in moderation. Recommended. Reserve.

Next: Return to Paris

AJ,
I've enjoyed your St-Malo food notes, as we chose two of your fine choices there (but missed le Chalut).
Bordier's Le Bstrot Autour du Beurre impressed us the most (our favorite butter flavors: seaweed, espelette and yuzu). To start we chose the “perce neige”, an inventive poached egg swimming in morel cream, the presentation of which resembled a Baked Alaska. For our mains: the veal cooked low temperature with turnips made with Muscat de Rivesalte, aubergines and artichokes (the "quasi de veau") and the filet of sole with morels, asparagus and rocket salad cream. For dessert, an artistic chocolate “Jivara” mouse, with an almond crisp, India pepper and buckwheat seed coulis. That night they had the agneau au pré salé on the menu, and I regret not having chosen it, as we didn't see it elsewhere since we didn't venture to the Mont-St-Michel area.

Because they were expecting a large party later on that evening, when we reserved the day before, we snagged the only table left, at 7:30 pm. Yes, it's very important to book here, since the space is small. There are two tables at the front entrance that seemed reserved for walk ins, but the back dining room with its soaring ceiling seemed to us much more atmospheric. At Bordier's shop next door we purchased tins of the Quiberonnaise sardines au beurre Bordier and ones with yuzu, which we may finally open tonight.

We also enjoyed the stylish le Comptoir Breizh Café, since we couldn't fit in the Japanese La Table de Breizh Café in Cancale. We dined here sitting at the counter where we could watch the lone chef in constant motion. A perfect meal for us here: an organic egg and ham galette, their house salad, a plate of the special Tsarskaya oysters, a dessert crêpe and a bottle of one of their 60 special ciders.

In Cancale we too intended just to order oysters at one of the market stands at the pier, but the very long lines deterred us, both there and at Chez Julien, which was packed (late June). So we went to JulieV's rec. instead, the cute family-run Le Surcouf, on the other side of the pier, for our oyster lunch. We loved our oyster feats in Brittany, both in Cancale and the black pear oysters from Belón on the southern coast. Although we have fine oysters here from Samish Bay, the Brittany oysters exceeded our expectations.

Hope your return to Paris was uneventful with no Jeevesian mishaps. And thanks again so much for your delightful report!

Glad you are following, Maribel. Our favorite butters were also were espelette and yuzu. Bought a jar of piment d'espelette at the spice store. Interestingly, with all the hundreds of jars on the shelves, the espelette was hidden in a cupboard. I had to ask if they had it, and had to ask further to get a second jar.

You can probably pop into any Maison de la Presse or bookstore or even a supermarket and get the right scale maps. I agree that GPS is worthless in many parts of rural France unless you want to visit farmers' barns.

The yellow Michelin maps are the best.

Agreed. i have a box full of them.

Such a lovely--and food filled--trip report. Thank you.

HappyTrvlr,
Because I didn't trust our vehicle's GPS, I, the navigator, used the yellow Michelin department maps (per Stu's rec.) the # 308 Finistère, Morbihan and the #309 Cotes-d'Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, supplemented with Google maps/Siri for our 16 days around Brittany. These 2 maps worked well for me (but I LOVE printed maps and make lots of pre/post trip notes on them!).
The only time I needed a more detailed map was when exploring the avens (estuaries) south of Pont-Aven. Luckily our hostess lent us her IGN map 0620ET Quimperlé-Pont Aven for Stu's suggested driving itineraries there. When stuck, I relied on Google maps or the Apple mapping on my iphone. I love my Michelin French department maps and have 8 of them, along with the even more detailed Michelin green zoom maps (Basque coast-south Landes, Bordeaux & environs, Environs of Paris, Châteaux of the Loire)

kja,
I really debated about our Pink Granite Coast lodging. I was torn between the two Manoirs in Trébeurden (a Relais du Silence and a Relais & Châteaux). My gut told me to just stay at the Hotel des Rochers because you loved your stay and thus, I would as well. Or for a 4-star, we could have just chosen the Castel Beau Site. *Ploumanac'h, IME, makes the very best base for exploring. And you have the coastal path just steps away, plus fine dining. Thanks to you and Stu, we made sure to include 2 nights on the Pink Granite Coast and could have used another night!
In retrospect, I should have chosen the cottage of the Hotel Tri Mein in Sainte-Marine, below Quimper for our Brittany "luxury hotel splurge", even without a pool, since JulieV had recommended it and stu had dined there. I do listen to and take notes from my favorite Fodorite travelers!

AJ,
We also though that the coastal path, the Sentier des Douaniers, was an easy walk, not a strenuous hike.
Hope you enjoy using your piment d'espelette. We use it in pipérade, poulet Basquaise, axoa, marmitako but have learned that a very little goes a very long way! It's great for veal stews.
Again, your lovely trip report has brought back some wonderful memories.







*

@ Maribel: Thanks for the kind words! :blush: I enjoyed the Hotel des Rochers, and thought it was a great place to stay when seeing the Pink Granite Coast, but it wouldn't suit everyone. Like you, I'm glad StuDudley recommended walking that stretch of coast!

@ AJPeabody: I hope you don't mind the digression.

(How could I resent digressions? My whole report is full of digression. That's what they invented parentheses for.)

Paris, Second Part, Including a rare AJPeabody Rant

The return to Paris was uneventful. Gassed up the car, returned it to the rental agency, where the Europcar guy signed off no damage and full tank. We crossed the street to the TGV station. We booked our tickets moments after the bookings opened 3 months before, scoring PREMs at 20 euros each. We had gotten lunch stuff at a Carfour to eat on the train: Baguette, cheese, foie gras, country pate. That plus pastries and we were set. If only the US had trains anything like France’s. Getting to the hotel (Atmospheres again) revealed the downside of GPS-dependent cab drivers. Ours must have been very new to the game. He couldn’t program his phone for our destination, pulled out a Paris map book, and had no idea where Blvd St Michel was. After 2 euros clicked by on the meter while the cabbie sat still figuratively scratching his head in a stationary car, I pointed to the destination on the map and fingered the route (only 2 turns, for gosh sakes) on his map, so we got to the hotel.

[Trumpets, please] AJPeabody for the first time pans a restaurant on his list.

This was the fourth visit to Paris where we ate at Le Buisson Ardent. The first time, many years ago in the pre-internet times when our information came from “Cheap Eats in Paris,” le Buisson Ardent was a find. Inexpensive inventive untouristed. I still remember the fruit soup dessert. Over time, despite a change in ownership and an increase in prices, the experience was always good, although their English remained less evident than my very limited French. Not anywhere like it was this time. The dining room was noisy now, with tables jammed together in rows rather than being comfortably spaced. There now were sidewalk tables, where we were seated. The waiter (or was he the boss?) spoke fluent English, although his favorable comment on my French was pure flattery. The food was still inventive on paper, but more ordinary in execution, using less fine ingredients. The service frankly was sub par. Wine expressly ordered to accompany the main plats came immediately. Then there was a half hour wait for the appetizers, during which time a couple occupied the next table, ordered, received, and finished their apps. Ours eventually came and were in fact quite tasty. The next table received their mains. By coincidence, they had ordered exactly what we had ordered. Over the course of almost an hour, they ate, ordered dessert, and received their dessert. Then our mains arrived. We assume that the two identical orders were conflated into one, leaving us unserved for an unacceptable interval until someone figured it out. During our long wait, no server or waiter looked at us to have an eye caught, let alone come and appologize. The mains were a disappointment, accompanied by now warmed white and very well aired red wine. My wife’s special fish of the day, previously a high point on the restaurant’s offerings, was unexpectedly whole and full of bones. Mrs. P only likes fillets. In our restaurant experience, whole undissected fish dishes are always warned to the eater before the order is taken. Not here. My beef was chewy bordering on tough (and I am very tolerant of chew in beef, toughness being a sign flavor). Further, a layer of gristle ran along one side of the piece, the chef having neglected the single cut of a knife needed to remove it. Then, another long wait until we were asked if we wanted dessert. Since that would have kept us there another hour, I declined. Clearly a new ownership has tripled the number of tables, cheapened the ingredients, and neglected the art of service. I especially resent being forced to sound like a Yelp reviewer. Le Buisson Ardent, is No Longer Recommended.

The next day there is a Sunday Market at Place Monge and this day also had a vides greniers market next door, so we took a walk and a gawk. For lunch we tried a Vietnamese place near the hotel, Le Petit Saigon. The clientele was ethnic, except ourselves and one other table. We had nems (deep fried eggroll-like stuffed tubes) and spring rolls, followed by pho. We were favorably impressed. Recommended.

The cultural highlight of the day was the Tutankhamen Exhibition at the Villette. It was the last day of the exhibit. We were able to order tickets on line after they extended the run to include out trip dates. Lines were long but well managed. Many moons ago we saw the first Tut show in New York. This one had different stuff, without the famous mask. It was both artistic and instructive, with well spaced and sequenced displays that, along with the limited timed tickets, kept any particular object from being overwhelmed. The usual selfie obsessed tourists were replaced by phone-wielding hoards intent on photographing everything. I labeled their efforts “tutties” in analogy to selfies. It was quite a worthwhile show, so you can’t blame them. A short film also demonstrated the modern cultural effects of Tut, which was fun.

We finished the exhibit at a time approaching dinner. I used the opportunity to go to a well reviewed restaurant not near our hotel, L’Ange 20, a double pun name. Aps were outstanding, gambas in a fried nest of thin wheat noodles and a salad built around fried St Marcelin cheese. Mains were salmon and quasi de veau, all suitably accompanied. Food was quite good. By this time we realized that a diet of French restaurants all trying to be of the moment leads to convergent evolution of menus and palate fatigue. None the less, this place was good. L’Ange 20, recommended, reservations required.

The next morning was the wind up event of our trip, the show at the Atelier des Lumieres. An empty warehouse is turned into a three dimensional theater. Images project on all surfaces, music plays, and Van Gogh is deconstructed, reconstructed, and multidimensionally remixed, digitally speaking. Non-verbally amazing. We took the advice to book the first show of the day for the best experience. As the audience increased toward the end of the hour, it was clear that that was good advice.

It was a truly beautiful day. Comfortable temperature, cloudless sky, light breeze. We decided to walk the Promenade Plantee, the original of the converted elevated train trails, forerunner of new York’s High Line, which we enjoy. The Promenade was much more French, manicured plantings, no wildness. We ambled the length, only rarely having to dodge joggers.

For dinner we chose Le Cosi, a Corsican restaurant we liked from our last Paris trip. Went non convergently evolved in out choices: Split a huge appetizer serving of zucchini fritters. Mains were stuffed vegetables and a veal rolatini special. The Corsican specialties and their take on Italian were a great change from French and were excellent to boot. Le Cosi, recommended.

Well, I have run out of notes, so we had to go home the next day.

Next and probably the last installment, the Miracle of the Brass Button.

offline gives you direction on most map Apps, I don't use google but "here" or MapsMe does fine.

Glad you like the report for future Brittany planning. If I were to do it again, I'd add at least a few more days to add time in the western areas.