Paris1972-Versailles2003

Yesterday was a nice day, the last before my boys go out in ski vacation with the school here, so we decided to test the cinema again, this time a more serious movie, and go for some pints;;;;

Cinéville Vannes is great, huge spaces, great big screen, great sound, good friendly service, and the movie was good :;) Millenium, or the man who does not like woman, something like that. Daniel Craig was great, and damn the woman was fantastic, both on screen and very sexy off screen. A nice movie about a serial killer in Sweden who held an empire but use the power to rape his own family members;;;all living in an island, the main character a newspaperman who had come up with an earlier story that did not turn out too credible, was hire by the old man of the family to solve the riddle; the main character then hire as assistance the same woman who search out his false stories in his previous article.The two work out well, and I was hoping for them to stay together at the end, but I am a dreamer and today, the character stay with his old girlfriend bland bland….I take Lisbeth (Rooney Mara) anytime ::) Recommend to see it in any language. http://vannes.cineville.fr/programmes.php?salle=vannes-parc#0000131915

Just to be in the right mood we headed for lunch before the movie at the Irish pub nearby Le Skellig, it was slow as it was lunch, it gets going at nightime; but the service was good we had burgers,grimbergen beers red and blonde, plus coffees with small cakes and a share platter of goat cheese lardon bacons,and eggs, all for 76 euros for 3: it is right in the entertainment area of Atlanville, with other restos and stores all around it. Webpage http://www.atlanville.fr/skellig_presentation.shtml

We went around doing some last minute shopping for ski outfits like bags,gloves, etc, and then headed home. Before I finish the post, would like to add some spots in the Vannes area that are tops for night out, and really enrich the cultural events life in my area now ,some of them already visited. And then we had dinner, forgot the entry lol!! yes we went to La Boucherie is a chain of steakhouse (not bad for French steakhouse) and its right in the same area of skellig but outside the Atlanville area, walking distance of about 5 minutes: here we ate steaks of course with fries, red wine from Bordeaux, Chateau d’agassac 2008, creme brulée,dame blanche desserts, and coffees, all for 85€ for 3. location rue du  Gay Lussac , webpage at http://www.la-boucherie.fr/restaurants/67/FR/vannes-56

The cirque Eloize is coming to Vannes, Feb 8-9 at 20h30 and Feb 10 at 19h, at the theatre Anne de Bretagne,with 17 artists with many circus favorites plus the novelty of urban dances such as break dance and hip-hop!  Admissions will be from 21-27€  location Place de Bretagne,Vannes,  Tél : +33  (0) 2 97 01 62 00 webpage info at the city of Vannes site in French http://www.mairie-vannes.fr/culture/theatre_anne_de_bretagne/evenements/4118/index.html?&VIEW=DETAIL&AID=1181

The encounter of European Cinema or 11éme Rencontres du Cinéma Européen, from march 28 to april 3rd, admissions from 3-8€, held at the cinéville Garenne, and  Palais des Arts, Vannes; info in French for the palais des arts at city webpage http://www.mairie-vannes.fr/decouvrir_vannes/economie_entreprises/palais_des_arts_et_des_congres/4154/index.html , for the cinéville garenne,at http://vannes-garenne.cineville.fr/details.php?plan=01&idsalle=8186&salle=vannes

The salles or show places such as theaters,cinemas etc in the Vannes area are, the before mentioned Théatre Anne de Bretagne, Palais des Arts, Cinéville Garenne and Vannes,,and the others such as L’Echinova, 1 rue Léon Griffon 56890 St Avé or webpage http://www.lechonova.com/ for music concerts . La Lucarne, Rue d’ile Boêdic, 56610 Arradon, http://www.lalucarne-arradon.fr/?cat=5 for expositions, events concerts, Le Dôme, 1 rue des droits de L’Homme,56890 St Avé, a center for culture music and concerts, webpage at the city of st Avé in French http://www.saint-ave.fr/centre_culturel_le_dome.html , La Petite Scéne, 5 ferme de Maupéou, 56250 St Nolffs, right next to city mayor’s office in town, Auditorium des Carmes, place Théodore Decker,56000,Vannes at city page in French http://www.mairie-vannes.fr/culture/conservatoire_a_rayonnement_departemental/saison_des_carmes_2011/12/3570/index.html , Le Chorus,parc de golfe,5600 Vannes  webpage http://www.lechorus.com/ for events, exhibits, conferences at peninsula conleau.  Le Carré d’Arts, avenue des martyrs,56250 Elven, webpagehttp://www.csc-elven.fr/ , Salle Marcel Guého, 7 rue Jean Moulin,56450 Theix, webpage http://www.theix.org/scripts/site/04_page.php?cont_id=1&cont_appli_id=6&page_id=23,  Le Triskell, Parvis du Land Wursten, 56880 Ploeren at city mayor’s office webpage http://www.mairie-ploeren.com/Vie_pratique1/Espace_Culturel/default.aspx?Art=659&qry= , and Le Cairn, 56870 Larmor Baden, (wonderful beach), http://www.larmorbaden.com/index.php/SALLE-CULTURELLE-LE-CAIRN.html

Finally, if you want to keept track, of anything cultural, events,expos, concerts etc in the greater Vannes area, this is the official site in French but if have a question, I am here to help. http://www.enscene.net/accueil  ,and if you are interested to know news and events in general nature but also tourisme in the Vannes agglo area, this is the official site. http://www.agglo-vannes.fr/accueil/les_24_communes/les_communes_de_lagglo/arradon  with listing of towns that make up the region of Vannes.

The area where I work ::) Cheers

Today we head in force as we had multiple things to do before Dad goes off to Italy on work mission tomorrow Sunday afternoon. Vannes is the capital of the Morbihan dept 56, and really the only city per se. It has everything you need.

Depending on your needs you can stay in city and go to country or stay in country and come over to city. Many tourists in the summer stay near the beaches or coast, then by 17-18h head back into a traffic trail into the city nighttime activities, which been the only city per se is where the party is ::)

It was our first day shopping as what it is here the Winter Sales (started jan 11), so the stores and traffic were a bit higher than normal, and we do shop even if men, ho ho ho…. We got of course, video games and drivers for the boys, and shirts, pullovers, socks for Dad, and jeans,shirts,and sweaters for the boys , at different stores in the area of Parc Kerlenn, FNAC and Armand Thierry, were our favorite hit shops of the day. If want to take a peek, here are the webpages , http://www.fnac.com/localiser-magasin-fnac/w-4  ,and http://www.armandthiery.fr/e_commerce/magasins.cfm

We did try the Cinéville at Vannes,the cinema for the first time. It is big modern nice, and the sound was great. We saw Mission Impossible, protocole Fantome, and it was tense, fast pace movie, the kind made for video games now; but an old copycat of the action movies of the Dad’s time ::)  The webpage for them is at http://vannes.cineville.fr/programmes.php?salle=vannes-parc

The tourist office for Vannes is at le Port area, just by the boats!! webpage http://www.tourisme-vannes.com/ ; then you have the department Morbihan tourist page at http://www.morbihan.com/ , and the region of Bretagne tourist page is at http://www.tourismebretagne.com/

The city is wonderful to walk in its center, and I have other posts about it here. However, outside the center , it is very modern, with all modern world commodities as you can see from the pictures, which by the way will post some food pictures,not overly enthusiastic about it but ,its a trend, and I need to keep up lol!!!

After the movie we went to eat, so by the area of Atlanville in Vannes there are about 6 restaurants,bars to choose from, some local some national brands, so we chose the Tavern de Maitre Kanter, its an Alsacien seafood/beef national chain, that we always like to be sure of good stuff,and nice prices. The service was fantastic, very nice, fast, courteous, and greeters all over. The ambiance was well seafood,and mariners designs, and many families there. I imagine as in others at night the bar section will grow ,and its well stock and good.  The webpage is at http://www.taverne-maitre-kanter.fr/vannes We had 3 Grimbergen 50cl beers, a choucroute kanter, moules creme,burger kanter, extra fries, banana splits, and coffees all for 81€ for 3. which is reasonable in France.

If you want more they are in Parc Lenn where there are a leclerc hypermarché,plus 3 other restos, and Decathlon store; the area where we were Atlanville is developed as a center of entertainment away from the center of the city, and it has a webpage here http://www.atlanville.fr/default.aspx

We finish our day with the bowling billards alley at the peninsula of Conleau, (also review in this blog before), there is a complex of butterfly museum, aquarium, passenger boat terminal to outlying island, an expo center, hotels like Mercure, and restos like Chez Paul. It also has discotheques and the bowling alley.  We arrive at Le Master bowling at parc du golfe, Very friendly place,and very beautiful girls lol!! (I will be back). The welcome was very friendly jokingly,and the price nicer than in the Paris region (of course). We play and I won the overall title beating my two 18 yrs boys, of course, they did beat me in one game, my excuse was I need more practice as they do play in school….excuses excuses but hey, life is tough ,you do what you must do ::) There is also pool table, games, sports cafe bar with large screen TV,and just a nice secure ambiance good to be back ,I am sure. The webpage is here http://vannes.lemasterbowling.fr/refonte/master.php

We then headed back home about 11 kms away or about 6 miles; Sunday will be a day to update my blog, pack,have lunch with the boys and head to Nantes airport to catch my AF flight to Lyon and then on to Bologna Italy. Until then stay tune and be safe. Cheers

I just feld that I needed to go out with my boys on a night out; usually in my neck of the woods now things are pretty quiet, and they were….

We walk into city center Auray past the Hotel de Ville,and down the narrow streets alone…..not a soul ,down to the river Loc’h in the Saint Goustan district where there were four restos open while the quais are renovated,with huge stones carved out of the streets. At night it looks like a scary  sight but well we venture out.

I was told the whole region is very quiet at this winter time, and no tourists. Well, it is quiet and not too many tourists,with us there were 3 folks from England and us in the resto; usually a popping place in spring and summer at Le Bistro du Port, pl St Sauveur but this time eerie and nice at same time.

Its not often you or us to leave a deserted parking place in the center of a town, walk down narrow old, eerie streets down a river, and have a great meal practically alone ,and then walk back the same route to get to our car, all while seeming to have the whole town for us….lol!!! nice/

The tourism for Auray is great, this is where Benjamin Franklin came in 1776 and landed by mistake on his way to see king Louis XIV and ask for financial and more,,,support of France for a new nation just born, USA. The webpage is here  http://www.auray-tourisme.com/  ; take advantage to put the department or regional government tourist site iin Morbihan dept 56, at http://www.morbihan.com/  ; and why not that of the whole region of Bretagne or Brittany, here http://www.tourismebretagne.com/

We ate at Le Bistro du Port, pl St Sauveur port Saint Goustan, tel +33 (0) 2 97 29 15 38, no webpage but listed in the tourist office above here http://www.auray-tourisme.com/le-bistrot-du-port/auray/tabid/8269/offreid/79eed3f7-610b-4fc9-9e63-0c17879ea84b/detail.aspx

While there we had pizzas, crepes, and grim beers, such as pizzas 3 cheeses or fromages, pizza reine or queen,pizza catalane (with chorizos), crepes of banana and coconuts,a fish soup (delicious) coffees and 3 beers Grimbergen (Belgium)  50ml for 75 euros for 3. Great service very nice and prompt no need to call them… definitively been so close we will be back here.

Some photos of my Friday late night out with the boys,now over 18 so with Dad, really rocking around ::)

Yesterday afternoon I continue my travels in Bretagne visiting this wonderful town by the coast, with marine ambiance and very picturesque,sure to be back here. Concarneau is even feature in Brittany tourist video presentation to showcase the beauty of the region, and they were right.

First the official tourist webpage for it is here, http://www.tourismeconcarneau.fr/  . it has direct train service with Paris Montparnasse ,and you can even make by boat at Roscoffs from the UK, with Brittany Ferries at http://www.brittany-ferries.com/ . Of course, I do the car, on the N165 expressway Nantes-Brest it is very close to me about 35 minutes ::) For local parking the best is at the place 8 mai 1945 right by the harbor facing the old walled town fortress,close to everything on foot thereafter. The parking here is payable from June 22 to September 15 and hours of  10h to 12h30 and 14h to 19h seven days a week. However if you park by the train station is free all year. Buses is done with Busco at webpage http://www.busco.fr/ and there is a mini bus in city center in summer months for 10€  all summer. The bus transport for the Finistere deparment is at http://www.viaoo29.fr/  . The trains gets here from Paris stop at Quimper or Rospoden, then taxi to Concarneau. There is also in summer a petit train touristiques ,info herehttp://www.celtictrain.com/index2.html

This is a coastal town full of marine ambiance and seafood galore;;; the marinarium is a place to study biological marine life  for 5€ adult and open from next month February to March every day 14h – 18 H, April to June every day from 10h-12h and 14h-18h, july and august from 10h-19h more at official webpage here   http://concarneau.mnhn.fr/   , there is a center for European marine training,not visited as it is a school but nice building and you can walk up to it, more info in French here  http://www.cefcm.fr/contact.php   , and a museum of fisherman in a boat!!! musée de la Péche.open every day from february to october 10h to 12h and 14h to 18h for 6,50€ adult. see all information at official webpage here http://www.musee-peche.fr/  There is a fairy tale castle in Keriolet, that of a Russian princes (Aunt of Tzar Nicolas II) and her French husband related her to the assassine of Rasputin, richly decorated and nicely preserved.  more info here http://www.chateaudekeriolet.com/

You have a beautiful Les Halles covered market with all kinds of goodies and seafood/fish galore, I am in heavens!!! They are open every day from 8h to 13h ,and some stalls are open in the afternoon from 16h30-19h. It is right here that I would recommend the hotel, did not stayed of course, too close to rent a hotel Ilive, but it is Britt hotel chain of Bretagne very original and local right in the middel fo things, Hotel des Halles, tariffs posted from 59-84€ double, the webpage is here http://concarneau.brithotel.fr/  Another I saw and like is the Hotel de l’Océan, with wonderful views of the harbor and fortress below and many nice amenities like wifi,jacuzzi, and gym as well as on the nice local beach plage des sables-blancs, webpage here http://www.hotel-ocean.com/ . if looking for bare hotel and good deal on a short trip the reliable Accor Etap hotel is always an alternative anywhere ,site http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-5080-etap-hotel-concarneau/index.shtml

For restos the choice is nice, we saw a quite creperie that did not ate but it looks enticing for next visit call Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, right across from the parking at pl 8 mai 1945 facing the walled city forttress. location no webpage at 7 Place Duguesclin  ,tel +33 (0) 2 98 60 53 32. Another that caught the attention is the Le Comptoir ,facing the sea, lively for a relax drink and music webpage http://www.lecomptoirconcarneau.com/restaurant-groupe-concarneau.html  ;and finally, the one we chose as it was recommended by locals and its an institution here is the L’Amiral, this is in the old Grand Hotel of older days,and now its restaurant and brasserie/cafe. Facing the fortress walled city, and harbor, nice ambiance, friendly service and great food. The bar for the apero is great, plenty of seafood platters to munch on, and a local patronage. Then you move to the restaurant section, we took the menu Simeone as it was for lunch, 26€ person, this restaurant is recommended by the Michelin Guide,Guide Champérard, Tables et Auberges de France,restos Point Bretagne,and the Petit Futé. Therefore, approved it was great sublime service in a wonderful afternoon in Concarneau with the boys. webpage at http://www.restaurant-amiral.com/gb_index.asp

However, the main attraction here is the walled city or fortress, the locals call it Ville Close or enclose town. This place is with more than 1,5million visitors per year, one of the monument the most visited in Brittany according to the tourist office. Mention of Concarneau dates back to 1050AD, and the Ville Close is its foundations, inside you will find a wonderful amount of sights ,shops,and history all around you, some details here generalised; the walled city is 380 meters at its widest and 100 meters long on average. You must see the ramparts of granite built in 1541-1577 by Vauban; the beffroi or belltower done in 1906! , the house of the governor from the 18C, the old chapel of the hôpital de la Trinité from the 15C; the place Saint Guénolé with a beautiful fountain; the porte du Vin, called because the Bordeaux ships unloaded their wines here, the porte du Passage, a trench hole open in the walls from 1785;  The granite houses on the rue Vauban, done so the fisherman can dry their fish catch , the chapel of the rosary or chapelle du Rosaire or Portal  from the 15C . In the old regime or Ancien Régime  the chapel house the local municipal assemblies, later turn into storage and later fisherman cooperatives,now integrated into the museum of fishing or Musée de la Pêche, and finally but not least the old church of  Saint Guénolé built in 1928, partially destroyed in 1936 and now only the facade and the ground floor is still standing.

You must come here, and I will surely return for more, so much to see in Brittany or Bretagne or Breizh.  Cheers!!