Jason's Breton Birthday

Jason and I are slowly making our way through every corner of The Hexagon and this latest trip took us to the coastal towns of Bretagne. It was Jason's birthday weekend and he is much more likely to appreciate an experience above tangible gifts, which is perfectly okay by me. More adventures for everyone!

Bretagne is a region with its own unique heritage and history, much of it stemming from their Celtic roots. Like the Basques, they have their own language and they are fiercely proud of being Breton. You can see the iconic black and white striped flag or triskell on just about everything from hats and handbags to t-shirts and tattoos.

We based ourselves in Brest and rented a car to explore the region's various seaside towns. If you're traveling to Finistère (literally translates to "the end of the earth") I highly recommend getting some wheels of your own. There are probably trains or tourist buses that will take you out to the coast, but some of the most amazing places we stopped were tucked deep in the middle of nowhere and there is no way we could have gotten there without a car.

The weekend started with a day trip to Le Conquet, the westernmost point in mainland France. The area is best known for its sailing and fishing, and is still one of the most significant French shellfish ports today. There is a quaint little harbor in town and a long trail that will lead you around to a lovely beach. It's often too cold and rainy to really enjoy the beach in Bretagne, but we got pretty lucky with the weather that day.

Back in Brest, I treated Jason to a sea-feast at a place called Le Crabe Marteau, where we felt a little bit like we were back home in Baltimore. Not quite the same style of crab picking, but the nostalgia factor was too good to pass up. The beautiful sunset over the harbor was not so bad, either.

Day 2 was a series of stops along the coast to see the cliffs. We grabbed lunch at Crêperie Le Korrigan in Crozon and ate easily the best galette in the world. It's a crêpe made with buckwheat instead of normal flour and it's filled with savory ingredients like eggs, ham, and cheese. Despite what we Americans would consider breakfast-y leanings, you can eat galettes for any meal of the day in France. I have had several and they were tasty enough but I didn't know that they could be that good. Perhaps it was the unfathomable amounts of butter they used. I suppose when it's your region's specialty, you have to get it right. The view was also pretty awesome.

Fueled by delicious galette goodness and a bowl of cider, we headed out to explore some of the points along the west coast of the Parc Naturel Régional d'Armorique. There were several other look-outs that we stopped at, (Cap de la Chèvre, all around Camaret sur Mer and some others I don't really remember) but none were as stunning as La Pointe de Pen-Hir. Jagged, jutting cliffs, mini islands of craggy rocks, eerie German bunkers left over from the war, turquoise blue sea... Eyegasm. For dinner, we stopped at Les Viviers de Térénez, a seafood restaurant we had driven by earlier in the day and had oysters, shrimp, spider crab, lobster and a host of other yummy things from the ocean. It wasn't cheap, but it was worth every cent.

Cap de la Chèvre

La Pointe de Pen-Hir

The next day was Sunday so not much was open, but it gave us the opportunity to see some nice things a bit further from town, including Quimper, the walled city of Concarneau, Reic sur Bélon for their famous oysters, and the quaint village of Pont Aven. More crêpes, more cider, more seafood, more smiling.

Classic old style houses in Quimper

Walking the ramparts in Concarneau

Nothing better than eating ultra-fresh oysters and drinking white wine in a garage in a tiny town in France.

Pont Aven, home to delicious crêpes.

On Monday, we had a few hours to kill between when they kicked us out of the hotel and our flight home so we took a quick walk around the city of Brest to see if there was anything left to see but it's a bit unremarkable because almost everything had be rebuilt after the war. The castle was kind of cool but the fog was so thick that day that we couldn't see much of anything. Jason finally got his wish to go to the Buffalo Grill when we got back to Bordeaux and, unsurprisingly, it was terrible, but at least he can say he's done it. You can't argue with a man on his birthday.

Brest health is very important!

Maybe the worst restaurant ever?

If it weren't for the rain, I would move to Bretagne in a heartbeat. The people were incredibly helpful and friendly, the food was amazing (fresh seafood all the time and OMG SO MUCH BUTTER), and the landscapes were breathtaking. We will definitely be making another trip to see more of what this spirited region has to offer.

Summertime and the living's... busy.

Every summer, we say to ourselves, "Selves. When people come to visit this year, it's going to be so much easier than last year." Unfortunately, this is always a lie. Summer is always wonderful, but it has yet to be easy.

After Jenna's wedding, I was doing a lot of entrance interviews for the incoming students at Kedge. It pays pretty well and it's cool getting to meet some of the students that I could potentially have in the fall, but it's exhausting. Sometimes you have nine candidates back to back. At 20 minutes each and only 5 minutes in between to evaluate them, it gets very tiring very quickly. Lucky for us, we had free buffet lunch (with wine!!) everyday so I guess it sort of balances out. Having four course meals everyday is maybe not so good for my waistline but it sure is good for morale.

In mid-June, Kim, an old friend of mine from high school, and her husband Kyle stopped in Bordeaux on their way around the world. They left their fancy jobs in Silicon Valley, sold their house, packed a bag and just decided to spend a year traveling. In some ways, I envied them. Just think of how many different places you can see in a year. It was mind boggling. On the other hand, I couldn't imagine living out of a suitcase for that long. As much as I love seeing the world, the feeling of coming home is pretty awesome, too. They told us all the ups and downs, the highlights and lowlights and honestly, it is a pretty incredible story. You can read all about it on their (much better looking than mine) blog!

They spent just a few days with us, most of which Jason and I were working so we only really saw them in the evenings for dinner. We had one nice day up in Lormont, taking the boat across the river and napping out by the lake. I suppose when you've already traveled halfway around the world, sometimes you just need a few days to do nothing.

At the same time, Jason's old boss Natalia was in town, doing a little guest appearance at the lab for a couple of weeks. This woman is my hero. She is a badass scientist, at the top of a male-dominated field, and she looks damn good doing it. She's a no nonsense kind of woman at work but is the first to let her hair down when it's time to play. I want to be her when I grow up.

Dinner at Miles. So delicious.

Having a glass of wine at Bo Bar

Not long after we said goodbye to Natalia, Kim and Kyle, we were saying hello to Jason's family. Jackie, Jeremy, Jenny, and Dave had just finished a week-long tour around Iceland and were doing the next leg of their adventure with us in Bordeaux and the surrounding area.

Dinner at Les Voûtes, our new favorite for big groups.

We rented two cars and drove down the coast, stopping at the Dune du Pyla on our way to San Sebastian. A bit of advice: When it's 40°C outside, that means that the sand will be even hotter. If you decide to run barefoot down the dune, you WILL feel like your feet are burning off. Both Dave and I nearly vomited from the pain. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Also, taking a long walk in desert-like conditions is not a good idea if you don't have any water with you. Jackie almost passed out and was not well until she got some fluids in her. Perhaps climbing the dune was not the best idea on the hottest day of the year...

Once we arrived in San Sebastian, we had slightly more reasonable weather and the view is still unbeatable from Hotel Monte Igueldo. It is becoming our go to spot when people decide they want to come to Spain. We even got to visit the amusement park (it was closed when Jason's parents were here in October last year), including la Casa del Terror. It was a little light on the terror but I am a baby and was still scared.

We got tapas at four different places, each one offering more delicious snacks than the last. Jeremy was really leading way on the hunt for good food and I was simply doing what I could to help with the language barrier. Still, there are a lot of specific food words that I don't know, mostly because I was too poor to eat out when I lived in Sevilla or even in Salamanca. I guess I am making up for it now.

I don't know what any of this is but it was all delicious.

After a lovely evening in Spain, we got back on the road to the Pyrénées. We stayed at this adorable little gîte called Domaine Du Sauveur in Luz-Saint-Sauveur, smack in the middle of all the best things to see and do in the region. Jason and I had just been to Gavarnie in February for a ski trip but the hiking trails were closed for the season. The Cirque de Gavarnie is supposed to be pretty incredible so we planned that for our first day. It certainly did not disappoint, with beautiful waterfalls and impressive views the whole way.

It was the 4th of July so we had a big silly American party. Jackie carried the party supplies all the way from the US, across Iceland and to the mountains, just so we could celebrate properly. It was pretty awesome.

The only downside was that I was suddenly feeling a little strange. I started coughing and couldn't stop. I was up all night with a fever and intense body aches, completely incapable of finding a comfortable sleeping position. I was a wreck the next day and couldn't move from the bed. I had to miss all the fun of the adventure to the Pic du Midi, which was doubly disappointing because I hadn't been there yet and really wanted to go. Usually, a little cold wouldn't hold me back but I couldn't breathe. It was a little scary and I had no idea what was wrong with me because it came on so suddenly.

The next day, the gang went off to Cautrets and I spent another day in bed, trying not to die. I didn't feel quite as bad since Jason and I had been on this hike up to the Lac de Gaube before so I wasn't missing out on anything new. I was feeling moderately better by the time they got home but I was still having trouble breathing. 

On our way out of the Pyrénées, we stopped by this castle on a hill. I don't even know what it's called because I was too busy gasping for breath while we were climbing up to it. It was lovely and all but it would have been lovelier if my lungs were working at the time.

We bade farewell to the Pyrénées, packed up the cars and headed back to Bordeaux. We were all pretty tired from all of our adventures but happy. We had a day to unwind back in the apartment before the crew took of for the US. As always, it was a lot of work and preparation to get their trip together but we were so happy to have them. Even when it's hard, and annoying and people get on your nerves, there is nothing like family.

P.S. It was pneumonia. Who gets pneumonia??