Avec Charles et Babeth

Where did I leave off?
Oh yes, we were grumpy. Well a lot has changed since, because we are no longer grumpy. I do want to point out that I did enjoy my time in Houilles, I just did not enjoy all the work we had to do at the start of the trip.

Since my last post, I told you we had just gotten our Youth Passes. We had a delicious dinner that night. I think it was the one with the round pasta and the olives and the smoked salmon. Holy-crap-in-a-hat, it was good. The next day, Sam and I acquired a mobile device (finally) and got to experience and INSANE to the MEMBRANE open-market. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen, and I've been to the French Open Market before. I just don't ever remember it being so insane. So we ran out of there like scared little lambies.

Before hopping onto the train to our next destination, I gave Beatrice three drawings--a picture of her cat, a picture of a turtle, and a quick sketch of a hedgehog (which is called un arrisson in French!) which made its way into existence due to a conversation the previous day with Genevieve-Marie.

So eventually, Sam and I took the metro to Paris, then took the metro to Montparnasse which took us to the train station. We boarded our train from there and were off to Brittany!

We were both tired, but very pleased at our successful and painless transfer onto the train. We had been having such bad luck in regards to transportation, we were worried.

The train ride was a breezy three hours long. We landed in a town called Lorient, picked up by my cousin's girlfriend Babeth, and driven all the way outside of Quimperle, which is a cute and adorable little place 30 minutes from Lorient.

Sam got to have his first beer since being in France and you could tell how happy he was. We chatted with my cousin, Charles (who knows very little English), and with Babeth (who learned English at the University). It was fun and interesting and sometimes even a challenge. When none of us could come up with the correct words in either language, we resorted to making sounds and pantomiming. I discovered making good animal sounds runs in the family. So does forgetfulness.

Yesterday,  Sam and I got to be real tourists for the first time on this trip. We went to the little town in Quimperle and hung out for a few hours, then grabbed the train to Quimper, a larger town 30 minutes away with an enormous and beautiful Gothic cathedral.

These pictures are from Quimperle:

I found a really cute shop here that had knitting and crochet stuff, and all other sorts of things for needlework.

It was adorable and I looked through a lot of knitting books and touched a lot of yarn, which was probably not the right thing to do since the French merchants are quite protective of their products.

But I just told myself I was eccentric and that was why it was okay.



It was insanely scenic. We really liked it.



There was also an old abbey here, from before William the Conqueror showed up in 1066 (HOLY SHIT!) and united France all under one thing-a-ma-bob.

We went inside and it was pretty sweet. They had some postcards for 0,50 Euro and some candles you could light for 1 Euro (all monies went to the upkeep of the abbey, and it was definitely all based on the honor system).

 

So here is the city of Quimper. 

It was also quite beautiful.  We walked along the river down to the harbor. We checked out an awesome garden and also went into the AMAZING cathedral that was in town. 

We also discovered that the youth population in France is very into the punk style, but in the way that they purchase expensive outfits already together without having to hunt them down at the thrift stores and alter them.  Funnily enough, Sam and I were checking out our respective genders without even knowing we were doing the same thing.

 

A kind lady took a picture for us (we didn't even ask her, she just suggested!) in front of these gorgeous gates at the cathedral.

Here is part of the cathedral. It was too large to get in one shot, so this is a teaser for you. The stained glass windows inside were beautiful, but on the outside they had wire mesh lining the entire them. It was to stop the assholes from throwing rocks through the windows. It is a good precaution, but man-oh-man did I hate those assholes right then and there.

Sam and I also had good laughs at the advertising we saw. I especially like the Orangina ones and took a picture.

There was also an advertisement for men's cologne. I found it slightly disturbing and funny, but mostly gross. I like the deer in lingerie with the old man checking out her tits MUCH better.

Here is a picture of Charles, my cousin, and his girlfriend, Babeth. I caught them off-guard here.

Charles is a surveyor and Babeth works at a shoe store. They are both very fun and enthusiastic. Charles is especially enthusiastic about sight-seeing Brittany. He describes everything as beautiful, and its cool seeing how much he loves where he lives.

Sam and I were supposed to hike to Devil's Rock today, a nice rocky area a little ways from Charles and Babeth's house, but we woke up this morning to the pitter-patter of rain. When Charles returns from work, we are supposed to go see the ocean. Sam and I have agreed that we don't care if its raining or not, we're going to see it, Goddammit!

Oh and this is one of Charles and Babeth's kitties, Willow. The other one is Stitch, but I couldn't get a picture of her. Sam got some good ones with his fancy camera though, so it was okay.