Day 4: Breton's Saint Malo and back to Paris again

I finally got a full night's sleep and felt like a new person. After a failed attempt to find an open creperie in town, I headed out for Saint Malo on the coast about 30 mins away. After going around in circles a bit looking for the tourist information center, I stopped by a hotel/convention center outside of the city walls to ask directions to the tourist center. It turns out that it was only a few hundred feet away and I passed it at least three times. I made it to the tourist center to get a local map, and the woman who helped me was one of the friendliest i had met in France. She certainly looked out of place here and I was taken aback by her forwardness in wanting to help as the other workers sat a bit lazily at the other desks. She could have been mistaken to have stepped right out of a photo shoot for modelling. It turns out she was Romanian and very pleasant. I would have enjoyed staying longer, but had other plans and was starting to feel like I was being foolish chatting there. 

So I went straight, more or less, to the historical museum located in the town and doled out the six euro admission. It ended up being a bit of a tourist trap. Filled with random artifacts that didn't have much to do with the the history of the area. Few of them having English translations and what was captured in French was very brief.  

Found the museum tucked in next to the hotel.

Having my fill of the museum, I located the stairs to the ramparts of the walled city and made my way around on them taking in some beautiful views of the rocky coast and forts built on the small rocky islands that could be walked to on low tide. It reminded me quite a bit of the Pacific Northwest. Especially some of the areas of the Olympic Peninsula.

Looking out at a couple of the Saint Malo forts.

Much of the town within the ramparts was closed with few people wandering the streets. It appeared that it was prepared for much busier times when the weather would be nicer. I was able to find a tasty looking craperie, Craperie Gallo, so finally got around to eating some galletes, aka savory crepes, and trying their tasty Jacques Cartier crepe with chocolate sauce and pears. It was on fire which is one of my favorite features of a dessert. Jacques Cartier happened to be the founder/discover of Canada who came from Saint Malo.

On reflection, I should have eaten more of these

I wrapped up in Saint Malo and had planned to drive through Le Mans to check out the race track on the way back, but didn't think I'd have time before it started getting dark in Paris. I was heading to a new hotel and didn't want to try navigating the bizarre street layouts of the city at night. It turned out that I didn't make it anyhow and hit rush hour. Part of the experience was getting stuck in one of those cluster fuck intersections where six roads intersected with several buses in the center blocking traffic in all directions. Traffic was stuck in a puzzle like only I've seen in pictures. I was mired down in that intersection for forty five minutes or so. Fortunately I wasn't in a hurry, so ended up being amused watching the whirl of chaos around me.

After checking in finally, I went off to Aux Artistes pub to grab a cheap dinner and accidentally ordered beef bourguignon before realizing what it was. Part of the problem was after saying hello and asking for a table, the waiter handed me a pencil and paper and told me in English that it would help. I was a bit irritated since I tried my best to speak French when I walked in and didn't think it was that bad. This was on the heels of starting to feel some pride in my French. So in hopes of decent service, I stuck my tail between my legs and I ordered from the menu without asking questions. From what I could understand the beef was the specialty of the house. Turns out that I had forgot that it was the worst meal I had ever had in France when I visited Calais last winter. The place in Calais had served a dry roast soaked in a grey slop made of onions and mushrooms. Blech. Fortunately Aux Artistes did a great job and it was actually tasty. It reminded me of what I'd expect to order in a typical British pub, a tender roast with savory gravy. In the meantime while waiting for my dinner I noticed the waiter handing pencils and paper to all the patrons. I guess it gets pretty loud and it's more efficient and reliable to order food that way. Not a bad idea as it turns out and I felt silly for getting irritated earlier.