It seems that our hire car (voiture de location) is the only thing that has caused us any concern this holiday and returning it was no different, but it wasn’t any problems with duplicate train station names this time. No, the cause of the problem was due to all the work being done in the area surrounding ‘la gare’ in Rennes, with streets either blocked off or open to only buses and taxis, so our GPS was in a whole world of pain.  So was I, as Jeff was getting mighty cranky.  After a few turns around the block and with no obvious solution or clear signs in sight, the stress level in the car was definitely rising. In a bid for world peace (our little world, anyway) Jeff parked the car and I ran back to the station, found the AVIS office and was given, along with apologies for the disruptions to the traffic, directions to where we needed to return the car.  Sometimes it’s the smallest things, isn’t it?? However, it only took two strong drinks and our little drama was but a distant memory!

Rennes is a beautiful city and one we knew very little about before we arrived. It is the capital city of both the region of Brittany and the department of Ille-et-Vilaine. It has the feel of a small city, but in fact is apparently the 10th largest in France. Very vibrant and with a large student population, it has a fantastic feel to the place. We both loved it and really wished we had more time here. So, it will certainly be on the list for places in France to re-visit!  Several faculties of the University of Brittany were transferred from Nantes to Rennes back in the day, beginning with the law school in 1730, but the fully-fledged University of Rennes didn’t begin operating until 1885.  I think students now number somewhere near to 70,000. Given the overall population is around 700,000, it means 10% are studying.  In fact, we were lucky enough to meet two students ourselves, Fanny and Teddy, who are both studying law and happened to be sitting in the next table to us at the restaurant we went to for dinner on Saturday night . They were absolutely delightful and wonderful company. We really enjoyed our evening with them, talking about anything and everything, in a mixture of both french and english. We’d love them to come and visit, if they decide to venture to Australia once their studies are completed.

The Rennes weekly market, luckily for us, is on Saturday morning and we, as it happened, were there on a Saturday morning!!. What a concidence!! Apart from the Dinan market, we haven’t been to any others this holiday, so we were very keen to go and were so glad we did. It was absolutely huge, probably the largest we have seen in France and it was simply buzzing with people. We spent several hours there, just taking it all in – the noise, the bustle, the smells and the sheer variety of foods on offer. The flowers sellers particularly, were in abundance so, even though we were only in Rennes for two nights, I succumbed and bought a bunch of sweetpeas. I have always loved the fragrance of violets, sweetpeas and pansies since I was a little girl, so I just couldn’t resist and was in heaven for the rest of the day, smelling their perfume. Bliss. It reinforced my plan to get back into my garden when we are home again, in the hope that I might have more success growing them this year. A bit late, I know, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. It’s the simple things that give me the most pleasure and a vase full of sweetpeas is one of those.

Today we travelled by TGV from Rennes to Montparnasse station in Paris, a journey of approximately 2.5 hours. We are back in Paris for 5 days before returning to Brisbane, so the end of this brilliant holiday is looming, very unfortunately! However, we are off to the theatre tomorrow night to see a french comedian (‘How to be a Parisien in one hour’), we still have a bike tour around Versailles to do, plus a re-visit to the Louvre and a Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibition to see. I think somehow some shopping at Galeries Lafayette may well be on the cards too, so our days will be full. Teddy and Fanny both recommended the Mosque as a must see, so we’ll try and squeeze that in as well. If nothing else, when we get on that plane to come home, we’ll be exhausted. I hope so anyway, as maybe I’ll be able to get some sleep!

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PS. My love of shoes (les chaussures) is well known, so I must confess to buying some in Rennes (bien sûr!). Spoilt for choice, there are shoe shops aplenty, so I renamed the main shopping street ‘Rue de Shoe’! !