Ocean fare

So, we didn't go to St-Malo. The reason can be summed up in a few words: Kir royale, Kronenbourg, and hand-rolled French cigarettes. Yeah, it was a long Saturday night - too long to go anywhere the next morning *sheepish grin*

Anyhoo. My German roommate's boyfriend has been in town for the past week and he was kind enough to buy us some moules (mussels) and shrimp for dinner one night. My other roommates, including his girlfriend, aren't big fans of seafood, which I see as an utter travesty because it was freaking delicious. I missed seafood so much.



Danke, Gens!

After he left for Berlin, me and the ladies went to Binic, another small port town in Brittany, to check out the Christmas market, which turned out to be quite small and unremarkable, thus why I have no photos of it. Oh well. Here's the town, anyway, tiny and adorable, comme toujours:











We're going to try and go to Rennes for the Christmas market instead. Apparently, they're a huge deal in France and Germany. They start towards the end of November and go until the week of Christmas. Obviously, the largest one in France is in Paris, but we've heard-tell that the ones in Rennes and Strasbourg are just as good, so we'll save the 60 euro train fare for gifts instead, thank you very much!

Thanksgiving is this Thursday. I'm going to miss watching the Macy's parade on TV and being lazy with my parents over Boston Market takeout. My fellow American roommate Tiffany and I are planning to throw a Thanksgiving fête of our own for all the people we've met here. When we wrote out the invitation list, we laughed because there were only 2 Americans on it and the rest were either German, French or English. Nothing says cross-cultural exchange than food, no?

Missed you.

One of my favorite blogs, Missed Connections, has a film based on it!



I forgot how I found this blog (a true missed connection!) but I get excited whenever I see a new post. I love it because it's so wistfully romantic.. like a story about the love that got away, x10. Plus, Sophia Blackall's illustrations are awesome. She's obviously a very talented artist and has an eye for people-watching, which is something I suck at because I get paranoid that they'll see me. Still, doesn't mean I haven't snuck in a little glance here and there, every now and then ;)

9 Rue Chateaubriand

<3.

Lamballin'

I'm realizing more and more that there are way too many cutesy quaint towns in this part of France (as, I am sure, there are in others). So how do you narrow it down?

Go where you know somebody. My roommates and I went to Lamballe, a town 10 minutes via train, with a few of the German assistants to visit another German assistant, who was living by herself and invited us to spend the jour férié (one-day holiday. I forgot what the name was. The French have too many of them!)


So happy to be in Lamballe!






There wasn't much to sight-see, but we all remarked that Lamballe was much prettier AND cleaner than St-Brieuc. Guess that's what happens when you have a smaller town- it's easier to take care of. Of course, nothing was open due to the holiday so we just had lunch at Britta's place and played a few rounds of of Skip-Bo (kind of like Uno and Solitaire put together).

Next Brittany town to see: St-Malo on Sunday. This time, we won't know anyone, but it's okay. I'm very excited because it's supposed to be a very picturesque town (not that most of them aren't, but this is "The Big One"). I've been toying with the panoramic feature on my camera, but I'm still not sure if it'll work the way I want it to. Wish I knew how to use Photoshop better so I can make photo composites, but, tant pis.

Bon week-end!

Last look at Belgium

A slow week has passed since coming back from Montpellier and Belgium. Turns out the gloom of Brittany is actually real and so it has been drizzling non-stop ever since.

Anyway, here are some leftover photos that didn't make it into my Facebook album (I try to limit my albums to less than 80 photos. There is really no need to upload more than that, IMO.)






A friend who is living in Korea had recently gone on a trip to Thailand and sent me a letter with a stuffed elephant keychain. A nice surprise to come home to :)

Ann D.

As promised, my post on visiting Ann Demeulemeester's only boutique in the Western world (by contrast, she has stores in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. I mean, yay for Asian dominance, but none in NYC? Or Paris? Really?)







Verlatstraat
2000 Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium
+32 3 216 01 33

I don't particularly worship haute couture or really follow much of fashion in general, but I do appreciate the art of it. When I ran into Ann D's 2009 collection on a random fashion blog, I fell in love with her slightly gothic, rippling design. Now, if only it were more affordable....







Maybe I'll find better deals this winter at her store in Tokyo?




Fat chance. But a girl can dream. :)

C'est belgique!

Finally back from traveling! It was a good past few days, going to Montpellier to catch some southern French sun and to see my former host mother, then hopping on Ryan Air for the first time (and most likely, the last..) for three days of sightseeing Belgium.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.


Autumn is here.

I've been getting into biking recently. Montpellier was the perfect town to test drive my skills in Europe since I was already familiar with the town's layout. For only 2 euros you get a bike with a bell and basket for the entire day!



Then, Brussels! Less than two hours by plane from Montpellier, but still was a waste of money. I kicked myself when I realized it's still cheaper to go by train. Lesson learned. Here is what awaited me in the capital city of the European Union:





More pics to be up on Facebook + another post on making the pilgrimage to my favorite designer, Ann Demeulemeester, whose sole Western store exists only in Antwerp, an hour from Brussels. Ciao!