Random notes from Brittany
Jan. 24th, 2010 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustSince our previous visit to France (almost exactly a year earlier than last autumn's Breton jaunt, and yes, another incomplete series of posts, I know), there had been a change in fashion. Previously, when you ordered coffee - just unspecified 'coffee' - the little cup containing the tiny quantity of strong black coffee was always straight-sided. Sometimes the sides were vertical, sometimes splaying out from the case for a little way, and then vertical above that. Now, quite abruptly, a new shape was everywhere: straight sided above a curved base, like a miniature teacup which that been stretched upwards. This is so trivial - and yet I was intrigued how something I had never seen before had become so widespread.
There were a lot of empty shops in Quimper, and businesses for sale; there were quite a lot in Josselin, and there always are vacant properties, and old houses and shops to dream over. But on this visit there seemed to be more, and less building going on.
Walking around Quimper, reading the information boards, we saw more evidence than we expected of the Breton language, more bilingual roadsigns, more little books of vocabulary on sale. At first I thought this meant the language was gaining ground, but as we travelled north I came to suspect that it was a regional variation. By the time we came to explore Le Conquet, following the town trail, the information offered was bilingual French and English, with barely a nod to Breton.
The Place Saint Corentin in Quimper, the open square in front of the cathedral, is probably what 2020 Vision have in mind in their plans to remodel Durham Market Place - an open space paved with pale stone, surrounded by trees and pavement cafés. It even has a pointless water feature. It is, however, several times the area of the Market Place.
More fancy tableware: at the Vieux Port in Le Conquet, our scallops were served on a large plate, shaped like a scallop shell, clear glass but fading to blue at the edge. I was quite charmed by this. The following evening, the moules frites also had their own dish: a giant mussel shell with room for a stack of mussels in the round end, a generous helping of chips in the pointed end. We didn't stay long enough to learn whether every item on the menu had its own dish.
That's five items, and therefore a post. A footnote, though, about the Vieux Port: they have upgraded their web site. We had found them by chance on a previous visit, and I liked the place and wanted to go back; they took some tracking down on the internet, but eventually I found a one-page site, with a couple of photos on a blue checked background, very hand-made in the 1990s. Still, it provided a phone number, and I called and made a booking (which I had to confirm by mail, as, said the nice lady on the phone, they didn't have e-mail). Period charm is all very well, but I can see why they felt the need to upgrade: they now have a fancy new site, with graphics, and multiple pages (though it is so constructed as to prevent deep linking, and several of the pages are 'coming soon'). The print is dark blue on a lighter blue, too small for me to read with comfort, and resists all my tricks for getting round this. Looking on the bright side, it has some very pretty pictures.
Oh, and the site of the people who built it for them is even worse (and plays 'on hold' music to you).
There were a lot of empty shops in Quimper, and businesses for sale; there were quite a lot in Josselin, and there always are vacant properties, and old houses and shops to dream over. But on this visit there seemed to be more, and less building going on.
Walking around Quimper, reading the information boards, we saw more evidence than we expected of the Breton language, more bilingual roadsigns, more little books of vocabulary on sale. At first I thought this meant the language was gaining ground, but as we travelled north I came to suspect that it was a regional variation. By the time we came to explore Le Conquet, following the town trail, the information offered was bilingual French and English, with barely a nod to Breton.
The Place Saint Corentin in Quimper, the open square in front of the cathedral, is probably what 2020 Vision have in mind in their plans to remodel Durham Market Place - an open space paved with pale stone, surrounded by trees and pavement cafés. It even has a pointless water feature. It is, however, several times the area of the Market Place.
More fancy tableware: at the Vieux Port in Le Conquet, our scallops were served on a large plate, shaped like a scallop shell, clear glass but fading to blue at the edge. I was quite charmed by this. The following evening, the moules frites also had their own dish: a giant mussel shell with room for a stack of mussels in the round end, a generous helping of chips in the pointed end. We didn't stay long enough to learn whether every item on the menu had its own dish.
That's five items, and therefore a post. A footnote, though, about the Vieux Port: they have upgraded their web site. We had found them by chance on a previous visit, and I liked the place and wanted to go back; they took some tracking down on the internet, but eventually I found a one-page site, with a couple of photos on a blue checked background, very hand-made in the 1990s. Still, it provided a phone number, and I called and made a booking (which I had to confirm by mail, as, said the nice lady on the phone, they didn't have e-mail). Period charm is all very well, but I can see why they felt the need to upgrade: they now have a fancy new site, with graphics, and multiple pages (though it is so constructed as to prevent deep linking, and several of the pages are 'coming soon'). The print is dark blue on a lighter blue, too small for me to read with comfort, and resists all my tricks for getting round this. Looking on the bright side, it has some very pretty pictures.
Oh, and the site of the people who built it for them is even worse (and plays 'on hold' music to you).
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Date: 2010-01-25 10:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 12:21 pm (UTC)