Last excursion before Paris (sort of)

Look at the faces.

Seriously, how much sugar?

You've got to be kidding!

Seriously, Victoria said,
"Does anyone want what's left of my disgusting sandwich?"
She had three takers. These kids will eat anything!

This one's for you, Dad!

Being on top of an old German bunker is not
nearly as dangerous as it might seem.

She actually let me take a picture of her!

Loïc is just the best!

Friday was our final excursion in Brittany (Bretagne). We decided to keep things close, so there would be less drive time and more to see.

We began in Locronan. This is a village that literally dates from Roman times. There was an intense rope-making and sail-making industry there as early as the 1500s. It’s close to the sea, so that makes sense. However, the Industrial Revolution took root farther east and north. Rope and sail making became mechanized in Lille and Calais, leaving Locronan with its old buildings and no industry.

So, they kept all the old buildings over the centuries. It was the first village designated as an historic site in France in 1833, under the reign of Louis-Phillippe. Locronan has received the designation “Un de plus beaux villages de France” twice (One of the most beautiful villages in France).

We visited the church of Saint Ronan. Who couldn’t like a saint who brings a sheep back to life and gets even with someone even after his death? Ronan is buried in the church. Actually, he is in a stone rendering of his body. I have pictures.

There we were treated to a display of the creation of the unique Breton pastry, the Kouign Aman. The looks on the faces of the students tell the story. It starts with 500 grams (about a pound) of the same dough that makes croissants. That is pounded into a circle. Then 500 grams of butter is pounded into a pancake placed on top of the dough. Then 250 grams (a half pound) of sugar is spread over the top.

It is all folded together so none of the yummy goodness can escape. It is then flattened and folded and flattened and folded several times in a rolling machine. The final dough is divided into four parts and placed in pans. The Kouign Aman is then slowly baked over a period of two hours until the most amazing pastry emerges.

Ask your kids when they get home. Their eyes will roll back in their heads at the memory.

After, we passed by the Pointe des Espagnols. This is a high point on the opposite side of the immense harbor of Brest from the city. Here, Louis XIV in the 1600s established a fort. The Spanish wanted to attack Louis, and the Rade de Brest was an obvious point of entry, thus the fort. There’s not much left of the fort, but the views are awesome.

From there, it was on to Camaret sur Mer, a small port city, where we had our lunch on the beach.

It just so happened that that was the embarkation point for the 7.1 kilometer hike to Pointe de Pen Hir, the amazing rock formation/cliff that defines that part of Bretagne.

For me, a 7.1 kilometer hike, 4.4 miles, is a big deal. Not for these kids. They just forged ahead. I broke into a sweat in the first kilometer. Not the kids. The biggest problem was all the breaks they wanted to take to get photos.

We were on a bit of a schedule, as a few families had plans. We needed to get back home by 5:30pm. But the kids were so into it, we were 45 minutes behind by lunch. It’s cool. You just work with it.

The students had an incredible hike. The got to see old German gun emplacements from Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” from World War II. They got to see some of the most amazing geological formations in all of Europe, as well as some of the most beautiful beaches.

We ended the day with a quick visit to an arrangement of huge stones, in the vein of Stonehenge that have been there since the dawn of time. No one knows why they are there. But they seem to line up with the constellation Pléiades.

All in all, it was a good day. And we got the students where they needed to be when they needed to be.