I left INSA at 9am to go to city centre. It had been quite awhile since I’ve been to Republique and the weather doesn’t look good. The first place that I checked out was CAF for the grant. As expected it was closed and is only open from Monday to Friday between 8am to 5pm. Well since I was told that I am not eligible to apply for it, I don’t think I would make a trip down here during the weekdays although I can just come and go to work as I like. I would see how it goes at work. Then it started to rain and my map was totally useless. So I had to base on my “feeling” to find the Leader Price Supermarket. I would take shelter at every bus stop to look at the map and as I walked further, it started to snow. This was really bad as I was wearing my sport shoes and not my boots. Furthermore, my shopping list and a piece of paper with the address were ruined. Just as I thought I had to back track and restart the route again, I found Leader Price. However, I didn’t go in straightaway as I needed to check out a bookstore to buy the guide of Bretagne.
I found the address of this bookstore from the Yellow Pages on the internet. I just typed the word “guide book” and there was only one search result. It took me quite sometime before I found that bookstore. Actually I had walked passed it but found it too small and so didn’t think that was the one I was looking for. But as I moved on, I felt that I was drifting further and further away from the city centre. Luckily the sun was up and bright again. Funny weather. Rain, snow and shine. So I walked back to that store. It was like that kind of mama shop selling a lot of magazines and it was really small. I asked the man does he have the guide and he showed me an orange one which cost only 6 euros. However that wasn’t what I wanted although it was also by Michelin. I don’t think this one is detail enough. Hence, I thanked the man and left. I thought of going to Leader Price and checked out if there are guides sold there. But I changed my mind and decided to check the city centre. I don’t believe there isn’t a big bookstore there. I passed by a shopping complex which was selling CDs at ground level. When I took the escalator to 2nd floor, I found what I was looking for. A Kinokunya-like bookstore called Virgin Megastore. Think it is under the Virgin Group.
I went to the tourism section and easily found the guide but it was in French. So I went to ask a salesgirl if she has an English version and she brought one to me. It cost 14.40 euros, which is about 30 sing dollars. I am not sure if it is cheaper or more expensive than in Singapore. If anyone wants to find out for me, could just drop a comment. The guide is called The Green Guide. With the word Brittainy at the centre and published by Michelin the Tyre Man. It is green of course and rectangular. I was quite pleased that I found the book and went on to Leader Price to do my groceries. The Leader Price in Rennes is as small as the one I’ve been to in Auray. And the variety of stuffs is 10 times lesser than InterMarche. However, the prices were lower, but not by a lot. From what hui has been telling me, Carrefour should be cheaper than Leader Price. I spent quite some time there as I couldn’t find the packets of instant soup. But I did find the sauce for pasta. In the end I bought 2 big bags of groceries and it cost only 8.40 euros. At the counter, Liv Taylor was serving me and I just couldn’t take my eyes off her blue eyes. It was like they were looking right through me. I think I would do my grocery here every week from now on. Another reason is that the queue is shorter (not many people come here to shop due to the limited variety I guess) and more systematic. Previously at InterMarche I had to throw all the things I bought quickly into the plastic bags. In France you have to do this yourself for all supermarkets and the cashier will continue to serve the next customer. At Leader Price, they have a compartment at the counter for you to slowly put the things into the bags. The bags are those very good and durable plastic bags with handles. Not like those NTUC plastic bags. However, I found a very strange phenomenon. The people will bring their own plastic bags and put the stuffs in them. Some would open their handbags at the counter and stuff the things inside. Seldom would I see people taking the plastic bags provided. The same thing happened when I was in Auray. But in InterMarche where the plastic bags were those NTUC type, people took as many as they wanted. This made me wondered if those good bags cost money. But still I have to take at least 2 even if I had to pay. In the end they were for free of course but I would bring these 2 plastic bags next time I come here to shop.
Back in INSA, I went straight to the phonebooth after I had put all the stuffs that I bought in my room. It had been 2 weeks since I last called home. This time it was dad who spoke to me. Every time I would be talking to my mum. I told him about my adventure of getting “lost” in Carnac and he told me better don’t anyhow go to places that I am unfamiliar with especially now that the weather is getting worse. I told him “ai zai” and don’t worry I can take care of myself. I also told him that I would be all alone at work because my sup would be away for a month. Then I asked if brother had let them see those pictures that I sent. As expected, he didn’t as he is always so “bochap” and my dad was quite angry about it. Surprisingly I still defended for him saying that maybe he didn’t check his email. Haha, this is rare because in the past I would definitely have scolded him. Sibling rivalry. Anyway, I said I wouldn’t be traveling for another 2 weeks because of tight budget. I also told him I would call home again in 2 to 3 weeks time. After the conversation, I went to cook lunch which was pasta with sardine again. But this time, I had the pasta sauce and it tasted much better than ketchup. After that I sent my clothes for laundry.
I spent the afternoon reading the Green Guide and it covered all the cities and towns in Bretagne telling you places that you can visit. It has ratings like highly recommended, recommended and interesting. There are 3 places that I would definitely visit, St Malo, Mont St Michel and Nantes. There is an island called Belle Ile (beautiful island) which I might visit too. And also a town called Cancale where fishermen would take out oysters fresh from the sea and open them for you. There are some festivals here in Bretagne and a lot of Pardons. Pardons are religious festivals in which the faithful ones would go to the churches and ask for forgiveness. People would walk on the streets with banners and flags and those Grand Pardons are really impressive according to the guide. I would probably plan a trip to a town that is having a pardon and most likely it would be in May. However, I feel that the guide is for the rich because it recommends hotels and restaurants but no youth hostels indicated on the map. I think I have to check out how to get an International Youth Hostel card. The most popular foods mentioned in the guide are the seafood and the crepes, which is the sausage rolled in pancake. Will try those out if my budget is not too tight.
After daydreaming on the wonderful weekends I can spend in Bretagne, for the rest of the afternoon, I was watching Toy Story I. I had forgotten 90% of the plot and only remembered the last scene in which Woody and Buzz were chasing after the mover truck. Then I went on to watch the making of the movie and I was impressed by the amount of effort the people spent to do the animation. All the scenes were hand drawn first on the story board. Then they used computer graphics to draw the actual characters, scenery, objects, etc. They even made models of the faces of the characters and scanned in the points on the models. The movie took 4 years to complete. And that was when I realized the actor playing the voice of Buzz was Tim Allen. I thought it was Russell Crowe. After the show, I began to do some simple html coding and come out with a simple webpage. Of course it wasn’t online. I was using IE to view it offline. This would be something to help me pass my time for this weekend and the next. No more traveling for 2 weeks. But I might not be able to resist the temptation next Saturday to go to somewhere near esp. now that I have bought the guide. Maybe I would go to Fougere which only cost 6 euros for the return trip by coach.
I found the address of this bookstore from the Yellow Pages on the internet. I just typed the word “guide book” and there was only one search result. It took me quite sometime before I found that bookstore. Actually I had walked passed it but found it too small and so didn’t think that was the one I was looking for. But as I moved on, I felt that I was drifting further and further away from the city centre. Luckily the sun was up and bright again. Funny weather. Rain, snow and shine. So I walked back to that store. It was like that kind of mama shop selling a lot of magazines and it was really small. I asked the man does he have the guide and he showed me an orange one which cost only 6 euros. However that wasn’t what I wanted although it was also by Michelin. I don’t think this one is detail enough. Hence, I thanked the man and left. I thought of going to Leader Price and checked out if there are guides sold there. But I changed my mind and decided to check the city centre. I don’t believe there isn’t a big bookstore there. I passed by a shopping complex which was selling CDs at ground level. When I took the escalator to 2nd floor, I found what I was looking for. A Kinokunya-like bookstore called Virgin Megastore. Think it is under the Virgin Group.
I went to the tourism section and easily found the guide but it was in French. So I went to ask a salesgirl if she has an English version and she brought one to me. It cost 14.40 euros, which is about 30 sing dollars. I am not sure if it is cheaper or more expensive than in Singapore. If anyone wants to find out for me, could just drop a comment. The guide is called The Green Guide. With the word Brittainy at the centre and published by Michelin the Tyre Man. It is green of course and rectangular. I was quite pleased that I found the book and went on to Leader Price to do my groceries. The Leader Price in Rennes is as small as the one I’ve been to in Auray. And the variety of stuffs is 10 times lesser than InterMarche. However, the prices were lower, but not by a lot. From what hui has been telling me, Carrefour should be cheaper than Leader Price. I spent quite some time there as I couldn’t find the packets of instant soup. But I did find the sauce for pasta. In the end I bought 2 big bags of groceries and it cost only 8.40 euros. At the counter, Liv Taylor was serving me and I just couldn’t take my eyes off her blue eyes. It was like they were looking right through me. I think I would do my grocery here every week from now on. Another reason is that the queue is shorter (not many people come here to shop due to the limited variety I guess) and more systematic. Previously at InterMarche I had to throw all the things I bought quickly into the plastic bags. In France you have to do this yourself for all supermarkets and the cashier will continue to serve the next customer. At Leader Price, they have a compartment at the counter for you to slowly put the things into the bags. The bags are those very good and durable plastic bags with handles. Not like those NTUC plastic bags. However, I found a very strange phenomenon. The people will bring their own plastic bags and put the stuffs in them. Some would open their handbags at the counter and stuff the things inside. Seldom would I see people taking the plastic bags provided. The same thing happened when I was in Auray. But in InterMarche where the plastic bags were those NTUC type, people took as many as they wanted. This made me wondered if those good bags cost money. But still I have to take at least 2 even if I had to pay. In the end they were for free of course but I would bring these 2 plastic bags next time I come here to shop.
Back in INSA, I went straight to the phonebooth after I had put all the stuffs that I bought in my room. It had been 2 weeks since I last called home. This time it was dad who spoke to me. Every time I would be talking to my mum. I told him about my adventure of getting “lost” in Carnac and he told me better don’t anyhow go to places that I am unfamiliar with especially now that the weather is getting worse. I told him “ai zai” and don’t worry I can take care of myself. I also told him that I would be all alone at work because my sup would be away for a month. Then I asked if brother had let them see those pictures that I sent. As expected, he didn’t as he is always so “bochap” and my dad was quite angry about it. Surprisingly I still defended for him saying that maybe he didn’t check his email. Haha, this is rare because in the past I would definitely have scolded him. Sibling rivalry. Anyway, I said I wouldn’t be traveling for another 2 weeks because of tight budget. I also told him I would call home again in 2 to 3 weeks time. After the conversation, I went to cook lunch which was pasta with sardine again. But this time, I had the pasta sauce and it tasted much better than ketchup. After that I sent my clothes for laundry.
I spent the afternoon reading the Green Guide and it covered all the cities and towns in Bretagne telling you places that you can visit. It has ratings like highly recommended, recommended and interesting. There are 3 places that I would definitely visit, St Malo, Mont St Michel and Nantes. There is an island called Belle Ile (beautiful island) which I might visit too. And also a town called Cancale where fishermen would take out oysters fresh from the sea and open them for you. There are some festivals here in Bretagne and a lot of Pardons. Pardons are religious festivals in which the faithful ones would go to the churches and ask for forgiveness. People would walk on the streets with banners and flags and those Grand Pardons are really impressive according to the guide. I would probably plan a trip to a town that is having a pardon and most likely it would be in May. However, I feel that the guide is for the rich because it recommends hotels and restaurants but no youth hostels indicated on the map. I think I have to check out how to get an International Youth Hostel card. The most popular foods mentioned in the guide are the seafood and the crepes, which is the sausage rolled in pancake. Will try those out if my budget is not too tight.
After daydreaming on the wonderful weekends I can spend in Bretagne, for the rest of the afternoon, I was watching Toy Story I. I had forgotten 90% of the plot and only remembered the last scene in which Woody and Buzz were chasing after the mover truck. Then I went on to watch the making of the movie and I was impressed by the amount of effort the people spent to do the animation. All the scenes were hand drawn first on the story board. Then they used computer graphics to draw the actual characters, scenery, objects, etc. They even made models of the faces of the characters and scanned in the points on the models. The movie took 4 years to complete. And that was when I realized the actor playing the voice of Buzz was Tim Allen. I thought it was Russell Crowe. After the show, I began to do some simple html coding and come out with a simple webpage. Of course it wasn’t online. I was using IE to view it offline. This would be something to help me pass my time for this weekend and the next. No more traveling for 2 weeks. But I might not be able to resist the temptation next Saturday to go to somewhere near esp. now that I have bought the guide. Maybe I would go to Fougere which only cost 6 euros for the return trip by coach.
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