On my way to IRISA in the morning, I saw that the people in INSA were preparing again for the Solex race. The bicycle with motor in front. They had blocked off the roads and some cars had to U-turn and detour. I called Mr. Giant in the office and he said I should meet him at his house at around 1pm. He gave me the address and told me the direction. By now I have no problem in finding friend’s house in Rennes. I went back to INSA to have my lunch and on the way, I was really afraid that there might not be bus service because of the cordoning off of the roads. Hence, I picked a group of youngsters whom I thought might speak English. I asked them if the race would affect the bus service and the first thing they did was turned around and shouted to another friend to come. They said something like this guy speaks English. Sigh. I always had to be referred to another English-speaking person when I wanted to ask a question, even though I purposely chose young people to speak with. That English-speaking guy said he wasn’t sure and probably the bus would take a detour.
I went back to the kitchen and it was in a horrible mess. Pots, plates, beer bottles, food, etc. were lying all over the place. I hastily made my lunch and left the filthy kitchen. After lunch I went to the bus stop behind IRISA to take the bus to the town centre. I was hoping that this part of the bus route wasn’t affected. I had no trouble at all finding Mr. Giant’s house because his apartment is in one of 2 white towers, some sort of a condominium. This is the first time I am taking an elevator in a high-rise building in France. All the other buildings that I had been to were low; 2 to 3 storey high. In his house, the first thing that caught my eyes was the white cat sitting on his sofa. He said he was keeping it for his friend. The cat was very quiet, and she was losing hair. Hell lots of hair. Everywhere on the carpet was her hair. Then Mr. Giant showed me a cartoon show drawn by Bill Plymton. Very sadistic, cynical and morbid, I would say. Black humor or rather almost perverted kind of humor.
He told me we had to wait for Stephanie, Sebastien’s gf and Nicolas and then we could go. And it was Nico’s birthday today and hence after the Broceliande walk, we would have a small celebration at his gf’s house. We waited like an hour before Steph and Seb turned up. However, Seb wasn’t joining us. Mr. Giant said he doesn’t like to walk and is lazier than he is. In the end, we went by 2 cars; Nico’s and Mr. Giant’s. The forest is near a town called Paimpont, southwest of Rennes and the ride took about an hour. On the way, Mr. Giant talked about his country Lebanon. He said it is a relatively new country, gaining its independence after the Second World War. Lebanon was part of Syria in the past. That region had a high concentration of Christians and thus was unlike the other countries surrounding it which are mostly Muslims. Hence, after the war, the French govt and the US decided to make it into an independent country. But there was 20 years of civil war following that because there were still a large number of pro-Syrian in Lebanon. So war broke out between the pro-Syrian and the pro-Independence. Until the last 10 years, peace was finally to be seen. However, a few months ago, there was a car bomb and the PM was killed. The entire govt resigned and now the country is in anarchy. The French govt are going to do something about it soon. It is really in a turmoil state now and that is why Mr. Giant came to France. Now I knew about the heritage link of Lebanon and France.
We reached the forest after 45 min but the forest is very huge. We were supposed to meet Nico’s gf near this town called Trehorenteuc. By the way, Nico’s gf, Marie is working in a hospital near there and had just moved there a week ago. After looking at the map, we finally found that town and met up with Marie and 3 other friends. A couple and a guy. So total there were 8 of us, Mr. Giant, Me, Nico, Marie, the couple and that single guy whom I would name Mr. Bird here because I had forgotten his name. For the couple, I would call them Mr. Tall and Miss Short. And I would say Nico is a very lucky man because Marie is a very beautiful woman. Looks a bit like Xu Hui Xin but leaner. I would say Nico is a very very very lucky man when we go to her house later. She bought a guidebook solely on the Forest and would be the co-guide along with Mr. Giant who had been here twice before. After greeting everyone, I declared that I am from Singapore and Mr. Bird said that he had been to SG before; for 2 days while transiting to south Thailand.
A little overview of this Forest. Brittany has always been clouded with myths and legends (those witches, druids, sorceress thing) and this Forest of Broceliande is one of the most, perhaps the most famous as far as legends are concerned. On the way here, Mr. Giant played some Celtics music in his car and it really brought out the atmosphere as we entered the forest. It was said that one of Jesus disciples (forgot Paul or Peter or who else) brought the Holy Grail (the cup containing the wine during the Last Supper) to this Forest and died here. King Arthur and his Knights of Round Table came here in search of the Holy Grail and only those with a pure heart can find it. The druid Merlin, King Arthur’s friend lived here also. And so was his gf, fairy Vivian. Legend says that Vivian brought up the gallant knight Lancelot in this forest too. And lastly, King Arthur’s half-sister, Morgana the evil witch lived here too.
The first place we went to was the Golden Tree. There was a big Golden Tree surrounded by 5 other trees (all without leaves). At the bottom of the trees were many rocks. Legend says that once there was a girl out in the forest gathering flowers and was lost. When her 5 brothers came to find her, they saw her turned into a golden tree. And she would produce many golden leaves each year for the small creatures which I called them gnomes, imps or whatever. However, soon people came and started to touch the tree. This made the tree stopped producing leaves and faded. The gnomes stood around there and guarded it. So those rocks were the gnomes and the 5 trees were the 5 brothers. That was the legend. Now the truth. In 1990, there was a forest fire and a lot of trees were burnt down. An artist by the name of Francois Davin came and pasted gold paper on this particular tree signifying the rebirth of the trees after the fire. That’s it. Pretty uninteresting and hence I choose to believe the legend.
Beside the tree was a lake called Fairies’ Mirror. Very beautiful and serene and there was only one fairy there; Nico’s gf. We were actually walking along a valley which is called Valley of No Return. Morgana, the evil witch was once betrayed by a knight. Hence, she cast a curse in this valley and those men who had been unfaithful to their wives or gf could not get out of the valley. Lancelot being the one with a pure heart and faithful to Guinevere always, came into the valley and brought everybody out. Then we went in search of the House of Vivian which is really made up of stones arranged in a way like the megaliths I saw in Carnac. Along the way, I chatted mostly with Mr. Bird because he had been to SG. And he is really into birds because he would pause and ask us to listen to birds’ singings. Then he would ask what bird was that. Mr. Giant said Tweety. He would imitate their voices and trying to communicate with them. At first I thought he was joking until he told me the common bird in SG is mynah. Kao. He has just been there for 2 days of transition and he knows about the Orh Ga Leng bird. He said he bought a book on birds in Southeast Asia. He also wanted to know how many square metres we have covered because he wanted to submit a report to some bird associations to tell them the number of birds he had identified here.
The walk in the forest was really amazing. Very good sunny weather but we were all sheltered from the sun by the trees. Everywhere around us were trees and the air was so fresh. By our side, there was a stream running. It looked exactly like the setting in the movie First Knight (about Lancelot played by Richard Gere and King Arthur played by Sean Connery) or any other forests found in epic movies. Marvellous experience. And Marie would be reading the stories about the forest from the guide as we walked. Although in French, she had a beautiful voice and was a very good story-teller, with different intonations while telling the story. We came to a point where we were not sure where to go. This walk is kind of role reversal. The guys just follow and the girls would take the map to navigate. And Marie even played as the scout a couple of times, running ahead of us to see if the path in front was correct.
In the end we found the House of Vivian which as I mentioned was just some rocks placed together. The term of such arrangement is called dolemen. The site of the rocks was on a hill and it seemed like we were at the peak of the Forest. There was a great panorama there and we could see the farmlands and other forests miles away. We rested there for awhile and moved on. Following some unorthodox and adventurous paths, we found ourselves lost easily. The map was quite useless now as we weren’t even on the road. We were on some unclear paths and there were no signs at all. Our next stop was to the Castle of Trecesson. The guys did nothing to remedy the situation and left entirely to the girls to find our way out. Mr. Bird said he is not responsible of this mess and continued communicating with the birds. By the way, he was from the Air Force. Finally we came to the main road and asked some other hikers about the direction. It seemed like we had cut through the forest instead of walking around its perimeter which we should according to the guide. In the end we decided to walk back to the parking and drive to the castle. It was 5pm by then and we wouldn’t make it in time by foot.
It wasn’t easy by car either because Mr. Giant and I lost the rest of the guys (3 more cars in front) as we missed a few turnings. But in the end, it was us that got to the castle first and Mr. Giant made a call to Nico telling him how to come. The castle was beautiful because it was by a moat, filled with water. So it looked like it was by a lake. But it was private-owned and hence we couldn’t enter. 95% of the land in Broceliande were private properties but Mr. Giant said that the remaining 5% had the bulk of the tourist attractions. There are 2 ghost stories about the castle. One was this: in the past, there was a guest in the castle and he didn’t believe it was haunted. So the owner invited him to stay in one of the rooms alone. In the middle of the night, 2 guys appeared in his room playing cards. He was shocked and so shot the guys. Then he took the money and wanted to keep it but the owner of the castle wanted to take the money too. And thereafter, every full moon, rumors said that we could still see the 2 guys playing cards in one of the rooms.
Second story. Once upon a time, a servant was walking around the castle and then he heard a carriage approaching. He hid behind a tree and peeked. Out of the carriage came 2 men dressed as nobles. They dragged a girl who was dressed in white out of the carriage, and she looked like she was getting married. They dug a hole somewhere near the tree where the servant was hiding and buried the girl alive. She was crying and pleading but her brothers couldn’t care and said she had betrayed them. The servant ran home and told his wife about it. The couple didn’t dare to uncover the girl because they were afraid of being accused of the murder. So they went to tell their master, the owner of the castle. He ordered people to dig out the girl who was still alive. She sucked in her last breath and then died. Now and then, people would still see her ghost somewhere near the castle. After telling me these 2 stories (not at all scary), the rest of the guys came. As there was nothing much to do, we lingered there for awhile and decided to call it a day. I had not been to the entire Forest. In fact I think I had only gone to 10% of it. There are 2 fountains that I have missed, a lake with an invisible castle floating on it, and the famous tomb of Merlin. The tomb is just a rock with a tree growing on it, according to Mr. Giant.
Following Marie’s car, we reached her apartment in 15 min time. She stayed near the hospital and when I entered her apartment, I could feel the cosiness immediately. Small living room, ideal for single or couple. 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. Really not a big apartment but very comfortable. She had plants around the living room and a lot small ornaments placed around. What’s so good about the apartment was she didn’t have to pay a single cent as it was an incentive for employees of the hospital. Even the phone was free and they said I should really call to SG now. And why I said Nico is an extremely lucky guy is because his gf is the intelligent kind of girl. She had 2 bookshelves with books on religions, mythologies, Renaissance arts, symbolic arts, Tolkiens, history, and lots of novels. I spent some time reading those books while they prepared dinner. But I was just looking at the pictures because everything was in French. She bought this book on ancient civilizations purposely before going to the museum of Berlin. She had also a collection of Irish and Celtics music on her shelves. Everything she had really inspired me and I think when I return to SG, I would clear up my shelf which is used to display my model kits. I would replace them with lots of books. On history, Middle Age, civilizations, etc. Most of the time I borrow them from the library. I think I should really buy and keep them.
I went to the kitchen to see what they were preparing. There were crepes with cheese wrapped inside, some cookies and another food which I made a fool out of myself. Nico was preparing that food and pointed at a packet which said “duck” in French. So I thought he was preparing some duck meat. When the food was served, I took that “duck meat” thing and said why it tasted like bread. Mr. Giant laughed out loud and said of course it tasted like bread because it is bread. What was ducky about the thing was the sticky thing (looks like peanut butter) spread on the bread. That sticky thing was duck liver paste or something like that. And it is quite famous here because MR. Giant said, “you have been here for 5 months and have not tasted this?” The cookies were special too. Some had black round pearls on them which are caviar. Some had pink paste spread on them which was fish paste. And there were some sausages too which Mr. Giant went out to get together with Sebastien who had arrived just for the celebration. He had skipped the entire Broceliande walk.
After these desserts, Marie just kept making pizza after pizza. We had 3 different pizzas and I was really quite full. For drinks it was a mix. Coke, orange, beer, champagne, wine, alcohol, etc. I took coke and champagne only. The champagne was the best I have ever had although I seldom drink. But the most interesting thing wasn’t the food. It was smoking. I am of course against smoking and have never tasted a single cigarette in my life before (wah! Am I a saint or what? Have I been to the army or not?). Yup. Never smoke once and will never in future. That’s what I told myself when I decided to be a discipline person when I was much younger. But on that night, I smoked for the first time in my life. Mr. Giant brought this long vase (about a metre) and filled it partially with water. Then he poured tobacco into the vase and lit some charcoal at the top. There was a pipe connected to the vase and to smoke, we had to suck the pipe. Bubbles would appear in the water and then our mouths would be filled with smoke. The water sort of filtered the tobacco. But this kind of smoking doesn’t mean it is healthier. There is still nicotine in the tobacco. But maybe it is less harmful because there is zero percent tar. And the tobacco had apple fragrant. Really sweet apple fragrant.
We just passed around the tube and everyone, guys and girls just smoked through the same pipe. I asked Stephanie to take a picture of me smoking. I smoked the least of course although I liked the apple smell very much. As today was Nico’s birthday, we were asking each other the year we were born. All of them were born in the late 70s except me. 1981. I was told to leave the house immediately. Jokingly of course. Then we started to play all sorts of card games. First was Time’s Up and the objective was to mime, act or say some words and other players have to guess the name of the famous person on the card. It was very hard for me because most of the names were famous French. I just used sound-like tactic or some other English descriptions. But I played well despite my handicap in French language. The second game was Banzai, which was like Heart Attack. This game was one of the gifts given to Nico. There was another card game called Arena (also a gift) but we didn’t play that because it was too complicated. And another gift was the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown! I know Nico likes to read a lot because he read most of Tolkien’s books. And he was laughing at Miss Small because she has not watched LOTR nor read the book. I told Miss Small it was alright not to read the book because not many of my friends have read it. She was happy that I defended for her but I said it is unforgivable to miss the movie. I suan her another time when she tried to speak English with a British accent to me and I just raised one of my eyebrows and gave her a “WTF you trying to say” look. It really pissed her off and she just stared at me angrily. When I get at ease with the people, I stopped being Mr. Nice and would start to suan them. She was very cute when she got angry.
I wasn’t very good in the games because of the language and was eliminated easily. That was when we heard loud sounds like “bam bam bam” outside. We went to take a look and saw that from afar, there was a fireworks display! Although it was a very small scale one, it came at the right time on Nico’s birthday. But I guess it was more for the commemoration of the Victory Day. I told Nico the fireworks was for him because I didn’t prepare any present in advance. Hence I called up the experts at the last minute for the fireworks. But I couldn’t afford a grander one as I am just a trainee. He said he understands. Although the fireworks display was small, it was still very beautiful like any pyrotechnics and I recorded it using my camera. Soon we were tired of the games and Marie made some coffee and tea for us and played some traditional Irish music. For most of the time when we were not playing games, I would quietly sit there and listen to them chat. When Marie went to wash the dishes while the rest were chatting, I went to the kitchen to ask if she needed help. She smiled sweetly and said she can handle.
The moment I heard that music, I asked Marie to show me the CD and asked if I can buy it in any music stores. She said should be able too. The music was very soothing, very beautiful and it brought the images of the forest back. Mr. Giant said it is too slow. He likes Celtic music but prefers those more upbeat ones. Then Marie showed us the pictures she and Nico had taken in Croatia. Very romantic pictures and she had them compiled in a large photo album and had writings beside each photos describing her experience. And she had beautiful cursive handwritings, like those written using fountain pen. I would do the same when I get back to SG. At 2am, we decided it was time to go and it was another round of firm handshakes and kisses. After I kissed Marie goodbye, I thanked her for the great food and the nice music. She reminded me that the album is by Loreena Mckennitt and I would definitely check that out when I go to town some time next week.
On the way back, I was too tired to talk to Mr. Giant but I felt I should keep talking to him in case he fell asleep. We were driving along the freeway and like any other freeways, it was pitch black without the headlights. Mr. Giant said he would send me a list of Celtics album and maybe some mp3s. He drove me all the way back to INSA and it was already 315am by then. But the big party was still ongoing and he couldn’t drive right in and had to stop outside. I thanked him and said I had a wonderful time. Indeed I had, the happiest time ever since I came here. Now I know why I couldn’t mix well with my neighbours in INSA. At 315am, everywhere I saw was drunk or half drunk youngsters, drinking, smoking, all the while. The kitchen was a mess throughout the long weekend as they had party round the clock. This wasn’t the kind of party that I enjoy. Drinking, shouting, making noises, etc. I find it childish. What I enjoy is a quiet evening with some friends, drinking, chatting, playing games, listening to music, etc. Relax and cosy. Like what I had tonight.
And meeting Marie was a bonus. She was all that I am looking for in a girlfriend. Mature and smart. Very intellectual but not those haughty career woman type who always seeks to outsmart the guys (no offence to career women. Only to haolian ones). She is knowledgeable but doesn’t boast. Her wisdom is really kind of subtle. Although I had only known her for one day, but that was the kind of impression she gave me. I had never known a girl like her, or close like her. But I wasn’t good enough for her at that time of course. Neither am I good enough now. But from today onwards, I would strive to upgrade myself, to keep learning, building up my knowledge so that should I meet such a girl again in my life, I hope that I would be worthy enough for her. And before I end today’s entry, I forgot to say, “Happy Birthday Nicolas Pronost. You are a very lucky man.”
I went back to the kitchen and it was in a horrible mess. Pots, plates, beer bottles, food, etc. were lying all over the place. I hastily made my lunch and left the filthy kitchen. After lunch I went to the bus stop behind IRISA to take the bus to the town centre. I was hoping that this part of the bus route wasn’t affected. I had no trouble at all finding Mr. Giant’s house because his apartment is in one of 2 white towers, some sort of a condominium. This is the first time I am taking an elevator in a high-rise building in France. All the other buildings that I had been to were low; 2 to 3 storey high. In his house, the first thing that caught my eyes was the white cat sitting on his sofa. He said he was keeping it for his friend. The cat was very quiet, and she was losing hair. Hell lots of hair. Everywhere on the carpet was her hair. Then Mr. Giant showed me a cartoon show drawn by Bill Plymton. Very sadistic, cynical and morbid, I would say. Black humor or rather almost perverted kind of humor.
He told me we had to wait for Stephanie, Sebastien’s gf and Nicolas and then we could go. And it was Nico’s birthday today and hence after the Broceliande walk, we would have a small celebration at his gf’s house. We waited like an hour before Steph and Seb turned up. However, Seb wasn’t joining us. Mr. Giant said he doesn’t like to walk and is lazier than he is. In the end, we went by 2 cars; Nico’s and Mr. Giant’s. The forest is near a town called Paimpont, southwest of Rennes and the ride took about an hour. On the way, Mr. Giant talked about his country Lebanon. He said it is a relatively new country, gaining its independence after the Second World War. Lebanon was part of Syria in the past. That region had a high concentration of Christians and thus was unlike the other countries surrounding it which are mostly Muslims. Hence, after the war, the French govt and the US decided to make it into an independent country. But there was 20 years of civil war following that because there were still a large number of pro-Syrian in Lebanon. So war broke out between the pro-Syrian and the pro-Independence. Until the last 10 years, peace was finally to be seen. However, a few months ago, there was a car bomb and the PM was killed. The entire govt resigned and now the country is in anarchy. The French govt are going to do something about it soon. It is really in a turmoil state now and that is why Mr. Giant came to France. Now I knew about the heritage link of Lebanon and France.
We reached the forest after 45 min but the forest is very huge. We were supposed to meet Nico’s gf near this town called Trehorenteuc. By the way, Nico’s gf, Marie is working in a hospital near there and had just moved there a week ago. After looking at the map, we finally found that town and met up with Marie and 3 other friends. A couple and a guy. So total there were 8 of us, Mr. Giant, Me, Nico, Marie, the couple and that single guy whom I would name Mr. Bird here because I had forgotten his name. For the couple, I would call them Mr. Tall and Miss Short. And I would say Nico is a very lucky man because Marie is a very beautiful woman. Looks a bit like Xu Hui Xin but leaner. I would say Nico is a very very very lucky man when we go to her house later. She bought a guidebook solely on the Forest and would be the co-guide along with Mr. Giant who had been here twice before. After greeting everyone, I declared that I am from Singapore and Mr. Bird said that he had been to SG before; for 2 days while transiting to south Thailand.
A little overview of this Forest. Brittany has always been clouded with myths and legends (those witches, druids, sorceress thing) and this Forest of Broceliande is one of the most, perhaps the most famous as far as legends are concerned. On the way here, Mr. Giant played some Celtics music in his car and it really brought out the atmosphere as we entered the forest. It was said that one of Jesus disciples (forgot Paul or Peter or who else) brought the Holy Grail (the cup containing the wine during the Last Supper) to this Forest and died here. King Arthur and his Knights of Round Table came here in search of the Holy Grail and only those with a pure heart can find it. The druid Merlin, King Arthur’s friend lived here also. And so was his gf, fairy Vivian. Legend says that Vivian brought up the gallant knight Lancelot in this forest too. And lastly, King Arthur’s half-sister, Morgana the evil witch lived here too.
The first place we went to was the Golden Tree. There was a big Golden Tree surrounded by 5 other trees (all without leaves). At the bottom of the trees were many rocks. Legend says that once there was a girl out in the forest gathering flowers and was lost. When her 5 brothers came to find her, they saw her turned into a golden tree. And she would produce many golden leaves each year for the small creatures which I called them gnomes, imps or whatever. However, soon people came and started to touch the tree. This made the tree stopped producing leaves and faded. The gnomes stood around there and guarded it. So those rocks were the gnomes and the 5 trees were the 5 brothers. That was the legend. Now the truth. In 1990, there was a forest fire and a lot of trees were burnt down. An artist by the name of Francois Davin came and pasted gold paper on this particular tree signifying the rebirth of the trees after the fire. That’s it. Pretty uninteresting and hence I choose to believe the legend.
Beside the tree was a lake called Fairies’ Mirror. Very beautiful and serene and there was only one fairy there; Nico’s gf. We were actually walking along a valley which is called Valley of No Return. Morgana, the evil witch was once betrayed by a knight. Hence, she cast a curse in this valley and those men who had been unfaithful to their wives or gf could not get out of the valley. Lancelot being the one with a pure heart and faithful to Guinevere always, came into the valley and brought everybody out. Then we went in search of the House of Vivian which is really made up of stones arranged in a way like the megaliths I saw in Carnac. Along the way, I chatted mostly with Mr. Bird because he had been to SG. And he is really into birds because he would pause and ask us to listen to birds’ singings. Then he would ask what bird was that. Mr. Giant said Tweety. He would imitate their voices and trying to communicate with them. At first I thought he was joking until he told me the common bird in SG is mynah. Kao. He has just been there for 2 days of transition and he knows about the Orh Ga Leng bird. He said he bought a book on birds in Southeast Asia. He also wanted to know how many square metres we have covered because he wanted to submit a report to some bird associations to tell them the number of birds he had identified here.
The walk in the forest was really amazing. Very good sunny weather but we were all sheltered from the sun by the trees. Everywhere around us were trees and the air was so fresh. By our side, there was a stream running. It looked exactly like the setting in the movie First Knight (about Lancelot played by Richard Gere and King Arthur played by Sean Connery) or any other forests found in epic movies. Marvellous experience. And Marie would be reading the stories about the forest from the guide as we walked. Although in French, she had a beautiful voice and was a very good story-teller, with different intonations while telling the story. We came to a point where we were not sure where to go. This walk is kind of role reversal. The guys just follow and the girls would take the map to navigate. And Marie even played as the scout a couple of times, running ahead of us to see if the path in front was correct.
In the end we found the House of Vivian which as I mentioned was just some rocks placed together. The term of such arrangement is called dolemen. The site of the rocks was on a hill and it seemed like we were at the peak of the Forest. There was a great panorama there and we could see the farmlands and other forests miles away. We rested there for awhile and moved on. Following some unorthodox and adventurous paths, we found ourselves lost easily. The map was quite useless now as we weren’t even on the road. We were on some unclear paths and there were no signs at all. Our next stop was to the Castle of Trecesson. The guys did nothing to remedy the situation and left entirely to the girls to find our way out. Mr. Bird said he is not responsible of this mess and continued communicating with the birds. By the way, he was from the Air Force. Finally we came to the main road and asked some other hikers about the direction. It seemed like we had cut through the forest instead of walking around its perimeter which we should according to the guide. In the end we decided to walk back to the parking and drive to the castle. It was 5pm by then and we wouldn’t make it in time by foot.
It wasn’t easy by car either because Mr. Giant and I lost the rest of the guys (3 more cars in front) as we missed a few turnings. But in the end, it was us that got to the castle first and Mr. Giant made a call to Nico telling him how to come. The castle was beautiful because it was by a moat, filled with water. So it looked like it was by a lake. But it was private-owned and hence we couldn’t enter. 95% of the land in Broceliande were private properties but Mr. Giant said that the remaining 5% had the bulk of the tourist attractions. There are 2 ghost stories about the castle. One was this: in the past, there was a guest in the castle and he didn’t believe it was haunted. So the owner invited him to stay in one of the rooms alone. In the middle of the night, 2 guys appeared in his room playing cards. He was shocked and so shot the guys. Then he took the money and wanted to keep it but the owner of the castle wanted to take the money too. And thereafter, every full moon, rumors said that we could still see the 2 guys playing cards in one of the rooms.Second story. Once upon a time, a servant was walking around the castle and then he heard a carriage approaching. He hid behind a tree and peeked. Out of the carriage came 2 men dressed as nobles. They dragged a girl who was dressed in white out of the carriage, and she looked like she was getting married. They dug a hole somewhere near the tree where the servant was hiding and buried the girl alive. She was crying and pleading but her brothers couldn’t care and said she had betrayed them. The servant ran home and told his wife about it. The couple didn’t dare to uncover the girl because they were afraid of being accused of the murder. So they went to tell their master, the owner of the castle. He ordered people to dig out the girl who was still alive. She sucked in her last breath and then died. Now and then, people would still see her ghost somewhere near the castle. After telling me these 2 stories (not at all scary), the rest of the guys came. As there was nothing much to do, we lingered there for awhile and decided to call it a day. I had not been to the entire Forest. In fact I think I had only gone to 10% of it. There are 2 fountains that I have missed, a lake with an invisible castle floating on it, and the famous tomb of Merlin. The tomb is just a rock with a tree growing on it, according to Mr. Giant.
Following Marie’s car, we reached her apartment in 15 min time. She stayed near the hospital and when I entered her apartment, I could feel the cosiness immediately. Small living room, ideal for single or couple. 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. Really not a big apartment but very comfortable. She had plants around the living room and a lot small ornaments placed around. What’s so good about the apartment was she didn’t have to pay a single cent as it was an incentive for employees of the hospital. Even the phone was free and they said I should really call to SG now. And why I said Nico is an extremely lucky guy is because his gf is the intelligent kind of girl. She had 2 bookshelves with books on religions, mythologies, Renaissance arts, symbolic arts, Tolkiens, history, and lots of novels. I spent some time reading those books while they prepared dinner. But I was just looking at the pictures because everything was in French. She bought this book on ancient civilizations purposely before going to the museum of Berlin. She had also a collection of Irish and Celtics music on her shelves. Everything she had really inspired me and I think when I return to SG, I would clear up my shelf which is used to display my model kits. I would replace them with lots of books. On history, Middle Age, civilizations, etc. Most of the time I borrow them from the library. I think I should really buy and keep them.
I went to the kitchen to see what they were preparing. There were crepes with cheese wrapped inside, some cookies and another food which I made a fool out of myself. Nico was preparing that food and pointed at a packet which said “duck” in French. So I thought he was preparing some duck meat. When the food was served, I took that “duck meat” thing and said why it tasted like bread. Mr. Giant laughed out loud and said of course it tasted like bread because it is bread. What was ducky about the thing was the sticky thing (looks like peanut butter) spread on the bread. That sticky thing was duck liver paste or something like that. And it is quite famous here because MR. Giant said, “you have been here for 5 months and have not tasted this?” The cookies were special too. Some had black round pearls on them which are caviar. Some had pink paste spread on them which was fish paste. And there were some sausages too which Mr. Giant went out to get together with Sebastien who had arrived just for the celebration. He had skipped the entire Broceliande walk.
After these desserts, Marie just kept making pizza after pizza. We had 3 different pizzas and I was really quite full. For drinks it was a mix. Coke, orange, beer, champagne, wine, alcohol, etc. I took coke and champagne only. The champagne was the best I have ever had although I seldom drink. But the most interesting thing wasn’t the food. It was smoking. I am of course against smoking and have never tasted a single cigarette in my life before (wah! Am I a saint or what? Have I been to the army or not?). Yup. Never smoke once and will never in future. That’s what I told myself when I decided to be a discipline person when I was much younger. But on that night, I smoked for the first time in my life. Mr. Giant brought this long vase (about a metre) and filled it partially with water. Then he poured tobacco into the vase and lit some charcoal at the top. There was a pipe connected to the vase and to smoke, we had to suck the pipe. Bubbles would appear in the water and then our mouths would be filled with smoke. The water sort of filtered the tobacco. But this kind of smoking doesn’t mean it is healthier. There is still nicotine in the tobacco. But maybe it is less harmful because there is zero percent tar. And the tobacco had apple fragrant. Really sweet apple fragrant.
We just passed around the tube and everyone, guys and girls just smoked through the same pipe. I asked Stephanie to take a picture of me smoking. I smoked the least of course although I liked the apple smell very much. As today was Nico’s birthday, we were asking each other the year we were born. All of them were born in the late 70s except me. 1981. I was told to leave the house immediately. Jokingly of course. Then we started to play all sorts of card games. First was Time’s Up and the objective was to mime, act or say some words and other players have to guess the name of the famous person on the card. It was very hard for me because most of the names were famous French. I just used sound-like tactic or some other English descriptions. But I played well despite my handicap in French language. The second game was Banzai, which was like Heart Attack. This game was one of the gifts given to Nico. There was another card game called Arena (also a gift) but we didn’t play that because it was too complicated. And another gift was the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown! I know Nico likes to read a lot because he read most of Tolkien’s books. And he was laughing at Miss Small because she has not watched LOTR nor read the book. I told Miss Small it was alright not to read the book because not many of my friends have read it. She was happy that I defended for her but I said it is unforgivable to miss the movie. I suan her another time when she tried to speak English with a British accent to me and I just raised one of my eyebrows and gave her a “WTF you trying to say” look. It really pissed her off and she just stared at me angrily. When I get at ease with the people, I stopped being Mr. Nice and would start to suan them. She was very cute when she got angry.
I wasn’t very good in the games because of the language and was eliminated easily. That was when we heard loud sounds like “bam bam bam” outside. We went to take a look and saw that from afar, there was a fireworks display! Although it was a very small scale one, it came at the right time on Nico’s birthday. But I guess it was more for the commemoration of the Victory Day. I told Nico the fireworks was for him because I didn’t prepare any present in advance. Hence I called up the experts at the last minute for the fireworks. But I couldn’t afford a grander one as I am just a trainee. He said he understands. Although the fireworks display was small, it was still very beautiful like any pyrotechnics and I recorded it using my camera. Soon we were tired of the games and Marie made some coffee and tea for us and played some traditional Irish music. For most of the time when we were not playing games, I would quietly sit there and listen to them chat. When Marie went to wash the dishes while the rest were chatting, I went to the kitchen to ask if she needed help. She smiled sweetly and said she can handle.
The moment I heard that music, I asked Marie to show me the CD and asked if I can buy it in any music stores. She said should be able too. The music was very soothing, very beautiful and it brought the images of the forest back. Mr. Giant said it is too slow. He likes Celtic music but prefers those more upbeat ones. Then Marie showed us the pictures she and Nico had taken in Croatia. Very romantic pictures and she had them compiled in a large photo album and had writings beside each photos describing her experience. And she had beautiful cursive handwritings, like those written using fountain pen. I would do the same when I get back to SG. At 2am, we decided it was time to go and it was another round of firm handshakes and kisses. After I kissed Marie goodbye, I thanked her for the great food and the nice music. She reminded me that the album is by Loreena Mckennitt and I would definitely check that out when I go to town some time next week.
On the way back, I was too tired to talk to Mr. Giant but I felt I should keep talking to him in case he fell asleep. We were driving along the freeway and like any other freeways, it was pitch black without the headlights. Mr. Giant said he would send me a list of Celtics album and maybe some mp3s. He drove me all the way back to INSA and it was already 315am by then. But the big party was still ongoing and he couldn’t drive right in and had to stop outside. I thanked him and said I had a wonderful time. Indeed I had, the happiest time ever since I came here. Now I know why I couldn’t mix well with my neighbours in INSA. At 315am, everywhere I saw was drunk or half drunk youngsters, drinking, smoking, all the while. The kitchen was a mess throughout the long weekend as they had party round the clock. This wasn’t the kind of party that I enjoy. Drinking, shouting, making noises, etc. I find it childish. What I enjoy is a quiet evening with some friends, drinking, chatting, playing games, listening to music, etc. Relax and cosy. Like what I had tonight.
And meeting Marie was a bonus. She was all that I am looking for in a girlfriend. Mature and smart. Very intellectual but not those haughty career woman type who always seeks to outsmart the guys (no offence to career women. Only to haolian ones). She is knowledgeable but doesn’t boast. Her wisdom is really kind of subtle. Although I had only known her for one day, but that was the kind of impression she gave me. I had never known a girl like her, or close like her. But I wasn’t good enough for her at that time of course. Neither am I good enough now. But from today onwards, I would strive to upgrade myself, to keep learning, building up my knowledge so that should I meet such a girl again in my life, I hope that I would be worthy enough for her. And before I end today’s entry, I forgot to say, “Happy Birthday Nicolas Pronost. You are a very lucky man.”
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