PICTURES!

This has taken me FAR too long to post. Here are the past three months summed up in 142 pictures!

First day in France. Welcome to St. Malo! Below is Andrea's girls, Sarah and Marianne, at the beach with their mom, Karine, and Andrea of course. That is the house where Andrea is staying. You can see the ocean from the house!

One of my absolute favorite things about Rennes is the Marché. Loads of fresh produce, live entertainment--the man with the guitar was singing "bésame mucho," it was amazing--seafood so fresh it's still blowing bubbles, meats galore, as well as breads, jams, honey, cheese, hot crepes and gellettes, and a plethora of other things.

More Rennes. Below are a few street shots of my city, along with pictures of the Parc du Thabor. 

 

Old Parliament Building and Andrea

Musée de Bretagne. Andrea and I went here and spent the entire day learning about the history of Brittany. There were also some great temporary exhibits. My favorite was the political cartoonist exhibit. Very cool.

My birthday in France! I'm 20! Woo! My family is fantastic. They surprised me with cake and presents...literally a surprise. I was sitting there and out of the garage came a cake lit with 20 candles and gifts. It was fantastic!

Welcome to Kim and Kurt Clement's house. More like chateau! Isn't it stunning!?! They're my American friends from Arizona. They threw me a birthday party with my ward! The scarf that I'm sporting is traditional of Bretagne and it was a gift from all the young men in the ward. And that perfect little mushroom was found in their backyard.

                                   

 Chateau d'Anger. Amazing. 

It is home to the largest tapestry in the world, 140 meters long, which portrays the Apocalypse. This 13th century castle just blew my mind. I love castles.

                                                                    
                                                      

Back to St. Malo for a week with Andrea!

In St. Malo there is a famous sailboat race that occurs only once every four years, the Route du Rhum. It is a one man race, and the contestants travel from St. Malo, Brittany, France to Guadeloupe, France. The first day we walked around and checked out all of the sailboats.

Zoo! In France! 

Fun fact: this zoo is located on old castle grounds. Andrea and I were able to take a tour of the castle, and it was awwwesome. One of the best zoo experiences I've had, by far.

                                                                        HA HA HA!

The next day, Andrea and I walked to the "Old City" by beach and through the streets of St. Malo.

 

There was a parade that day!

                                            Best ice cream in the world. Mmm....Sanchez.

                                                        The wall that surrounds the city.

We walked on the wall that surrounds the city, and stopped by an

art exhibit located within the wall. Supah cool!

Spectacular sunset...

On Halloween day Andrea and I walked to the beach to watch the start of the Route du Rhum. There were loads of spectators.

 The fuzzy line around the distant rock is people. 

 The little dots at the top of the picture are the sailboats.

Halloween this year was great. Karine made costumes for the girls and Aymeric, and we carved pumpkins! I also had fun making decorations with Maelle-Marie and Guilhem.

 I took a day trip with Marie, Cedric, Aymeric, and Marie-Faustine to the "City of Books." There are loads and loads and loads of old books. We perused the book shop-cafes and enjoyed the sights. It is such a quaint town, I loved it.

Marie's birthday! The kids made cards and Guilhem wrapped a couple of carambars for her gift. I made the chocolate cherry cake, which is a favorite out here, and we had a party!

Halloween's not over yet! Andrea's sister made a Halloween pinata! We had fun breaking it open in the basement and eating the American candy :)

After lunch at a creperie, Andrea and I walked along the boardwalk.

And that's France!

I love it here, and I'm so grateful that I get to live in such a beautiful place!