A Little More Brittany

I have written two other posts about our Easter weekend in Brittany.  I didn't want to close the subject, though, without mentioning some other details of our weekend.  I wrote before about hiking along the coast and the windy, wet, wild weather, but the photo at the top of two soggy dogs (Sandy on the left) on a path overlooking the coastline illustrates the conditions nicely.  And below is a shot of Glenn and me in our rain gear.  As the low-hanging clouds in the background suggest, we certainly did need the gear several times.

Below is the oldest tree in the area, which we took a small detour to see.

Mostly, though, I want to talk a bit about the particularly warm hospitality we were shown and the spectacular food we ate.  We were visiting two friends whom we have known for over two decades from a previous sabbatical elsewhere.  They now live in Paris, and several years ago, they purchased an old farm on the outskirts of a village in Brittany after falling in love with the area on vacation.  The farm  had a main house and a number of adjacent out-buildings, such as a storage barn, a garage, a chicken coop, and a pig stye.  They embarked on an ambitious project to renovate and modernize the house, as well as turn the out-buildings into usable spaces.  The result was simply beautiful:  old stone buildings retaining their character and the patina from many decades, looking out over rolling pastures, and outfitted as warm, comfortable, inviting spaces.   

The physical structure was only a small part of the warmth and hospitality we felt.  We were fed like kings:  home-baked apple tart, fresh, raw local oysters, scallops, filet of sole, roasted leg of lamb, buckwheat galettes, local cider, the first local asparagus of the year, Breton ice cream and butter and cheese, warming mushroom soup, and lots of good wine.  It was wonderful to sit around the table every night, catch up on personal topics, discuss politics and economics, talk about careers and aspirations, reminisce about past sabbaticals . . . all while eating such fresh, delicious food.  What wonderful memories we will hold of the weekend!

I'm not sure what I expected of Brittany before I went.  I would never have guessed, though, that among the many storied regions of France, with their distinctive cuisines, ancient and picturesque villages, and beautiful landscape, I would rank Brittany perhaps my favorite.  I can see why our friends were so charmed.