The easy part is taking all the photos. The slightly harder part is knowing which are worth foisting on other people, not least because foisting is more complicated than taking. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these Brittany holiday snaps which I took a couple of months ago and have now picked out as worth exhibiting here.
My usual Brittany airport destination has been Brest, quite close to where the friends whom I regularly visit live, in Quimper. But, probably because of the new and very obviously architect-designed buildings, all plate glass and shiny metal at peculiar angles, that have been constructed at Brest airport, Ryanair no longer sends its 737s from Stansted to Brest. It either costs them too much or it takes them too long to turn their planes around, or some combination of the two. Ryanair prefers its airports to be not very glorified sheds.
So instead I arrived in Brittany at Dinard, near the coastal town of St Malo. And when my friend came by car from the other end of Brittany to collect me, it made sense for us to have a wander around St Malo, which has a particularly fine smaller and older version of itself, right next to the sea, with a wall around it that you can walk on top of.
On the evening of my arrival I observed this:
What could it be? A wreck perhaps? Odd.
A week later, in the course of my return home, we visited St Malo again, and once again took a stroll around the old town walls. The tide, having been in when I arrived, was out, and all was revealed:
It’s a swimming pool, refreshed and replenished every time the tide comes in. Which makes a lot of sense. When the tide goes out in that particular part of coastal France, it goes out a long way, and wherever the sea is, my guess is that the currents in it can play evil tricks, what with the tides having such a long way to travel, and through such complicated places. How much nicer to wait for the tide to be out, and to take a swim in a nice safe pool, as this person obligingly proved for me.
Now here are a couple snaps of images done by other people, both timeless and universal in their different ways. First, an advertisement, on a bus shelter:
I don’t think I need comment on that, other than to say that I haven’t seen this particular advert in England. Which proves … I don’t know what.
Second, another universal set of circumstances:
Not very well photoed by me, for which apologies, through a shiny shop window. Had I been a cleverer photoshopper, I might have been able to straighten that out, but you surely get the picture, and clicking on it makes it that bit clearer, as with all of these snaps.
A sheep in the middle is saying “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me”, to get to the precipice quicker.
Again, I’ll let readers draw their own conclusions about what particular contemporary circumstance is being portrayed. Euro purchasers perhaps? You decide.
Finally, a surfer, photoed through rain:
This was taken at something called the Baie des Trépassés, which does not mean the Bay of the Very Out of Date. Trépassés means people who have trespassed as in “crossed over”, in other words people who are dead. The very same complicated coastal currents which caused anyone drowned at sea anywhere near it to wash up at the Baie des Trépassés (hence the name) now cause the waves in the Baie des Trépassés to be bigger than in any nearby places, hence the surfers. Of the many intriguing places I have visited in Brittany, this was the weirdest. The vile weather when I saw this place only added to the weirdness.
At first glance I thought the initial photograph was some airline steps that Ryanair had left behind.
But then I realised you were at the other end of Brittany.
Well the wife and I and the dog have a holiday booked in Brittany in early September. Not been there before, and we are getting the Ferry, and frankly your pics are not confirming that we have made an inspired choice this year!
The place looks rather like this…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Beach
Which we could do on a day out from Bristol, if we were daft enough to. We went there once, that was more than enough. 😉
My first foreign holiday, at the age of 9, was in Brittany, with Mum and Dad. Wonderful times indeed.
As an occasional sailor, it never fails to blow my mind how far the tide goes out. To think that Nelson’s navy had to blockade the French coast without modern navigational aids and tide tables.
The seafood there is awesome.
An extremely romantic and intriguing place! Looks good for writing poetry.
Hey. That sheep saying “excuse me” is a libertarian, perhaps.
He’s trying to go the other way.
Heh, John, I haven’t thought of that:-)
Ah, the dear dead days – I served a sentence in that part of the world, a few years back.
I wished there had been universal wireless Intertwebtubes back then, it would really have helped to put some historical context on things that were hard to figure out eg a lot of the Overlord history, and things like this:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19796155
Most attaractive place to sojourn in that part of the world, IMHO – Douarnenez.
llater,
llamas
Oh I’m sure we will have a wonderful time, we always manage to. We are staying about an hours drive inland from Roscoff, any tips Brian and JP?
The cologne ad is interesting – because the product name is in English.
This was some good photos…
the stairs disappear…smile 🙂
Actually that sheep poster illustrates, in part, the elegant destruction that has been wreaked by Breivik.
The lone sheep is, in fact, trying to go the other way, away from the brink, much like a libertarian going against the lemming flow of “guided-to-slavery/destruction” humanity.
Breivik took on the language, in part, of those who would resist being herded into the abyss and then by his actions shown what a monster he is. (Killing is almost impossible to the rational and merciful mind.)
Thus, by association, he has established what monsters those can be who resist the flow. How many libertarians has he shut up in the last few days? It has worked!
And we are left with: be a sheep/lemming or be a monster.
I would not be inclined toward thinking that Breivik’s actions were the result of a positive conspiracy by the enemies of freedom, but I would say that it is likely there has been a passive conspiracy that has intentionally ignored signals that were there to be seen.
His actions have just about ticked every box that the enemies of freedom could wish for.
Indeed, John – I had similar thoughts, but not nearly as well-formed.
BTW, here’s an image of that poster of somewhat better quality.