Dukes of Brittany (France) Touring Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Dukes of Brittany (France) Touring Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Background

Peninsular Brittany in northwestern France extends out into the Atlantic Ocean.  The Bretons are famous for their fishing fleets and solo transatlantic sailors like Florence Artaud.

On land, the Bretons are famous for the following foods:

-belon oysters

-roast salt prairie lamb with vegetables

-far Breton cake with prunes previously soaked in cognac

-sweet crêpes

-savory crêpes called galettes

-apple cider

The Dukes of Brittany are related to British nobility through Henry II of England, who invaded Brittany in the 12^th century.  After signing a peace treaty with the French Duke Conan IV, Henry II became the County of Nantes.

Henry II’s son Geoffrey became Duc Geoffrey of Brittany.

The Dukes of Brittany ruled Brittany until 1448 when the last Duke had no male descendant.

Anne of Brittany was the last descendant of the Dukes of Brittany.  She was married to an Austrian nobleman, but was forced to annul her marriage.

Anne became Queen of France twice by marrying cousins.  Brittany definitively became a part of France when Anne’s daughter Claude became Queen of France by marrying the Valois king Francis 1^st.

What Kinds of Tourists Might Like Brittany?:

People who like:

-sailing

-traveling with their families

-pristine beaches with daily water quality controls

-easy-to-buy-and-prepare produce, seafood, and lamb

-walking by the ocean

-public gardens

Traditional Souvenirs to Buy in Brittany:

Almost all towns in Brittany have souvenir stores where you can traditional products such as:

-lace doilies

-lace collars and cuffs

-bigoudin Breton headdresses

-embroidered tablecloths and napkins

-cookbooks

-gardening books

-lyric books

-Celtic instruments

-Quimper faience – heavier than porcelain with scenes of sweet couples and happy families

-CDs of French Navy music

-Alan Stivell CDs – Breton folksinger and Celtic harp player

-butter cookies in decorative tins

Home Base City: Rennes, Capital of Brittany

Travelers can take a TGV (High Speed Train) from Paris to Rennes to explore the family-friendly city of Rennes in Brittany, France.

Rennes has cathedrals, museums, chateaus, and gardens that date back centuries.  Michelin and Lonely Planet guides amply describe these places.

After families have visited all the cultural places in town, junior high school students might enjoy visiting kid-oriented sites around town or those sites that can be visited in short periods of time.

The following 5 places in Rennes look especially interesting for junior high school students:

1 – L’Espace des Sciences

Learn-by-doing site with robot presentation along with planetarium shows.

2 – Ecomusée du Pays de Rennes

This museum is located in a 500-year-old farm that shows how agriculture, business, nutrition, and technology have changed within that time span.

3 – Parc du Thabor

There is a rose garden at Parc du Thabor that has 2,000 varieties of roses in it.

There is also an aviary with many parrots, doves, and songbirds.

4 – Marché des Lices

The high-quality produce of Brittany is on sale at the Marché des Lices and makes for a colorful field trip during a trip to France.

Several items that tourists could buy for snacks include:

-Reinette apples

-baguettes (French bread loaves)

-sea salt flavored butter

-cheese from nearby Normandy

-sweet crêpes

-savory crêpes called galettes

-Breton cider

5 – Centre Alma – the big mall in Rennes

The Centre Alma sells modern souvenirs like clothing and cotton candy called “barbe à papa” or “dad’s beard.”

Day Trip Suggestions:

-Brest

-Quimper

-Lorient

-Vannes

-Saint-Malo

-Saint-Brieuc

-Nantes (I have a blog up on this city for September 8, 2018)

Lunch, souvenir shopping, and historical walks by the ocean are the main draws of these photogenic towns.

Happy Touring!!!

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Book

Ruth Paget Selfie

Visiting Ile-aux-Moines (Brittany, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Ile-aux-Moines (Brittany, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One of our friends in Paris had a family home on the Ile-aux-Moines (Monks’ Island) off the coast of Vannes in Brittany, France.

On a crisp, fall day, my husband Laurent, toddler Florence, and I set out for Vannes to pretend to be banished fishermen on the Ile-aux-Moines.

No cars are allowed on the island, so we trudged all of Florence’s toddler equipment (tricycle, helmet, multiple changes of clothing, sippy cups and so on) onto the island by making several ferryboat trips back and forth in the rain.  (It rains all the time in Brittany in the winter.)

Our friend’s family had a medieval era stone house on the island that was very chilly in the rain.  (Homes in Brittany all have very pointy roofs to let rain fly off roofs quickly and far away from homes.)

I told our friend that she needed tapestries from Aubusson to hold in heat.

“It’s never warm in here. Tapestries would hold in the cold,” she said.

Florence wore layers of little T-shirts and American sweatsuits that my University of Chicago roommate wisely bought for her when I came to show off “bébé Florence” to the good-looking Greeks in Chicago.

We forgot our chills when our friend came back with spiny lobsters for each of us.

She made a bowl of homemade mayonnaise to spread on baguette toast to go with the lobster meat.  We drank a Bourgogne Aligoté white wine with this ruddy meal.

We ignored the sheets of rain thudding on the roof and listened to rock music.  I taught Florence how to dance to the rhythm of the Rolling Stones, U2 and BB King, and Rai music from France.

We visited Ile-aux-Moines several times and even went to a wedding there.  Laurent filmed the wedding that had lots of strolling musicians playing bagpipes and harps and little girls twirling pixie baskets full of flowers.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Touring Guerande: Walking around a Medieval Granite Town in Brittany, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Guérande: Walking around a Medieval Granite Town in Brittany, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Collégiale is named after Guérande’s patron saint Saint Aubin (St. Albin in English).  He was the Bishop of Angers.  The town legend says that when Guèrande was under siege by the Normans in the 9^th century, he sent a knight in shining armor astride a winged, white horse to save the town from pillagers.

After visiting the Collégiale St. Aubin, I walked around the town.  There were many pottery, painting, and regional products shops with cute to expensive souvenirs.  I liked the cider, sea salt, and sturdy dish souvenirs the best.

Guérande is an adorable tourist trap with most tourists being French, German, or English.  I was tempted to buy some chouchen, a Breton honey liqueur for my small cocktail cabinet at home.

I spent the rest of my time trying to look over stonewalls or peek through gates to see flowers and gardens.  One house had little hedges arranged in a square around a tree with flowers around it.  That was cute.

I did not know the names of all the flowers except for pink and lavender hortensias that grow well in Brittany with its morning fogs.

Ivy covered many homes and walls.  In fact, the vegetation was very lush and green.  The winters in Brittany are rainy.  Most homes in Brittany must look desolate in winter from the outside due to the rain and cold weather.

The homes are usually made of granite and other more malleable stone.  Steep, blue-gray roofs let the abundant winter rains fall off away from the homes.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Touring Guerande: Visiting Brittany, France's Sea Salt Town with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Guerande: Visiting Brittany, France's Sea Salt Town with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent and I set out for the July 14^th holiday (Bastille Day) weekend to spend time with his parents in Brittany in Western France.

I strapped Florence in her car seat, and we set out for Brittany.  I planned to spend my time writing and touring Brittany with my mother-in-law.

The first town we visited was the Breton town of Guérande.  This town has a wall around it and sits on top of a hill.  It is surrounded by salt drying beds.

Salt was and remains important to the area.  In the Middle Ages, Guérande had a monopoly on salt, which was traded for agricultural products from other regions.  Salt marshes in the South of France diminished Guérande’s control over salt prices.

Today canals bring salt water into a series of square reservoirs.  Each reservoir is shallower than the last one and allows workers to scrape off salt at the end.  Dry, hot weather creates the best production results.

I gleaned this wonderful information from my Michelin “green guide” for Brittany as I stood outside the church called the Collégiale St. Aubin (St. Albin’s in English).

St. Aubin was built in the 12^th and 13^th centuries.  The austere architecture is Romanesque and the more flamboyant decoration is Gothic.  I enjoyed visiting the church’s interior, because there was a rehearsal for an organ and trumpet concert going on.

My Michelin “green guide” said the Romanesque columns inside the church were decorated with scenes of torture, but they were so badly damaged that they failed to conjure any fright in me.

The columns are the only items that remained from the original church after it was destroyed by Louis d’Espagne in 1342.

The church decorations are definitely Gothic with three-petal flowers covering the interior and exterior alike.  The stained glass windows are recent.  Wars, ancient and modern, probably explain the absence of older glass windows.

The baptismal font seemed to be the oldest part of the church.  I guessed it must be the oldest part of any French church.

You have to keep the initiates coming in, if you are financing something over a century or two.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie

Heloise and Abelard: The French Touring Game for Brittany (France) about Sinners, Saints, and Haints by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Héloîse and Abelard:  The French Touring Game for Brittany (France) about Sinners, Saints, and Haints by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

Introduction

The Brittany Peninsula in northwestern France that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean is famous for cuisine that would appeal to young people with yachting in the blood, interest in love stories, and yearnings to be a Celtic druid.

Brittany’s Cuisine – Simple yet Nutritious and Satisfying

-raw oysters (belons – huîtres plates are the most famous)

-pré sale lamb (salt marsh lamb)

-alcoholic apple cider

-towering seafood platters with homemade mayonnaise

-Muscadet white wine (goes great with seafood platters)

-steamed mussels made with Muscadet white wine and crème fraîche and chopped, flat-leaf parsley

-fleur de sel sea salt from Guérande, Brittany

-galettes (buckwheat crêpes for savory ingredients)

-crêpes for sweet and savory ingredients

-far cake studded with cognac-marinated prunes

-garden vegetables such as bibb lettuce, strawberries, green beans, and small potatoes for side dishes

-butter cookies to go with tea

King Arthur’s Camelot

Brittany is famous as the setting for Camelot in Chrétien de Troyes Arthurian Romances.

The Château des Ducs de Bretagne is where King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and Queen Guenivere lived in myth.

I always told Florence when we visited Nantes that we might see those three in windows or walking around the gardens.

Middle Ages Lovers: Abelard and Héloîse

Brittany boasts being the tryst land for two Middle Ages lovers named Héloîse and Abelard.  Abelard was a priest, and Héloîse was his student.  Héloîse became pregnant.

The church superiors castrated Abelard.  Héloîse had to become a nun.  The two were allowed to correspond. 

Their correspondence has been preserved and published.  Spoiler - In the end, Héloîse starts making fun of Abelard, which is why it has been in print for centuries, begging for a movie.

Anne of Brittany: Queen of France Twice

Another famous personality from Brittany was a real queen named Anne of Brittany (1477 – 1514).  She became the queen consort of France twice.

Her first husband was Charles VIII and her second husband was Louis XII.  Both kings added her territory of Brittany to that of France.

She lived in the Château of the Ducs of Brittany, which is in downtown Nantes (Naoned in the Breton language).

I have some suggestions for places to visit in Brittany in the blogs that follow.  You can go to Nantes by TGV (French Speed Train) and rent a car to see the places I have described in the blogs:

Level 1: Books about Brittany and its Famous People

To better appreciate the culture of Brittany, you might want to do some reading before you go:

-DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Brittany by DK Travel

-Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes (various publishers)

-Letters of Abelard and Héloîse (various publishers)

-Twice Queen of France: Anne of Brittany by Mildred Allen Butler

-The Complete Sailor – Second Edition – by David Seidman (You can rent sailboats in some places)

-Crêpes and Galettes from the Breizh Café by Bertrand Larcher

-The Oysters of Locmariaquer by Eleanor Clark

Level 2 – Views from the Air

If you wake up in time, you can see evidence of how Brittany’s inheritance laws differ from England’s.

Level 3 – Places to Visit in Downtown Nantes

-Gothic Saint Pierre – Saint Paul Cathedral

-Château of the Dukes of Brittany

-Dobrée Museum

This museum holds many treasures documenting Nantes’ participation in the Triangular Trade with the Americas (slaves, sugar, rum, cotton, and salt cod).  

French slaves might have come from the modern nations of Senegal, Cameroon, and Benin.  (Information could be available in the poems of Senghor - the first African president of Senegal and leader of the Negritude Poetry Movement.)

Bordeaux also participated in Triangular Trade with the Americas before it converted to growing wine and selling it to the English.

-Jardin des Plantes

This garden by the Château of the Dukes of Brittany has trees in it that ship captains brought back to France from their travels around the world.  There are many magnolia trees in this garden.

-Musée des Beaux-Arts

This museum houses many portraits of the wives of shipping companies in Nantes, who made the city wealthy.  When slavery was outlawed, the city converted to making butter cookies to maintain its contacts in the Caribbean and markets.

There are also many Tenebrist paintings in this museum by the painter Georges de la Tour.

Level 4 – Breton Meals

I talked abut some Breton dishes in this blog’s introduction, but what kind of menu would you put together for a nice Saturday dinner for your family and/or friends using the dishes I listed as Breton cuisine.

Level 5 – On the Breton Pilgrimage Route to Santiago de Compostela

Parthenay Stop

See my blog on this Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website.

Level 6 – Dobrée Museum

Maritime Trade Financier’s Art Collection from the Triangular Trade with the Americas (slaves, sugar, rum, cotton, and cod fish)

See my blog on this Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website for information.

Level 7 – St. Gildas des Bois

A granite, French church that has stood in the forest for centuries

See my blog on this Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website for information.

Level 8 – Redon: A Breton Venice

Redon is a Breton Venice with cascades of red geraniums tumbling down to canals from bridges in this town that has won a “Ville Fleurie,” or “Flower Town” award.

See my blog on this Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website for information.

Level 9 – Rochefort-en-Terre

Regional center where processions of the Virgin Mary sometimes take place

See my blog on this Savvy Mom Ruth Paget website for information.

Level 10 – Celtic Menhirs and Dolmens at St. Just

If you are Celtic, you can commune with your ancestors’ designs here before heading out to a larger site such as Carnac (France) or Stonehenge (United Kingdom).

Level 11 – Puy du Fou Medieval Theme Park in the Vendée Region

Just below Nantes is the region called the Vendée where there is a re-enactment of the history in this region. 

There is a medieval theme park with cobblers (wooden shoe makers), coopers (barrel makers), blacksmiths (horseshoe makers), and candlestick makers here along with shows featuring falcons and drawbridges to run across in the medieval theme park associated with this re-enactment site.

Have fun in Brittany (France), which is relatively close to Paris thanks to the TGV (High-speed French trains)!

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie