Day 14 Report

Today was a loooooong day. Frankly I would've been happy just sleeping in and having a quiet day at home (well I'm always happy to have that, but that's not the point).

However, I dragged myself up at 8.30 a.m., had breakfast and then walked to Moulin Blanc to catch the 10.07 a.m. bus (which is the FIRST Sunday bus; the SECOND doesn't arrive till 1 P.M.!). Valerie and ER were on the bus too - that's the only good thing about the poor bus frequency + vaguely accurate bus schedule: you run into everyone very often.

We got off at Brest, which was as usual all closed an quiet. However, Rue de Siam had been transformed into a Sunday market, selling fruit and vegetables and cheese and sausages and crepes and paella and kebabs and inedible stuff like clothes and bags and jewellery and shoes. The market wasn't very big though, so it didn't take long before we were wondering what we could do before the Plougastel-bound bus arrived. I had a ham crepe and then we walked all the way to the train station (where we had arrived two weeks ago) in search of a bathroom. The place was nearly empty even though there were trains entering and leaving. Too bad we couldn't hop on the Paris-bound one. :P

We walked back after that and spent an hour at the bus stop. At least I managed to finish my apple and banana.

The bus was crowded - everyone was headed for the strawberry festival - but thankfully we got seats. It was a long slow ride, mainly because at almost every stop we had to wait for more people to squeeze their way onboard.

(Plougastel, by the way, is the commune connected to Le Relecq-Kerhuon [where we're all staying] by the suspension bridges.)

We weren't sure where to get off but at a particular stop everyone alighted, so we followed suit. Then we followed the huge procession of people to what I suppose is the town square.

There were people gathered on both sides of the cobbled street, awaiting the start of the parade. The festival had actually started in the morning (I read the schedule in yesterday's paper) but the parade was the highlight. We found a place to stand under some trees in front of the old church.

It seemed to take forever, but finally the parade kicked off with a procession of little kids dressed as - you guessed it - strawberries.

For the next half hour or so, there were processions of bands playing traditional instruments, couples and families and children in their traditional costumes, and groups of traditionally-dressed people dancing down the street.

This was interspersed with floats created by the various local primary schools and showcasing different cultures - African, Peruvian (there was a guy "riding" a fake llama that had been rigged to spit water at the crowd), even Chinese (they had one of those long dragon things and the float itself had a big dragon head with smoke coming out of its nostrils).

The parade ended with a procession of open-air carriages pulled by massive horses.

Everyone started moving in a certain direction after that, so we followed suit. The throng of about a zillion people eventually ended up at a local primary school, where another five zillion people were already crowded into its compound. There was a mini funfair going on where people tried their luck at winning raffles and goldfish, and the school hall had been converted into a strawberry market (with a long queue outside).

I just wanted to get out of the madness and have some fresh air.

Denise and I headed back to the town square not long after, where I finished yesterday's bag of chips as well as today's chocolate bars. Then we had a problem locating the bus stop, but the others thankfully knew where it was (although I have no idea how they knew it).

The bus came aroudn 5.20 p.m. We were afraid that there wouldn't be enough space (and this was the penultimate bus of the day), but we managed to get on although there were no seats left. It wasn't that bad though, since we weren't headed all the way back to Brest. We got off at the stop before Moulin Blanc instead.

Although Moulin Blanc was obviously within walking distance, there was no way to walk there (it's hard to explain but there's a series of roundabout roads below the bus stop with no traffic lights and no pavements). So I had to wait half an hour for the next bus, just so I could get to the next stop!

I got home slightly past 6.30 p.m. and had time for a little nap before dinner. Today's appetiser was particularly appetising - it was served in a big shell and I thought it was some clam or mussel or something, but it turned out to be Coquilles Saint-Jacques (scallops) with mushrooms and covered with some cream sauce.