An Old Friend Comes to Visit

Look who popped over for a casual week in France last Thursday!!!

DERRRIIICCCKKKKK!!

I was very happy to spend the week with this guy, showing him the best of Brittany and making him very fat. Derrick is actually my best friend's older brother and is one of my best friends as well. He attends DU (like me!) and is currently pursuing a Master's in Finance, as well as a black belt in sheer awesomeness. While Derrick was here in France, he received his first real salaried job offer EVER, and so we had lots to celebrate on top of the fact that we were reunited once more!!

We began his trip as any trip in Birttany should begin: with galettes, crêpes, and kir breton.

Derrick's AH-mazing caramel au beurre salé crêpe at one of my favorite restaurants in Rennes, La Maison de Josephine.

Friday morning, I decided to surprise Derrick with a trip to the Pink Granite Coast, one of the hidden tourist gems of France. At 9:00 we jumped on the train to Lannion, and from Lannion took a bus to Perros-Guirec.

The first thing we did in Perros-Guirec was...eat. We started off with a crab cake, lots of bread and butter (demi-sel, bien sûr!!), and white wine. We steadily moved on to an absolutely incredible sausage, potato, bacon and sauerkraut main dish, and then we finished with a dessert of homemade choux pastry puffs filled with fresh fruit cream, pictured below. 

NO OTHAH BUTTAH BUT DAH DEMI-SEL. 

Chouxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. 

After our wonderfully filling meal, we decided to burn some calories hiking the Sentier de Douaniers along the Coast while admiring the gorgeous rock formations surrounding us. 

We made it to the west side of the coast, in Ploumanac'h, just in time to see the sunset. 

The next day, we headed back on a bus to Lannion and explored the city a bit more extensively than the day before. 

Beautiful view of the city outside of the Église de Brelevenez.

After a quick stopover in St. Brieuc for the night, we decided to head back to Rennes the next afternoon. In Rennes, we....

Drank Guiness at O'Connells Irish Pub.

Ate galette-saucisse at my favorite galette pit-stop in the center of town (where I, right after excitedly buying my galette-saucisse with onions and goat cheese, promptly stepped in a huge pile of dog crap).

Attended an organic wine tasting event hosted by the local bar Mille Potes and Science Po's international student association, Zéphyr.

And, finally, gorged ourselves on wayyyy too much kebab and fries and white sauce. 

It's... ALL GONE. :-O NOOOOOO.

So... in summary, we basically just ate everything. The entire time. 

In his spare minutes (i.e. when I was in class), Derrick was able to take two quick day trips to Dinan and Mont St. Michel. After his time here, he now (correctly) believes that Brittany is the bestest region of all of France.

Derrick caught his train to Paris this morning, where he will fly to Italy to see Jessica and his parents for Thanksgiving. It's always hard to say good bye... we won't see each other again for at least seven months. But now we can laugh, look back, and remember all of our time spent together in France. :-)

Bisous, Derrick, and safe travels in Italy and back to the States. 

Dani