A Paradocs Abroad

Last week I received a letter (well actually my letter didn't come until Thursday but Alain my host received an email on Tuesday), to tell me I had to attend a medical appointment in Rennes. This is part of my Carte de Sejour or working in France... I'm not sure which. Anyway Alain very kindly called everyone to see if it was possible for me to visit the IFREMER doctor or a doctor in Brest. No go. A two hour train to Rennes was a must.

[More:]

Alain's grant paid for me, and I persuaded Doug to come with me (on our payment) and so it was a day in Rennes.

We caught the first bus out of St. Renan with all the older teenagers going into Rennes to do their last year or so of high school. The bus driver had to search for tickets.. all the students have passes. We had coffee at the train station (not really recommended but it is a nice place to sit) and then 45 minutes later onto the train. Because the tickets were bought separately, we didn't really have seats together. We managed to stay together until St. Brieuc but after that we were 4 cars apart.

At the Rennes train station we were hoping for some tourist information. None. I had spent a bit of time on the web, but didn't have all the books that we had at Pierre Flament's. I knew some buildings were good to look at and the lunch group had told me to go to the gardens and I had a basic idea of layout but we really needed a map. Oh well, when in doubt head toward the river.

We headed straight north and pretty soon had found the most photographed building in Rennes... originally a Benedictine abbey. Along the river we found the tourist info... but it was Monday... closing day like in Brest and St. Renan. We headed toward where I thought Les Lices (the oldest district) was found and did find the Parliment Buildings (well referenced on the web but they were not very interesting in my humble opinion). Then down a narrow road (St. Michel) under half-timbered buildings... very cool. And had a lovely lunch there.

After a brief walk past the Art Deco pool we headed south to my appointment. I underestimated the distance and we were very early. We were sitting in front of the place when we were accosted by a French woman not quite right in the head who talked to us in fast French for a very long time... We escaped and found a quiet bench. Anyone attempting to come close brought many amorous moments between Doug and I. No one tried to talk to us!

The medical appointment was fine if a bit silly. They took a chest x-ray... I don't have tuberculosis. They asked about all my immunizations... the asked if I smoke, if I have health insurance and then told me to stop drinking so much coffee. I'm sorry the French tax-payers had to pay for that. Canadian doctors have said it many times. But now I have a nice picture of my insides as they let me keep the x-ray.

After the appointment we went to the central Tabor Gardens... some nice real trees (e.g. tall). Hung around there for a while and then headed back to the train station. Two hours home. No buses after 6 pm and so we took a taxi.

A nice day 'cause it was sunny. A bit of a weird bureaucratic thing... but then the French are known for that.