Wednesday, July 27, 2011

22. Tower, Flea Market, Leftovers


The big activity today was climbing the Clock Tower to get an aerial view of Dinan. Lynn can’t climb lots of strange stairs because of the broken ankle thing, but I was ready to go. So I did, for 3 Euro admission!  First 75 steps or so are old stone spiral steps, which are just so pretty to see as they arc up and down from you. Then, as the tower got higher and narrower, it became a wooden structure, with more modern-built wood stairs. They kept the ancient hand-hewn ladder-type stairs the old tower keepers used, but chained them off so no one could use them. 

At the tippy-top, I climbed up the final ladder to the tower observation platform. Not a lot of maneuvering room up there, and I’m scared of heights, so it was a little tense for awhile! I took pics of Dinan from up high, including the area of our apartment and some of the ramparts. The most interesting thing was the sort-of crummy bell up there! It was given to the City by Duchess Anne in the 1600’s, and they’ve used it ever since. But it sounds so tinny and feeble: perhaps because they use a crummy-looking electrical motor to swing the clapper. If I was the King of Dinan, I’d use some of that 3-Euro per adult admission revenue to buy a better bell-striking apparatus! 



Lynn visited the antiques flea market that comes to our plaza every Wednesday, and found a perfect souvenir: an OLD Quimper pitcher we can use for hot chocolate. She bargained the guy down, and is totally happy with it. Now to get it home in one piece…she’ll do it, I remember her successfully dragging 2 huge ceramic dogs home from Ireland a few years ago, which I predicted would disintegrate!

We were having a drink on the Place du Clos after the excitement when some people Lynn met yesterday on the Rue de Jerzual overheard us at the next table, so we got to get better acquainted. They are from the Isle of Guernsey and Texas, and were heading back to Guernsey, waiting for the bus to St. Malo. We hung out til the bus arrived, and made tentative plans to be in touch if Lynn and I end up in Guernsey on this trip. We might do it!! It’s just a ferry ride from St. Malo, and is supposed to be beautiful. 

On the way home we VIDEO'D the lady I call the Dinan Municipal Band. She's an amazing street musician, constantly playing all over the city. Check her out. Lunch was our go-to meal: baguette ham and cheese sandwiches with a diet coke, served out of a picnic bag in the English Garden downstairs from our apartment. It is the prettiest viewpoint in all of Dinan, and today’s weather was spectacular.
We’re reading some books, eating leftovers for supper, and totally chillin’. 

PIC captions: Basilica St. Sauveur with flea market in front, and our apt. on left side!
                      Lynn's Quimper pitcher bought in flea market below.
                      Mom, we couldn't buy it (yellow rose painting), so took a pic!
CLICK here for all photos and vids:
2011 Dinan and Paris French Adventure

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