Friday, October 19, 2012
Mama Rosin
I went to this concert last night. It was stinkin' sweet. There is a festival in Rennes right now called Le Grand Soufflet, which translated is kinda dumb sounding, but it is a bunch of Cajun style bands that are coming to Rennes and playing. I went to Mama Rosin's concert. They were a three man band that consisted of a drummer, guitarist, and accordion player. Their style was pretty bluegrassy, so it was a lot of happy songs that you could tap your feet to, or as some people were doing, dance to. They were all amazing musicians, for example, the guitarist brought out a banjo for several songs. The drummer played the harmonica while keeping a beat. And the accordion player sang, while playing accordion (coordination marvel), and he also played the triangle, guitar, and violin. He was a boss. Anyways, they played a bunch of songs and then they were finished, and the crowd called them back for 2 encores, which is not at all uncommon in France. The last of the encores, the band came off the stage into the standing area and played in the midst of the crowd. So much fun. They also were getting us involved and stuff. At one point the two other band members picked up the banjo player -- it was ridiculous. But, that was a ton of fun. Here is an example of their music.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Normandie, Cornouaille
Long time no speak. Sorry. I blame dad for passing the forgetful gene to me.
Anyways, I have been busy, and last weekend and the weekend of the 22nd of September, the CIEE group went on these excursions to Cornouaille and Normandy, respectively. So, first one, Normandy -- sweet. We went to Caen where there is a museum of World War 2. It was pretty interesting what they had in there, such as artifacts from mass graves of Jews, uniforms, just all kinds of stuff. Then we went to this seaside town called Arromanches, that was along the Gold beach section. That was pretty cool, cause there was this park type place that was right on the cliff side. I stood on the edge, which was awesome. It was awesome because the wind was like super strong and as soon as your stepped away, it was immediately almost not even there anymore. Crazy. Side note: I love wind, unless it's freezing. Anyways, the scenery was stupendous. I will post some pictures. Then we got to see these old German bunkers and batteries. You could go inside and stuff -- also sweet. We spent the night in Bayeux, but didn't get to see the tapestry...
The next day we went to an American cemetery on Omaha beach. So, I was in the US or part of the trip. Unfortunately it was quite rainy, but then Jesus took the rain away for me. So we went down to walk on the beach. Super cool. It was kinda humbling to think that guys younger than me were running across that beach into machine gun fire. But then I was proud to be an American. Also, the wind was so strong. The sand was packed down and wet, but it was still moving because of the wind. If I unzipped my jacket, it was immediately a cape. It was awesome. Loving me some wind. Then I went around the cemetery to try and take a picture of the graves that makes them look like it's not aligned. Impossible. But that made it cooler. While we were there, this one veteran was helping do this documentary, and he stopped to tell our group a few stories. He would just be talking about taking some hill, and it was just like, what the heck...Crazy.
But last weekend, we went to Cornouaille, which is the tip of Brittany. It rained all weekend. We stopped for lunch in this little port town called Pont Aven. The port was cool, cause it was directly on the sea, but it was on a river that fed into the sea, and went up when the tide came in. So I thought that was really neat. There was this really pretty river that flowed through the town and they had these wooden walkways on it. It was really pretty. I ate mussels for lunch. They were good. Then we went to a town called Quimper. It is more of a city than a town, but it was also pretty neat. I really like the feel of these Breton towns and cities. After that, we stayed in a coastal town called Concarneau. They had this old town section that was still walled in, and you had to cross a couple bridges to get there. It was really neat. We went there to see this "spectacle" -- I can't think of the translation right now. But it was really cool. There were these people dressed up as mimes and playing with fire basically. They had hoolahoops with fire on them, twirly thingys, spitting fire, etc. But I was really disappointed cause I didn't bring my camera. Regret...Also, a couple of us went to this concert. In a old chapel. It was a punk-type music band. They had 4 saxophonists, one of whom could have been a grandpa, 2 flute players, both women who were rocking out harder than most of the rest of the band, a singer, two drummers, one with a huge boom, boom drum and the other with a weird drum set, and finally a banjitar player. That is a banjo head, with guitar tuned strings. So yeah, weirdest band ever. And then there was the audience. People around our ages, so like 20-30 years, elementary school children with their parents, dogs, several 60+ year olds. All in around 60 people. So weird.
The next day we went to the Pointe du Raz, which is the most western part of mainland France. It was super cool, but super foggy. You will see in my pictures. I did however climb around on the rocks and enjoyed a nice dangerous time. It was kind of a cliff down to the water, so...yeah. But I love climbing around on rocks. I did find another path that I wanted to go on, but it was time to head back. Sad day. Then we went to a town called Locronan. That was also really cool, cause it still looked like it belonged in the Medieval Age. But...I didn't bring my camera again, cause I thought that we were going to just eat lunch there and leave. Regret. It was really cool cause the stores were like holes in the wall, but then you go in and it's surprisingly spacious. And then you find another room, and then a basement, and then an upstairs! It's like Christmas. So that was really cool. Then we went home.
Anyways, I have been busy, and last weekend and the weekend of the 22nd of September, the CIEE group went on these excursions to Cornouaille and Normandy, respectively. So, first one, Normandy -- sweet. We went to Caen where there is a museum of World War 2. It was pretty interesting what they had in there, such as artifacts from mass graves of Jews, uniforms, just all kinds of stuff. Then we went to this seaside town called Arromanches, that was along the Gold beach section. That was pretty cool, cause there was this park type place that was right on the cliff side. I stood on the edge, which was awesome. It was awesome because the wind was like super strong and as soon as your stepped away, it was immediately almost not even there anymore. Crazy. Side note: I love wind, unless it's freezing. Anyways, the scenery was stupendous. I will post some pictures. Then we got to see these old German bunkers and batteries. You could go inside and stuff -- also sweet. We spent the night in Bayeux, but didn't get to see the tapestry...
The next day we went to an American cemetery on Omaha beach. So, I was in the US or part of the trip. Unfortunately it was quite rainy, but then Jesus took the rain away for me. So we went down to walk on the beach. Super cool. It was kinda humbling to think that guys younger than me were running across that beach into machine gun fire. But then I was proud to be an American. Also, the wind was so strong. The sand was packed down and wet, but it was still moving because of the wind. If I unzipped my jacket, it was immediately a cape. It was awesome. Loving me some wind. Then I went around the cemetery to try and take a picture of the graves that makes them look like it's not aligned. Impossible. But that made it cooler. While we were there, this one veteran was helping do this documentary, and he stopped to tell our group a few stories. He would just be talking about taking some hill, and it was just like, what the heck...Crazy.
But last weekend, we went to Cornouaille, which is the tip of Brittany. It rained all weekend. We stopped for lunch in this little port town called Pont Aven. The port was cool, cause it was directly on the sea, but it was on a river that fed into the sea, and went up when the tide came in. So I thought that was really neat. There was this really pretty river that flowed through the town and they had these wooden walkways on it. It was really pretty. I ate mussels for lunch. They were good. Then we went to a town called Quimper. It is more of a city than a town, but it was also pretty neat. I really like the feel of these Breton towns and cities. After that, we stayed in a coastal town called Concarneau. They had this old town section that was still walled in, and you had to cross a couple bridges to get there. It was really neat. We went there to see this "spectacle" -- I can't think of the translation right now. But it was really cool. There were these people dressed up as mimes and playing with fire basically. They had hoolahoops with fire on them, twirly thingys, spitting fire, etc. But I was really disappointed cause I didn't bring my camera. Regret...Also, a couple of us went to this concert. In a old chapel. It was a punk-type music band. They had 4 saxophonists, one of whom could have been a grandpa, 2 flute players, both women who were rocking out harder than most of the rest of the band, a singer, two drummers, one with a huge boom, boom drum and the other with a weird drum set, and finally a banjitar player. That is a banjo head, with guitar tuned strings. So yeah, weirdest band ever. And then there was the audience. People around our ages, so like 20-30 years, elementary school children with their parents, dogs, several 60+ year olds. All in around 60 people. So weird.
The next day we went to the Pointe du Raz, which is the most western part of mainland France. It was super cool, but super foggy. You will see in my pictures. I did however climb around on the rocks and enjoyed a nice dangerous time. It was kind of a cliff down to the water, so...yeah. But I love climbing around on rocks. I did find another path that I wanted to go on, but it was time to head back. Sad day. Then we went to a town called Locronan. That was also really cool, cause it still looked like it belonged in the Medieval Age. But...I didn't bring my camera again, cause I thought that we were going to just eat lunch there and leave. Regret. It was really cool cause the stores were like holes in the wall, but then you go in and it's surprisingly spacious. And then you find another room, and then a basement, and then an upstairs! It's like Christmas. So that was really cool. Then we went home.
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