Fifi the Fiat and Bastille Day

This was my very first Bastille Day celebrated in France. It was quite uneventful except for the lovely fireworks that were just set off at 11pm...due to the fact that the sun sets so late, the fireworks have to go off really late as well.

Christie and Tanner working on Fifi's window

Three of my friends and I decided that we'd celebrate the weekend by renting a car and driving west. We are the proud renters of Fifi, the compact, hybrid Fiat that goes from zero to sixty in, hmmmm.....it gets there when it gets there. She was so reasonably priced as well, only 30 Euros per person for 3 days! That's cheaper than all the warm winter clothing around here (I can't help but think in terms of sweatshirts and pants when the weather has been as horrible as it's been recently). She's a good car but a little special to say the least. We practically have to lean forward to get her to go up a hill and we cheered her on when she made it to the speed limit on the "autoroute" (highway). Unfortunately at the end of the day, the front seat window refused to go up or down; it was stuck somewhere in between. Christie and Tanner were convinced that they could fix it because they saw the small piece of plastic needed to hold the window in place (do you believe that? Only a small piece of plastic was holding the window in). They worked diligently and then....plop...that plastic piece slid and it's somewhere in the body of the driver's side door, forever lost in that mysterious world.

Karen in Dinan

We headed out west to Brittany today, roughly 150 km from where we're located in Caen. It was so liberating being able to go somewhere. Caen is a nice town, but I really feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere, so it was great experiencing a few other towns. We stopped in Cancale for lunch where Tanner and Karen had "les huitres" because the town is known as having the best oysters in all of France. Christie and I went for the amazing buckwheat crepes in a small mom and pop restaurant where the waiter (or waitress? It was hard to tell...i thought it was a female but we heard someone else address the server as Monsieur) was also the cook. We drove through the walled city of St. Malo but it was so crowded that we could barely even stop the car. I'm guessing that they had some fabulous Bastille Day festivities going on. That was pretty fortuitous though because not stopping there meant that we drove to Dinan which I loved! What a cute city. It was as if Walt Disney himself created this picture-perfect little town. I cannot believe that people live there all year.

Music group in Dinan

We have Fifi the Fiat until Monday morning, so who knows where she'll bring us tomorrow....we're thinking of heading east this time. And like always, the weather promises to be horrible. But nonethess, Fifi the Fiat made for my first wonderful, and memorable, Bastille Day in France.

Tanner and Christie in front of Fifi the Fiat

Tanner, Christie, and Karen walking in Dinan