Well, now over a week in Saint Malo, we’ve finally managed to find a place with wi-fi! In Saint Malo, fast, reliable internet is certainly not as abundant as in Australia, or Paris, but this lovely little place more than makes up for it in so many other ways. Gerard thought it was ‘kind of nice’ to be cut off from technology, and I can see what he means… there’s a lot of unnecessary ‘mental clutter’ in life these days, due to technology. This said, there are so many great things technology enables, including being able to write this little blog about our adventure in France this summer!
Saint Malo is a wonderful town in Brittany, in the north west of France. There are really two distinct areas to Saint Malo: the general town, and La Ville Intra-Muros, which is the historic city. Intra-Muros is quite amazing as it’s surrounded by huge walls on all sides, no doubt to protect it against would be invaders… thankfully for us, today Saint Malo is a very welcoming to all outsiders, including Australians! We’ve felt so at home in this lovely little sea-side gem in Brittany.
There is clearly a rich, interesting and proud history here, that I hope to learn more about. Gerard informs me that much of the historic Intra-Muros, was destroyed in the second World War. However, visitors today can enjoy the old city much as it originally was, thanks to a concerted effort by the Bretton people to rebuild their beautiful city exactly as it was. I’m so glad that the place we found on Airbnb was in Intra-Muros. It’s just so wonderful each day to wake up here. It did take us a while to become accustomed to walking along the cobblestone streets… especially considering we both gave little thought to walking shoes and instead opted for what we thought looked good! However, I’d never wish that Saint Malo was any other way- even the sore feet you get from walking around with instruments and an amp: it’s a ‘good’ pain!
There are plenty of opportunities for tourists to learn more about this great place: little historic tours, museums associated with various societies, and a train called “Le Petit Train” which drives about Saint Malo giving riders the ‘inside word’ in three different languages. We’ve been too busy busking to ‘get onboard’, but I get a bit of a soundbite every time it passes, in the various spots where we’ve been busking!
It’s great that the people here are enjoying our music. There’s been a really positive response to our own music and many requests for the special “Street Edition” EP version of “Light Shade Light”. It’s great to be able to share this music with the very first listeners, in this lovely little part of the world. Today was a beautiful day… we decided not to busk (we’re taking a couple of days off from busking in solidarity with the French people for the official days of mourning after the tragic Nice attacks), so instead took a walk around the beaches and out to a nearby outpost, which is sits on top of a tall rocky island, which is accessible at low tide, but is completely surrounded by water at high tide. On the first day we arrived the owner of the Airbnb where we’re staying, informed us that there’s an emergency phone there, and if anyone manages to get ‘stranded’, there’s a call out fee for the rescue boat to bring you back to the mainland. I can’t remember the cost, but it was nominal… by far the greater price to pay was the shame! The airbnb owner informed us that when someone gets stranded, it’s the biggest show in town: all the locals come out to watch you being brought in!
It’s been great to have our sister, Teresa, visiting us at the moment. She’s given some good advice on tweaking out live sets for the street audience too! I’m pleased to be able to attach some photos that she took of us playing to this post.