Branic

Gina: "Vanessa you gotta try this! You just take them off the rock and eat them right out of the shell! I just ate one. They're called Branic."

Me: "Ummm...ya, but Gina, you love oysters and stuff and I don't really so...maybe I wouldn't like it."

Gina: "No you will, you HAVE to try it! Come on! You're supposed to be a chef."

Felippe: "What are you a city girl Vanessa?"

Me: "Fine, give it to me."

(try your best to ignore my double chin through this sequence)

You can see what came of it.
After this scene I found out Gina had spit hers out too and failed to mention it to me when forcing it down my throat. What a friend!

Windy Brittany

Windy Lannilis, if you want to get specific.
Yesterday Gina and I spent the day with a French couple from St. Helena Gina met before our trip in their hometown of Lannilis, Brittany. Felippe, the husband, picked us up at 10:30 am from our flat in Brest and drove us the twenty five minutes over to the most charming town I've seen in France. He did an excellent job of filling our day with Brittany-worthy activities.

Their little house on the peninsula...it looks small but it had four bedrooms

View from their living room!

Heading down into the German bunker right outside their house

Check out these OLD hinges...Can you believe people lived in these things?

You may not be able to tell, but I could wring my hair out it was so soaked

"No, you won't need medicine for sea sickness, it's calm today!" -Felippe (above)
"Ya right, says the Brittany native! Girls, take the pills." -Pierrette

We sat and had cafe with Brittany's famous pastry, saw the store where Felippe was born, went crabbing in Felippe's fathers old boat on the WINDY and CHOPPY ocean (Gina and I got drenched, to say the least), had a crab feast with Pierrette's (wife) families sparkling wine from Burgundy, took naps on the fluffy grass of their front yard with blankets and coats and received a walking tour around their property from Felippe, showing us the landscape of this historic place. Their home is on a German bunker that connects to other bunkers around the area through tunnels. So fascinating! From their house you can see the tallest lighthouse in Europe, which looks more like a monument it's so large. It was absolutely amazing.

I wish they were vacationing for the next few months we'll be here but they're actually leaving Saturday to go back home to sunny, English speaking Napa Valley. Not sure if they realized how much they brightened our day.