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Mirinda wanted to visit the Rennes Eco-Musee because she’d heard it had some examples of typically Breton furnished rooms. After a lot of dodging around the streets at the edge of Rennes we managed to find the museum only to find out that although the grounds were open all day, the actual museum is closed between 12 and 2! The woman told us we were welcome to have our picnic if we liked. It was raining. Besides we didn’t have a picnic with us. She told us this AFTER we’d bought tickets but she did say we could go and come back.
Mirinda finds shelter at the Ecomusee, Rennes
As we wandered around speaking to the goats and freeing them from the wire fencing, a young chap made sure to let us know the museum was closed between 12 and 2.
We decided to drive to the nearest Metro station and hop a ride into the centre of Rennes.
Entrance to Triangle station, Rennes Metro
The light rail system seems quite new (there’s not a lot of rubbish and it doesn’t smell of urine) and trains appear every few minutes. We bought an all day ticket and left for where we figured the centre of town would be. Mirinda figured it right and we found ourselves outside the cathedral.
Strolling down Place St Michel through to the Place Rallier du Baty, we spotted a fantastic looking restaurant called Amour de Pomme de Terre or Love of the Potato. God knows what we ordered but it featured baked potatoes and various bits of other stuff. When Mirinda’s arrived it looked big enough to feed at least two thousand. It had two baked potatoes and a couple of small fried potatoes as well as bits of what looked and tasted like ducks tongue. Mine was a proper size for a normal human tummy.
Huge meal at Love of the Potato restaurant, Rennes
Still, both meals were lovely (even if Mirinda’s was unfinishable) and the restaurant itself was quite fantastic. We ate on the second floor overlooking the square at a little rickety table squeezed in amongst other rickety tables some holding party mad Spaniards who serenaded us all with their songs. The floor sloped at an alarming angle and the walls were full of various knick knacks, some of which had reference to potatoes. It was truly an amazing experience and one we’d recommend to anyone who happens to find themselves in Rennes and looking for somewhere to eat. We would be very grateful, however, to anyone who could tell us what the Samba au Four was which we apparently both ate.
Mirinda simply insisted that we visit the parliament building. This is a stately 17th century building, sat at the top of a large square, housing the law courts. We really would have liked to go on a tour but they are decided at the Tourist Information place rather than at the building itself. We decided to pop up and have a look at the one room you can look at on your own.
Gaz outside the Rennes parliament building
The Public Prosecutors’ room is MASSIVE. The ceiling is very high and painted white with gold features. According to the young chap at the info desk, this is the least impressive room. Apart from some tables and chairs stacked at one end, it was empty so we assumed it isn’t used that often. Still, it is an impressive room with equally impressive doors.
We then strolled down from the main square and came across an odd shop selling hard cover comic books. We wouldn’t have bothered going in except that one window display featured a whole series of Agatha Christie novels in cartoon versions. Brilliant! We just had to have one. Mirinda chose The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. We asked if they had an Alice but they said ‘Non‘.
Down a bit further and over the river, we headed for the Musee des Beaux-Arts. Generally these art galleries are representative of the area and we thought the main one in the capital of Brittany would have examples of art from all over the region. However, we were wrong. It had some splendid artworks but they were from all over the world. Of particular note were the marble statues around the central square – absolutely amazingly life like. It’s incredible what some people can do with a bit of lifeless rock.
Inner courtyard of the Musee des Beaux Art, Rennes
Of the paintings there was an excellent Salome although she did look decidedly pleasant rather than the chilling killer she really was. Obviously I bought a postcard copy for Karen. There were no St Sebastiens…BUT there were some pretty impressive religious iconography. There is also a fine collection of modern masters including a Picasso but we skipped by these, being mainly interested in older works.
I found a very interesting depiction of Lot and his daughters just after the pillar of salt episode involving his wife, their mother. The Bible states that Lot & his daughters fled to the hills and lived in a cave after the fall of Sodom and Gommorah. In order to begin the human race (again) the two girls decided to get Lot drunk and seduce him. You have to remember that Sodom and Gommorah were destroyed because of abhorrent sexual behaviour! This painting was of the two girls standing either side of their father, feeding him wine as he sat, looking well on the way to a serious night of drunken debauchery. The girls were grinning mischievously and Lot was leering like a drunken dope. I have never seen this Biblical episode painted and was fascinated. Sadly there was no postcard version of it.
Before catching the Metro back to le Triangle, we stopped off at a patisserie for dinner supplies – having fallen in love with the potato, we didn’t need a lot more food this day. We managed to navigate our way back to the car and once more drove to the Ecomusee.
To give it its full title, the Ecomusee du Pays de Rennes, is a 20 hectare farm which opened in 1987 to celebrate the fact that this area has been agricultural for a very long time. They breed rare farm animals (like particularly small goats who get their horns caught in wire fences) as well as grow various fruit trees.
Ecomusee du Pays de Rennes
The museum is housed in one of the original farm buildings. It houses, so the leaflet says, “…five centuries of life in the Rennes region…” Upon entering the museum the young chap we had encountered earlier was at great pains to tell us the museum closed at 6pm. He obviously thought we were a bit shifty looking because he made sure we didn’t waste any time over the French film, instead going straight to the displays. I kept spotting him tailing us all the way through. Very odd. Perhaps I look a bit like an international museum thief. Mirinda reckons he was simply wanting to improve his English by constantly talking to us but was basically very shy.
Anyway, the Ecomusee had a sad lack of furnished rooms, much to Mirinda’s chagrin. As this was the main reason for going, it is possibly understandable she was slightly miffed. The fact that some bozo kept telling us when the place wasn’t open just about finished her off.
This is probably a good place to give Mirinda a rant. She claims that the French tourist industry is in disarray because they are arrogant and afraid of change. The whole thing about most of the country being closed between 12 and 2 is extremely annoying to a tourist, I have to say! Actually, if you want to be successful in France, don’t close for lunch! You’ll get a lot of tourists in your shop.
Rather than brave the rush hour traffic around the Rennes bypass, we took the cross country voyage back to the Château de Pin where we enjoyed our Rennes cakes for tea.
