Bretagne

We are in Brittany for a few days, and since I am typing on an English keyboard, my entries will be mostly in English. Ironie de la chose. A few things I have noticed so far:

-Cities and towns are always very beautiful here. In England, there aren't that many beautiful places. I am not saying England does not have nice (as in fun) places, but aesthetically, France wins hands down (although it's difficult to beat Bath). That doesn't mean much: Liverpool was not beautiful, but I loved that city to bits. Let's see if French towns are fun. I am sure I will enjoy the wine, but I know I will miss British beers.
-I didn't shiver with emotion when we got to Saint-Malo (as it is from Saint-Malo that Jacques Cartier left France to discover Québec). But from the harbour, it is a beautiful city.
-There are loads of chickadees in the garden, instead of the magpies we usually have in England. I miss the magpies. Chikcadees are more my brother's and his girlfriend's sort of bird (and try to find where the skull joke in the link comes from, if you succeed, I owe you a beer). In the garden of my parents-in-law there are also supposed to be salamanders and mice (aaaaaarrrrrghhhh!). We saw a heron on the way to the in-laws. No hawk yet.
-I had apple cider with the dinner. From Normandie. Enjoyable, but I want to try a wider variety and try some in England too, so I can compare.
-Travelling by boat is slow, but so much more enjoyable than by plane or train. There is space, the food is good, I don't feel sea sick and I even manage to sleep well and wake up before the alarm starts. Something I will definitely do again.
-Scotch is really good. I tried some in the duty-free boutique, as there was free samples. I bought two bottles for some friends of my father-in-law (got paid back in Euros). I wish kept them for myself. To my grat surprise, I didn't feel sea sick after tasting three or four of them. But I felt a bit dizzy. VeggieCarrie thought it tasted horrible.
-French biscuits and pains au chocolat are absolutely delicious, even bought at your average supermarket. Still, I can't force myself to drink coffee. I prefer tea, even here.