After making it into bed the night of my unexpected trip to Rennes, I slept in, got up in the afternoon and went to a small shopping center to get a change of clothes. After leaving the shopping center, I got lunch next door and it was a delicious sandwich. I then walked around the city, explored a bit of the historic center, and returned to the hotel. Later that night, I went to a gathering and met some wonderful people. One of the teaching assistants I met there, who had been living in Rennes for a while, ended up walking me back to my hotel which I was grateful for.
The following day I went to the Marché des Lices to meet another assistant but she was running behind so I went to L’Equinox and drank some hot chocolate (came served in a teapot ) while waiting for her to arrive. When she got there, she was accompanied by a British assistant who I had also met last night. We walked around the market for a bit (outdoor/indoor all types of fruits, veggies, and more), she bought some sausage, and then we headed off to get lunch. I had a tartine au miel et fromage.
After lunch, we walked to Parc Tabour and there was a circus/festival thing going on. It was a beautiful park and we happened upon a huge menagerie filled with colorful noisy birds. It was nice to sit and listen to them be their birdy selves.
Next, we walked further along to the gardens and found hedges trimmed with smiley faces which was a very touching and uplifting. We also discovered a section of the park named l’Enfer (hell) because the monks who used to live on the grounds attached to the park in the long long time ago days when there was a pond would frolick there and one (probably some) of the superiors did not approve at all, hence that moniker. We walked past “hell” and then headed into the church, and then headed out and made our way back to the historic center of town for a drink (I got a diabolo violette).
We then decided to walked to another park much further out. On the way there we saw these huuuuuge bunnies being blown up with air and ended up meeting the artist (Australian, Perth maybe) who told us the bunnies would glow in the dark that night and that the installation was for Maintenant Festival. It was so cool to meet the artist, who’d recently flown in for this (if I recall correctly), but the coolest part was that I got to touch it – the bunnies! – with her permission of course.
Once we got to the park there was a round swing I wanted to get on but there were kids playing on it. We kept walking and noticed that there were small pots planted around the park and things were being grown on sectioned off plots of land such as pumpkins and peppers. We wondered whether that area of the park moonlighted as a community garden. 
When we left the park, we made our way back to the rabbit exposition site and parted ways with one of the assistants. It was time for me to head to the train station to catch my train back to town and the British assistant also had to be at the station to meet a friend who would be arriving twenty minutes before my train was set to depart. On our walk to the station, we came across a sea of people wearing pink and carrying balloons of the same color. It was a parade of people and it didn’t dawn on me till the British assistant said something that it was most likely a breast cancer walk.
As soon as we got to the train station I bought my ticket and shortly after, the British assistant’s friend appeared through the crowd. I said my goodbye, hopped on the train, and returned to my town, buying a croissant on my walk home.
October 2016
Aisha Isabelle 
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