Wednesday, October 11, 2023: Brest, France
We arrived in Brest late morning on a partly sunny, cool day, ready to explore on our own. This was really a “working” port for us as we had toured Brest in 2018, arriving on a rainy, cold day with gale force winds, fighting our way to a few of the most notable locations with a energetic guide. Those memories behind us, we needed to focus on finding reliable Wi-Fi as it has been miserable trying to upload photos into the blog, surrendering to Facebook as our only way to update friends and family on our shenanigans.
The Rotterdam tied up in the industrial port and we headed out as soon as allowed, joining a very long line waiting for shuttle buses into the city center.
Once there, we headed to the Tourist Information center to purchase an all day pass covering bus, tram and cable car for a mere 4.50 euros per ticket. On the tram, over to the cable car landing and up to the top of the Plateau des Capuchins where we arrived in the huge industrial workshop converted from the 1695 Capuchin monastery.
Our trip was ostensibly for Wi-Fi in the newly constructed Les Ateliers des Capuchins, however were distracted by Napoleon’s Imperial Barge! It was constructed in 1810 and used briefly for him to cruise around Antwerp to visit the French Naval Fleet. It was not built to last. It had several moves, back and forth from Brest to Paris and back to Brest with some additional embellishments added.
It was magnificent! We were able to look at it in an enormous arena-type room where it’s 62-foot length was easily accommodated. There were picnic tables scattered around the large space that included a library and huge machinery used in the ship building business. We watched as youngsters roller-skated and biked around this level creating a family atmosphere.
Photos easily uploaded with plans to edit the posts once back on the Rotterdam, we walked back to the upper level and to the cable car, enjoying our ride over the river and dry docks, landing near our tram stop. Instead of boarding the tram, we had to find a store that sold batteries as our little votive candle, used as a nightlight in our dark stateroom bathroom, was running quite low. We found a Monoprix, a large department store, and had help locating a battery. Mary Margaret was able to use her limited French which seemed to delight the clerk. She was kind enough to change it and recycle the battery as well.
Up to street level and into another chocolate store to rid ourselves of euros before cruising 2 sea days to the Azores. Mission accomplished!
The Rotterdam left Brest, France with one last view of the German submarine bunkers, still untouched but now used for a different purpose.
