We’ve asked a few friends and fellow-bloggers to drop-in and share while we take some time to get to know this amazing little person, Hudson, whom we’ve just welcomed to the world. We’ll no doubt be dropping in here and on babymine.net from time to time, but we’re so grateful for these wonderful guest posts and hope you enjoy them as well.
Jennifer has a gorgeous site, Luster, but what first caught my eye were her pinboards on Pinterest. A Brooklyn-based designer, Jenn has quite an eye for lovely things. I was honored to contribute to her Wanderlust series (on Vietnam) not too long ago, and am happy to have her over here, swapping tales and providing yet more travel inspiration…
It’s a pleasure to be guest posting for Ashley and Aron while they settle in with baby Hudson. I have loved reading about their travel adventures and life here in NYC over the years, so I am really looking forward to hearing about their new adventures as a family of 3. What a lucky guy to have such cool parents!
In September of 2009, my husband and I traveled to France to attend my best friend’s wedding on a tiny island off the coast of Brittany. Her husband is French and had spent summers on the island when he was a child, and they thought it would be the ideal place to have their France wedding celebration. It is a truly special place, and one we may have never gotten to had it not been for their wedding.
We flew to Paris and spent the evening at a friend’s apartment before leaving on a high speed train to Saint Nazaire the next afternoon. First up was the Rehearsal dinner at Anne de Bretagne, a lovely hotel on the coast of La Plaine Sur Mer. The following day, everyone met in Quiberon to catch the ferry to Ile d’Houat.
Île d’Houat is a small island nestled in between its sister islands Belle-Île and Hoedic. Houat, which means duck in Breton, has roughly 270 inhabitants as of 2009, and fishing along with tourism is its main industry. Daytrippers arrive by ferry and usually stop through the small village above the port and grab a baguette at the bakery and cheese and meats at the market and head for the beaches. There are no cars on the island, so everyone walks or rides their bikes.
It was such a great surprise to find such wide unspoiled beaches with soft white sand. I had imagined cliffs and rocky beaches similar to Maine. Many people also dock their sailboat off the shore and dingy to the beach for the day.
There are only a few simple hotels on the island and we stayed at the Hotel des Iles and had a view of the harbor from our second floor room.
Everything is very close together and it only takes a few minutes to stroll through town. I loved the white-washed fisherman’s cottages with bright blue shutters and climbing flowers.
There was a dog perched on a wall patiently waiting for its owner to return home. You could tell this was his/her daily ritual, and when we walked by again an hour later, it was still there waiting in the same position!
The wedding was held at Chez Loulou creperie overlooking the harbor side of the lsland.
After the marriage blessing, champagne and hors d’ouevres were served on the terrace, and then we moved inside and enjoyed a crepe of our choice, mine had salmon and herbs, and a dessert crepe to follow. {We chose banana and chocolate!}
After a late night of partying and then a wedding brunch the next day, we had the afternoon free before our ferry was to depart. Lucky for us, the bride and groom joined us on a hike along the coastal path of the island.
The beaches to the east and south were the most stunning with the sweeping crescent of Treac’h er Gourèd as the showstopper.
It began to get dark and we had to cut our walk a little short to make sure we got on the ferry back to Quiberon on time.
It was sad waving goodbye to this sweet little island dotted with white cottages and we hope to return someday to see the other islands and more of the gorgeous Brittany coast.
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