Rennes Off The Beaten Path

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The visitor leaving the train station walks straight out on ave Jean Janvier and come to this beauty the Palais Saint-Georges, with a facade of 90 meters long.

The Palais Saint-Georges was built on the site of an abbey benedictine around 1032AD by Duke Alain III to received the women of noble families therefore the first ones was his sister. you have the words on the walls mentioning this as MAGDELAINE D. L. FAYETTE. Madeleine de La Fayette is consacrated to be saint in 1663,and died in 1693.

During the French revolution, the building becomes a military HQ for the 5e bataillon of foot soldiers then the 41e régiment of line infantery, and then in 1888 the stables were destroyed to build a medicine school/ It went thru a fire in 1921 that left it in ruins. The city takes over and re arrange the palace creating the garden of St George ,and the building becomes a firehouse and social home to many organisations . Its west wing houses a sirene that during WWII serve to alert the population of bombardments especially that of May 3 1943.

more info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_Palace

well there i come from the Paris region,and now in Bretagne,so this is the closest to mingle with expats Americans in the region,and celebrate amongst other things Thanksgiving

http://www.ifa-rennes.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=19&lang=en

many cultural activities are proposed and conferences on business and the arts, plus University exchange students from the USA

somewhere to stop by and find an oasis of the USA in Bretagne.

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This square is really off the beaten path: my guidebook doesn't mention it and I could only find out its name after a long search on the web. Actually, no touristic attraction makes it worth visit, but you may have a rest there. You can see there a big cross, a fountain, a beautiful house and, far away, two skyscrapers housing a shopping mall called Les horizons.

This legendary forest lies in the region known today as Paimpont ( Penpon meaning bridge head in Breton) which covers an area of 18,000 acres to the south west of Rennes.

This dense shadowy forest has spawned numerous mysteries & legends including one of the most famous legends in western mythology. This enchanted region is the setting for the quest by the Knights of the Round Table to recover the Holy Grail under orders from King Arthur. One of the best known inhabitants of the forest was Merlin the Magician.
This place is a must and is sure to bring back the child in you that you though you had lost.

Rennes is the capital of Brittany, the gateway to this wonderful region, which has its own identity and culture (Breton language, history, music, legends). The landscapes around the city, at the nearby villages, where you enjoy the unique flora and fauna, are so colourful...

The Cathedral St Corentin in Quimper has remarkable stained glass windows from the 15th century. Old town Quimper is a pedestrian area with busy shopping streets.