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8 December 2019: Leaving the “city of light” to its grey winter skies for a while, and heading back across the Atlantic, but should be back in the spring …
7 December 2019: Great concert by Kokoko at La Gaîté Lyrique. The group from Kinshasa creates music that mixes congolaise influences into their electric modern world music. They got their start playing together with instruments they created themselves from found items, and have since toured Europe and the US bringing their energetic sounds to new audiences …
6 December 2019: Enjoying the day around the 10eme, appreciating the timeless beauty of the city even in the grey of winter and amid the social and political tension that has the city in the grip of anxiety as strikes promise to continue indefinitely …
5 December 2019: Paris came to a standstill today as workers joined a general strike to protest government plans to radically reduce retirement benefits across the board. The latest wave of protests has brought together those striking over this specific issue with the other anti-government protestors like the “gilet jaunes” for a major struggle to protect ordinary citizens from the impoverishing effects of proposed reforms …
2 December 2019: Around the 10eme today, where winter grey is settling in and the ambiance is taking hold of the city …
1 December 2019: Has a last look around the old part of town before returning to Paris. It was a short moment of exploration here, but well-worth it. Will likely be back again to visit Hermine and friends…
THIS MONTH:
Back to Paris to visit friends and familiar places…
COMING UP SOON:
Its almost holiday roadtrip time and there is plenty of planning for what’s next. Perhaps a surprise or two as we head into the new year…
Advanced sand dune training with Barlow Adventures at the Imperial Sand Dunes in southern California. This three day driving and navigation program focuses on moving safely and effectively through large dunefields. Skills-building exercises are intended to improve pace, line choice and vehicle control, as well as developing precision map and compass navigation technique…
More southwest exploration with the original USnomads team taking some time to just appreciate the journey…
Tierra del Sol’s 58th annual Desert Safari at Ocotillo Wells from February 28th to March 1st. The event is one of the biggest Jeep events of its kind and the proceeds go towards the fight to keep Public Lands open. …
HERMINE & #BONNEKHOZ
The little ermine, called “Hermine” in French, is the emblem of Bretagne. The ermine is a small weasel-like animal that is brown on top with a white underside. In winter it turns all white, apart from its tail which remains black. According to legend, Anne de Bretagne, the last independent Breton ruler and the wife of two successive French kings, saw a group of hunters chasing after an ermine. When the ermine reached the edge of a muddy lake the ermine decided to stand up to his attackers rather than risk soiling his beautiful white fur. The duchess saw that it as an act of bravery and was so impressed that she saved the ermine, adopting it as the emblem of her dynasty along with the motto “Plutôt la mort que la souillure” or “Better to die than get dirty.” Another legend, cites a 10th-century Breton Duke who was inspired to resist and defeat Viking raiders when he saw an ermine which was being chased by a fox suddenly turn and attack the larger animal. The little animal’s bravery was celebrated by a later Duke, John IV, who established a chivalric called “Order of the Ermine” in 1381. Today Hermine remains an important Breton symbol, and it looks out from empty old buildings all over the city center in Rennes, where it has become a symbol of renovation and restoration. The ermines appeared in August as part of operation #BonneKhoz (Khoz means old in the Breton language) in historic buildings that are undergoing renovation …
RENNES
Rennes is a city in the east of the Breton region of northwestern France. It sits at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine rivers and has a history that goes back more than 2,000 years. It started as a small Gallic village called Condate. Together with Vannes and Nantes, it was one of the major cities of the ancient Duchy of Brittany. From the early sixteenth century until the French Revolution, Rennes was a parliamentary, administrative and garrison city of the historic province of Brittany of the Kingdom of France. Since the 1950s, Rennes has grown in importance through rural flight and its modern industrial development, partly automotive. The city developed extensive building plans to accommodate upwards of 200,000 inhabitants. During the 1980s, Rennes became one of the main centres in telecommunication and high technology industry. It is now a significant digital innovation centre in France. In 2015, the city was the tenth largest in France, with a metropolitan area of about 720,000 inhabitants. With more than 66,000 students in 2016, it is also the eighth-largest university campus of France. In 2018, L’Express named Rennes as “the most liveable city in France.” Rennes is known to be one of the most festive cities of France. It invests heavily in arts and culture and a number of its festivals (such as the music festival Les Transmusicales, Les Tombées de la Nuit, Mythos, Stunfest (fighting game competition) and Travelling (a cinematic festival)) are well known throughout France. During the 80s, Rennes was often cited as the French town of rock and new wave music …
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MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
16-30 November – Paris & Rennes
1-15 November – New York
14-31 October – Arizona
8-13 October – LON TOP TEN
1-7 October – Girl Gang Garage
16-30 September – Women’s Wheeling
1-15 September – Long Island
9-31 August – Serbia
1-8 August – #LONCON2019
16-31 July – Roadtrip to Atlanta
1-15 July – Cape Cod
15-30 June – Eastern Long Island
1-14 June – Bantam Jeep Festival
May – PA Trail cleanup
22-30 April – Minnesota
16-21 April – PA Trails
1-15 April – New Jeep
15-31 March – Paris
1-14 March – Arizona
15-28 February – San Antonio
1-14 February – Sedona and Glamis
January – Iran
December – Holiday Road Trip
16-30 November – Senegal
1-15 November – Paris
Archive
REFLECTIONS
A quick overview of impressions from a stop in Cairo during our recent scouting mission in Egypt and Sudan … [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
