Spring time wandering in Rennes.

 I received an SMS about my cell phone being fixed so I decided to take a break from studying to go and pick it up.
Wander Rennes and see what the commencement of spring has done.
The leaves has started to return.
Flowers are budding.
I roll the sleeves up on my shirt and don't take a jacket.
The tie has felt too formal lately. I see a french man on the metro and think differently. His hair is long and shaggy and a mess. His tie is not too wide and not too thin. Dark blue with dots.
As I wandered the neighbor hood near by I realized I was near the old building that I saw months ago when Fulya and I rode bikes looking for Emmaus. I sadly didn't have my camera with me and I wanted to come back and take a picture, but I just hadn't gotten around to wandering this part of town since. I was thinking I wouldn't again before I left since Emmaus had moved away.

If I were to choose a neighborhood in Rennes in which to live I think I would choose not too far from here, At least if I was looking for a house. If it was an apartment; perhaps just east of the art museum.
After I took a few pictures of Le Villeneuve a man stopped me in the street to explain what it was.
A small neighborhood independent cinema from between the wars. It has since been closed for a long while and I think he said that the church behind it has since bought it. But since it is now owned by the church no one can do anything with it because the church is its own separate entity. At least that is what I think he was saying.
The small and independent have been replaced by the large and the corporate who choose all that we are to see.
Since I was south of the tracks I kept running into areas where I was not allowed to cross. It was interesting also coming across areas where I had already been but had yet to physically connect by my explorations.
All this just keeps making me think of how much I have loved my wanderings in France. The beauty of how a city can be set up. The beauty of how things are being used and repaired and falling apart.

 There are so many parts of this city that I would like to paint. To slowly observe all the small details that make it what it is. It is neat to see some abandoned store fronts but to as well see that only the store fronts in the building are abandoned. People still live in the apartments that are above.
I really think that just about all my frustrations with living in France right now could be solved with not living in the shitty university residence that I am in.
I think my room is trying to kill me.

The time in which the sun now sets seems to be increasing exponentially. Just a few weeks ago I think I could sit in a evening class and have it set as class started. Now I get out of class after two hours and it is just starting to set.
This has thrown off my grocery shopping and getting a quick meal if I don't make it to the grocery store in time schedule.
Its too early to stop and eat if the sun is still out.
If only I didn't need to be spending this weekend studying. I would be walking the streets with a camera in hand and a sketch book in my bag. People as well seem to be coming out more, so the sketching of interesting characters has increased. Since sketching seems to be a bit less obviously obtrusive to the subject.

I thought that some pizza for dinner would be a nice addition to the wandering. An exploring kind if day. I chose a pizza from the menu with scallops, mushrooms, prawns, and flambéed in whiskey. I thought it might be a pizza that Jessye would be willing to try.
Sadly I didn't get my camera out in time to capture the pizza on fire as they brought it to the table.
Some of the legs became so charred that they remained as their form but only char on the pizza. I removed them carefully with my knife and fork. They still retained their form of pincers. Or whatever it is called that prawns have.
Delicious.
As the waiter first set me up he left the place mat so that I would be seated with my back to the window. I didn't take his passive suggestion for placement. I positioned myself at the table so that I could look outside while seated.
I did a few sketches of the people I saw out the window. I tried to capture the way the French hold their cigarettes in their hands, but it just became a scribble or gestured sketches as they moved too much to accurately capture the form.
I thought that a nice way to end the adventure was to go by Parc du Thabor and see how the blooming plants they have were doing, but as I arrived I saw that the gate was closed, but the lighting on the cathedral looked nice.
The breeze was a bit too cold to continue with not having a jacket. Even with sleeves rolled down.