Max Jacob

Max Jacob, born Quimper 1876, died at Drancy 1944. Poet, artist, human being.

For every act of crossing
There is a price -
From an obol to human sacrifice.
Simplicity or artifice:
Portrayed by harlequins,
Betrayed by holding on.

Paying what was owed,
Measured by a gold star,
In swoops from perch to perch
Uncertain hands grasping for the cold bar.
Above a dance of prayer
Performed by peasants
Along blurred lines.

To miss the net and fall like that,
Max Jacob, acrobat.

At last - Brittany E-books!

After a great deal of hard work, not least by the webmaster, my remarkable value Brittany E-books are now available on www.brittanyexpert.com These cover specifc topics or places in Brittany in depth, with lots of photos and suggestions for visits. Currently on offer are Megaliths, the Nantes-Brest Canal, Food and Drink, Walking in Brittany, History Essentials and Parish Closes. Those to come shortly include Rennes and Quimper town guides and the Monts d'Arrée. Many others planned. You can buy via PayPal without a Paypal account, cost £2.50 or 3€. All books are well-illustrated.

To get the flavour, download the FREE E-book Brittany Basics directly from the site. This gives a general overview of what Brittany has to offer. It can be used freely as a marketing tool by businesses and B&Bs. Links enable clients to buy specific topic books later. Comments and suggestions for future titles welcome. Please send the link to anyone you think might be interested: www.brittanyexpert.com

Another side of Rennes

I was in Rennes this week to give a guided tour. We covered the usual things - 19th century Italianate cathedral, medieval quarter, neo-classical public buildings and the famous Parliament building. All good, and remarkably quiet on the streets with the 60,000 students on vacation. In my own time I did a lot of walking to look at more modern aspects of Rennes' most interesting architectural range. Not nearly enough emphasis nor information is provided for tourists about this. I was just wondering how they managed to clean the windows at the Cité Judiciaire when the answer appeared rather startlingly. The Champs Libres is the 2006 cultural complex containing the library (glass), science museum (dome of planetarium) and ultra-modern Musée de Bretagne.