April 23, 2024 Brest, France

Today we arrived at Brest, France, in the province of Brittany. The pilot joined the ship about 8 a.m. just as the clouds started to disappear. The temperature was 10°C and some wind. The ship docked shortly after 9 a.m. as we ate breakfast in the dining room with Jane and Denis from South Carolina and Ann and Alex from Alberta.

The ship was cleared by Immigration and Customs by 10 a.m. when the people on excursions walked to their busses and those just exploring Brest boarded one of nine shuttle busses to take people through the working port to Brest Castle.

There was a line to board the shuttles, which moved up after a bus was filled. While waiting in line, a 10 person group of French senior men assembled with musical instruments and their voices to entertain the guests, probably for the first hour or so. It took less than 10 minutes to be dropped off at Brest Castle. We decided to follow one of the walking routes shown on the map of Brest that we obtained from the Information kiosk on the way to the shuttle busses. The route was around the downtown area and started and ended at the castle. We saw the Pont de Recouvrance (Bridge) that crosses the Penfeld River, the Recouvrance lift-bridge, medieval Tanguy tower, L’arbre Empathique (tree sculpture), the aerial tram, a church, city hall, several gardens and the old ramparts.

In 1681 Louis XIV united the towns Recouvrance and across the river Penfeld, Brest. L'arbre empathique' (the empathic tree) is a 12 metre high metal tree sculpture at the foot of the Recouvrance lift-bridge. There was the modern 1958 Église St. Louis which measured 85 meters by 24.5 meters high. There was a garden at nearby Place de Liberté. At the top of rue de Siam was another garden in front of the square featuring Brest City Hall completed in 1961. Then we found a few small gardens - Jardin Rhin-Danube, Jardin Kennedy and a view of the ship from Jardin Victor Seglan. Along the waterfront, above the port and harbour, was green space along the old ramparts several blocks long called Cours Dajot dating back to 1769. In 1917 the American navy and army landed to free the French. There is a pink granite monument which celebrates the fleets of Louis XIV that sailed from Brest in the late 1770s to help the American colonists militias in the American Revolutionary War. The official Treat of Versailles in 1783 established the independence of the new United States of America. The original grey granite monument was erected in 1931 to commemorate the achievements of the American and French navies in the Great War (WW1). However, on July 4,1941, the Nazi German army blew it up. The current pink granite monument was erected in 1958. The park is maintained by the American government and considered part of the U.S.A. There is a plaque to the later half of the 18th century French generals Rochambeau and De Grasse

The commercial harbour below the cliff was created during the 19th century reign of Napoleon III by reclaiming the land from the sea. Also below was the Circus Franco Italian which had set up colourful yellow striped tents. Across from the park was a tall mansard roof house with lots of character. We were almost back to Brest Castle having walked almost 4 km in a little over an hour. There are gardens on the castle grounds, the one that displays an old French mortar, over 300 years old, which was closest to the harbour.

Early in the 4th century, the Romans built an encampment where the castle is located. We stood in line for almost 30 minutes to enter Brest Castle which houses the Marine Museum. As people departed a few more people were allowed to enter. The adult entrance fee was ten euros. Inside was a history of the town and expansion of the castle over 400 years. Brest was founded as a walled town in the 11th century. During the Hundred Years War 1337-1453 the English occupied the castle. In 1397 the Duke of Brittany bought the castle from the English army. Brittany became part of France in 1532 which began the fortification of the castle. Cardinal Richelieu chose Brest as a military post in 1631 and added more towers. It was designated historical site in 1923. It became the home of the Musée national de la Marine in 1958. We spent over an hour exploring the many levels of the castle connected by many staircases. We started in Madeline Tower proceeded to Paradis Tower then into the Donjon Tower courtyard bookended by the Azénor Tower and Duchess Anne Tower.

There was a shuttle bus loading on the street outside the museum which took us back to the ship within ten minutes. There was only one gangway being used for entering or leaving the ship. Three shuttle busses arrived at about the same time that groups were leaving for afternoon tours. So a long line developed that took us 20 minutes to get onto the ship. Today the facial recognition scanners were not working (they were in the morning) and passengers were scanned in using their key cards.

When we reached the stateroom there was a letter advising that all passengers needed to go to the World Stage after 9 a.m. with priority to people with excursions for the first 30 minutes. British Immigration and Customs officers would be looking at passports and people regardless if you were leaving the ship. This procedure is not uncommon when going to different countries. Tomorrow we are in Portland, England; Thursday we visit Le Havre, France; Friday, we go to Dover, England and Saturday we leave the ship in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

We climbed up to the Lido deck for Gelato and to read our books, before changed for the final dressy attire night of the voyage. Sharon came late for dinner as we were waiting for dessert. Her excursion returned after 5:30 p.m and the group were the last passengers to board before the 6 p.m. departure from France to cross the English Channel to England.

The entertainment this evening on the World Stage was Chordial Chamber Trio playing Classical music. The final Line Dancing class was at 9 p.m. in the B.B. King’s Blues Club. We learned two new easy dances that Andy told us would be played tomorrow in B.B. King’s Blues Club. There were fewer people than the morning classes earlier in the cruise.

Then 9:45 p.m. was advertised as Chocolate Surprise at the bars on Decks 2 and 3. Right on cue serving staff wondered through the areas on decks 2 and 3 with an assortment of chocolate macrons and white chocolate covered raisins. It coincided with people leaving the 9 p.m. show causing a bottleneck outside the bars. Everyone seemed to enjoy the event.

Total steps 14,541