Exchange Part III - Western tip of France

We reached Brest sometime in the evening, and it was the quaintest, most darling place I had ever seen. The roads were narrow, sedulous and super-clean, the buildings were small and toy-like, with no two of them having similar architecture, most of them had verandahs with flowers hanging out of them; the city, rather town, was lit up by neon and it was such a relief to see boards with Mac Donalds, Subway, Burger King etc blinking down at us. Perhaps, we had expected something rustic and smaller, less inhabited – and were surprised to see that it was a big swanky town with lots of people and vehicles all around.

That first night was memorable. We were starving, and we decided to hit the nearest Mac Ds for filling-up. Have I ever waxed eloquent about the Mac Ds being the pinnacle of globalization? Be it the foothills of the Swiss Alps or a rustic village in Kerala – Mac Ds are there.

We set out in search of it, various people gave us directions; we had just landed, we wanted to get the feel of the land, and absorb the atmosphere – hence we decided to walk. We walked, and walked and walked; encountered some false alarms along the way, a sighting of the ‘Golden Arch’ here, a glimpse of the neon ‘M’ there – finally stumbled upon our Mecca (did I mention we were ravenous?) close to the witching hour…and it was open, as only a Mac Donalds can be.

Ohh, and did I mention that for the first one week, we were putting up at this hotel – called Balladins. That hotel, was like all other things French (including the people), made to perfection – not an inch of superfluous space! My room was so small, three people would be a crowd and the bathroom - believe me – when I say – a honeymooning couple would NOT be able to play out all their fantasies in that bath – due to the severe lack of space! Well, I was paying forty Euros a night for this and before you convert that inside your heads (faster than one can say Merci Beaucoup I am sure - we Indians are good at math) let me tell you – had I wanted to save money, I would have gone for a trip to Faridabad instead of France.

Thus ended my first day. Things were so different, right from the radio and walkie-talkie enabled cabs to the rolling vistas of space with fewer humans in sight than there are cows here. But you know, someone has very wisely pointed out – the more some things change, the more they remain the same. We shall see.