Before this trip, we'd never heard of Rennes. Our stop in this city was one of practicality. We needed a base of operations that had an airport to fly into and good connections to Mont Saint-Michel and Paris. There wasn't even a footnote about this place in our guidebook, and we prepared ourselves for the fact that there might not be much to do here. Rennes was actually an enjoyable little French city (minus the helicopter and fully-geared police erecting an anti-riot barricade the first day). Even the most practical of decisions can still have room for a few surprises.
Read MoreUp in the north of France, there is a tiny island (population 44 people) capped by an abbey and surrounded by changing tides. In the old days, the island was only accessible when the tide was out, allowing people to make their pilgrimages and bring supplies, but even then, the muddy surroundings could be dangerous. Now, there is a bridge connecting the island to the mainland and guided tours to help people safely navigate the mud flats. If you can believe it, we took almost 20,000 steps exploring the alleyways, ramparts, muddy beaches and rocky shores. It may be small in size, but that didn't mean we weren't exhausted by the time we were done.
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