Two years ago, the wordplay of the city slogan for the French city Dinan delighted and maxed out my French skills. “Tu dis oui, ou tu Dinan?” sounds like, “Do you say yes, or do you say no?” except say no (dis non) is pronounced the same as the city name. With the first lifting of the covid veil in June 2020, we were overjoyed to say OUI to Dinan!
Dinan is on the French Atlantic coast in the northern part of the Brittany Coast. It’s just south of Mont St. Michel, and a few hours west of Paris. It took about seven hours to drive there from Brussels, minus our stops and traffic.
Covid regulations were in max flux and changing multiple times a day some days. Everyone was still panicking, but the infrastructure to govern requirements and advice hadn’t been implemented yet. So as we crossed the border, prepared to jet back to Belgium within 24 to 48 hours of any given moment should the need arise, we decided to keep our adventure to ourselves until we got back.
We spent the night in a farmhouse near Dinan. Cows grazed in sunny meadows overlooking a river not far from the Atlantic. Isaac had rather a shock when he went out to feed the cows some wildflowers one morning. If any of you have ever had your older brother dare you to connect the lines on an electric fence and been jolted to your knees while thinking someone just donkey-kicked you in the back (guess which brother…it was Simon!), then you too will know how Isaac felt when he accidentally made that connection himself.
Isaac came staggering into the breakfast room where Chris and I were lingering over a second cup of coffee and heavenly French patisserie and told us what happened. We were pretty alarmed, since an electric shock probably isn’t great for his heart condition, but pretty soon his hair stopped crackling and we headed into Dinan to see the castle and try the local savory buckwheat crepes.
It felt weird to be out and about, and many or even most of the cafes and shops were still shuttered and closed, but it was still fun to wander through the narrow cobblestone lanes between half-timbered houses. Then it was off to Saint Malo for the afternoon!
