A Ferry Ride to a Walled City

St. Malo is a walled port city in the Brittany in northwestern France, sitting defensively along the English Channel.  It is a mere 50 minute ferry ride from the island of Jersey.  Karen dropped us off at the Condor Ferry terminal at 8:30AM and we were stepping off in France before 10:00AM.  The weather was not the most hospitable and we certainly had a bit of a bumpy ferry ride across the channel. I was fairly relieved to get there. It was half-term break and the ferry was full of crying children. As St. Malo came into sight, I decided the ferry ride was worth it.

We were foot passengers so had to wait for all the car passengers to get into their vehicles and then for all the vehicles to be driven off the ferry. The terminal in St. Malo was small but very modern, just like the terminal in Jersey. We had only packed one small bag as we were spending only two nights and two and a half days. We decided to walk to our hotel which we determined was at the far end of the city and through the last gate. The sun was shining and as we trudged along it was warm enough to remove our jackets and scarves. Our hotel, Hotel Cartier turned out to be perfectly located at the corner of Rue St. Vincente and the main shopping street. We were able to check in early and go exploring for breakfast. We decided upon Cafe' L'Ouest for our breakfast. It is on a major pedestrian street surrounded by tens of other restaurants. It was very crowded compared to most of the others. We interpreted this as a good recommendation. We were not disappointed.
We each ordered Petit De'juner Continental, mine with Cappuccino anf John's with tea. What total bliss to be eating again in France. We spent the rest of the morning exploring the city, including a long long walk around the premiter of the city via the top of the ramparts.