Une soirée à l’Hôtel de Ville

Rennes is a very welcoming city. In fact, at the end of last week there was a yet another event aimed at welcoming international students to the city. This time, it was the turn of the Town Hall, by personal invite of the Mayor of Rennes. We decided to use it as an excuse to get dressed up since no-one really bothers when we are going out normally (the French always seem to be dressed fairly casually even in the clubs).


The reception itself was a bit strange. There wasn't enough room in the hall for everyone to stand so there were a lot of people standing outside in the corridor. I think there was some speeches going on at one point but it was difficult to hear and in the end all I managed to catch was "I hope you enjoy the drinks and snacks we have provided for you". So I did. I visited the Town Hall a few weeks ago for the Journee de Patrimoine but it was even more impressive in the full swing of an event with all the chandeliers on and the staff all dressed up smart in their official uniforms serving some kind of fruit juice cocktails. Both ends of the "Salle des Fêtes" are mirrors so although there are only 3 massive chandeliers, it looks like there are an infinite number going off into the distance.



After the reception, we headed out for drinks in typical group fashion ie. it took ages to decide where we were going to go. We ended up in a restaurant with a cocktail bar which was decorated with giant replicas of various types of alcohol bottle. At our table was a huge bottle of champagne, sadly empty but excellent if you want to take photos pretending that you have shrunk to the size of a Borrower!

We followed the cocktails with some galettes and crepes then headed to another pub where we got a demonstration of Conrad's dancing skills!!