Day 300, Driving down the coast of Brittany, France
To celebrate our 300th day of our journey, we had one of the quaintest French breakfast buffets we’ve ever experienced, and at an Ibis Styles, no less. This hotel focuses on feeling homey with bright colors and even a corner in the lobby for kids. We enjoyed their playful decor.
The French aren’t into heavy breakfasts the way we are in North America. When they say a buffet breakfast, it doesn’t often mean with eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. There seem to be a few cornerstones of the average French breakfast. They are coffee, juice, some sturdy type of bread (often a fresh baguette) with an option of a few things to put on it, like jam or cheese. So bread with a little something on it and something to wash it down with. Now let’s check out the buffet.
First a map so you know where you are, and have the culturally appropriate breakfast expectations.
To the left you have the coffee maker that makes about 10 different ways to drink your coffee. You’ll need to know a little French to use it, but when you figure out the right button for you, this machine is your best friend. Under the clock there are juice choices or to the left of the juice bar, is a machine where you can squeeze your own fresh.
Next is the bread. There was this great slatted cutting board and a proper bread knife. The baguette was fresh from a bakery, of course.
There was a jam caddy. You choose your jam and put it in a jam spoon.
There was also cheese for your bread, which was to the right of the juice. This buffet had not only fresh fruit, but dried fruit.
The bonus of this buffet was the egg boiler. There were fresh eggs that you put into little baskets and sink them into the boiling water. You choose a timer to flip depending if you want it hard-boiled or soft-boiled. This was a fun station we’d never seen before. 
We left the cutest French breakfast buffet, and drove down the Brittany coast, then into Charente-Maritime and stopped at the island of Il de Re. The bridge going to the island reminded us of the Florida keys, and we had a brief moment of home-longing. 
Since the day was very overcast, it created a merging of sky and water blues.
If you drive a little further you get to the cute little port town of Saint Matin il Re. Even though it was a rainy day, there were still people in town visiting the shops, getting ice cream. Other than in the Caribbean, I’ve never seen such turquoise-colored water, especially when the sun isn’t out. You’ll see what I mean when you look at these photos.
We ended up eating Moules Frites at this little restaurant, figuring we couldn’t go wrong in a place so close to the sea. 
This was a little reminder that if one restaurant is empty while all the others around it are full, there could be a good reason for this. Worst Moules Frites we’ve ever had. Should have sent it back and bolted when it arrived looking as old as it did. Even Madi’s Nutella crepe was a bit of a disaster, which we’ve never seek the likes of while being in France. I’m pretty sure a crepe is cooking for kindergartener chefs here. Figured out too late this place is in business for the off track betting machine, rather than the food. But overall, a very good day. 
