an incredible 50,000 !!!

Wednesday, June 26, was a big day in the city of Rennes. All day long was La Braderie, which is an annual event and the second biggest braderie in all of France. What is it exactly? It's where all of the businesses downtown bring the merchandise that's in their shop outside with significantly lower prices. In other words, it is a mega sidewalk sale. The crowd was insane. In some of the narrow streets, you couldn't even see what was being sold on either side as you were swept along in one massive flowing herd of people. Swept along makes it sound fast--really, you were inched along. At times I felt like I was at the Grand Marché in Ouaga--only the people bumping into me weren't vendors trying to catch my attention, but other buyers. Still it was fun to see all of the different products and people that were out.

You can't even see the stone street in this first picture. 

I so badly wanted to buy some American attire for Melissa and I to wear on the 4th. 

I even found matching earrings!

There were belts and hats,

make-up,

 shoes, 

 glasses,

perfume,

sausages,  

 jewelry,

 books,

 and more and more people!

Then I saw this guy, way up high, kinda just hanging out! 

I know, I know, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't resist snapping a picture.

There were dozens of places to sit and eat, or have a drink, or grab food on the go. 

But that's not unusual.

I love the streets here.

That same evening, I went back downtown for a FREE concert! I was super pumped. I met up with my friend Stephanie and we grabbed some supper on the way. I know you must be dying to hear what I had for supper, so here you go: I enjoyed my first ever galette saucisse!  It's a specialty for the Bretagne region. Basically, it's a sausage wrapped in a savory crêpe. I was a bit skeptical, but it was delicious! For dessert: a sweet crêpe. 

Not bad for fastfood, huh?!

The concert was set up in a huge open area downtown. You want to know how many people were there? An incredible 50,000!!! I'm not kidding. I looked it up on the news this morning to double-check! 50,000!!! The concert was from 20:00-23:00 and we stood the entire time. It was fun, though, because I knew several of the artists and got introduced to a few others. There were so many people, though, we could barely see the huge screens that were set up next to the stage. I used zoom. A lot of zoom. 

 Anyone recognize this lady? 

She's actually, British, not French. 

Alex Hepburn.

Other artists performing were: Saule, Génération Goldman, Magic System, Emmanuel Moire, BB Brunes, Tal, Amel Bent, Boulevard des Airs, Robin des Bois with M Pokora. Big names in French music...apparently!

I wish I had an aerial-view picture of the crowd. 

 At 22:00, when we were getting ready to leave, there were more people than when we arrived. The streets were packed. So! Many! People! And they're all French!!! 

What an experience!