How do you handle a rainy day? What do you do if you want to go somewhere, anywhere, but multiple weather apps warn you there’s a 100% chance of rain pretty much all day in half of the country (or region if you’re one of these people living in a big, big country)?
I can’t stay home. I hate staying home. As a matter of fact, technically, I’m neither a landlord nor a tenant so I guess I don’t have my own home, which may explain why I’m the opposite of a homebody. But even if I had a cozy place to call home, I think I would still enjoy being outside. It’s just more interesting—I can go places, see people, and discover new places.
To answer my initial question, I still go out when it’s rainy. Most people do around here. Drizzle, showers or downpours, it’s business as usual in Nantes. When I first moved to Ottawa, I was surprised to see that Canadians treat regular water coming down from the sky like deadly acid rain—you’d think they’re about to melt by the horrified look on their face when it’s damp and wet. People even forget basic driving skills. They speed and make stupid decisions as if they weren’t comfortably dry inside their metal box but running across a flooded street, getting soaked. On the other hand, sending kids to play outside when it’s -25 °C is perfectly normal. Go figure.
That said, Canada does experience some pretty extreme weather and maybe I wouldn’t have been caught outside during a tornado and then a derecho a few years later if I had the Canadian wisdom to stay home when it’s “just raining”…
In Brittany, and possibly in other parts of France, rain is part of life. We’re all born more or less waterproof. It’s not rare to see people enjoying a drink or a meal outside when it’s clearly raining—”on va pas fondre” (we’re not gonna melt) is the motto (copious amounts of alcohol probably help boost the bravado).
Anyway, we knew it was going to rain the day after a lovely sunny day at Les Sables. Nantes? Rain. Angers? Rain. The coast? Yeah, rain. It was even going to rain all day in Le Mans, a city nowhere close to Nantes (or again, somewhat close if you live in a big, big country).
May as well get soaked somewhere else than in Nantes. We picked Le Mans as our best rainy day pick, mostly because we saw the museums are free (which is pretty awesome, thank you Le Mans for voting this in 2021).
It was raining alright. I got wet walking to the train station. But when we arrived in Le Mans 90 minutes later, it was just dark and stormy. Then it started raining, so we had coffee in a friendly bar-tabac. It stopped long enough to walk to the Jean-Claude-Boulard-Carré Plantagenêt Museum of Archeology, where we dived into Ancient Rome. Then we took shelter at the cathedral, waited for the downpour to stop again, and explored the city centre.
We got a bit wet but it was worth it. I just wish I had taken more pictures but I learned my lesson… my DSLR doesn’t like rainy days.
I kind of do, though.
