Confusion at Gare de Rennes as Windows shuffles off for a Gauloise

Bork is continuing its European vacation with a French train ride through Rennes, showcasing the best efforts of Windows to baffle passengers. Our tipster, Paul Stopford, was whisked off to Brittany on business aboard one of French railway SNCF's finest. By all accounts his journey on the top deck carriage was first class, …

[Phil O'Sophical]

Brest lurks on the sticky-out bit in the west of the country and has wonderful chicken

I fear you may be confusing it with Bresse, home of the admittedly very nice Poulet de Bresse.

In Brest I'd recommend a bracing walk along the beach, and perhaps lunch on galettes (savoury crepes) and local cider, or a fresh seafood platter if you're so inclined.

[MiguelC]

Brest has two very enjoyable museums, the Océanopolis (a beautifull aquarium) and the Musée de la Marine

[elsergiovolador]

a bracing walk

Is that a legal term for a specific way of walking sanctioned by the EU?

[captain veg]

I think it's just word association. Sticky out -- Brest.

The town was destroyed by our lot in the war and rebuilt in concrete. Maybe sticky out in the sore thumb sense. Pretty it ain't.

-A.

[First Light]

Quimper is exquisite.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>The town was destroyed by our lot in the war and rebuilt in concrete.

With ironically the exception of some large concrete bits built by the other lot.

Which we failed to destroy at the time and the French have been trying to destroy (without taking the town with it) ever since.

[Lotaresco]

Brest of chicken

"I fear you may be confusing it with Bresse"

It's possible that a pun was missed here.

I must say, however that the chicken and chips I had in Brest was very nice, so it does have wonderful chicken.

[Robert Helpmann??]

In Brest I'd recommend a bracing walk along the beach, and perhaps lunch on galettes (savoury crepes) and local cider, or a fresh seafood platter if you're so inclined.

You had me at cidre.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Brittainy is basically Wales with decent food and beaches.

And a dislike of the French comparable to the taff's dislike of the English.

[Chris Miller]

TGV software woes

I was once on a TGV Est (returning from Strasbourg). We were bowling along, when we began to decelerate and coasted to a gentle stop, where we stood for about 15 minutes. We were getting slightly anxious about our Eurostar connexion home, but then all the train lights and electrics went out. After a few nervous seconds power came back on and, shortly thereafter, the train set off again, as normal. My guess is that the driver had been talking to the SNCF help desk and they'd asked whether he'd tried turning it off and then on again.

[AndrueC]

Re: TGV software woes

I remember the lights going out on a Chiltern Train once. The train kept going. After a couple of minutes the driver apologised for pressing the wrong button. That left me feeling somewhat uneasy...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: TGV software woes

<anorak=on>Apparently there are bits of the London underground near depots where the power rails end and you have to judge the speed just right to coast into the sheds with no power.

I guess this about as exciting as being a tube drive gets - hopefully.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: TGV software woes

You get something similar on the rail network as the train picks up speed then coasts while the driver winds down the overhead AC pantograph before the shoes hit the DC 3rd rail (and vice versa)

(I assume there is some kind of protection against shorting several kV AC and 600v DC)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: TGV software woes

It is not just TGVs that have that problem.

I remember a good few years back I was on the Heathrow Express, somewhere near the junction off the main line we coasted to a gentle stop. After a while the train then went totally dark and gradually things came back on.

After another few mins the driver came over the tannoy and apologised telling us the train had crashed. Took a few moments to realise he meant the software not that we had hit something. He also apologised that he couldn't tell us what was going on earlier as the fault had also stopped the tannoy.

Once everything had rebooted we set off on our way to Heathrow marvelling in the wonders of the newish Siemens train we were on and how it could crash and stop everything working whilst running.

[heyrick]

Having just recently been to Rennes

(as it's my préfecture, I live nearby)

My advice is simple - go to Nantes. Went for the first time by train in August, and the attitude and behaviour was remarkable. I found Nantes open and friendly and vibrant. Rennes, on the other hand, is best described as shades of grey devoid of colour (though, I will grant, the métro is nifty).

[Jason Hindle]

Re: Having just recently been to Rennes

It's a university town and I was there a business trip a couple of years back on either side of the start of term. It's far more lively once the students are back. As for the borked screen at the station, it was borked at the weekend of my stay, when I made a day trip to St Malo.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Having just recently been to Rennes

Unfortunately after a bit of un-permitted urban redevelopment courtesy of the chaps with the moustaches. The center was rebuilt by the Americans.

Using their highly imaginative grid system. With the grid running East-West. In a city on the edge of the Atlantic .

I think it is now home to the European storm force winds modelling institute.

[TRT]

The composition of the train?

It has Windows and a desktop.

[series_one]

Quimper (or Kemper if you are Breton) is much the nicer place.

[series_one]

oh, and despite what you may have seen on Poldark, you can't get to Quimper by going up-river from Roscoff....