Lily and I arrived in Rennes and we were able to check into our hotel earlier than expected. We had a room at the Novotel which is centrally located near the train station. It was one of the biggest hotel rooms I have had in France. It wasn’t fancy but it was comfortable and the staff were great.

We were hungry so we set off towards the city center. We found Rue St. Georges which is a narrow cobblestone street lined with restaurants. We selected a small, traditional French restaurant with six tables. We were feeling pretty American, so we ordered “Le Burger Maison” and it came with lovely potatoes in cream. The burger was served on a brioche bun with something akin to bacon and it was delicious. What was amazing about this tiny restaurant was that all the cooking was completed within the hearth that appeared original to the building, Within this small hearth, the chef had several cook tops, and a grill set up where he assembled all the food. I was amazed by his efficient use of space and nonplussed attitude. The food was delicious. Once fortified, we began our retail search for a suit for my young, professional daughter. We settled on a brown pin striped suit at Promod and then went to have a Spritz across from the Cathedral in the central square.

After, we did a bit more shopping and then began our walk back to the hotel. It was dusk and lots of people were were out on the streets hurrying in all directions. As we approached a small, square with 12 trees that was along our way, we heard a swishing, squealing noise. It sounded mechanical almost like pressurized steam. We couldn’t figure out what it was and I think I mentioned that it would be fine as long as it wasn’t birds. Of course as we passed under the trees we realized with horror that it was birds. There were tens of thousands of birds lined up along the branches. It was very Hitchcock and literally made our skin crawl. We walked/ran to the other side of the park. We turned around and were shocked that no one else seemed bothered by this.

We had to walk back under this nightmare when we went to dinner at Wok Forever a couple of hours later. The birds were still there and we stopped to take some pictures so we could relay our horror to others. This was a situation where I didn’t want my description to be confused with hyperbole.

The birds were more quiet while Lily photographed them but I felt something drop on me. Thinking I was shat on, I started a panicked run to catch up with my daughter who had turned on a dime and raced away from me the moment I reactedI Once we started running the birds woke up and the squealing started in earnest. I never located the bird poop but I definitely felt something fall into my hair. I can’t explain how scary this was.

When I relayed this to Matt and Dave later the next day, Matt suggested they might have been starlings. Apparently in autumn and winter they do these “murmurations” at dusk (syncronized aerial displays) and then settle into communal roosts. I think what we encountered was the roost portion of the display. It was not okay. From now onward when I am in a park in France at dusk I will scan the treetops looking. Nothing should congregate in such numbers without a warning.