Brest, France – Food & History City Walking Tour, Jacques Torres Dinner – HAL Pole-To-Pole Cruise

Bonjour, and welcome to Brest! We’re ready to take a bite out of France with an independent excursion called the “Food & History Tour” with Brest Walking Tours. We’ll stroll past the Château de Brest and the American Monument, enjoy kouign amann butter cake at Le PomPon Cafe and fishy flavors at La Belle-Iloise, ride the Téléphérique De Brest cable car to Les Ateliers des Capucins for crêpes, learn about the Imperial Barge, then stroll down Rue Saint Malo, which is the oldest street in the city, before riding back across the river. Back onboard Volendam, we’ve got a very special dinner at Pinnacle Grill with celebrity chef Jacques Torres, and a production show called “Timeless” from the Repertory Company!! 😀

Find Brest Walking Tours on the internet machine here:

Visit Brest in English

00:00 BOOM!
00:04 Morning Mode
01:21 Let’s Head Ashore
05:47 The Snacking Begins
08:27 Cable Car & Marketplace
11:56 The Oldest Street
14:38 Shopping & Shuttling
15:44 Ship & Photos
18:03 Fresh & Clean Mode
21:19 Jacques Torres Dinner
24:59 Timeless Production Show
27:11 The Evening Ends

-Cruise Line: Holland America Line
-Ship Name: MS Volendam
-Cruise Dates: January 25, 2025 – June 7, 2025
-Embarkation: Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Round-Trip)
-Itinerary: 133-Day Pole-To-Pole Cruise!!

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[Music] good morning Bonjour He’s so good We’re not going to do a lot of French today but I am excited to get out there and flex those muscles a little bit Yeah it’s been a long time No we are in bless and we are okay What’s one thing you think of when you think of France me anyway food Food So this is a fantastic port I think to get out and literally taste our way through town Yeah We have found a trusted guide to do that in breast walking tours They have a food and history tour that’s about 4 hours of rambling around the city taking a bite out of the place It sounds amazing and the sites that we’ll get to see along the way is perfect And it’s very convenient because the ship drops us off right at the meeting point of where the tour starts So you could not ask for more convenience That’s true You got to get yourself over to the castle If you’ve been to breast you know where the castle is So let’s get a little bit of breakfast Yep And then jump out and eat some more So exciting Come on Well our tour doesn’t start for about another hour and change but there we go That’ll get us started Our gang way is deck one midship today We got shopping right here at the port Of course you know we’re going to have the blast time today Uh so shuttle buses We’re right here at the front of the ship This is the blast castle [Music] [Music] There is the castle So this is home to the maritime museum these days That is our meeting point for the tour Well we have found our guide Caroline The group did sing Sweet Caroline to her You did not hear it but it did exist So she likes the song She does Well we’re going to count it because I heard it with my ears Temperatures today are starting out around 60 degrees Fahrenheit climbing to about 70 by the time the tour ends Now the region of Britany where we are now has a lot of Celtic and Welsh influence You can see the second language on the sign I guess is Breton which is very very Welsh in pronunciation Anyway maybe not spelling Now we’re going to cross over and see the American monument Well this is not it but definitely worth a look A lot of naval maritime history around these parts Fun fact did you know the traditional stripid shirt that you think of when you think of France came from this area inspired by the naval uniforms the millionaire I think they call it I think it was Coco Chanel that we learned took that to Paris and made it quite fashionable And most all of the buildings you’re going to see in this city are post war World War II Obviously um I think she said there are eight buildings in total on this side of the river that predate the war We’re going to go see a few of those after we pass by this monument We’ve got two of the oldest buildings and then they got to do something like super modern in this So some people are not super happy about it We’ll see how it goes Oh Dean noticed even the proomenade loves that stripe pattern Look at it the tree shadows making the stripe pattern back there That is my comment I gave you credit Hey now I’m not trying to steal your comments Cool The way they did the trees It just it does that when the sun hits it It’s meant to be Guys I thought of that all by myself D was not involved at all at all It’s a little art nuvo style Nice All right Well this giant tower on the other side apparently is the American monument Oh we get a slightly backlit peak but I think we’re going to cross over and get up close to it Funny she said they use a separate gardener and everything for this than the folks who do the gardening for the rest of the area So we lighten this up but you can see this is actually pink I guess it’s made from granite from the Britney region but not from here So the original monument was built in 1932 destroyed in 1941 and this replica went up in 1958 Uh these stairs we just came up have a very cleverly designed wiggling back and forth ramp to get you up to the top This is Square Wilson named after the president A lot of American influences Uh French explorers during the 18th century Um that’s when we were on a in a race with the bricks to go see the world So lots of the explorers they would always have a botonist in their party and they went around the world collecting species of trees and plants and things brought to us and that’s very uh representative of how how they rebuilt the city I guess during the reconstruction they just took bits and pieces of old buildings and kind of threw them willy-nilly not even where they belonged necessarily just to I guess add a touch of character back to what’s kind of described as brutalist architecture Anyway it’s time for our first snack Here is our destination just off Sam Street Le Po Oh I think that’s what we’re here for How you decided to make buttercake buttercake Now it’s really working They’ve got a sign on the wall that says touch the pom pom I guess that makes sense Well not this pom pom There’s one on the wall There we go Touche le Well I’m ready to touch Touch this cake I already bit it in secret but how’s it doing there It’s got several layers I guess you call it like the laminating with the butter in between is perfection So good I have not bit it yet That’s all the words I have Next up we’re heading to try some sardine products [Music] Li must resist Must resist Little peek at their deustion deour Look at all this fishy fishy Britam used to be very well known for its conservies Uh Nikolai is the one who invented the concert People would be um you know fishing lots of sardines and then salting them So the main offering is a cod with carrots and a lemon coffee But they do have a vegetarian option that can be tried which is a like a lentil on bread I think they said this one smells heavily of curry So I think this is lentils curry and seaweed I love curry I went for it Crunchy You did the whole thing Look at m using my French That’s good Sneak up here and get a freshly prepared cod So this is our second sampler This is black cod with carrots and I think citron which is like lemon Smells amazing If you like fish which I do tastes amazing too It’s really good Eating on camera is never glamorous I’ve already consumed mine but it was pretty fantastic Now let’s wiggle our way over to the cable car here in town Think it should take us up to a cool little shopping complex or like an artisan type workshop market Jean Mulan [Music] [Music] Welcome to the other side of the river So Leelier de Capusa I think is the official name of this structure Used to be uh like a big ship building uh center [Music] So we’re told this place has the cleanest and best bathrooms I don’t need to use one as of yet but this will be the official stop Before we go have I think creps and a choice of a beverage They don’t really do a lot of ship building here It’s uh actually a really good place Carolene said for families to come when it’s raining cuz they do get a lot of rain here And this is the largest covered public square in Europe Library right here It’s about noon now This place is really perking up Let’s come have some crips There will be lots of little tasting so you’ll try everything Okay Get to try a little bit of a lot of stuff I like that We’ve got some cider coming our way here too Ah we got some savory clips made from buckwheat The savory train continues We’ve got a sausage and egg and a mushroom and cream We’ve had a couple of different variants of cider Now we’re getting to try a locally brewed beer Now we are beginning the sweet selections This it looks like we’ve come out of buckwheat territory into more traditional This is sugar and butter Oh that’s good That’s good We’ve got cinnamon sugar as well Why am I moving the plate like this i don’t know Three savory crisps two sweet crisps two types of cider one beer All right let’s hit these restrooms and carry on So down here at the end of the complex we’ve got Napoleon’s boat she said I guess technically Napoleon the first and Napoleon III have connections to this vessel Or we could go to the cinema Looks like it’s €8 a ticket All right let’s let’s Yeah that’s not bad the Imperial barge It says [Music] German army is going to tell us oh it would be a shame if your beautiful boat was destroyed Let’s put it in a safe place And this that’s what they’re going to do And then after the war the boat goes to Paris Now out to the oldest street in breast Ru St Malo This really is about the best weather we could have asked for Oh there it is again Oh this is their old prison They used to send a lot of convicts here I guess So a few stairs down So 70 steps to the bottom [Music] So this part was not as destroyed by bombings because our architect she’s been fighting for this street for 36 years Now it’s in a place where you’ve got the cap behind Oh I saw some people playing with this This is a music box I guess a piece of street art installed in 2022 It seems to play Levonos Well that’s cute The good thing is that this is a fascinating little play on I mean I guess not really green space but all of the plants they’ve got going here We’ve also seen a cat up here somewhere I guess they do actually have like a little garden in here with the rain It’s never raining There’s our kitty friend And there we’ve made it to the top of the street Even more cat friends [Music] That brings us back to Lizier Oh we’ve come in a different door this time There’s a brewery Possibly the same one where the beer we tried earlier was brewed She said it was just right in the same complex And now back to the tillerik the cable car I think it’s normally only a couple of euros for a round trip uh on this cable car but it’s included with the tour as is all the food and beverages of course [Music] So from here I believe this is where we will depart the tour We’re getting directions on how to get back to the best shopping the best dining the best everything So Carolene offered to walk the group back to the shuttle stop but of course you know we’re heading back up here to the Rudy shopping for the shopping We may just window shop but you know well we will let you know if we come away with anything from this shopping spree Well we’ve had some minor success at Primark Now we’re going to wander through this nice green space over to the uh city center bus Not the one that brought us over here So we’re not exactly sure of the pickup spot but we know where it is on a map All in America Suggestion on these Grand Voyages mark where the pickup point is if you have two shuttles because if you drop off at one and you go to the other one sometimes it’s hard to find the second one That’s true The little map they provide in the cabins they do not seem to mark the shuttle drop off spots I feel like that’s kind of a dangerous oversight Yeah let us ride [Music] Heat Heat [Music] Welcome Welcome back to the port Oh we’ve got lively tunes coming from somewhere Oh Mondo you can get a scarf with cats on it I might need that in my life truthfully [Music] [Music] Well no scarf but D picked up a necklace and the lady threw in a pair of earrings for free Just a gift to make her smile she said This place is the breast The breast day So tonight’s outfit it is casual night However we have a special dinner which we’ll talk to you about in a moment So I wanted to be a little bit dressier for that So we’ll start with the earrings which the lovely lady that I bought the necklace from just threw them in for free because I guess she was very excited that I purchased this necklace Uh it was about €18 So I thought it was a great find I like always drawn to something and I’m just like that’s what I want And I seashells are huge right now They’re like very in So and I’m a mermaid Okay The What are you looking at now the shirt It’s the whole body The shirt is Old Navy I’ve had it for a while It’s just an oversized button-up The belt is from Amazon The skirt is like a satiny skirt This is from Zara from a while ago And the pant No those are shoes The shoes are from Primark I need some more calories Good evening Good evening Yeah I’m not sure Maybe in some areas of the world they call those pants but it’s fine Hey let’s jump back and talk about a bless day we’ve ever had in breast It is true because it’s our first time but I can’t imagine it being much better truthfully Caroline amazing tour guide So funny Like hilariously funny So sweet Good speaking voice Like very loud She didn’t have to like yell but she was she could be heard with a group of 22 people That was great And I like that she pulled everybody over to like talk about the important stuff So much history here Oh my goodness So much sort of sad obviously sad history World War II They’re very joyful people here Like they they don’t look at that as you know just the end of times They’re just like looking forward And I think that’s a great thing about the area All the bites we had were delicious They were the cable car ride was really fun That big giant ship building uh building Yeah A little marketplace now I guess Yeah That was really cool I I enjoyed our time here And then we just wandered on our own and did a little bit of shopping So yeah and of course we went to Primark which of course is the most French store ever Not I always like Primark I can’t lie That’s right But yeah great tour overall So highly recommend that one Get a nice dose of history a few some bites of food and shoot It was great I didn’t know what to expect but it was fantastic Yeah Now speaking of bites of food we are getting ready to go to as you teased a special dinner at Pinnacle Grill So this is an upcharge experience but fun fact Mr Chocolate himself Jacqu Torres is on board our ship He was supposed to get on in Lisbon but the power outages actually delayed him He got on in Porto Yikes We almost missed him And he’s riding around for a few days and he is in charge of assembling the menu and making special chocolate desserts at Pinnacle tonight That’s so cool And if you don’t know who he is have you been under living under a rock because he’s been around for a long time Most people probably now know him from Nailed It though as one of the judges but I know him from Food Network Me do We go way back Jacques and us we go way back It’s so cool He’s on the ship Yeah So and we’ve already seen him We’ve had some random footage and stuff I’ll probably incorporate that in this video sometime Some who knows when Editing Jay will figure that out But let’s go eat some food Let’s do it Now I’m not sure if Mr Chocolate had a hand in this or not but it’s very cute with a little Disney twist H Let’s head down to deck four Good evening Hello How are you we’ve made our way to our table Now they’ve got wine glasses down here We have a very special menu It’s not the normal Pinnacle menu tonight And it might be coming with wine We’ll have to see if it’s like an upcharge pairing or if it’s included But let’s dig into this [Music] can confirm wine is included It’s kind of an unsatisfying clink That’s a little better Chef thank you for coming over here on board the Bonam to doing this for our guests Thank you very much Have a beautiful evening and bonapi [Applause] All right y’ a little star struck cuz we just had a nice long conversation with Jacques Torres here at the table I just got to meet him It’s so exciting So I literally am such a huge fan I’ve been watching for years I I cannot cook at all but I love Food Network and especially like the pastries the desserts and stuff I find it fascinating how he does that He just talked to us It was something Yeah I didn’t break out the camera and wave it in his face I figured that would be kind of rude So we’re going to try and get a picture for sure because that would mean a lot to me They just brought out our bread basket Do y’all that whole basket is just for us cuz it’s just the two of us at this table Wow Oh and there is a little butter Oh gosh it’s hard to see it past the glasses There we go A little butter to go with Nice Course one has arrived which is the butter poached lobster Course number two is the fuagra course We did not ask if there are any alternates to the course because D is not a huge fan of fuagra but we’re both going to try it and see how it goes We’ll let you know later I am I can eat I can do this It’s fine Next up is the fish course There is sea bass There is shrimp There is risoto Here is the beef course We’ve got chanterell mushrooms We have porttoelloo We have a fantastic looking layered potato presentation Asparagus Let’s eat it Well for the dessert course we have got a glass of port wine And look at this dessert We have got a chocolate dome hemisphere You look they’ve got the continents on there There’s South America North America and of course a ship sailing the seas Oh Mu They have brought us a plate of truffles and goodies as well And of course thank you to you guys to be here today All the passenger thank you for your kindness your hospitality I love to do that I want to come back on board and do more cooking So thank you very much Thank you Thank you It is time for showtime First up there is a pork talk but then we’re getting into a reparatory production Oh we got in here late so we’re kind of toward the back but this should be a show called Timeless Please welcome to the stage your world stage reparatory company as they present Timeless [Music] [Music] in the space They’re going to get it tonight The more they turn it on the harder they hold [Applause] Tell him that the sun is rising his eyes This is my quest to follow that star We have to get to the king [Applause] And I think to myself what a wonderful world [Music] [Music] Show us Yeah Yeah Show us Chocolate Good gravy The amount of paperwork on our bed Okay we’ve got tomorrow’s paper which is for share board We’ve got the breakfast card We’ve got the entertainment guide for the next two weeks Oh it is derby night tomorrow Casual night but derby night And then a little paper about Sherborg Good night y’all Okay please tell me some words about this blessed day ever So today I think sums up perfectly why we like cruising We went to a beautiful port had an amazing experience came back had a five-star dinner with a worldrenowned chocolier That does not happen every day Nope And then a phenomenal show That show was so good and only the first time they performed at second performance cuz we went to the late show featuring um Millie That girl has some range She can go way up to the stratosphere and way down low We didn’t even realize that because she usually sings the lower parts right maddie takes the highs and Millie takes the lows Yeah But they’re all phenomenal And that was a beautiful show I knew every single song It made me very emotional It was just so good And I love how they incorporate Queen into almost every show because it’s my favorite band ever And the choreography was perfect for the songs Such a stinking good day It was It was so good We’re getting ready to go to bed So I don’t think we need to do a punch by punch on dinner other than saying it was fantastic But let’s touch on that fo because you know you’re not really a liver girl I I didn’t get to talk about it So it was not livery at all It was very like light in taste It had a little sea salt on top but it wasn’t like too much liver Like I didn’t even recognize it The fig pairing with it was beautiful though Yeah I think the difference is we’ve had just seared fuagra in the past which is just liver Yeah This was pate deagra and they can put other stuff in there I think there were some pistachios so you know it kind of mellows it out a little bit Yeah No it was all phenomenal The chocolate dessert was beautiful Very rich and a lot of it But it was so good And Jacqu Torres came around after every course and talked to everybody It was such a special day for us Yeah And we left our menus in there I think he’s signing our menus and we’re going to go get those later So that’s cool Yeah Yo I ate the whole bowling dam today Literally All right it’s bedtime We will see you tomorrow for more France Yes stay tuned No we [Music] [Music]