Friday, September 25th, Pontorson

Greetings!

Rick Steeves said that if you only had one day in Bretagne, you should spend it in Dinan. It’s cobblestone streets wind down a hill to the Rance River, which flows inland about 100 kilometers from Dinard/St.Malo. We not only visited, we took his walking tour and only got lost once (toward the end near the gardens of the Church). While the warm Ker-y-palm he recommended we buy at a local bakery was only so-so, the rest of Dinan lived well up to its billing. We’re going to spend a week in Bretagne, but this was a great introduction.

Most streets eventually lead downhill to the river, and we had lunch in a small park near the bridge built over it in 1547. Crossing after finishing, we took a trail along the river to Lehon. Asleep in almost every way, the image of this village which will stay in my mind is of a small group streamside around a bench having their French 2-hour lunch.

I have to tell you that last night we had one of the best dinners yet. In a small café, we enjoyed a sea salad (anchovies, shrimp, mussels, salmon), lamb with ratatouie, a salmon tagliatelle, and a local muscadet. We topped it off with coffee, chocolate mint, caramel, and blackberry current ice cream scoops. It was well-prepared and served, and we left feeling great about the end of our first week in France.

To see all of the photos we took today, click on:
Friday, September 25th

Thursday, September 24th, Pontorson

Greetings!

Mont St, Michel, the Emerald Coast, and St. Malo.

We awoke to an overcast but mild day (19 degrees). After our least exciting breakfast on this trip, we managed toget bread and jam for lunch – then went to the Tourist Info Center and the Pizza Bar to retrieve (thank goodness) my rain jacket left last night . Off to Mont St.Michel we drove, and parked our car to start the jaunt to the top of the Isle Mount. The main village street is very narrow, and lined with shops –so the crowds are especially intense. We scampered past most (a mixture of Japanese tour groups and French school children), hardly noticing the charming cobbled lane and medieval houses, to get up to the stairways. Up and up to a ticket booth (no discount for students over 18 years of age), then further up to a west terrace (we are outside the church and about 270 feet up, although it seemed like we climbed 600-800 feet). The views of the bay and the mud flats are impressive. At least three military prop planes flew right overhead – so I guess it’s a game with them to see how close to the spire they can get.

We then took a self-guided tour ala Rick Steves of the Abbey. A church that is mid-sized. No stained glass left due to fire. Then a charming square cloister with petite columns with defaced columns (due to the revolution’s cultural anti-cleric fervor).

Next, there was a refectory, a grand dining hall, and then the chambers of the higher class guests. Then, the “ossiary” where a large wheel manned by six prisoners turned in hamster-style to bring up provisions from below. Another room we saw was a knights hall (but none for monks or lower-class pilgrims). The best views are from the terraces and the ramparts looking out to the land or up to the Abbey or down to the town. We tried to do a tourist shop, but soon felt we’d had enough of the crowds. We hiked up to a rampart, and had lunch, then down to a tourist office to change money and back to the car. As it was only 1sh, we decided to take the scenic coast bay route to St.Malo. Lots of farming carrots, potatoes, small bayside villages selling oysters and mussels every few kilometers. We stopped at Pont du Grouin where some lovely rock outcroppings and a tall sea channel are right offshore – with a quaint lighthouse in one direction and a yacht harbor in the other. There were trails, so we took one to get closer to the channel. We passed about thirty in a French hiking group – Raina. Gregory shows off his Coastwalk shirt for them, and promises to include photos he took in our blog – to their delight. We drove through Cancale, and on to a few other “nature stops”. We stopped at a nice island with a house and sandspit connecting near St.Colomb, and a dune area.

We reach St. Malo by surprise, thinking we are just in another village. Then, we go on another several kilometers to see the hotels and walled city and port. There seems to be a ferry from across the English Channel, and it is pretty packed with resort-goers. So, instead of parking, or going “intra-mural” (entering the walled city), we drive on through to head back. Without a map, we wrong turns (I was heading for Dinard, not Dinan), but eventually we found our bayside road back to Pontorson. Really a nice day! We are resting up for a crepes dinner tonight.

To see all of the photos (a lot) we took today, click on:

Thursday, September 24th

Wednesday, September 23rd, Pontorson

Greetings!

We’re in Pontorson, which you could find on a map if you found Mont St. Michel (the 1,300 year-old monestary built on a rock off the coast on the border between Normandy and Brittany), and then walked backward to just beyond the high tide mark. After dinner tonight, we’re going to drive out the causeway to see it in lights.

Our drive today took us to Arromanches Beach where we viewed the 360 degree 15-minute surround sound film of the landing of allied troops on D-Day in 1944. It’s a pretty spectacular experience resulting from the integration of actual film footage interspersed with present day flyovers, drive and walk-throughs, and even the view from the front and rear of a tank. I found myself spinning at times to take it all in, while holding my digital recorder to try and capture the sound. I’m not sure why I taped it. It won’t have anywhere near the impact without the visuals.

We drove up the coast, visiting Omaha and Utah beaches, and also Pont du Hoc (where 225 rangers scaled the cliffs to secure a strategic point between the two beaches where powerful German artillery was located. Standing there amidst huge crators and broken concrete bunkers, the result of the shelling by our ships just offshore, I remembered what I felt like listening to the rockets land around me in Vietnam. They sounded like a railroad train fell out of the sky. These shells were many times more powerful than what the North Vietnamese were using, but the feeling of imminent death must have been the same. We used to say that it was okay if you heard the sound of it coming in and landing, because you’ll weren’t going to hear the one that hits you.

We had lunch in the town square in Coutances, a mid-sized rural town, and we talked with some young people hanging out on the steps. I felt very close to the skateboarders, as they worked on their skills in the sun.

I have decided not to try to get to Guernsey on this trip to see if I can learn more about my Anthoine family history. As you might remember, I have a distant relative who family lore has it was picked up by a merchant captain, and who eventually married his daughter once they arrived in Massachusetts in the early 1700s. I decided that I needed to do more research before a visit there would be enjoyable, so I’ll contact some genealogists on the island when I return home.

As a result, we’ll spend the day we had budgeted for there instead in Dinan, about a 45-minute drive from here. Rick Steves says that if you only had one day to spend in Brittany, you should spend it in Dinan. Once we see Mont St.Michel tomorrow, and Dinan the day after, we’ll head west into the heart of the Celtic ruin country. We’ll be spending about four days along the Britanny coast before we head inland back into the Loire Valley again.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on:
Wednesday, September 23rd

Gregory

Tuesday, September 22nd, La Rosiere

Greetings!

The following is from Pat's journal today:

We arose and had a breakfast of heavenly croissants. We did get enough for a grand picnic lunch. This will be our pattern, I hope: have breakfast at the hotel, and filch enough bread, cheese, and fruit for lunch. We headed out east and north across Pont de Tancerville bridge across the Seine. Thank God we had 2.4 euros in coins. An elderly couple was begging drivers for change, and we could not share. We wended our way north, amid all-too-cute villages, towards the Atlantic Cote de’Albatre (alabaster) to Fecampe, a port city with a swimming beach (part blue-collar, part resort). The white cliffs are prominent here across the straight from Dover, and there were a few brave swimmers in the chilly water.

Next, we hugged the shore heading southwest to the village of Yport, which was my favorite of the day with a Norman church, rocky beach, white cliffs and cabanas. We feasted on our breakfast gleanings, then headed again southwest along the bluff to Etretate. This town is the most famous for white cliffs, and has some arches and off-shore mounts. Too bad we had so much farther to go, for I would have enjoyed a hike to one of the bluffs on either side of the beach.

We headed back southeast to the other bridge across the Seine (Ponte Normandie). This one a newer, classier span with a higher toll. Then we headed to Caen, and passed it to Bayeux. We skirted Honfluer, then to Ponte leVeque, Troacon, and somehow made it across the northern outskirts of Caen without getting lost (well, three or four turnarounds or missed turns).

Bayeux is a lovely, mid-sized medieval town that houses the Bayeux tapestry (a remarkable 70-meter depiction of the story of William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) defeating Harold for the British Crown in 1066. The tapestry was commissioned in 1067-68, just after the Battle of Hastings. It is in an amazing condition, with bright harmonius colors (still) and has dramatic and artistic depictions. We also stopped at the Cathedral nearby, a Norman delight. There are impossibly high gothic arches, and as an extra treat the organist was playing. We got a bit lost leaving town, but did get to our hotel (La Rosiere), a few kms from Arromanches (one of the sites of the Normandy D-Day invasion). We head for the memorial tomorrow.

We “enjoyed” our Normandy brut cider, bought in Honfluer yesterday – a cider beer that is an acquired taste, but a must if you visit Normandy. Hopefully the calvados is more to out liking (cider brandy). We are sitting outside our hotel room, and are being serenaded by a neighbor’s flock of geese. Hopefully, they will let us sleep in tomorrow.


To see all the photos taken today, Click on:
Tuesday, Sep 22nd
Gregory and Pat

Monday, September 21st, Honfleur

Greetings!

My perfect breakfast consists of a bowl of wheaties and raisins with fresh milk, a bowl of chopped mixed fruit including six half-apricots (Pat would add yogurt), a small serving of breaded raisin cake, an assortment of croissants and pastries, fresh squeezed orange juice, an opportunity to make lunch sandwiches out of fresh French bread and sliced meats, and a bowl of oranges and pears to take along. We found that (and more) at breakfast this morning.

We navigated as many backroads as we could find today on our way north from Mortagne au Perche to Honfleur. It’s not that the major roads aren’t scenic, it’s just that the smaller rural roads are too good to pass up. And we’re in no hurry after all. Our motto is “There is no wrong road”. We passed through one town that claimed ownership of Camembert cheese (Vimoutiers), and passed nearby the national horse-breeding ranch. Eventually, we arrived in Equemauville at a large manor on a ridge overlooking the mouth of the Seine River, which has been turned into a hotel. Since we arrived early, and our room wasn’t ready, we drove down the steep and narrow road to Honfleur and its Harbor entrance. We found a nice park bench, and enjoyed that picnic lunch we had prepared for. In the Honfleur basin, the yachts anchored in front of upscale tourist shops reminded us of Copenhagen. The winding and narrow, cobblestone streets resembled many Italian towns, and I was glad Pat was driving. Her genes must have a greater tolerance for vertical hairpin turns and poor signage. Though I have to say, we’ve been very impressed by the road signs in France.

We bought some apple-based brandy and cider, visited a chapel not far from our hotel that was founded by Richard II (rebuilt between 1600 and 1615), and finally returned to our room for a short nap and an early dinner. Tomorrow, we’ll drive up the coast a bit, and then head down to Bayeau.

To see all the photos taken today, click on:
Monday, Sep 21st