Pouring a Bell in Villedieu-les-Poeles
The town of Villedieu-les-Poeles has been famous as metalworking mecca for 900 years. It began because in this part of town, the land was not owned by the king, and thus not subject to taxes. So artisans like bellmakers and copper forges thrived. The Fonderie de Cloches Cornille Havard is […]
A French Market: Where Bizarre Shellfish Can be Found
We learned when we first arrived in Granville that this coast is famous for shellfish, and that the lively city where we were staying was the de facto capital of the area, since it is the largest town on the coast. This morning we got a chance to see the […]
The Shooter Meets the Painter in Granville
“You should leave the shooting to me, and just concentrate on the writing,” said my traveling buddy Paul Shoul. Well, he has a point, he has much better equipment and is willing to lug it everywhere also always willing to go the extra mile for a good shot. Here is […]
Coming Back to Gritty, Salty Granville
We arrived in Granville, on a spit of land jutting out just above the famous Mt. St. Michel on France’s coast. I came here when I was 16, traveling Europe in a group trip with other kids, and I stood on a corner and recognized a gauzy, hazy memory…a movie […]
Normandy’s Thriving D-Day Tourism Sites
Here in Longue-sur-Mer, a Sherman tank rests next to one of the thousands of metal barricades put up by the Nazis to stop the invasion. The business of showing tourists these D-day attractions comes in third for popularity in Normandy, after Mt. St. Michel and Honfleur. At Arromanches, we joined […]
Haunting Face at Caen’s Memorial Museum
This haunting image fades to black every 10 seconds, signifying the horrific number of deaths in the Nazi-run concentration camps of World War II. The museum takes you on a journey beginning in the 1918, and lays out a time-line that began with World War I’s Treaty of Versailles, through […]
A Visit to the Palace of B&B in Fecamp
We went to a palace yesterday devoted to a certain spirit. That would be B&B, Benedictine liqueur, which is actually manufactured in a 1900s gothic/romanesque palace in the oceanside town of Fecamp. “Everything here is about the drink,” our guide Danielle told us as we glided from room to room, […]