By the Lake

So this was what the weather looked like earlier this week....at least in the morning, so I decided to take a walk around the lake in St. Fraimbault.  So I'll take you along.

When I go outside the house I turn left and start walking toward the church and the town hall right next door.   

To the left is this house which should be amazing in the middle of summer with the huge vines all over it.

There are a few houses on sale in town including these two on the right as I walk toward he lake.

Our local bakery is on the next block on the right.  The very nice woman there sells baguettes from 7:45AM for less than a dollar each.  I don't know how she takes in enough to make a living!

Down the road on the right is the little Superette--a very small market with all the basics including an extensive wine section.

Right behind the market is the cemetery, which I haven't visited yet but will some day.

 There is a lot of clear-cutting of trees around here.  It can be very unsightly.  I assume the trees will be gone soon so the village can retain its reputation of one of the prettiest in Normandy (because of the flowers, mostly).

Here's a map of Orne, the section of Normandy where St. Fraimbault is.  Maybe you can see the town mentioned on the lower left part of the map--designated by all kinds of flowers.

The lake is actually a part of a river dammed up a bit.

It really is quite beautiful and peaceful.

But  see more clear-cutting above.

You can see that there are flower beds just waiting to bloom.

There are also a  number of ducks....though the all seem to be "paired up" two males to one female.

These are two different groups

There is a nice bridge in the middle

and another way to get across the lake if you want to turn back.

I took the back way home up the road.  The first things you see are the things you see more of than anything else in Normandy--cows.

The town is very proud of its designation as a village fleuri, as seen by the sign going into the town.

And despite the fact that very few people live here, apparently a lot of people visit during the blooming season, as testified by this sign showing a local entrepreneur who parks cars for money.

 Closer to town does not mean father away from livestock.  This group of sheep is right around the corner from my house.

And it's not just sheep; here's a chicken and sheep wondering who the heck I am.

I got home and it started to rain...it's been doing a lot of that.

A trip East

One of the drawbacks of not speaking French is that I cannot call up a place I want to visit and find out what times it is open.  Even if I had the question memorized, the answer would baffle me.

So on Saturday, I drove out to a garden in Remalard, east of here by about an hour and 15 minutes.  I got there at 11:30AM only to find that it was open from 2-5PM.  I was disappointed, but the trip had been beautiful.  So I decided to stop at Alencon on my way back.  It was market day there, apparently, but the market was pretty lame, so I sat in a cafe and had lunch--a beef bourguignon that really hit the spot.  


Alencon is quite large and I drove around its narrow street for a time before I got back on the road home.  I decided to take the back roads through some other smaller towns.  But I was not alone on those roads.  There are a lot of bike riders here.  This was the tail end of a group of about 50 that seemed not to be having a race so much as a tour.

I felt kind of bad sitting in my car since the weather was not great and some of the riders were as old as I am.

I had read somewhere that the Chateau de Carrouges was very lovely and it was on the way, so I stopped.

It's pretty imposing as you enter the grounds.

And what you see after you enter is a real live castle built in the 1300s.

With a working moat.

The castle is open for visits...and should have been open when I was there, but the person with access to the castle was nowhere to be found.  All the doors from the inside courtyard were closed.  More bad luck.

So I just strolled around a bit.  These gates go into a field.  I'm thinking there was a different entrance at one time and this was the way in.

So I went home and took a nap...not a bad way to spend my afternoon off.

St. Malo

Well I have to admit the weather has not been the greatest for the last few days.  Overcast and rainy.  When I got here I mentioned how lovely it was that the sun was out every day even when it was cold.  I guess I queered it because it is still cold but now the sun never shows itself.  You know it's there somewhere because it's light outside, but the actual orb is hiding.

To get back to my trip on Friday.  After leaving Mont St. Michele, I did not want to leave the area because I had heard of this walled city right on the coast--St. Malo.  It was only about 35 minutes away so I drove there.






Here's what it looks like from a vantage point I was not actually able to get to, but you get the idea.  It's sort of on an island just offshore and was probably impenetrable from most attackers.

I parked outside the walls but later found I could have driven right in.  The city was very quiet--apparently it's more of a summer destination since it is right on the beach.

I parked right beside a big ship.  I don't think it was old, probably for tourists and summer guests.

There are quite a few ships and boats docked right beside the city.  I can imagine the traffic must be pretty heavy in the summer.

It was quite dark inside the walls, and very quiet.  But there were plenty of restaurants open.

I could even have had a pint at an Irish pub.

Or indulged other needs perhaps.

But I decided to have lunch in this place when I saw it from the back.  It was up on the city walls.

Apparently it used to be a guard house.  I had a dry gallette but that was OK.  The view was lovely.  After lunch I took a walk around the wall.  There were forts in all directions.

What look like islands in the water--or maybe ships-- are actually forts.

And more.

The biggest was on the other side of the city.  It think the name was Fort Royale.

Apparently this is a big beach town.  But it's a different kind of beach than say New Jersey.  The water is very shallow and when the tide is low the beach is enormous---when it is high there is virtually no beach.

Perhaps you can get an idea of what it's like from those two shots.  There is obviously a huge area of resort hotels and summer residences to take advantage of the beach here.

I have to say the color of the water was beautiful.  More like the Bahamas than the Atlantic.  I think that's because it is so shallow.

Back to the walled city....here's some pictures of the wall itself.

At the place where the city is farthest out toward the water is a statue of someone who I had never heard of, Robert Surcouf.

He certainly looks dashing.  Turns out he was a privateer--a pirate really.  But he was a hero because he plundered British ships for France.  He became very rich and was very generous to the city of St. Malo.

There was another statue that I thought was cool--Francois-Rene.

Turns out he was a writer.  The French are very proud of their writers.

It's always been interesting to me how coastal cities have their own climates because of their closeness to the currents.  And here's an example of that.

Palm trees on the side of the city walls.

A very interesting visit.  I kind of wish I had come in the summer--but maybe I will return then.

Mont St. Michele

Friday was my first day not working here so I wanted to take full advantage.  I left the house in St. Fraimbault at about 8:45AM and arrived in Mont St. Michele about 10AM on an overcast day.You have probably seen pictures of Mont St. Michele somewhere--a church on a granite island in the bay.  But you really can't be prepared for when you first see it from the road.  It just rises from nowhere.

You can see it from quite far away and it gets more impressive as you approach.

It used to be that pilgrims could only walk to St. Michele at low tide and had to be back before high tide, but now there is a parking lot quite close on a man-made causeway.

The view from where I parked.

You enter the island from a small entryway a bit to the left in this picture.  And what you see was a bit surprising, at least to me--a small commercial street.

Most of the stores sell souvenirs or food and there are a few hotels and many restaurants.

There is even a storefront where the writing is Chinese or Japanese, I think.

The road winds up the hill--or you can take a more direct route.

When you get to the top of the street, there is the church of Saint Peter, for the citizens of the island, I guess.  The big church was for the Benedictine monks.

I'm not religious, but I lit a candle here for my mother.

There are still many steps to climb to get to the abbey, which costs about $12 to visit, and worth every penny.

Here is what it looks like at the start of the visit.  Just a few of the steps ahead.

At the first landing is a terrace from which you can see the area and the way you came.

The first stop in the church--very beautiful.

From there you go out into the cloister.

You can look down from here, but don't get too close to the edge.

Actually, there is a pane of glass there.

Some other views from inside the abbey.

At the end there is a statue of St. Michael--a copy of the one at the top of the abbey's spire.

So I went down the way I came back in my car and went off to St. Malo.  I'll report on that visit next.