Tour de France 3: Normandy, Omaha Beach and Cemetery

Visiting the Normandy beachs was very important to us. We went to pay our respects and to reflect on our history as Americans and as human beings. Our first stop was Port en Bassins. The embankments can be seen in the background.

We walked along the wide beach, the white cliffs in the backbround.

We arrived at the American cemetery late in the day.

The sun was already low.

With the beach in the background, it was quite overwhelming.

The Jewish tradition is to put rocks on a grave. It is a mark of respect, care of the tomb, and because rocks do not blow away or disintegrate, it shows that someone has been there. Symbolically, it suggests the continuing presence of love and memory which are as strong and enduring as a rock.

But there weren't enough rocks.

Tour de France 4: Mont St. Michel

The Abbey of Mont St. Michel is an amazing and intriguing sight. Though the approach road curved sharply to the left but we went stright, into a grassy lot, hoping for a nice place to picque-nique as the French call it. We were rewarded with this surprise view.

Mont St. Michel is a tiny island connected to the mainland by a causeway for the cars. The farmland near the bay was reclaimed by Normans in the 19th century with the help of Dutch engineers. Today, this reclaimed land is covered by salt-loving plants and grazed by sheep whose salty meat is considered a local treat. The Couesnon River at the inlet to Mont St. Michel marks the historic border between Brittany and Normandy, who have long vied for Mont St. Michel. (In fact, the river used to pass Mont St. Michel on the other side, making the abbey part of Brittany. Today, the river's route is stable and the abbey is just barely — but thoroughly — on Normandy soil.)

Elliott took the tour of the Abbey which is at the top. Saint Michael, whose gilded statue decorates the top of the abbey's spire, was the patron saint of many French kings, making this a favored sight for French royalty through the ages.

It is an engeneering marvel. Monks built on the rock to get as close to heaven as possible. The downside: not enough level ground to support a sizable abbey and church. The solution: Four immense crypts were built under the church to create a platform supporting each of its wings. In 1421, the crypt that supported the apse collapsed, taking its end of the church with it. Today's crypt boasts immense columns (15 feet around), rebuilt with a determination not to fall again.

The best part of the tour was this girls' choir which stopped to sing spontaneoulsy in every room of the Abbey. Elliott enjoyed this unexpected treat so much.

Saint Michael, whose gilded statue decorates the top of the abbey's spire, was the patron saint of many French kings, making this a favored sight for French royalty through the ages. During the French Revolution Mont Saint Michel was closed and converted into a prison and held, ironically, over 300 monks and priests in their once peaceful cloisters. It was declared an historical monument in 1874.

A huge, haunted fireplace!

The tides at Mont Saint Michel can rise approximately 14 meters from the low water mark. The late afternoon sun gave us this specatular view and shadow.

We enjoyed exploring: the views, the tides, the history. But it was quite touristy, as was the food - you could have every regional specialty in one menu - and so the only revision of our itnereary would be no alot less time here. An afternoon would suffice.

If you leave after dark, you are treated to seeing Mont St. Michel illuminated. Just as striking as the approach in the morning.

E's photography here is terrific, even if he did get his fee wet!

Tour de France 5: Le Mans

We headed straight for the Le Mans, the circuit used for the famous 24 hour race. Part of the race is on the Bugatti track and part on the public roads of the village of le Mans. The first French Grand Prix took place here in 1906.

When we arrived and bought our ticket to enter, the guard said that we could go anywhere we want on the grounds (not on the track, but, hey, he said it in French, so we didn't understand him). Here is Sterling standing in the pit stop!!!

I'm not sure what spot this is, but it looks really important!

The size of the thing is truly impressive--it is hard to know what it might be like, packed with a million or so fans and overwhelmed with the engine noise!

That day, there was a corporate thing going on for Audi. So, naturally, there were lots of Audi's all over the place, including this 100,000 euro Audi R8:

No one was looking, according to Sterling at the window, so we let ourselves in and sat down. But we took of our shoes first!

E "I got news for you: the seat in this Audi is made for an Italian butt!!"

So, there we are, minding our own business, and up drive TWO MORE R8's. It seems that the corporate big shots were letting their underlings drive these cars about.

You can't quite see it, but there are two 50,000 euro Audi SUV's behind the R8's and two really pretty Audi TT convertables behind that. Wow!

We love this snapshot of E. Click on it--you should be able to make out that this is a photo of a mirror that is engraved with names of past Le Mans winners.

Oops! Found another R8! The final count was five Audi R8's that day.

The entrance to the gift shop had this lovely display of models of past Le Mans winners.

All in all, a really nice pit stop on our Tour de France.

Tour de France 6: Amboise

The city of Amboise has more to do than we had time to do it. The Château d'Amboise was grand, and boasts a secret subterranian passage to da Vinci's Château du Clos Lucé, which was our destination.

Le Clos Lucé is where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life from 1516, bringing with him the Mona Lisa, painting and working at his thousand passions.


He died here on 2nd May 1519, in his bedchamber. (Note, photos are forbiddend so the follwoing three images were captured off the web)


Da Vinci's dining room.



Unavailable is a full photo of the kitchen, but it was a large room with a correspondingly huge fireplace rigged with every possible and imaginable pulley and engineering gadget to make the cooking more efficient. Gleeming pots and pans.....


Leonardo da Vinci understood everything by observing nature. His inventions landscape the park of Le Clos Lucé, such as this whirlygig, complete with Sterling's ghost. How'd he do that?
The gardens are, as one might expect, a masterpiece of beauty and serenity.

We stayed until closing, partly because we wanted every moment possible, but we had learned from our experience at Omaha Beach that sometimes there are amazing things that happen late in the day. Seeing le Château du Clos Lucé lit up was the reward!

However, the skies opened up on our way to find our B&B. It was a very dark and rainy night. We had entered all the information in our GPS, but some of the addresses did not include street numbers so we knew we were approximating. Thankfully, just as our host had promised, there were signs leading the way, and we found le Demeure de L'Hommelaye, which was so quaint, clean and darling that we feel into the inviting bed sleeping peacefully until the roosters called in the morning.

Tour De France 7: Dordogne

We had a perfectly lovely B & B that was actually featured in the NY Times in 2002. This became relevant as our host asked me to try to find a copy of the issue with the article in it for their family. I am working on it.


La Ferme des Veyssières has exceptional food, real regional cuisine. As you shall see, we were in nut and goose country.


The Saturday market in the nearby village of Sarlat is known for its foie gras. This stall is actually the neighbor's of our B&B.

I learned alot about foie gras in the kitchen of our host, how the liver is naturally enlarged by the bird's heavy feeding before migration and this is a sign of good health where as an enlarged liver is usually a sign of serious illness. The farmers do not try to hide the practice of force feeding to mimick the premigration feeding behavior, and they are mystified why it is thought to be cruel. As the French say, alot, to each his own.

These birds were also our neighbors, and were fat and waddled around their huge yards freely. They particularly celebrated sunrise. And we celebrated them at dinner with a fabulous confit!

We went for an evening stroll through a grove of already harveste walnut trees. We soon realized that we were crunching the strays under our feet so we picked them up. A good cleaning and light roasting and they are delicious.

The Dordogne region i know for its caves. We visited the Gouffre de Padirac. The enormous chasm at Padirac is about 99 metres around the rim. We descended 75 metres to enter the cave and then had a boat trip along a subterranean stream, and then passed through various underground caverns full of extraordinary rock formations.

Some of the foramtions are calcifications and the water is green because of the lime. There are no fish because there is no light and therefore no photosynthesis to create the necessary oxygen to sustain life.