-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Tag Archives: France
Back from a Trip — a Retrospective Look
Two weeks into my stay in France I happened on this storefront – a travel agency in la Touraine. “Retour de Voyage” – Back from a Trip. An unusual name for a business that wants to entice people to travel, … Continue reading
Parting glances
This is a grab-bag of thoughts, but mostly images, as I get ready to head home after 7 weeks in France. These involve my time in the provinces – before Paris. Vocabulary: my definition of a good waiter is one … Continue reading
Posted in France, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized
Tagged Charente-Maritime, France, La Touraine
Leave a comment
La Rochelle
A month on the road, la belle et bonne route, ended the other day when I drove into La Rochelle, turned in the rental car, and checked into my hotel in the quartier St Nicolas. One of the old neighborhoods, … Continue reading
Posted in France, Travel
Tagged Cardinal Richelieu, Charente-Maritime, Fellag, France, La Rochelle
2 Comments
To the Sea
From the convent in Corme-Écluse, I drove to the coast – only 15 minutes away – then north towards La Rochelle. The first town I visited was Talmont-sur-Gironde. It’s close to but not on the Atlantic; rather, it’s on the … Continue reading
Posted in France, Travel
Tagged Brouages, Charente-Maritime, France, La Tremblade, oysters
2 Comments
Sisters
I took a break from usual tourist activities, hotels and restaurants, to stay for five nights in a convent of the order of Dominican nuns. I am not sure “convent” is the appropriate term, but it is convenient, so I … Continue reading
Roaming Romanesque
What I have been calling the Charente area, which includes the cognac countryside where I stayed for five nights (in the village of Bassac) and, further west, the small city of Saintes (in the Saintonge area), is rich in Romanesque … Continue reading
The Gauls and the Romans
The Romans conquered this part of what is now France, i.e., the cognac area around the Charente River, in the 1st century BC. One of my un-anticipated discoveries in the cognac area was a site in the country – not … Continue reading
The Charente
From la Touraine I drove southwest into the Poitou-Charente region. The Charente is annother important river in France, flowing west to the Atlantic. The region is the home of Cognac vineyards. Cognac is a huge deal here. Almost as important … Continue reading
Il faut cultiver son jardin
Tend your garden – that they do at Villandry. Another 16th-century Renaissance château, on the southern bank of the Loire, it’s all about the vast gardens. The aim was, and is, to create gardens in perfect harmony with nature and … Continue reading
Country Fair
I was told that I could see what the French call a fair – more like a huge market – of the old-fashioned kind, «une foire populaire,» at the town of Lencloître, in the Poitevin region just south of la … Continue reading
