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11/11/26 - Giverny and Monet's Gardens

Our first stop in France was Giverny, famous for the garden that inspired Monet and the impressionists. It's one of many charming French towns with an old main street and wonderful restaurants. We took a car directly from the airport and spent some time wandering the town and exploring the famous gardens.























Jacques-o-lanterns

Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/10/26 - Who Says the French Don't Have a Sense of Humor?

We saw this on a car in Giverny. For those having trouble with the French, it says "no baby on board". Durex is a brand of condoms which were first invented and popularized in France in the 18th century.

Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/09/26 - More Giverny

We spent the next day exploring Monet's house and more of the gardens. We had wonderful weather with a bright blue sky, perfect for the late season garden.























Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/08/26 - A Few More Pictures From GIverny

These are just a few more pictures from Giverny. There were beautiful gardens and a beautiful sky.





Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/07/26 - Rouen Market Day

We arrived in Rouen on a market day. It was quite a market with fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, pastries, eggs and crowds. We wandered the aisles admiring everything. We had dinner reservations, so we split a savory brik, sort of a knish, stuffed with potato and lamb sausage.





















Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/06/26 - Another Part of Rouen

We stayed in the downtown core of Rouen, the touristy part, protected from automobile traffic by retractable bollards. If you are staying downtown, you can get a code to get past the bollards. The bollards in Rouen are steel cylinders in the middle of the street with blinking LEDs. Enter the code and they sink into the earth.

We dropped off our luggage at our hotel, the very comfortable Mercure near the cathedral, and then tried to park in the underground lot near the hotel. If you have ever tried to park in the basement of the Columbia Tower in Seattle, just imagine an underground lot with even tighter turns and lesser clearances.

Despite one of us being a former race car driver, we gave up and left the central city for a more spacious lot near the opera. It was in the retro-gaming and tattoo parlor district a few blocks from our hotel. You could buy wigs, marijuana, business goods and Asian groceries. That Asian grocery store was our landmark for finding the lot.












Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/05/26 - Wandering Around Rouen

Rouen is a wonderful wandering city with narrow streets lined with a variety of retail. It's like an extended, organic shopping mall which is what most cities used to be. There were shops selling luxury brands, but we can find those everywhere nowadays. We order so many things online, that offline retail is the exception rather than the rule.























Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/04/26 - Rouen at Night

One of the nice things about urban dining in a compact city like Rouen is being able to walk back to one's hotel after dinner. The city is charming by day, but develops an aura of mystery at night. It must have been a different world before modern lighting.











Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/03/26 - The Calvados Trail - Part 1

Just about all the museums were closed when we were in Rouen. Some were closed for remodeling. Some were closed for Sunday or Monday or even Tuesday. We just had to settle for wandering around town and looking at the shop windows. We also took a little trip out of town.

Morning sky

Another great window display


Pierre Huet, the grounds

Pierre Huet, the distillery

Calvados is all about the apples.




Wonderful machinery

More machinery

Aging vats

The cellar

Calvados color and age


The still


French artisanal food circa 2026


Display case at that little truck stop



Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/02/26 - The Calvados Trail - Part 2

We visited a second calvados distillery, Roger Groult. They had some wonderful aged calvados, but there was a road out and it took some doing to find an alternate route. France is not GPS country.

Roger Groulet distillery



Almost Christmas back in Rouen



Keywords: france

Keywords: france

11/01/26 - Another Day in Rouen

Here are some more photos from Rouen.









Keywords: france

Keywords: france

10/31/26 - Chateau Gaillard - Part One

We took a side trip from Rouen to Andelays, the site of Richard the Lion Hearted's fortress overlooking the Seine, Chateau Gaillard. The route can be a bit confusing because the obvious route is one way, but if you follow the map rather than just let the GPS route you, the way up is pretty straightforward.

Andelays is one of those picture perfect towns along the river which twists and turns its way from Paris to the sea in Le Harvre. Richard chose a commanding position above the town which meant great views of the town and countryside, but like a lot of his schemes, the castle was never that useful. It was abandoned and left to shepherds and bandits.


View from the parking lot

A bend in the Seine

Andelays




Countryside
















Keywords: france

Keywords: france

10/30/26 - Chateau Gaillard - Part Two

Since we were out in the countryside, here are some nature pictures.



The Seine is still a major freight corridor. According to Haropa, about 40% of France's wheat exports go through Rouen.





Some of the local sheep

Keywords: france

Keywords: france

10/29/26 - Rouen at Night and a Nature Store

Rouen was beautiful at night even in the rain.

Maybe it was COVID, but we really enjoyed exploring the shops in Rouen. As noted, the big chains were there, but there were also all sorts of stores that seemed wonderfully exotic. We're all too familiar with the shelves of an American Walgreen's or CVS, but the shelves of a French pharmacy, probably part of a big chain, were fascinating.

France was in the midst of a civil crisis, so we saw some signs of the rioting and disruption. We still don't know how to say plywood in French, but we saw enough of it on shop windows.












Keywords: france

Keywords: france

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