Bayeux and Beyond...

g o o s e  g i r l   i n   b r i t t a n y 

As I'm getting packed to leave for Paris, I realize that I never finished showing you the rest of the trip we took this summer through Normandy, Brittany and the Loire.  This is a trip that I would recommend to anyone, as it was easy, affordable, and sooooo beautiful.  Have any of you ever done this trip?  I know a few of my friends who read this blog actually live there!!  You know how envious I am of you, don't you? :) My trip to Paris next week is a little Photo Workshop, but I really want to lead one through this part of the French countryside next summer!  Stay tuned!

The opening photo is a fantasy, of course, and parts of the composite were shot in France.  But little goose girls are hard to come by, so I used a painting of a Breton girl by the Victorian painter George Clausen.


Anyway, , here are a few shots from the beautiful medieval town of Bayeux, home of the Bayeux Tapestry, where I met these charming children on holiday from the UK. I wish I were their teacher!!

[I can't help it.  I gravitate to kids.  This is how I used to photograph my own students when I took them on EuroTrips.  Sniffle.  I miss it.]










Bayeux had lots of sweet boutiques, with many devoted to needlework

This one was my favorite. Ooo, the dentelles!..

inside the shop.

I bought my one frivolous item on the trip here from this adorable shopkeeper: very jazzy French leggings.  I really wanted her dress!




Never, ever, ever stay at this hotel: La Maupassant.  Even though it is extremely cheap and you feel very virtuous for being so frugal,[ because you are going to spend the farm on a chateau the next night] and they promise you a bathroom and shower in your room, don't believe it.  You will lie awake ALL night long, staring at the sink 

and taking pictures of your feet with your iPhone, 

and hang out the window taking pictures of the building across the street,

 afraid to go down the hall to la toilette,

and at the first hint of light you'll creep out of bed, so as not to wake the sleeping giant next to you, and tip-toe downstairs to go out photographing those...

  Blue Buildings at dawn.

But, in truth, it really wasn't so bad.

So...

Off to Dinan,in Brittany, where things were decidedly Old World.  What a charming city!

  

Isn't it straight out of a fairytale?

And speaking of fairytales, have you visited 

le Château de Chenonceau? I think it's the prettiest of the big chateaux, 

and I'm smitten with the kitchen, downstairs, under the main floor

this is where the scullery maids peeled vegetables and threw the peelings out into the river

I love this little scene

isn't this a homey centerpiece for a kitchen table?

 this is a bit out of focus, but I had to show you massive fireplace where they cooked

and baked bread

Gasp!

These were some pottery jars that I thought looked so beautiful

If I could BE any piece of furniture, I would be this.  In fact, I look quite like this...

There are beautiful flower arrangements all over the chateau

and all of the flowers are grown in the chateau greenhouses and gardens

I had to play with this photo that my husband took of one of the gardener's cottages...

and turn it into a bit of a fairytale

the gardener's cottage

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!!!!Late Breaking News!!!!!


Sweet Ria, from the lovely blog


It's Me


is doing the most delightful 
GIVEAWAY!!!  

Wouldn't you just love to own this book?  Ahhh.  That Scandinavian Style that we all love so much...
Just Click on "It's Me" and leave a comment and find out how you might become the winner!!

*****************

So, mes amies, we're off to beautiful France again on Tuesday!  Wish you were all coming along with us!!!!! Maybe on our workshop in April, hmmm????
See you in two weeks, Lord willing,
Love,dawne  

Everyone's Going to Paris!

Le Consulat in Montmartre

My friend is leaving for Paris this week, and I promised to add a few more must-see spots that she and her husband will love.  Since they're staying in the 5e they will be near the very wonderful cinema, The Grande Action, 5 rue des Ecoles, with its deliciously comfortable red plush seats. They might be lucky and catch one of my favorite of the noir films "The Night of the Hunter" with Robert Mitchum.  It will probably show in English with French subtitles, like many of the films do. Can I tell you how cool it was to see my favorite film "Casablanca" there, and to read the subtitle "a ta bonheur, ma petite!" "Here's looking at you kid!"  [I think I'll have to go with the American translation on this one!]

They'll also be quite close to Les Deux Magots, the old watering hole of the likes of Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Picasso and Camus.  A glass of wine will cost  a minimum of 16 euros, and with the euro at around $1.49 today, I'd opt for tea and the fabulous lemon tart, and do my drinking in the crowded little bistros that dot the 6e.

There are some really fun places around this rue, here.

And, the 6e has many wonderful art galleries, in a well marked area.  Look for these signs:

And, of course, they'll have to go to Montmartre.  My suggestion would be to take the bus.  They'll see more, and when they change buses to go up the hill they'll get the real feeling for Montmartre as they curve around all the steep little streets.

But be sure to stay late enough to catch the view of the Eiffel tower lit up at night, then walk down the steps [ Les Escaliers] next to the Finiculare.  Very Brassai!

[or very Dean Polis]

Everyone will tell you to go to the  Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, but that's quite a trek from the 5th.  Might instead choose to go to the Cimetiere Montparnasse, much closer and also beautiful.  Sartre, de Beauvoir and Ionesco are buried here.

My friend Angie walking in the rain in the cemetary

There's so much more to write, but no matter where they flâner, they will be amazed and amused on their adventure in the City of Light.


Be safe, my friends, keep that neck pouch under your jackets, and God Speed!

It Is Finished!

Dawn in the Latin Quarter

Texture by French Kiss Textures

[ Ha! I wish Dawne WERE in the Latin Quarter right now!]

I've been silent for the past three weeks, working hard to map our trip to France in July.  Thanks to God and the Internet, I'm now finished, and I've been able to book 9 fantastic nights from Paris , through Normandy, a dip into Brittany, a dream night in the Loire, and back to Paris for 2 nights.  I just got off the phone with Sultana, a sweet young woman at our hotel in Paris, confirming our rooms.  Why does just calling Paris on the PHONE give me goose bumps!!?  Sultana told me it was yet another beautiful day in that fair city, as it had been for the past two weeks!  And yet, here we are in New York, with yet another day of rain and cold.  But I'm happy for my French brothers and Sisters, as they deserve all the good weather they can get. I really hope it holds for July!

And as for my title today, yes, my trip planning is finished.  But the One who cried out those words before me, two thousand years ago, accomplished something far greater than anything ever done by man before or since. In His death, He fulfilled the very mind and intent of God.

Paris Dreamin'

Moulin Rouge Bleu

I have a friend who just wrote and said she and her husband are headed to Paris in May.  She asked for suggestions concerning les Brocantes, and things to do and see in around the City of Lights.   Well, first of all I have to say that I'm thrilled for her and hub, and I'm maybe a little envious! I've never been there in May, but I know it's magnifique then!
First I'd tell her to  subscribe to the two newsletters I mentioned in the last post.  Parler Paris keeps me up to date on everything that would interest a tourist, written by the savvy ex-pat, Adrienne Leeds.  Also this web site gives locations of many of the beautiful passage ways that the city has to offer.  Our very favorite is Galerie Vivienne.

Break the piggy bank and definitely plan a meal at Le Train Bleu, then save money the next day by sightseeing in the Marais, lunching in the Rue des Rosiers on a huge, filling, delicious Falafel  [5 Euros], then going to the free museum up the street, Le Carnevalet. [See my Paris page above] Find out more of what's happening in the Marais by subscribing to this .
More in the next post!

Joyeux "La Fête Nationale" or Happy Bastille Day

I'm sorry, but I forgot to wish you a. well, what it says up there...If you're French you say "La Fête Nationale", but here in America we call it Bastille Day.  July 14 is the day the French celebrate the storming of the Bastille, like our Independence Day, but they don't really wish each other a "Happy July 14" like we do.  So in honor of that day I'll post a photo I took in France last summer at Marie Antoinette's Hameau.  

Possibly the most enchanting place I've ever visted.  Someday I'll post  several photos from there [at Versailles] on the Paris page.  But for tonight...a magical French fantasy...