Beaune
Our friends Cass and Billy usually have come to France every other year. They find a place they like and they tend to go back to that corner over and over again. I feel comfortable with that way of traveling and I much prefer it to buzzing from one place to another. When some people make the effort to get to Europe they want to visit England, France, Italy and Germany all in two weeks. That kind of vacation is one from which you need another vacation to recover. There was a time when our friends spent a.lot of time in Paris. Chartres Cathedral was a favorite destination for several years. But once they discovered Brittany and Saint Malo, they were pretty much settled on that as their French home away from home. So when we moved to Burgundy, across the country from their preferred locale, I was concerned they’d never visit us again. But they generously added a few days on to their itinerary to include us. I was very pleased when Cass told me that looking at rolling green fields is every bit as relaxing for her as looking at rolling blue waves. Last time they came to visit our new home, we took them to the usual local spots, Vézelay, Chablis and Semur. This time we decided to introduce them to Beaune. the capital of the Burgundy wine region.
Honfleur
Welcome to Honfleur, a port town with old world charm to spare. Monet, Courbet and Boudin all painted the facades of the old port. They are far from the only ones who find this town irresistible. In fact while we were there, a beautiful weekend in mid-October, the crowds were something like being in Disneyland on a summer afternoon. What can you expect, however, Honfleur is without a doubt one of the most picturesque towns in France,
Bayeux
After our sojourn in beautiful Dinard with our friends, we all headed home to Burgundy via the Normandy coast, a swing in the wrong direction. It was well worth the detour. Our first stop was Bayeux where for the moment, the incredible 230 foot long embroidered depiction of the events leading up the battle of Hastings in 1066 is on display. Created in the 11th century, this work of supreme dedication and craftsmanship is a real marvel. In 2025 the museum where it resides is being remodeled. The tapestry was slated to travel to England but that loan was cancelled. I imagine that the French got a little nervous at the idea of shipping off such an extraordinary and presumably fragile work of art. In the meantime the tapestry will be carefully stored away.
St. Enogat and St. Lunaire
On our last afternoon at our Dinard rental house Rick and I took a walk on the St. Enogat beach for old times sake. Our friends had other plans. It was in St. Enogat that we lived for seven months in 2019-20. It remains one of the most happy times, despite the pandemic, of our years together.
St. Enogat is the historic cradle of what is now the upscale vacation town of Dinard, The city grew up and out from there, which in the nineteenth century was a thriving fishing hamlet. St. Enogat was the name of the city until 1921, when it changed its name to Dinard. St. Enogat is now just a district of the town, located west of Dinard center. Dinard has 407 listed villas and St. Enogat has its share, All traces of the fishing village it once was have vanished and been replaced by beautiful and extravagant homes on the cliffs overlooking the sea.
Rennes and Dinan
Rennes is a charming city about 50 minutes inland from Dinard. It has a 2000 year history and took a prominent administrative role in ancient times before Brittany was incorporated into France. Currently it is home to eight universities and therefore has a very young, hip vibe. It has become what they call in French, quite bobo (a more-or-less, depending upon your point of view, agreeable combination of bourgeois and bohemian). Since the pandemic Rennes’ population has grown significantly due to urban flight from Paris. It’s slightly cheaper to buy an apartment in Rennes than in Paris and for those who still have to work on location in Paris, there is a very fast train between the two. Life is a little more countrified here.
Rennes is also a shopping haven, with all kinds of very lovely boutiques and restaurants, which was our main reason for visiting.Rennes is also a shopping haven, with all kinds of very lovely boutiques and restaurants, which was our main reason for visiting.
Saint Malo and the Rance
Beautiful Saint Malo. I’ve written about it several times on this blog. It is one of those places that is almost perfect just the way it is, and has been for hundreds of years. That is until WWII when it was completely destroyed by bombs from both sides. The city was rebuilt from the rubble between 1948 and 1960. Now it stands as it ever was.
Saint Malo is the setting for All the Light We Cannot See, a recent movie, and popular book by Anthony Doer, who was inspired when visiting the city himself. It makes such a perfect setting and of course its history is full of adventure.
When I speak of Saint Malo, I mean the ancient walled part of the city which is self-contained and without any new building. Of course the modern city is much bigger now but this walled historic section is very much set apart.
The port of Saint Malo is just below the city walls. It is an active maritime harbor with large ships departing and arriving (as well as pleasure boats of every size). When we lived in Saint Enogat during the 2020 lockdown, our Breton friend Bernard told us about a website where we could monitor the sea traffic. It was very exciting to watch as large vessels came around the point heading out to sea. We could track what the cargo was, who was aboard by name and rank, where the ship was headed and when it would reach its destination, and what the return journey would be. Watching the ships coming and going from our living room windows, binoculars in hand, was one of our favorite pastimes.
Dinard and Cancale
A few days after the conclusion of our delightful workshop with Gail Rieke, we left for the Brittany coast to meet up with some of our best friends from California, Cass and Billy. They had rented an apartment in one of the most beautiful spots on the coast of Dinard and invited us to join them. We had stayed in this same apartment with them two years ago and all of us were anxious to relive that most extraordinary experience. We had been planning and anticipating it since almost immediately after the last time we were there in 2022. The Château des Deux Rives is a mansion built in 1878 by the wonderfully named Count Joseph Dahdah on a point of land jutting out into the Bay of St. Malo and offering a view of more than 180º of coastline.
Artist as Traveler, Part 3
Our last field trip of the workshop took us to Vézelay. It was a quiet Monday morning when we arrived and we shared the site with very few others. Something about the Place in front of the cathedral filled me with a sense of awesomeness as I entered it this time. Called, The Eternal Hill, I was struck by it’s dramatic history, it’s endurance through the ages, it’s marvelous beauty, and the symbol this site represents as the center of peace in the world. As Holly put it, much better than I could, “it was just divine.” Being there for a few hours had a very healing affect.
Artist as Traveler, Part 2
On Sunday morning we visited the renown Chablis farmer’s market. Everyone bought something to offer for the evening’s dinner, which was a cooperative cooking event. Fall produce, pears, apples, figs and mushrooms were displayed on tables in abundance. Artisanal bread, cheese, olives and sweets were on offer. We almost intuitively each went for different vendors and products. Without too much coordination, we managed to pull together a meal plan with variety and balance.
Artist as Traveler, Part 1
Our week long workshop, Artist as Traveler, began in Noyers, where everyone gathered in a house rented in the middle of town. There were four participants, since two others that had planned to come, dropped out due to illness. It made for an intimate group. Each one, I must say, had something special and wonderful to contribute. We all seemed to bond quickly and easily.
La Belle Epoque
La Belle Epoque was so named in retrospect to describe a kind of Golden Age that existed in Europe between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and the begiining of WWI (1871-1914). It was characterized by a flowering of arts of every kind, optimism and colonial expansion.It was the time of the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergère. The Eiffel Tower was built and Haussmann renovated Paris to turn it into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Colette, Proust and Zola wrote of these times. The impressionists and Pre-Raphaelites painted while Debussy, Strauss and Ravel composed music.
Meanwhile…
Emily and her family are living in Indianapolis for the fall this year. Jos and Emily were invited to be the bi-annual visiting International Theater Artists and to teach an undergraduate course for the fall quarter as well as directing a student play atQuinn and Zinnie are attending an international school. The family is living in a house on campus that was provided by the theater department. They are having quite an adventure!
Preparations
This week has been devoted to preparing for a workshop with my very talented artist friend Gail Rieke. She gave 5 workshops in out atelier at the Maison Conti, but this is the first time she will be coming to Moulins. In Montmirail I had a huge studio, with a large table and an extra print room that easily accommodated a crowd. My atelier here is too small, so the garden room will be turned into our workshop. It’s an untested concept! Although the family has used this space at Christmas to do joint projects, and it worked well. The table is quite long, though not too wide. I’m hopeful it can be just as comfortable as the space in Montmirail. Here there is much more of the out of doors to welcome activity.
An Evening in Noyers
There’s that end of summer feeling in the air here in our corner of France. The weather is beginning to cool down and the roads are all of a sudden much less crowded. Outside town are sunflowers that cover the fields as far as the eye can see. They will soon be harvested and the fields once again will lay fallow.
Trees and Ocean
We are only just back to France after five weeks in the United States. The main purpose of our travel was to celebrate James and Daniel’s wedding and to reconnect with family and friends after being away from our native habitat for such an extended time. We participated in so many wonderful gatherings and enjoyed intimate moments with loved ones.
Today I don’t offer you my personal photos of those moments, but rather some images of the natural beauty of some of the places we found ourselves in. This blog is dedicated to our French adventures and the French landscape. We couldn’t help but compare the American environment with the one we live in here. They are much different, each spectacular in its own way. I noticed that I took quite a few photographs of trees, especially the way the sun highlights the rich greens. I found the California woodlands truly breathtaking. France, for all its many charms, has few virgin forests.
The Countryside Around
This week brought some visitors. Rick’s high school classmate Dave, who he reconnected with at his 55th in reunion in Boston last year, lives in Puglia, the southeastern tip of Italy with his partner Sue. If you remember, we stayed with them for a few days last October and had a marvelous time swimming in the Adriatic Sea off their boat. Our part of the world is quite a contrast, especially this time of year where temperatures at their home are in the high nineties. They were on their way to Sancerre to stay with a friend who has bought a place in the center of town. The friend happens to be the campaign finance director for Elizabeth Warren. I was intrigued to hear that someone in that position would be wanting to escape to France. Dave and Sue stopped on their way and stayed with us for a couple of nights. Of course we were happy for the opportunity to show them around this part of the world. They were impressed with all the green and definitely grateful for our cloudy and cool weather.
Around Home
We spent this week at home, gardening, sunbathing and in my case, working on my store and other projects in the atelier. Today we have some visitors arriving from Italy who will be exploring this corner of France with us for the next few days.
Hello Summer
Before reporting on the past week, I give you one last image from our trip to Switzerland. I didn’t post this photo last week, as it was taken in France on our trip back home. We passed this attractive site, but only admired it from afar. The complex, which originally was a castle, built in the 12th century, is called The Château de Joux (the castle of joy).
Crazy Beautiful
Rick’s son Chandra and his family have been planning a trip to Europe since before Covid. Twice it almost happened, but at the last moment fell apart. The third time is the charm. Kyle, Chandra’s wife, has relatives in England so their program included Great Britain and France for family visits. Chandra is a mountain lover, a serious biker rider, a hiker and an accomplished snow boarder so he was very interested in seeing the Swiss Alps, thus their itinerary included a stop in the Jungfrau Region between the two other locations. Luckily they rented a place big enough to accommodate us, and since it is only a 5 hour drive from where we live, we were able to join them there and then drive them back to our place.