France du sud au nord

We rented a car and took off for Calais, +/- 1000 km away. The car is a Peugeot, a coppery pink colour, or so I thought. When I looked at the rental document it's described as red light!

We had sunshine, showers, hail and fifty shades of grey. The countryside was in bloom with apple blossoms, forsythias, espaliered fruit trees I couldn't identify, magnolia and many other plants and trees.

The countryside is also dotted with castles, chateaux, abbeys, towers, convents, roman ruins, ancient windmills, modern water towers (nuclear plants?) and wind turbines.

Our over-eating continues unabated. We each had a salad that would have been adequate for three but then we piled on a fish dinner and a slice of apple pie - each!!

First night in Brantome. It's all on Wikipedia - Benedictine monks, a huge abbey, Charlemagne, Vikings, war after war, and a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela ....  It has everything.

Several trees have green spheres located randomly amongst the branches. I thought they were nests but Lorette told us that it is a parasite called Mistletoe. That kind of takes the magic out of getting a Yuletide smooch! I asked Ms Google about mistletoe - a lot about male fertility!

Second night in Blois, on the Loire river. We stayed in the attic of an 1847 building - a Johnny-come-lately in French chronology. Anything dated after the fourteenth century is relatively new!

The old section of Blois is very charming but getting out of Blois onto the wee roads that we like was another thing. We went around in circles trying to avoid the on-ramps to the motorways and a bicycle race, going through Big Box territory. Finally we got onto a small road through very flat, green, farms.

We tried to find our way between Paris and Rouen's motorway madness. (We skirted around Chartres. We've both been there before so unless the labyrinth was open we didn't want to go there. The labyrinth is only uncovered on Fridays.) The peaceful vibe of the south was definitely over. People drove faster, were less patient with pokey us. There was more industry and less charm - and it was raining!

As we moved north we started to see 'mid-century modern' buildings - that is, mid 20th century, a reminder that much of the north was bombed during WW2. We ate lunch at a small restaurant in ??. On the wall on the outside of the restaurant there was a small sign with 'LICENCE' in red diagonal letters and in smaller script 'Loi - le 24 septembre 1941'. Perhaps a remnant German occupation?

We stopped in Les Andelys and got a huge yellow room in a place with creaky old wood floors and a beautiful bay window overlooking the street - Hotel de Paris. It was built in 1880. It was quiet during the night but traffic (big trucks and cars) started about 5 am. I think Les Andelys is a suburb of both Rouen and northwest Paris.

It does have some industry though. We met a Spanish man in the dining room who works for a company that sells airport runway lighting and it is manufactured in Les Andelys. He was with four Nepali men who were here for training regarding the lights. They are used at the airport in Kathmandu.

Ian bartered some photos for a good room rate - he's become a barterer par excellence. The owners, Danielle and Jacques, were a little unsure but when they saw the photos they were very happy and gave us a gift of a bottle of wine as well. They are mad about ducks and asked me what kind of ducks we have in Canada!?

There is an old ruin of a 12th century fort in Les  Andelys perched on a hill overlooking the Seine. It went back and forth for years- French, English, French, English, siege, war, siege, war - like a board game!

I was overcome with emotion at the Canadian cemetery in Dieppe where 700 Canadians and 200 Allied forces are commemorated.

During this week in France everyone we've met has been friendly, gracious, polite, patient and helpful - completely the opposite of the caricature of the arrogant French.