How appalling! It's taken two and a half years and I still haven't finished going through all of the pictures from my trip to France. At least all of the folders are labeled as to where we were, because I would no longer be able to tell at a glance, and would have to scratch my head over the itinerary.

The latest batch of photos uploaded to Flickr last night was taken in Reims, one of the ancient cities in the Champagne region of northern France. There are pictures of the Basilica Saint-Remi (at right), where the Saint's body is interred, of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Reims, and photos to come of the Palais du Tau. I think.

( Pictures from Reims... )

The next day we headed to Troyes, and I've got a few scenic roadside pictures, followed by some delicious-looking food that's making me drool -- but I can't remember where we ate it. Five days' worth of photos remain to edit and upload. Stay tuned!

Tags: france

I realized the other day that I was way behind on processing and sharing my pictures from the trip to France... in May 2007. Eesh. I'd actually created the web album from May 31st in Reims on my server back in September (second link below) but never sent any to Flickr. I've uploaded the ones from Les Crayères, the amazing hotel where we stayed and had a fabulous dinner (first link below), and will get the more touristy (mostly cathedral) pictures up to Flickr shortly.

( Selected pics on Flickr... )

( All of the day's pictures... )

Tags: france

I remembered having been in Reims as a teenager, when our high school group visited France, but returning for another visit certainly didn't bother me in the least. This batch of (lots of) photos features the Basilica of Saint Remi, for whom Reims is named; the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Reims, one of the most spectacular cathedrals in the world; and a few shots of Les Creyeres, the old mansion turned snazzy hotel where we stayed in Reims for two nights. Towards the end are shots of the remarkable dinner we had there.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france19/

Tags: france

This batch, from Thursday, May 18th, isn't hugely exciting for the most part. It's from a morning spent traveling from Normandy across the Paris area towards Reims. We didn't really mean to drive through Paris, but by doing so, we got to say we'd been to the French Open. :-) There are 160 photos from the next batch... that afternoon and evening in Reims.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france18/

Tags: france
Current Music: Sinatra

The next batch is only thirty photos, so I got this one done this afternoon, too. On the way back from Caen, we found the Christian Drouin distillery, where they make Calvados, Pommeau, and cider, all beverages derived from apples. It's in the Calvados department of Normandy.

Leaving there, we stopped for dinner at a crossroads with two restaurants; the TomTom had identified one, but they weren't open yet and seemed huffy about it. The place on the opposite corner was happy to serve us even though it was on the early side, and l'Auberge de la Truite (Trout Inn) turned out to be one of the best meals of the whole trip.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france17/

Tags: france
Current Location: Calvados, Normandy, France

It's been a while since I've processed a batch of photos from last spring's France trip! The trip is now exactly a year ago; one year ago today, we spent the day at the Louvre and the Tuileries, etc., around Paris.

A week later, in Normandy, we spent a fantastic day in Caen, the ancient capital of Lower Normandy and site of a spectacular castle whose walls now enclose a fine art museum and a museum of Norman history. I really loved the sculpture in the courtyard of the art museum, and while killing a little time, I walked the moat around the castle walls during a rainless stretch. This was one of the few days I had to wear shoes instead of sandals. We had lunch in the surprisingly good museum cafe.

We also spent a little time in the cathedral across the street, shown at right; they were in the middle of doing an outstanding job restoring the surface of the stone, which had become nearly black from industrial grime accumulating over the last couple of centuries. Also in this batch, l'Abbaye des Dames.

Want to catch up and see more of the France posts? Click the France tag link on this post.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france16/

Tags: france
Current Location: Chateau de Caen, Normandie, France

Thanks to a random chat with Narie at the radio station about Normandy earlier, I realized I needed to massage and upload some more photos from France! Here's the 15th batch, from a day in Bayeux. Photography in the Tapestry museum was absolutely forbidden, so there are no photos in there, but the professional versions are better than I could have done anyway.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france15/

Tags: france
Current Music: "House"

Nous n'oublions pas, nous n'oublierons jamais, la dette d'infinie gratitude que nous avons contractée envers ceux qui ont tout donné pour notre libération.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france14/

Tags: france
Current Location: Colleville-Sur-Mer, France

This batch of photos is just in and around the hotel we stayed at in the Calvados region of Normandy, Château d'Audrieu. (It's also the last few pictures in batch 12.) It's a beautiful place, but presented a huge comedy of errors, from the broken shower in the second bathroom that made the suite we'd reserved a good idea, to their attempt to solve that problem by putting Jeff and me in a room with just one double bed, to assorted confusions at dinner (mostly issues with my mother's dishes). Still, despite the annoyances, the place was very nice and the food excellent. This picture is of the gardens right outside, at dusk.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france13/

Tags: france
Current Location: Chateau d'Audrieu, 14250 Audrieu, France
Current Music: "Enterprise: Stratagem"

We spent Monday, 28 May, visiting a series of abbeys in Normandy. We were also in transit from Manoir des Saules, where we'd stayed the last two nights, to Château d'Audrieu, a beautiful, renovated estate chateau in the Calvados region.

The abbeys included this amazing huge facility, largely in ruins, with portions of walls still standing.

http://mha.14850.com/photos/2007/0705france12/

Tags: france