Blogs from Le Havre, Upper Normandy, France, Europe

About to start another working day. Yesterday was full of awe and revelation. M. Houellebecq's win in the Prix Goncourt took no one by surprise but did generate a lot of sales for the book. Gilles highly recommend that I read Purge by Sofi Oksanen which has just been translated into French and is set in Estonia during and after WW2.I'll have to see if it has been published in English. The French seem to have an even greater penchant for Scandanavian authors than the English speaking world. I am also discovering that there are quite a few works by local authors. I spent yesterday morning in large format literature. The wall of Le Pleiade titles is rather striking and I even got to witness someone buying one! These are the beautiful sleeved leather bound editions, ... read more

Yesterday, Monday, I spent my first full day as guest bookseller at La Galerne bookshop in Le Havre. This large bookshop over two levels offers a wide range of books across many different themes. I spent the morning in bandes dessinees and the afternoon in essais/beaux livres. There are BDs in many genres from historical and realist to BDs for young girls and children. Among the ones for young girls was one that celebrated shopping! I don't think that I will be ordering that one for Language International. Pascal runs the department was very warm and welcoming. He was happy to show me his favourites which again gave me another perspective on the genre. The strangest one so far (or should that be, most obscure?)is the BD that mocks wine critic Robert Parker. The essais/beaux livres ... read more

Wet Sundays in Le Havre are very quiet. We are the only people in the hotel today. A market set up below on Sunday morning so we had a look around that. Had to tell myself that I cannot buy kitchenware - it is too heavy and I know that I will be bringing back quite a few books, already having accumulated a few (gifts and purchases). It rained most of the day. We had a walk around the market and then had an excellent goulash soup for lunch. We walked to the tourist bureau after lunch which is opposite the waterfront and then went to an exhibitiion of maritime paintings and ephemera by Roger Chapelet. This was a lovely exhibition and a talk was given on the technique of gouache - the medium favoured by ... read more

Departure Date minus 1. I've just started this blog and am unfamiliar with how it works. Anyway the idea is to record a holiday that Jane and I are taking in France. The mode of transport being the Big Bad Chev (my Chevrolet Camaro, the hero of the Big Drive Home in 2002), back to doing what it does best: long distrance cruising. The plan is to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre and stay the first night in Honfleur. Then travel to Carnac in Brittany to look at prehistoric standing stones and dolmens: comparing them with the ones we've enjoyed locating and visiting in West Wales (but without the accompanying pagan rituals). Afterwards the plan is more flexible, heading south via La Rochelle to look at the cave paintings at Lascaux in the ... read more

Tuesday August 4th What a difference a Channel makes The weather pattern really does look like it has changed but the forecast too for France was for fine weather so summer is officially declared back on track for the BBA. It is only a short distance to Dover and the Sea France ferry to Calais but we wanted to get there in plenty of time to locate where the ferry sailed from and because we anticipate there will be some customs and emigration forms to be completed on our departure from UK soil. Breakfast has been a bonus when it has been part of the tarrif and cooked for us but we dreaded the thought of the hotel buffet which we thought would be on offer considering the dinner was buffet.Sure enough it was a buffet.So ... read more

It was truly amazing, seeing the Normandy landing beaches and the American cemetery. This was one of the main reasons we selected this cruise. . .since watching "Saving Private Ryan" when I was in high school, seeing the Normandy beaches has been on my own "bucket list". I was certainly not disappointed. Anyone with even the slightest inkling of patriotism would be totally moved by what we saw today. It sort of amazes me, how so many young men (most of them still teenagers) were willing to do what these guys did, and not because of any threat to their own homeland but to liberate a country across the ocean. There is an inscription in the marble portico that is the entrance to the American cemetary that says: "For the ultimate sacrifice in the spread of ... read more

Greetings from the coastal city of Le Havre. We arrived here a couple of days ago from Amsterdam...I must admit we were happy to leave the cold rainy weather and come into hot sunny weather...We met our new hosts Abi and Alex. They are our age and they are both social workers. Both of them have been wonderful hosts. They took us to Etretat a little seaside town with a killer view off white cliffs lookin down at rock formations to the endless blue sea below. Then we found a nearly desserted rock beach to get some sun. The rock beach is totally different than in America because they are not pebbles but rather large rocks. People just put their towels or chairs on the rocks as if it really were sand...nonetheless my feet were hurting ... read more

What a day to land in Le Havre!! For those who went to go to Normandy, it is D-Day--the 64th anniversary. It is also Kathy Teske's Birthday--I won't tell you which anniversary it is for her and we went to Paris. The French Government was up to their favorite tricks--obstructing things and being hard to get along with. They would not clear us for immigration so we sat in a holding pattern in the Explorer's Lounge for more than an hour and a half. This really put a damper--in more ways than one on our excusion for the day. It is more than a 2 hour drive to Paris from Le Harve so that cut into the amount of time we could spend exploring Paris. It was also a little cloudy and overcast. Linda and Steve ... read more