À la recherche du temps perdu

For those of you familiar with Marcel Proust, his famous work about his childhood, A Remembrance of Things Past, opens with Proust recalling his grandmere's madeleines... for me it is a remembrance of a retirement portfolio... these last several weeks have been all consuming watching the meltdown of the world's economic system... and the final days of an election that has the whole world remembering things past... and craving change, not madeleines.
This is also a time for reflection on our year here in Paris and France that will be drawing to a close in 3 short months. And being that l'automne has arrived in France (although it was more summer-like this weekend than most of the summer!), we are beginning to see exhibits at the Louvre that will start after we leave, and orange trees taken back to their orangeries for blossoms next spring when we will be at home.
....But we are still here and enjoying every minute (not looking at the news on CNN, although I love watching the world wide weather!).
We made a return trip to Normandy this weekend with David's sister and her family. We had spent a full day there this spring when Timothy came to visit --another trip I have not had a chance to write about! (Ask me sometime about Champagne, Rouen, Reims, Provins, the Rhone Valley....Carcassone, Cordes-sur-Ciel...!) And we included a return trip to Giverny to see the gardens in the fall (which has created a demand for seeing the gardens in the spring!) While the colors in France are not as dramatic as those in New England, (they are missing the bright reds and brilliant oranges) they are golden yellows and softer oranges, but punctuated with longer blooming flowers like dahlias and asters. And the lighting was different since our last visit as the angle of the sun has changed since July/August. Being this far north, the sun is at a different angle at 3 pm than it is at 3pm in Boston. (you get fabulously long shadows!)



Normandy is not unlike Vermont --apple orchards, rolling hills, cows and farms-- but with old stone churches and rambling stone farmhouses, and the magnificent sandy beaches. However, they make cidre (slightly alcoholic), Pommeau (slightly more alcoholic),and Calvados (definitely more alcoholic!) with their apples --there is NO apple wine. But, with all those cows, there are great cheeses --Pont L'Eveque, Livarot, Camembert...
Since we had spent a day there in May, we did see the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, the site of one of the D-Day landings of American troops, and several of the other Normandy beaches. These beaches are wide and sandy, and it is almost impossible to imagine the equipment, men and bodies filling them on June 6, 1944. The cemeteries --American, British, Canadian, and German-- are the reality. Our visitors left to see these memorials, and we caught up with them to walk the beach.







Le Mont-St-Michel was built on the rocky island of Monte-Tombe just off the coast (or it was just of the coast until they built a causeway in 1877; the entire area has silted in with sand, and the French government is in the process of some massive earthworks) beginning in the 8th century. The legend of the abbey is that the Archangel Michael appeared to Aubert, the Bishop of Avaranches (just up the coast to the east) and instructed him to build the abbey. The Bishop did not respond in a timely manner (considering the site, he probably thought it was a nightmare), and St. Michael appeared again, a bit more insistent. The story is that to make his point, St. Michael pushed his thumb into the head of Aubert --and left a hole. The bishop's skull, complete with hole, is on display in the abbey church. Legends aside, Le Mont-St-Michel is one of the most spectacular and beautiful places to visit --and it retains its spiritual atmosphere once you get into the abbey itself. My two favorite spots are the cloister and the refectory (of which there is not a picture, je suis desolee..)



Remember the Battle of Hastings? I still remember my high school history teacher telling us that 1066 was the date of the most important event in Western European history. It is the year that William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold. Son of a powerful Saxon noble, Harold had been sent by King Edward the Confessor, to tell William, his cousin, that he was to be Edward's successor. The Battle occurred after William had rescued Harold (who lost his way and was captured by Count Guy de Ponthieu), and given Harold his daughter to be his wife. Harold vowed loyalty to William and returned to England. However, he accepted the crown at Edward's death. William was not happy. He had boats built and he and his army invaded England. (The essence of the story from high school was that the French brought civilization to the rather barbaric Englishmen --we can wonder about how successful they were... they did not succeed in the arena of cooking!)
All of this story is told in embroidery on the Bayeux Tapestry. It is a 230 feet long and 19 inches wide, woolen threads on a linen fabric. Thought to be about 900 years old, it tells the story of Harold, as he is sent to tell to William, Duke of Normandy, of Edward's naming of him as successor, through the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings (October 14, 1066), and concluding with Harold's death and the fleeing of the English soldiers. The tapestry is divided into more than 50 segments, each depicting a historical event. The events range from scenes of boats and horses, battles and meals, fighting and boat building --and the top and bottom borders show fantastic animals, scenes from the lives of the people, and details from the larger scenes. There is a Latin narration for each segment (none read "Mission Accomplished"). The information in the tapestry is what is truly amazing --from the clothing and hair styles to the expressions on the faces-- and gives a good sense of what was going on and the styles of the times, all with a needle and thread. Obviously, the tapestry is in a sealed, humidity controlled case in a darkened room, so pas de photos...


But just to give a sense of the tapestry, these snapshots (they do not do any justice to the piece) are from a book we purchased. The one of William looking backward has his face mask raised to show his troops that he is still alive (sort of like Le President Bush making these recent appearances after the stock market tumbled 1000+ points... but William was the Conqueror and finished his wars...).
Seeing the tapestry was something I wanted to do since being in high school, and there we were! Bayeux, interestingly enough, was the first town liberated after D-Day; it was freed on June 7, 1944 --and was not damaged. There is some symmetry here, but I do not need to add my comments to French/British relations... although, the French certainly made winning the Revolutionary War against the British a reality for the Americans (too bad they could not civilize more of us... in Alaska, for example). A remembrance of things past that many Americans choose not to remember.