On Friday, June 30th, we made our way to the train station for our trip to the Normandy Region and a visit with our son Ryan and son-in-law Chris to stay in the Gîte on their property. The train ride was an adventure all by itself – first the train we were booked on was cancelled, then the second train we were on was overbooked. Furthermore, along the way there was a track problem and the train had to pause for about 30 minutes! Good thing we could communicate via text without any issues to keep everyone up to date on our arrival.
About 5 years ago, our son Ryan and his husband Chris decided to go to France for graduate school. Ryan worked on an International Business MBA while Chris worked on a Masters in Hospitality. Their programs lasted a couple of years and had them living first in Paris, and Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence and finally in Lyon. During this time, needless to say, they were able to visit much of France and experience hospitality via Airbnb, Vacation Rental by Owner and staying with friends. When they returned to the US, they had a short stint (about 6 months) of actively operating a Bed & Breakfast in Morro Bay (CA). So, it wasn’t a big surprise they decided to purchase a property and create a B&B in France.
Working with Ryan’s former advisor for his Masters Program, who has subsequently has become their business partner, they settled on a property in the village of Livarot.
This is the front of the building with two storefronts (different color fronts).
Livarot-Pays-d’Auge is a village of about 6,000 residents and has a major cheese producer plus a large apple cider processing plant. The cheese producer, E. Graindorge Cheese Dairy has been making cheese in the village since 1910 with ownership being passed down from father to son.
The company specializes in the production of the four Norman Protected Designations of Origin or PDO cheeses, Livarot,
The four cheeses they make
Pont-l’Eveque, Camembert de Normandie, Neufchatel. The other major producer is taking apples and making them into cider, both with and without distillation.
However, neither of these companies are why they choose this village – it was the property and general location in the Normandy Region of France that was the determination. The property, on one side, faces the main street, while on the other, it is along a small stream called Le Douet Fleury. On the property, there is an historic wash house, one of but a few remaining in the region. So, once they had the property, the river became the name of their overall property – Le Douet Fleury.
The property, consisting of several buildings along Rue Marcel Gambier, the main street of the village.
The exterior of the buildings they purchased.
The oldest part of the building dates from 1680, while newer portions date from 1810 and 1910. On the street side of the building, there are two spaces that have been used as storefronts previously and there is an existing Gîte (cottage or small apartment) on the property which has been a rental for some years and a lot of other space which reallyhaven’t been used beyond storage.
Chris, Janeen, Ryan and David relaxing in the Gīte.
The ultimate goal is to have a 4 suite Bed & Breakfast, 2 Gîtes, and 2 retail spaces. However, it will take some time to get all of this organized. Until all the modifications are completed, the existing Gîte is operating and producing some income and where we were booked for our week stay. You could also stay there, by going to www.ledouetfleury.fr!
Once they collected us at the train station, we got back to the Gîte and settled in.
The following day was a ‘Brocante’ or flea market in the village.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as cooperative as it could have been with rain falling periodically through the day. There were treasures for sure, but nothing that followed us home.
While all of this was going on, Janeen was having a Mani-Pedi done and relaxing at the local spa. Once we were all together we wandered back to the apartment and planned for our next adventure – a visit to Vélorail-Gare de Pont Erambourg and the Musee des Automates the following day.
On our last day in Paris, we had need of somewhere to have lunch prior to going to Musee de l’Orangerie and I remembered a friend, Randy, recommending Le Procope. This restaurant has been around since 1686 and is the oldest café in Paris.
It was the first restaurant in Europe to introduce coffee and to democratize it by serving it at tables in a china cup. They offer a traditional and bourgeois French cuisine, through different specialties such as Coq au vin and Tête de veau, braised beef cheek, homemade Mille-feuille and traditional Procopio-style Tiramisù. I made a reservation for lunch and we found our way to the place.
It is a large place with seating on two levels – the second level had at least 1 bus load of visitors while the first floor, where we sat, was singles and couples having lunch. The restaurant has many historic objects (including furnishings, treaties and written agreements) which all tell a stunning story. The most unusual item, in a glass case, is Napoleon’s bicorn hat, left by the Emperor as a pledge to cover the cost of his meal – which apparently he never claimed or paid his bill.
While this is clearly a tourist place, it did a great job of welcoming everyone and the food was well presented and delicious.
Creamy burrata with cherry tomatoes, tomato jam, Parmésan cheese,Avocado and shrimpIrish Cut” beef skirt steak bordelaise sauce, candied shallots, homemade French friesCoq au vinOur Desserts
While it won’t replace our original favorite place it will certainly be a place we can return to without hesitation.
After lunch, we took an Uber to l’Orangerie for our 3:30 scheduled entrance.
Musée de l’OrangerieJaneen waiting for our entrance time.
We have been to Paris a number of times, actually staying in Paris for 6 weeks two years in a row. However, we have never seen The Water Lilies by Claude Monet. We have visited Giverny and seen Monet’s home and studio and I have read Ross King’s book Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies so have some understanding of the back ground of The Water Lilies and why they ended up being given to the Government and placed in the Musée de l’Orangerie.
The Water Lilies cycle of paintings occupied Claude Monet for three decades, from the late 1890s until his death in 1926, at the age of 86. The series was inspired by the water garden he created at his Giverny estate in Normandy. Water Lilies, is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings he did over the period.
Those that eventually became the property of the French Government comprised a series of paintings and are very large and requires a large room for display. It was his intention all along that they be placed in a large building where they could be mounted on the walls so the viewer would be surrounded by all the beauty he had created.
On the lower level there were additional painters represented – mostly those that would have been contemporary to Monet. This collection included paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne and Modigliani among others: there are a total of 145 paintings in the collection covering the period from the impressionists to the 1930’s.
Roses on Black Background by Andre DerainWoman in White Hat by Pablo PicassoHenri Matisse – Nu Drapé Étendu
It was an interesting comparison to all the Water Lilies upstairs – all having been painted at about the same time.
After our visit to the l’Orangerie we went back to our apartment to finalize packing for our train trip to the Normandy region and our visit with Ryan and Chris.
We have completed the Mystery portion of our adventure and now it is off to France. Our first stop is Paris for a few days. From Amsterdam Central Station, via high-speed train, to Gare du Nord station in Paris. It is really amazing to be on a train, relaxing and enjoying the view through the windows and be zipping along at almost 200 miles an hour!
Our train arriving at the StationThe train actually topped out at 200 MPH!It was very comfortable on this train!It even included LUNCH!
Once in Paris, we took a very expensive gypsy cab to our VRBO near the Latin quarter of the city very close to Luxembourg Gardens. Our stay in Paris was really planned just to visit a couple of our favorite eateries and museums. Once into our apartment, a very nice ground floor 2-bedroom apartment, we strolled all of 10 yards outside the front door to a café on the corner for dinner.
The door to the buildingOur apt was at the end of this corridor.Nice sitting room.
The following morning, we used our Metro passes for a bus and strolled through the Luxembourg Gardens to Angelina’s café at the Museum.
The Palace atLuxembourg Gardens Sail boats abound!
This location of Angelina’s is small with both inside and outside seating. We had been here before and it was nice to re-visit this lovely spot.
Angelina’sInside seatingJaneen had Angelina’s take on Eggs BenedictDavid had the Croque Madame
After having a petit-déjeuner (breakfast) we went by the Apple store to get a new power source for my laptop (with an EU plug) and then off towards our lunch spot. Using a combination of bus and subways we found our way to The Musée Carnavalet.
The entrance hall with lots of signs
The Carnavalet Museum reflects the history of Paris from the origins of the city to the present day. This is one of Janeen’s favorite museums and we try and visit each time we are in Paris. It doesn’t hurt that it is free and there is a lovely garden café in the middle.
We have enjoyed more than one refreshing break in this garden area of the Museum
Located in the Marais district it presents collections on various themes: memories of the French Revolution, historical paintings, sculptures, furniture and decorations from and 18th and 19th centuries as well as 20th century posters and history.
The museum is made up of the former Hôtel Carnavalet and the Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, linked by a gallery on the first floor. Over 3,800 works and objects are exhibited in the permanent collection, among the hundred rooms that make up museum, 34 are decorative rooms, mainly from and 18th centuries. These rooms, sometimes called “period rooms”, are one of the particularities of the museum as they are exact recreations of actual rooms from various locations in Paris.
In 1941, the jeweller Georges Fouquet donated the remarkable decors from his boutique to the Musée Carnavalet. Designed by the artist Mucha in 1901, this decor had been conceived as a total work of art. Inspired by jewels, the floor, ceiling, furniture and lights reflect the natural curves of flowers and plants.
After our visit to the Museum, we headed towards where we were planning on having dinner- Le Réminet. We have been to this restaurant a number of times and have always been pleased with the service and food. However, as we walked up to the entrance (our reservation was for 7 pm), there was a pile of construction equipment being loaded into a truck. Seems they were having some work done and it hadn’t been completed yet and said to come back in 20 minutes. With time on our hands, we walked over to Avanti la Musica – a very special place with lots (well hundreds really) of different music boxes and nifty stuff.
Siloihie, the owner, greeted us warmly and when I mentioned we had been there a number of times and showed her a picture of Ryan, our son, she immediately remembered him and us! From her, we learned that the owner of Le Réminet had sold the restaurant and it was no longer ‘as we remembered it’. So, for all of you who I have recommend this to in the past, you can delete this recommendation.
Instead of going to Le Réminet, we went to Bistro 65 instead.
This is still owned by the same person who had owned Le Réminet and Chef Eric was in the kitchen! We have learned to follow chefs so it was an easy decision to change our dinner plans accordingly. Siloihie called ahead for us and told Fabien, the manager on duty, who we were and our appreciation of both Chef Eric and Norbert (the primary manager) and arranged our table. When we arrived, Fabien and Suzon (both of whom had previously worked with Norbert at Le Réminet) greeted us warmly and took excellent care of us during our dinner..
Fabien and Suzon at the serving window.Dessert was delicious!
After dinner we went back to our apartment and relaxed for the rest of the day.
It’s been several months since we posted to our blog. But don’t despair, we are heading out for our next adventure very soon – another Mystery Cruise with UniWorld. This time we start and end in Amsterdam but beyond that we don’t have many clues as to what we will see or do. Pending internet connections, a blog will be posted frequently to highlight our adventures. As always, your comments and thoughts are always appreciated.
Just remember, just because we Wander doesn’t mean we are lost.
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Sunday the 18th we drove back to France to hook up with Ryan and Chris in their new hometown Livarot. They had booked us into a lovely B&B, Dom’s Garden, about a five-minute walk away from the home they are purchasing. They had checked us into the place so all the hard work was done – and they even carried the suitcases for us!
The living room and bed area very nice.The patio didn’t get much use, but it was lovely.
The reason we are in Livarot is that our son Ryan and husband Chris have purchased a property in the town and are in the process of developing it. As yet they don’t “own” it as the French paperwork seems to take forever.
The property includes both the light mint colored building and the blue building next to it.The ‘back yard’ of their new property. They will own everything inside this picture. They have lots of work to do before it is ready for visitors.
Over the course of the next several days they drove us around and we visited a bunch of local attractions.
Our first day we visited the E. Graindorge Cheese producer. Livarot has it’s own cheese and this places makes a LOT of it. We toured their production facility and learned all about the cows, the milk, how the process is accomplished and all the stuff to understand how this factory makes special cheese. At the end of the tour, we of course had to sample a few cheeses. They make four different cheeses – Livarot, Pont-L’Evêque, Normandy Camembert and Neufchâtel.
They make a lot of cheese in this buildingThe four kinds of cheese they makeCheese aging roomA sample box of cheese
The Pays d’Auge is perhaps the most natural and most distinguished regions in France. The soil is rich and fertile and the climate is particularly favorable. Using the milk from Normandy Cows, they produce four cheeses of Normandy – of course the only one I hadn’t heard of before was the Livarot cheese.
The next day, Tuesday, we our breakfast at the B&B and Ryan and Chris picked us up and we headed out first to walk the local market and then off to the Chateau of Saint-Germain de Livet.
We have never seen livestock at a market before, and of course there were several stalls with clothing. The honey seller also included a piece of a bee hive just to make sure you know where the hone was coming from.
Chateau of Staint-Germain de Livet, was built during the 15th and 16th century on the site of an old medieval fortress. It changed hands several times until it was bought by Julien and Augusta Pillaut in the 1920s and remained their property until their deaths. With no descendants, Augusta decides to donate it to the city of Lisieux. Since 2011, the castle-museum of Saint-Germain-de-Livet has been managed by the relevant EPCI Museum Pole, which brings together with it the Lisieux Museum of Art and History. While the inside of the Castle was not available, walking around the grounds was very nice. The swans, ducks and peacocks think so too.
Several ‘tradition’ peacocks were on the property.We only saw one white peacock.Janeen, Ryan, David and Chris (incase you didn’t know who they area).
After a moat- side luncheon, we traveled to the Chateau & Jardins of Boutemont for Janeen’s garden “fix”.
After a nice lunch, we piled into the car and head to Chateau de Boutemont. The current site of the Château de Boutemont was occupied at the end of the14th or the beginning of the15th century by a fortified house. Until this period, the estate belonged to the Boutemont family. Over the next couple hundred years it passed through several families who made some changes but generally kept the building in the same configuration. It wasn’t until it was purchased by Jean-Baptiste Le Bas, adviser to the Court of Aids of Normandy in the 17th century the gardens were expanded and the construction of a new façade, removal of various outbuildings and the surrounding wall located to the west was done. In 1745, the property came, by marriage, into the hands of David Guéroult, the last lord of Boutemont until the Revolution. Not much happened with the castle until it was bought in 1915 by Commodore Charley Drouilly, who entrusted Achille Duchênewith the task of recreating the gardens in a classical style known as “à la française”. In the 1980s the château was acquired by the current owner Armand and Hélène Sarfati who are working to restore and develop the park.
The front of the building – two rooms, one on either side of the entrance, are open for viewing.
The grounds are open to the public (a fee of course) and two rooms in the castle. The main building and the inner courtyard are used by the current owner and his family. The day was beautiful and we had a lovely time.
We were having a lovely day for sure.
Wednesday, our last day of our visit to Livarot, we headed to the English Channel and the Etretat Gardens. Located about 90 minutes from Livarot, the small town of Etretat is right on the English Channel and has a lovely garden at the top of the cliffs. As were delayed in our arrival, due to a hay wagon we were following for several miles, we didn’t make the 10:30 little train to the gardens. This meant we were still around when I ran into someone from my past. In the ‘it’s really a small world’ standing in front of me was my boss 20 years from Glendale – Gary Hopkins. He and his wife were on a Tauck Tour and were stopped only for a few minutes before getting on their coach for more advenutres.
Gary & Mary Hopkins with David & JaneenThe Mini Train ride to the top of the cliffs.
The garden is a playground where lush topiary, architecture and contemporary art dialogue in all poetry.
The project is the winner of the European Garden Award in the category “Best development of a historic park or garden”, possesses one MICHELIN star in the Green Guide, listed among “Great Gardens of the World” and has the label “Remarkable Garden”.
At the end of the 19th century, French actress Madame Thébault named Villa Roxelane after one of her famous character — the legendary wife of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Madame Thébault was a friend of Claude Monet, who spent many hours working on his canvases in Etretat.
In 1905, inspired by the artist, Madame Thébault decided to create a garden at the top of the Amont cliff that would reflect Monet’s work with avant-garde elements mixed with a touch of impressionism. The famous and emblematic view opening from the garden on La Manche and the cliffs inspired such famous painters as Claude Monet, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Delacroix, Edouard Manet and Vasily Polenov.
Close to the entrance of the Gardens, is a Chapel. This is dedicated to Blessed Saint Valery, is one of the most emblematic monuments of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.
Former outbuilding of the Abbey, a survivor of the revolution, rebuilt and last inaugurated in 1880, it rises majestically in the middle of the fields on the wooded mountain that dominates the medieval city and the Bay of Somme.
The site of the Chapel, and the gardens, is at the top of the cliff. The view down to the village is rather amazing.
After visiting the gardens and walking around the Chapel, we took the Mini Train back to the city center and walked along the boardwalk prior to having a lovely lunch and our starting our journey back towards Livorat.
On the way back to our B&B, we stopped in Lisieux and visited The Basilica of Sainte-Thérès. Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, Bishop Thomas-Paul-Henri Lemonnier, decided to build a large basilica dedicated to her in the city where she lived and died. The building is in the shape of a Latin cross, with nave, choir and transept. The crossing is surmounted by an imposing dome. The internal volume is all in one piece, without collateral or ambulatory aisles. Due to the absence of columns, all who attend mass have an unobstructed view. Much of the basilica interior is covered with intricate and colorful mosaics.
The following day, Ryan and Chris drove us to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for our flight to Munich and the start of our UniWorld Mystery Cruise – more on that adventure soon.
