Out of This World

                      No, this is not their castle. It is Hautefort, one of many to visit locally. We left a windy, raw Mont Saint Michel late in the afternoon and headed south into the storm clouds. There are toll roads for a couple of hours, but in France when you reach some remote regions you will find only local roads. It’s 345 miles, but the fastest route takes 7 1/2 hours. More on driving in France in a later post.   Suffice it to say it’s a white-knuckle drive in the dark during a thunderstorm. It doesn’t help you are playing chicken with French drivers. Calling ahead, Ed and Candace don’t mind we’ll arrive after 10pm, and I’m in no hurry to take risks driving too fast. We met 3 years ago when they first arrived in Dordogne. Theresa and I rented a stone farmhouse for a month to see if we wanted to move to that region. One day we passed by a magnificent castle; I wanted to take pictures and there was a gentlema...

The land surrounding this "island" is flat and Mont Saint Michel stands out as you approach from any direction. It is a tidal island where high tides of 46 feet run swiftly and cover the majority of the land surrounding the walls.  One can sit on one of the many terrace restaurants and watch the tides splash in creating the island in the time it takes to finish your wine. Begun as a monastery in the 8th century with continuous building into a medieval community, it became a French stronghold in the 15th century never to be captured by the British in the 100 Years War. The soft sands at low tide made it impossible to bring bombards (ancient cannons) into use and the rushing high tide often drowned would be attackers.                                               Approaching from about 3 KM away   It stands 302 feet above sea level with another 200 feet to the ...

                                Typical countryside where paratroopers landed early morning June 6                                               Driveway inside the gates of La Porte Rouge A 90-minute flight from Munich brings us to Paris. Once inside Europe there are no more customs or passport checks, like flying in the U.S. The rental cars are near the airport exit and it should be easy to pick up a vehicle. You will most likely get a manual transmission with no air-conditioning.  I was lucky to get a large, automatic sedan with air and GPS – in English, no less. But I got even more: a car covered in bird poop as if a Pterodactyl had flown over.  I asked the agent if someone could clean it up, and he replied “No, I’m the only one here.  You can wait an hour if you want anot...