France

Macarons. I first saw them in Paris, but it wasn’t long before I realized these small round, garishly colored cookies were available in every French gift store, bakery and cafe. The problem was, my brain immediately confused them with the American macaroon, which is a dollop of baked coconut. Since I had no interest in coconut confections, I kept passing them by. Until I landed in Saint Malo, that is. This small village on the Brittany coast had not been on my itinerary but when I decided to take a bit of a break at Au Bon Accueil Bed and Breakfast, the owners, Jane and Paul Cunnison, convinced me to set one day aside to explore the charming town.

Braving chilly late October temperatures, I bundled up and hopped on the train for the 15-minute ride to Saint Malo. Another quarter-hour walk brought me to the gates of the the old walled city known as the Intra-Muros. For hours I wandered around the cobblestone streets, following round brass markers embedded into the streets and sidewalks that led me on a historic walking tour. When my fingers finally turned numb from the cold I stumbled into the nearest place where I could get a hot cup of coffee, Macarons Chocolats de Luxe Philippe Bouvier. Wouldn’t you know it, I had landed in the shop of one of the most famous macaron makers in all of France.

I never know what is going to ignite my travel curiosity. It can be an article in a magazine, a documentary, or a discussion with a friend. In the case of Mont Saint Michel, it was the latter. Some years ago, I was lying on a massage table at Balance et Harmonie Massage in Sarasota, Florida, as owner Nancy Bouffigny-Enmeier worked her magic on my sore muscles when she began talking about her childhood in Normandy, France. She told me about a Medieval church, built on a rock, just off the coast of France. When the tide came in, water completely surrounded the tiny islet, but outgoing tides laid bare miles of sand. Her family would spend warm summer days romping on the sand beneath the fairytale castle. By the time I rolled off her table I was itching to know more, so she pulled up a photo of Mont Saint Michel on the Internet. I was hooked; someday I would have to see this amazing place.

When I finally decided to tour France, Mont Saint Michel was at the top of my list. I hopped on a train to Pontorson, where I was met by one of the owners of Au Bon Accueil Gité, a lovely old three-story converted stone farmhouse in the country. The owners, Jane and Paul, are Brits who relocated to France a couple of years ago to escape the rat race. Paul’s story is much like mine.

My guide from the Mémorial de Caen Museum, Rosine Champion, leaned against a low seawall and held up photos of the giant rolls of barbed wire and semi-submerged iron hedgehogs that Germans installed on Omaha Beach during World War II to thwart potential invasions. Shivering in the blustery November winds, I pulled my army-green sweatshirt up around my ears and gazed over the historic strip of sand. Children played tag with the undulating tide and couples strolled hand-in hand. In the distance, a few tourists clustered around “Les Braves,” a remarkable sculpture by artist Anilore Ban that sweeps its balletic stainless steel wings skyward in commemoration of the more than 4,000 Allied troops who lost their lives on that fateful day in 1944.

“It’s hard to believe that this was a site of such carnage,” I remarked.

Champion pointed to an unassuming cottage on the opposite side of the road, tucked between sand dunes crowned with dense vegetation. “That’s the only house on Omaha Beach that survived the Normandy invasion,” she explained.” Gradually, families rebuilt and these days Omaha Beach is a very popular vacation spot with the French.”

Versailles Palace, located in the western suburbs of Paris, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in France. I’m not often a fan of such iconic tourism sites, as they’re often overrated and offer little opportunity to truly experience local culture. But visiting Versailles falls into an entirely different category, as it has figured … Read more