The French Journal

On PBS, Monet's Palate

Aileen Bordman loves Monet and Normandy a lot, and she's managed to convert her enthusiasm to an enterprise dedicated to those entities. One of the offshoots of her efforts is a television show, Monet's Palate, which will air this month on PBS. Featuring narration by Meryl Streep and appearances by renown chefs such as Alice Waters and Daniel Boulud, the documentary is a celebration of Monet and the food that he enjoyed when he was alive. A list of times that the documentary will show is on the Monet's Palate website and blog. A three minute promo video heads this post.

TJF news round-up: The Tower is spared, Nouvel, Delon, another Sarko divorce?, Steves on drugs

As many updates as I can squeeze into 25 minutes:

• At least my instincts were right. Praise be to Charles Bremner, who reports that the story about the redesign of the Eiffel Tower, which I blogged last week with the header "This is a joke, right?", is indeed a joke. Now if I could only retract the nasty-gram I sent to the Eiffel Tower authorities. (HT Learn French with the Bible.)
• Nouvel news. French architect Jean Nouvel has been awarded the Pritzker Prize, one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field. Nouvel is only the second French citizen to be so honored. Christian de Portzamparc was the first. (Business Week)
• Delon-ly life. A new box of DVDs featuring the lithe and lovely Alain Delon has been released in the United States. The New York Times's review of the set concentrates on La Piscine/The Swimming Pool, a roundelay of sex and sun. Amazon is selling the set for a dirt cheap $31.00.
• Bruni/Sarko divorce? Not really, but it's April Fools Day, and I need to liven things up.
• Steves on Mont Saint Michel, plus drugs. I just wrote about Mont-Saint-Michel, sort of, last week, so I'll simply make you aware that Rick Steves has syndicated his view of its magnificence for those who can never get enuff (CNN). BTW, Steves is praised in an NYT op-ed piece today for his progressive stance on the decriminalization of marijuana. And that isn't a joke.

A pilgrim to Mont-Saint-Michel

It's the last week of Lent, so I'm going to look after your souls and demand more rigor from you than usual for a Monday morning. We're going to walk about 170 miles from the town of Argentan to Mont-Saint-Michel, the magnificent cathedral off the Normandy coast (San Antonio News-Express). This journey is not for those who may want descriptive passages about the beautiful villages along the way; instead, there's historical tidbits about the cathedral (built on a spot where Saint Michael the Archangel supposedly put a sword in a bishop's skull) and information about pilgrims of other times (motivations: spiritual indulgences and miracles) and practical advice ("...high tech underwear that almost wash and dried itself..."). For this trip, even the cathedral itself is a goal, not an opportunity for much prose.

For non-Christians who may not be interested in the other-worldly benefits of this piece: the journey is an effective weight-reduction device as well.

Magazine alert: Gourmet goes French bistro (with visits to the Jura and Le Perche)

This month's Gourmet highlights "French Bistro" cooking, a topic which they define broadly enough to take in classic dishes from many regions of France. The emphasis is on recipes and glamour shots of food, but there are a couple of "informational" articles, too. The most enjoyable is about a businessman in Normandy's Le Perche region who has created the baguette du Perche, a loaf using locally grown flour, and about his goal of having it labeled as a "produit du Parc naturel du Perche," something like an A.O.C. recognition. Another piece -- with the awful, punning title of "Jura the Obscure" -- tells of a few of the local specialties: vin jaune, absinthe, and a cows-milk cheese called "Mont d'Or," one of those marvelous, smelly, runny specimens that never make it to the U.S. because they're unpasteurized.

At the moment, those features are not on-line; they may appear in archives after the newsstand date. However, ten of the "bistro" recipes are available, including steak frites, a Provençal fish stew, and a vegetarian (!) cassoulet.

Going upscale at Deauville

One of my favorite travel writers, Anthony Peregrine, has visited the Normandy seaside resort of Deauville for The Times (London), with his wry POV intact. The town caters to money, and Peregrine is both amused by and admiring of efforts at extreme customer service:

"I asked one (staff member) where the lift was. He insisted on accompanying me, in case I got lost. It was about 25ft away. Clearly, the really rich are different from the rest of us. They have no sense of direction."

The town has many things going for it: endless beaches, race tracks and casinos, regular events like film and music festivals to attract and distract the rich. Railings along the boardwalk (called here the "prom," as in -- I presume -- "promenade") are festooned with the names of movie stars. To give a pretense of honoring local traditions, nearby mansions have been constructed in the Norman farmhouse style, but "to which a bicycle pump has been applied, blowing them up to extravagant proportions...The whole town is, in fact, such a splendid seaside parody of the real Normandy that it creates its own historical reality – geometrically satisfying, rooted and quite bonkers."

Peregrine makes a side trip to the neighboring, rival town of Trouville. "As Deauville subsequently drained off the worldly, artists, writers and that sort of person stayed faithful to Trouville. Flaubert and Dumas were fans."

Whether it's Peregrine's view, or the towns themselves, the case for a visit is made, even in February.

Truc: Visitin' Caen

My two most lasting memories of Caen are getting lost on my way to the WWII museum and then the museum itself, which is extraordinary. Not quite a drive-by, but close. This visitor's guide to Caen from The Telegraph (U.K.) isn't strong on descriptions of local color -- it's short and functional -- but it is about Caen, of which little is usually written. The city was largely rebuilt after World War II. Had I not been waylaid, I would have tried to see the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames.

Bottom line: if you want some info about traveling to Caen, this article will get you started, but it may not finish you. For everyone else, the link above will lead the WWII museum site, where you can take a virtual tour.

Bayeux country

There's a sweet story from the Dallas Morning News about a family's short visit to Bayeux in Normandy. It reminded me of the spell that can fall over you when you stay somewhere in France that's not overrun by tourists. The atmosphere is almost cozy. You feel, somehow, that you're part of a community instead of one of an undifferentiated mass of visitors.

The chief attraction in Bayeux, of course, is the famous tapestry, "900-year-old, 230-foot-long...an exquisite piece of art, extraordinary in its hand embroidery, detail and storytelling qualities."  It chronicles the victories of William the Conquerer in 1066. My own memory of the tapestry is less effusive; I found it of more interest for its historic value than its art, perhaps, but of interest nonetheless. Bayeux itself is a charming place, although my stay there was only a few hours, part of a day long trip which included one or two other nearby towns. That would affirm, however, the story's suggestion that it serves as a wonderful base for an visit to the region, within driving distance to many Normandy sights.

Spirits#3: Post-prandial sips of Calvados, Cognac, and Armagnac

For our final round, what's better than a French brandy? Forgive the coarse over-simplification of that designation. As an antidote, Anthony Peregrine of The Telegraph (U.K.) offers this tour of three areas where distilled spirits are made in France:

• Calvados: Made in Normandy, "(i)t is the best thing you can do with the fruit by a country mile. It bestows a glow, and is also good for you. One glassful contains seven apples; consistent drinking will keep the medical corps at bay indefinitely."
• Cognac: "The four major companies - Hennessy, Courvoisier, Rémy Martin, Martell ...control 80 per cent of production...The French drink less than five per cent of Cognac produced. Ponder this over an XO after dinner. Then pick up the tab, and you will understand why." This section contains the informational nugget that Dutch traders called the drink "brandwijn" (burned wine), which English-speakers converted into "brandy."
• Armagnac: "Armagnac is, like Cognac, a grape spirit, but it is distilled once in a single, continuous process, as opposed to Cognac's double distillation. People say this gives it a down-home, rustic flavour, in contrast to Cognac's "superbness". But the claim is out of date...Even Russians don't pay £6,000 for "down-home rustic."

Travel information abounds. 

Real estate notes à la française

For those of you who want to invest in French real estate, some recent stories offer unique opportunities for you to learn about the market.

• I think I saw this movie. In Lower Normandy, a pair of twin brothers from the U.K. have worked for years on restoring a manor house. They prove to be somewhat inept at the concept of flipping, since the renovations have stretched on for years and exhausted them, but their story in The Telegraph (UK) offers an entertaining look at an obsession. There's also an unusual subtext to the feature, as these guys have been "virtually inseparable since birth" -- 46 years ago. And now love has entered the picture for one of the brothers...the manor is now for sale...the other brother isn't thrilled...
• Be sure to read the fine print. Meanwhile, over in Avignon, there's a prison for sale (IOL-South Africa). There's "only one condition," that is, all or part of the building must be turned in a 110-room luxury hotel. The concept may be that one prison cell equals one luxury hotel room. That either speaks well of French jails, or badly about Avignon's concept of hospitality.
• For the disenchanted French: the U.S. has lots of property à vendre these days. The Times (London) reports that the British are purchasing the patrimoine at a premium. Not a surprise, although a few locals are less than overjoyed that house prices have increased 120% in the last decade.
• How do you say "homesick and broke" in French? Still, the British Invasion has not necessarily been a stunningly successful idea for everyone. The Telegraph tells a cautionary tale of a young couple, with children, who found even the simple life requires a) a job, and b) a working knowledge of the language.

Green France: Four for the environment

Label France, an official publication of the French Cultural Services, highlights four cities this month for unique and/or exceptional efforts to protect the environment. While some of the articles are very brief, at a minimum they will introduce you to a few places you've never heard of before. They include:

• Angers, a "city of the Pays de la Loire region (which) has become a European benchmark in its treatment of environmental, economic and social issues,"
• Amiens, in Picardie, producing energy by the use of the Volaga Process, which creates fuel from household waste,
• Caen, pioneering in the cultivation of "bêtes à bon dieu," a.k.a. ladybugs, as a way to control pests that infest the town's gardens, and
• Chambéry, a city in the Rhône-Alpes, investing heavily in solar energy.