Normandy

... and on PiP a mansion "Belle Epoque", typically for Cabourg and the Norman seaside resorts.

The 15th century carriage house "Boule d’Or"., one of the mansions scattered throughout the countryside.

Amateur de cafés typiquement atypiques, en voici un, ouvert depuis 1928. Si on ne s'y fait plus couper les cheveux (la maison a conservé son activité de café-coiffeur-barbier jusqu'en 1972), le lieu n'en demeure pas moins unique et attachant. Lovers of typical atypical coffeeshops, here is one, opened since 1928. No hair is cut any more there (the house kept his activity of coffee- and barbershop until 1972), but the place remains no less unique and endearing.

Bouvron-en-Auge is a small Normandy village with the distinctive and attractive architecture of the region. It's affiliated to the Label "the most beautiful villages of France".

2nd PODIUM WINNER, CWP "Street Photography" MARCH 2022

The gatehouse (16th C.) with 4 circular turrets is a two-storey pavilion which construction combines red and black bricks and is considered the first witness of Renaissance architecture in Normandy.

Le château de Carrouges (14e-17e siècle) est entouré de douves en eaux vives et fait de brique, de granit et d'ardoise. Il abrite également de somptueux appartements au décor Renaissance. Autour de la demeure, l'agréable parc de 10 h a conservé ses splendides grilles en fer forgé du 17e siècle.

No, it is not a chateau in the Loire Valley! It is one of the many in Normandy which are smaller but nevertheless fascinating (and with much less tourists...).

... with these field of fleecy clouds. CIEL ETONNANT avec ce champ de nuages moutonnées. TOLLER HIMMEL mit diesem Feld von Schäfchenwolken.

... et un peu plus tard le tableau du ciel s'est montré ainsi. THE EVENING CONTINUES... .. .. and a little later the sky "painting" appeared like this. DER ABEND GEHT WEITER .. und wenig später zeigte sich das Himmelsbild so.

Et puis le soir tombe par taches Les musiciens rangent leurs saxos Et leurs violons et leurs moustaches Dans les jardins du casino (Jacques Brel)

In a vast grassland, further along the river Sarthe there is this small 15th C. chapel on the site where Saint-Ceneri originally settled. The chapel contains a statue of the Saint to which various miracles have been attributed: young ladies hoping to get married soon should bring a needle with them to the chapel to stick in the robe of the saint - if it stays in place you will be married within a year. Equally, ladies wanting to get pregnant should lie on the large stone in the chapel floor, which was the stone on which the saint slept, and can expect to fall pregnant shortly.

Built on a former sarcophagus in the 11th C., the church is in a simple roman style and built in sandstone and granite on a rocky promontory. The main decorative element being the arches in the clocktower, and contains some very high quality frescoes painted in the 12th and 14th C. In part, the frescoes are in such good condition because they were plastered over in the 17th C. only to be redicovered 200 years later!!

Posé dans une boucle de la Sarthe qu'enjambe un petit pont de pierre, Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei "enroule" ses anciennes maisons de bourg autour de l'église romane du XIe s. aux fresques exceptionnelles. Sur l'autre rive de la Sarthe, face à la charmante chapelle du XVe s., une source miraculeuse, née de la prière de Saint-Céneri, aurait le pouvoir de guérir certaines maladies des yeux... AS IF TIME HAD STOOD STILL... Placed in a loop of the Sarthe spanned by a small stone bridge, Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei "wraps" its old town houses around the 11th C. Romanesque church with exceptional frescoes. On the other bank of the Sarthe, opposite the charming 15th century chapel, a miraculous spring, born from the prayer of Saint-Céneri, would have the power to cure certain eye diseases ... ALS WÄRE DIE ZEIT STEHEN GEBLIEBEN... Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei liegt in einer Schleife der Sarthe, die von einer kleinen Steinbrücke überspannt wird. Die alten Bürgerhäuser sind um die romanische Kirche gebaut (11. Jh., mit aussergewöhnlichen Fresken). Am anderen Ufer der Sarthe, gegenüber der bezaubernden Kapelle aus dem 15. Jh., befindet sich die "wundersame Quelle". Sie soll aus dem Gebet von Saint-Céneri entstanden sein und die Kraft haben, bestimmte Augenkrankheiten zu heilen...