PARIS DISPATCH III
Returned last night from an overnight trip to Normandie. We took a fancy-pants French high-speed train to Renne (in Brittany), visited the medieval walled city of Dinan, and stayed the night at the Mont-Saint-Michel, where we sat on the walls drinking wine, eating pate and cheese, and taking photographs that had better turn out.

The next day, we visited the famous Tapestry of Beayaux (the one depicting the Norman conquest -- I didn't even know it was in France), then on to Omaha beach to look at some ruined Nazi fortifications and an over-manicured and grandious U.S. military monument and cemetary. It may surprise you to hear that the French countryside is actually quite picturesque.