Sunday, July 26, 2015

D'Isigny Land

From Bayeux we drove on to a nice but very popular aire in Isigny sur Mer. Isigny is one of Normandy's great dairy towns; one of the most popular dairy brands is Isigny Ste. Mere. There are no statues in town, but it is widely asserted that the Disneys (Walt, Mickey, Minnie) came from here, stopping first in Ireland to acquire a surname (from Isigny) and then simplifying the spelling upon arrival in the New World. The aire was quiet and scenic and we decided to do another administrative day.
The aire at Isigny sur Mer
















Another marina type situation, only this on a canal that leads,
a couple kilometers away, to the Channel; note the boats are
all high and dry; the canal is the little trench to the right


















And here we are at high tide
















Because of the canal, Isigny used to be a port of some relative
significance--it was known as the "cow port" because of the
Isigny Ste. Mere plant--but the canal started silting up and they
tried using these "Guideaux" to marshal the tidal flow and
sweep the canal clean 



















Didn't work, and the Guideaux are now part of the marina's
decor

















Anyhow, it's a pretty town
















Americans, Canadians, British very much
welcomed





















13th century parish church; no funny faces
















Plenty of beautiful landscaping, however
















Thus
















It was here that General De Gaulle made his first public remarks
after returning to France, in June, 1944

















Another French example of taking the library to the people

1 comment:

Tawana said...

Always interesting to see boats high and dry at low tide, then floating when the tide finally comes in.