It is time for us to pause and answer the call of family and friends who beckon us home for the holidays. But before we go, we want to share a little about the ground we covered since leaving Belgium.

We worked our way westerly toward the Brittany coast and hunkered down for two nights in a chambre d’hôte above the Cancale harbor. Cancale is famous around the world for its succulent oysters so it was easy for us to go native and join the villagers in their evening ritual. At about 6 pm, we would pop down to the shacks at the water’s edge, make our selection of just-harvested mollusks, and carry the large filled plastic oyster plates garnished with half a lemon to the steps of the seaside amphitheater. Then we would buy a glass of white wine to complement our slurping of the briny creatures from their shells before pitching the empties to the rocky beach below where seagulls feast on the leavings.

The starting line for the Route du Rhum, one of the biggest solo offshore races in the world, is in Saint Malo only fifteen kilometers from Cancale. The finish line is in Guadeloupe, about 3542 nautical miles across the Atlantic. The race happens every four years and attracts more than two million visitors during thirteen days of festivities leading up to the start day. We were there to witness the throng of families exploring the huge temporary tent city lining the harbor. Commercial and educational displays entertained the children while grownups upheld the tradition and guzzled rum all day long.

This year’s winner, Frenchman Charles Caudrelier, set a new course record in his Ultim trimaron crossing the finish line in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe in 6 days 19 hours 47 minutes and 25 seconds. The second-place finisher arrived about four hours later.

Pas de Calais is how the French refer to the Strait of Dover and also the name of a geographical department in northern France. Major cities include Lille and Calais, the town that connects France and England via the 50 kilometer railway Channel Tunnel or Chunnel.

We visited the Dunkirk seaport to pay our respects to the memory of the participants of the rescue operation that Winston Churchill called a “miracle of deliverance”. In 1940, about 338,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated in ten days from the beaches and harbor and saved from almost certain slaughter. Forty-six destroyers and about 750 civilian vessels of every sort participated in Operation Dynamo.

When we arrived at our rural gite not too far from Calais, our charming host couple and their two beautiful teens welcomed us warmly and gave us a tour of their now-deceased grandparents’ home. During their own twenty years in residence, prior to moving to another town with superior schools, our hosts lovingly preserved, renovated, and modernized the old-world dwelling. It came with two important things: a cook’s kitchen and a fireplace with loads of logs to burn. A few days later, we learned of our celebrity status in the neighborhood resulting from the girls’ proud announcement that their family was hosting Americans who came to France solely to improve their French.

After driving miles and miles and miles through pastureland and forests, no one had to tell us that France’s economy is greatly based on agriculture or that France is the EU’s leading agricultural nation. Three-quarters of the land area is pastural (1/2) or wooded (1/4). Fields of wheat, corn, barley, oats, and oilseeds predominate and fruit orchards, vineyards, and vegetables contribute to agricultural output. More than seventy breeds of cattle, sheep, and goats graze the grassy fields.

Since It is always special to be with friends and extra special when you meet in a foreign country, we were delighted when James and Dana Kay Jackson notified us that they would be in Bayeux overnight. Dinner with them, their daughter, Jenni, and son-in-law, Rocky, was a highlight of our time in Normandy.

Friends Michel and Julie Foyer, who live in Normandy and Kansas City, invited us to stay in their beautifully restored manor house for ten days or so while they traveled. We know and love their home, their five children, their housekeeper Marie Claire, their now deceased dogs Colbert and Voltaire, and them! We’ve stayed in their manoir several times and find it to be one of the most comfortable and interesting homes we know.

This time, we visited a few markets and historical sites, but mostly relaxed and enjoyed taking long walks together — a welcome respite from our usual agenda. On the 125th anniversary of the death of Thérèse Martin who is known to the world as Sainte Thérèse the Little Flower, we attended a Solemn High Mass in the basilica in Lisieux. More than a million pilgrims come to this small Norman town each year to pay homage to the legacy of the beloved Carmelite nun who shared her “little way” in Story of a Soul.

On our next move, we are rewarded with excellent crepes, tasty hard cider, and beautiful faience, all hallmarks of Quimper, the ancient capital of Brittany’s most traditional region. We effortlessly settle into the comfortable and spacious house as the weather turns cooler and intermittent rain ensures the roses continue their blooming.

Guérande with its 15th and 16th century ramparts is one of the best preserved medieval cities in France. Its peninsula juts into the Atlantic at the western edge of the Loire. Ancient salt marshes are the source of the world-famous finishing salt fleur de sel.

The charming proprietors of our immaculate and well-equipped gîte have been restoring their 15th century chateau for 22 years while raising three sons within. Sheep and chickens roam the property and sleep in the yet-to-be-renovated chapel ruin. Our delightful friend, Mitra, a resident of DC and Florida who was Renie’s classmate last April at l’Institut de Français, joined us for the weekend.

We spent our final week on the road in a different part of the Loire near Amboise — landing in a wonderful gîte with great character nestled in the woods — much like the woodcutter’s cottage in Hansel and Gretel. We harvested wild mushrooms on our walks along roads and trails — cèpes, pied de mouton, and black chanterelles — and feasted on rabbit and omelets enhanced by their flavors. We couldn’t have asked for nicer hosts than Beatrice and Louis who brought fresh eggs to our doorstep and introduced us to a sort of kir du Loire during happy hour in their beautiful home.

In addition to visiting the royal Château d’Amboise and the royal Château de Blois on foot and boating to Château de Chenonceau via the river Cher, we rambled through Chateau du Clos Lucé where Leonardo da Vinci spent the final years of his life at the invitation of the king of France, Francis I. We were fascinated to learn of the underground passageway connecting the chateau with Château d’Amboise reportedly used by the king every day to visit the master. Mammoth models of da Vinci’s inventions dot the landscape of the huge adjacent park while his drawings and smaller models are exhibited inside the mansion.

We concluded this segment of our adventure in an apartment in the 10th arrondissement, a young, trendy Paris neighborhood where no one in le troisième âge should ever go. But we had great fun with our brother, Richard, and sister-in-law Brigitte who have lived in the 6th in Paris for decades. Lex and Ellen Golden were there too and we shared one delicious dinner and two delightful lunches in the five days we overlapped.

Our plan is to resume this adventure in late February, but we pause now to celebrate the holidays. We wish you a very merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and a new year filled with hope, happiness, and love.

— Renie and Diane