Beached boats at Carteret in Normandy

With tidal variations like these, the people with boats in Carteret can't take them out at high tide. They have to wait until the rising tide floats their boats.

Dans les rues de Carteret en Normandie

I was always surprised when I went to Normandy in summertime and saw how people could grow such beautiful flowers there. Normandy's summers can be really damp and gray. But Normandy wouldn't be Normandy without frequent rainy days.

The rest of these pictures show some of the restaurants and hotels in the village of Carteret. I had meals in several of them, often with Charles-Henry and our friend Jeanine who lived in Washington DC and had a house in Carteret, but also with Walt, of course, and once with my mother and her sister. I took them to Carteret in 2004 so that they could tell people in North Carolina about the town that gave its name to the county where our family has lived for so many generations. The restaurant just above on the right is called La Kalakiki. It was one of Charles-Henry's favorite lunchtime places in Carteret because he loved its specialty, moules et frites (mussels with French fries). The moules marinière were always really fresh-tasting there, and they were perfectly prepared.

Another of Charles-Henry's favorite foods was oysters. I don't know if he went to La Coserie to feast on them, but I never got a chance to. (C-H passed away last February at the age of 99. Our friend Jeanine passed away five or six years ago, when she was in her mid-90s.) On the right below, the logo on the back of a van shows that les Normands have a good sense of humor about their region's climate. They don't let the gloom get them down.

The hotel-restaurant above, Le Carteret, was one of my favorites. I stayed at the hotel there once by myself and once with Walt (and our dog Collette, who was welcome to share our room with us). I have so many funny memories of my trips to Carteret. I've told some of them on this blog before. Maybe I'll have to tell them again.