Traveling Through France, ca 1950

[Music] for many of the passengers aboard this New York Paris jet vacation time has finally arrived mmm food for reflection no other while other reflections keep coming back just think in a few short hours the Ohno Caravelle they've hired from New York we'll be waiting for them at the airport they'll be off at long last on their own personal discovery of the French provinces and there she is their caravel soon they'll be old friends sharing a thousand recollections not yet why they know she be nice does he know how to drive but imagine for a moment that it's you we've been talking about but this is your vacation your car those are your hands on the steering wheel the engine hums and you're off out into the provinces of France pour avoir belly and Bonjour Normandy immortal name [Music] look that like this the Musa Michel seems to tower above the countryside but don't be taken in in fact it rises up out of the sea [Music] twice a day at the speed of a galloping horse the tide comes back to surround the famous rock but don't go thinking it is completely cut off at high tide a causeway makes access possible at all times and when the sea reaches the base of the ramparts st. Christopher in modern guise arrives to help out in the crossing [Music] Calypso here you think not at all we're at mother poulos hotel and a man is beating eggs for her celebrated omelet the secret it's all in the beat beat beating [Music] then comes the fresh Norman butter melting in the pan [Music] you are lucky at madam Corral they may even invite you out backstage to see how it's all done next the creamy beaten eggs are poured into the hot pan and put back on the fire to cook simple isn't it what anybody would do and yet something happens at mother pulao where an omelet this omelet every omelet is an event from staircase to staircase the ramparts rise leading to the alley [Music] an impregnable fortress for which each stone had to be brought by both and hold up from the beach but also a profusion of spires and pinnacles and in the cloister with its colored tiles the filigree of columns this gothic structure is known as the marvel [Music] to reach the staircase the lay staircase you've had to climb 900 steps but they are soon forgotten when you see the view [Music] beyond the masa Michel the road calls other views other discoveries await us [Music] rain the winds of Britain they will soon chase that away already here at the front view ha the rain is gone this is the fini stair the end of the earth of this old continent beyond the horizon now full of Sun nothing but the sea lies between us and the great American continent [Music] this granite rock has preserved through the centuries long tour de santé connect and the Calvary at la Peru the war damaged the Calvary at Lucas tell Dolas but with the donations made by generous Americans the damage was repaired as early as 1945 what religious fervour can be felt looking at this gate of triumph and at this Calvary [Music] at lekanoff a sculptor finds inspiration in an age-old themed roundabout 1888 Goggan chose this model at thought of n for an impressive painting now on the Museum in Buffalo but most typical of Brittany are the POW don't at whim a goal for example the crops or bonnets the women wear another tall the same each town or region has its own and you can see at the different Faldo who is from cafe and who from dwell money or law young [Music] you will keep with you for a long time the souvenir of a Brit don't pal don't it's a burst of further not often found elsewhere [Music] don't kill no witches Frances third largest fishing port has a surprise it's a closed town locked inside granite ramparts in the center of the port [Music] the picturesque is everywhere in Brittany and each port is unique [Music] hmm who's in favor of this all this or maybe oysters [Music] [Music] lobster - yes we'll have that right here please where does it all come from [Music] remember those cute little cans of sardines you find them anywhere in the world well it seems that the whole process starts like this [Music] that sardine is a pretty small fish but you just have no idea what hard work is involved before he's safely in the cab [Music] but life is not all work in a boat in Brittany and here at not redundant toerner end we see a Briton wedding [Music] [Music] this skate is our gate into Toulon where they really know how visitors should be welcomed along the Loire like those joined by a silver thread neither Chateau of Amboise sachet [Music] they suck Sonia [Music] you say so mom [Music] huije and many others which one would you like to see Shabba let's start with char-broil then the biggest of the Loire chateaux or would you prefer something less feudal the elegant grace of Chenonceau for example the castle which was built by a woman the castle six famous women loved and cherished and called their home [Music] one of you he must have of it the view we can all have in this modern world as your own experience is proved [Music] let's go back to shebar again and see what it looks like from above [Music] what about the gardens of the chateau de vino de flying above it like this gives us a much better idea of the extraordinary layout of this strange vegetable garden yes vegetable garden full of tomatoes and beans and cabbages all arranged like strangely trimmed box trees exactly as it was in the 16th century [Music] there's absolutely nothing like it anywhere else now let's get our bearings so the Masami shell we've been down through brittany and onto the châteaux of the Loire and now down into the south we go yes to Lipari go poplar trees valleys rivers full of fish this is the perry girl right now and the Oaks under which the truffles grow the original inhabitant no doubt back in 300,000 BC [Music] what hopes and ambitions could they have had these prehistoric figures at AZ good butchers and better cooking you can bet for even wars in the Perry girl ended up round a good meal what feast there were it baraka atlas come on Sarla at our Kazakh and in banette walnuts have their place in the recipe book too but without the shelves [Music] mmm getting back to food now eggs are used to find truffles as you know and it's a real lifesaver for the pig who has the luck to be born in the berry go [Music] to the south of the perry girl we find the lot river with its scenic roads and its high perch villages like sassy lap repeat the port on our trader Kara leads us on to our next province the Basque Country a varied land it seems whose grave and sullen people have an extraordinary passion for folk dancing this Fandango for example [Music] in the Basque Country even the roadside see musical if you say them fast the architecture is very typical and so are the oxen harvest time is also an occasion to dance this basque hoop dance [Music] the village of i know our holds engraved in its walls the age of its houses but who can say how old these disk shaped headstones may be this one perhaps holds the warrior chief whose death is represented in this dance [Music] the whole bass coast should really be seen from the endless pounding of the sea at Sakura to the sandy beaches of Biarritz [Music] one place that cannot be missed as such or to lose [Music] [Applause] it's beaches worth the trip by itself and so is the unloading of tuna fish in the harbor in front of the Infanta house laughter yet was here before he left for the new world and what's no doubt the copper dance we see them doing now the national sport of the Bast's of course is pelota inside the walled court the leather ball is served the gamers arm as in tennis the players face each other their long curved wicker baskets wait for the ball in the heat of action the coloured sashes show who's who [Music] you [Music] after all this running about a place to relax is just what we need but the bass themselves are tireless [Music] from beyond hates too nice is just over 600 miles on the way we find Kafka son the walled city right out of the Middle Ages ignore the one-time fort built for a king's Crusades but we must leave these old stones behind us or we have a date in Nice the mecca for all tourists in France with its mild climate and welcoming streets with its hotels and its flowers the whole Cote d'Azur is beckoning now there is our team and the perfusion of shapes and colors you expect in this riviera wonderland [Music] a paradise for artists and their despair is as that's tie above the seed where all things go then comes Monaco [Music] what color and what contrasts [Music] and here is bill course which the Navy knows well [Music] now this reminds me of something what was it - oh yes perceive the bright blue Mediterranean we keep forgetting to look at now here it is woofle man that's wet down there yes a swimmers dream come true the coach desi has everything gay start clapping the modern comfortable Palm Beach had can votes for every taste and the romantic setting of the Lea Islands [Music] in memory store up these gutters these smiles these scents but our voyage is nearly at its end the pond nowadays out layer nice this morning is already alas the beginning of the road home [Music] eighty minutes away by a pass Caravelle is terras and here we leave our Caravelle car a few last flowers and a promise next year we'll be back to explore new ground new competition tracks until then bell course we say au revoir and Missy Missy [Music]