France Revisited | The magazine for savvy readers and experienced travelers

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Clockwise from top left: Lake Balaton at sunset, detail in Budapest, floating in the thermal lake at Heviz, sauerkraut-stuffed peppers. Photos J. Kashoff

Hungary: Fatty Foods and Friendly SERVAS

By Judy Kashoff

I love street food, the greasier the better, and the food we found in the square in Heviz, Hungary, met all my requirements—and then some. Thick sausages, spare ribs with a shameless layer of fat, shish kabob with cubes of meat sandwiching sausage and bacon and crispy onions shiny with grease. Then there’s the fish, breaded and fried, and pickles, sauerkraut (not nearly as sour as ours), and a mixture of onions and peppers simmering in large round paella pans.

A moment of joy in the musical revue Swinging Life

Swinging in July

By Gary Lee Kraut

Paris, July 3, 2009—Last night, expectations low, I attended Swinging Life, a musical revue of soul, jazz, gospel, and blues songs that have been heard on Broadway, playing through July 31 at the Alhambra, a 600-seat theater in the Canal Saint Martin Quarter. I went to Swinging Life because the PR rep offered me a ticket and because the theater is 300 yards from my apartment, certainly not because I thought I was in for an entertaining evening.

Clockwise from top left: German gun at Longues-sur-Mer; jeeps at anniversary commemoration at Sainte-Marie-du-Mont; Omaha Beach seen from the American Cemetery; British and German cemetery in the fields at Secqueville-en-Bessin. Photos GLK.

Advice and Itineraries for Visiting the D-Day Landing Zone of Normandy

By Gary Lee Kraut

The most rewarding travels in the D-Day Landing Zone and surrounding area of Normandy come when you’ve found an insightful and personal combination of visits to sights, cemeteries, and museums, of views and tastes of contemporary life in the area, and of human encounters along the way. You can try to concentrate those into a single day or take the slow-travel approach over four or five days.

Calvados, Where Rotting Apples Have a Good Name

By Gary Lee Kraut

Travelers naturally associate France with vineyards and wine but Normandy, one of the rare French regions whose climate has inspired no vineyards, offers not the fruit of the vine but that of the apple tree. Apples, and to a lesser extent pears, thrive in this region, providing the hungry traveler with apple-laced sauces and the thirsty traveler with cidre (hard cider), Calvados (apple brandy), and pommeau, (a combination of the two).

Norman cow in an apple orchard. Photo GLK.

Must-Tastes of the Normandy Landing Zone: 4 Norman Cheeses

by Gary Lee Kraut

Though your primary interest in visiting Lower Normandy may be the Landing Beaches and various sights of the Invasion of Normandy 1944, it’s the greenery of inland Normandy that first grabs your attention when arriving from Paris—that and the hedgerows, the apple orchards, the traditional half-timbered homes and barns, the horses, and, most importantly, the cows.

Bienvenue sur France Revisited

July 9, 2009--From the Normandy Hotel in Paris to a taste of four famous fromages from Normandy to a sip of Calvados, Normandy's famous apple brandy, to advice and itineraries for visiting the D-Day Landing Zone and surrounding area, France Revisited kept the focus on Normandy through June. Now, restless in July, we zigzag through Europe. Guest Blogger Cynthia Caughey has just joined the France Revisited fold and has sent in her first blog from Chambéry, in the Alpine Savoy region of France. Meanwhile Gary's Blog pursues its eclectic path with a visit to a suburban pigeon coop and a review of a swinging musical revue in Paris. Further afield, see the Europe+ section for a new article about Hungarian comfort food and friendly SERVAS. Back soon with more. GLK