Révolution in Vire.

In Vire, the capital of the Bocage Normand (rural Normandy), I discovered a revolutionary graffiti on the wall of a Catholic Convent. Not sure if it's connected to the recent success of the macronistes, but it definitely wasn't there last time I walked round that 'secret passage', Rue de rames. 

Je ne sais pas si ce graffiti est connecté à la réussite des macronistes mais c'est vraiment nouveau. Vire, sur le mur arrière d'un couvent catholique à passage secret derrier du sous-préfecture.

На задней стене католического конвента в Вире обнаружилась новая надпись: Революция. Не знаю, это монашки к чему-то готовятся или юные макронисты торжествуют, но точно в последний раз, когда я там был с месяц назад, этого граффити не было.

First photo by A.Anichkin, second by Helena Lecourt. (page on FB here)

Saint Armel.

Une image à Pâques.
Saint Armel, bois polychromé, XVI siècle, Scriptorial d'Avranches. / An image for Easter. This is a 16th Century statue of St.Armel displayed in the Scriptorial of Avranches (museum) in the South Manche. I loved the jolly, life-loving expression on his face. Painted wood, listed as a treasure.

Un vieux bureau de l'ecole

J'ai vu un vieux bureau de l'école dans l'eglise Saint Gervais, Avranches, avec des dessins par les étudiants. / An old school desk I found installed in the Saint Gervais church in Avranches.  

More snowdrops.

End of February and lots of snowdrops around.

First Snowdrops of 2017. Les Perce-neiges.

Patrouille de perce-neiges — les premiers! / 

Snowdrops patrol — the first of 2017.

Первые подснежники года 2017!

Photos taken 30 January 2017 near Pont d'Egrenne, Normandy.

Russian cannons at Mont Cerisy

Picnicing at Mont Crisy Belle Etoile in the Orne, I spotted these two Russian cannons facing East. Where did they come from? Where did they come from? The Crimean War or earlier?

The chateau was built by an English justice lord and later acquired be a French industrialist. It was used by the German Luftwaffe as a spotting station during world war two and bombed by the English. Now the commune struggles to preserve it, you can't go inside the chateau but the tower is restored and opens a beautiful view of the countryside.

Mont Cerisy-Belle-Etoile in Winter.

The beautiful ruins of the 19 Century castle on top of the Mont Cerisy-Belle-Etoile in the Orne with a silver birch in front.

Un bouleau blanc sur la colline du château de Mont Cerisy-Belle-Etoile en l'Orne.