Normandy in February Best time to go, really. Balthazar and I had the beaches to ourselves. At -5° it was a bit cold for swimming; instead we watched the 7 meter tide advance and retreat, explored the sea bottom for mussels and algae, and hiked into the teeth of a gale. Normandy is about chalk cliffs and rocky beaches, and also about cows, apple cider, and sturdy houses made of brick or timber built to withstand centuries of meterological abuse. A spider's web of little villages, many of which were flattened during WWII. Le Havre was flattened as well, then rebuilt after the war by a single architect, the Frenchman August Perret, whose techniques for building quickly and repetitively in concrete were put to good use. Le Havre is one of the biggest industrial ports in Europe, and we spent a couple of hours exploring it, watching a Russian ship being loaded with mysterious ingots, enormous drawbridges going up and down, and a container ship bound for New York cruising slowly out of the harbor.  ¶ 8:17 AM