Pont-Audemer (Eure)
Surely Normandy must surpass all of the French provinces in picturesque and ancient inns. Here comes another one, perhaps the most fanciful of all. It is the AUBERGE DU VIEUX PUITS, a quaint assemblage of Norman architecture, centered about a time-bleached timbered well. It is located at 8 rue Notre-Damedu-Pré, a rather elusive side street, and it's worth any amount of effort you expend in finding it. This group of buildings. which once served as a tannery, was converted into an inn decades ago. Part of it was destroyed in the bombardment of 1944, and there remain but four rooms for overnight guests. But the dining facilities escaped serious damage. My pencil sketch might seem a little out of date, since it was made twenty years ago. However, nothing has been changed, except the wording on the suspended sign.
After you have absorbed the atmosphere of the place and a cool aperitif in the garden, the fine fare established by the affable Monsieur Foltz awaits you. Here again is the limited menu containing a few tempting specialties. You couldn't select a better place in all Normandy to taste the famous poulet à la Vallée d'Auge, but here is also an opportunity to sample that comparative rarity, canard aux cerises. To sum the matter up, the food at the Auberge du Vieux Puits is extremely good, served in unforgettable surroundings, with a noble cave awaiting your pleasure.
Verneuil (Eure)
Looming up at the end of every road approaching Verneuil is a magnificent Gothic church tower, one of the noblest in France. Unfortunately, it was another casualty of World War II, some of its delicate tracery being powdered by shellfire, but restoration is under way. On the square facing the church tower is a long-established hostelry with an excellent reputation, the HôTEL DU SAUMON. Monsieur Vannier, its young and enterprising proprietor, represents a new school of hotel men. and a very good one. Regardless of the hotel's name, the trout remains king here rather than the salmon, and we've rarely encountered a more delectable truite meuniÈre. And if you are ever going to like andouillettes grillées, those aromatic sausages whose contents are best left undefined, here is the place to make the attempt! Thanks to the Hôtel du Saumon, this old town in the wheat country makes an excellent epicurean stopover if you are motoring between Paris and Brittany.
Mont-St. Michel (Manche)
It is only by a caprice of the River Couesnon. which technically divides Brittany and Normandy, that this celebrated shrine happens to fall in the present article. Atmospherically, the Mount and its granite buildings arc as Breton as Quimper. But since it now rises east of the shallow river, it is awarded to Normandy, together with its Huffy omelettes and salt-marsh-fed mutton. There is so much to be said about the incredible Mont-St. Michel that a verbal thumbnail sketch would be a downright impertinence. Suffice it to say that there is nothing like it in this world.
The food-conscious traveler has always connected the name of La MÈre Poulard and her famous omelette with Mont-St. Michel. Though the dear lady departed this world decades ago. her descendants still carry on. The HOTEL FOULARD is undoubtedly the best of the numerous hotels clustered on this spiny rock. They don't hesitate to capitalize on the fame of that omelette. A strongarmed lad in the costume of an apprentice chef beats eggs constantly in a large copper receptacle, pounding out a rhythm with bis sauce whisk which would do justice to Shoe Shine Boy himself. It is a sort of gastronomic tom-tom, and the crowd gathers ten deep around the kitchen door. Two expert Breton maids cook the omelettes in long-handled pans in a wood-burning fireplace. and it is a very pretty sight. The white and yolks are beaten together, and generous quantities of melted butter are lavished on the finished product, which is foamy and fragrant. At the risk of being an old kill-joy, I contend that any good French cook can make a more interesting omelette than Madame Poulards fluffy variety, which seems to pall the second time you try it. However, it is a refreshing novelty and harmonizes well with the langouste and agneau de pré-salé which are, apparently, obligatory as succeeding courses. Four or five other restaurants on Mont-St. Michel's steep thoroughfare serve precisely the same menu, but not quite so well. The Hotel Poulard has clean, pleasant rooms for an overnight stop.
Pontaubault (Manche)
This is just another French town on the fringe of Brittany, but it takes on significance to the wandering voluptuary on account of the HôTEL DE LA GARE ET 13 ASSIETTES. As may be judged by its name, this is not a mere run-of-themill place. This modest hotel by the railway tracks has earned a reputation for line food and plenty of it. It is enormously popular with French family groups and is inclined to be overcrowded, rough-and-tumble, but gay and effervescent. For less than two dollars, they serve a quite fabulous meal, including appreciable slabs of told langouste. One can arrange to confront that thirteen-course dinner, if one wants it, and it is quite an epicurean procession. Only the hardy souls attempt it. though. The wine cellar is well stocked with cool, heady Muscadet. The service is boisterous, the noise and laughter are unremitting. You won't forget your luncheon at the sign of the railway station and the thirteen plates!
Pontorson (Manche)
If you are motoring to Mont-St. Michel and arc reluctant to be too touristy, the town of Pontorson should prove a pleasant alternative. It is on the mainland, only about six miles from the Mount. It has no garage problem, which the Mount has. Pontorson is a flat town on the main highway and not particularly seductive, but the unusual old HôTEL OUEST ET MONTGOMERY makes you forger the fact. This remarkable building was the medieval lodge of the counts of Montgomery. Many of its rooms contain the original beamed ceilings, painted in faded colors, and are furnished with antique Breton pieces. Monsieur 1e Bellegard takes very good care of his guests, offering them a menu rich in poultry and sea food and a heartening dry Muscadet which harmonizes particularly well with a handsome bomard à l'américaine.
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