Hauts-De-France
Ypres is actually in Belgium, but close enough to France for me to include in this part of our road trip. This beautiful Flemish town had been pounded to dust during successive battles on World War I (1914-1918), but has since been rebuilt and retains its timeless charm. The scale of the madness of that war is unbelievable: by adding the numbers on wikipedia, the toll of the dead in the small stretch of land around Ypres rises to 1 -1,4 million. The weather on the way was appropriately somber, as was the music: somewhat literal-mindedly, I had put on Tinderstick's Ypres, a mostly instrumental album composed in commemoration of the victims of W.W. I. We stopped here for a couple of hours before midday, and the only record shop wouldn't be open for a few hours yet. According to Google, opening times on Friday are 2:30pm-2:00am. At first I thought it was a typo, but apparently it's correct: Vinyl and Chill is a cafe/bar that also sells records, hence the name and weird opening times. Sounds like a great proposition, sorry to have missed it. It gets good reviews, so it'd be a shame not to visit if you're in the neighborhood. On the French side, we stopped at Saint-Omer and Montreuil-Sur-Mer. I can recommend a visit to the former's library and to the latter's medieval citadel, but no record shops since, as far as I know, there aren't any. Interesting fact: Montreuil is the town that apparently inspired Victor Hugo to write Les Miserables - in the summer there's a spectacle bringing the masterpiece to life, supposedly an unmissable experience. Before embarking on the trip, I had resolved to buy local wines and ciders at every stop, but apparently the Pas-De-Calais region doesn't produce any of note. What they do make is artisanal beers and fruit-based aperitifs. Of course I got some, but I have yet to try them, so I can't say whether they are a must-try kind of thing. We then spent a night at the old fortified part of town in Boulogne-Sur-Mer. From there we could easily take a stroll along the castle ramparts, or visit France's longest crypt: situated under the cathedral, featuring great murals, and not as claustrophobic as you'd expect, it is highly recommended. To visit Sono Music (Rue Nationale 131), I had to leave the castle and walk downwards for 7 minutes. It sports a good collection of RSD items, and vinyls new (€20-30) and old (rather overpriced €15-30) as well as few CD's. About 50% of the albums are French music. Of course, like in every major French city, one can also buy records in the local FNAC store (65-67 Rue Faidherbe). On the way back, one week later, we spent a night at another town in this region, Arras. Also quite beautiful, with two impressive Flemish-style town squares and nice shops and restaurants, it is home to a record store called Big Star Records (8 Rue des Balances). It wasn't open when I visited (Saturday afternoon & Sunday), but I could see it was rather large and had many vinyls on display. It goes without saying that there are many more record stores in Hauts-De-France; first and foremost in its biggest city, Lille. But we left it out of this particular road trip, so any presentation of its record shops will have to wait.
Normandy
The next days we drove a lot around Normandy. Unfortunately, we reached its capital Rouen on Saturday afternoon, and I didn't get to visit any record shops, as they all close from Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. I will mention some here anyway: there's Select Records (97 Rue de la Vicomte, old/new vinyl and hi-fi), Aesthetic Circle (41 Rue des Bonnetiers), Un Son Impure (37 Rue Beauvoisine, Lp's new/used) Urban Shop (72 Rue Cauchoise, seems to be specialized in hip hop), and a 2nd hand/vintage store that seems to deal in everything including vinyl, called Ouh la la! (46 Rue aux Ours). Even though I missed out on all of them, it was fun to walk around the old town, visit an interactive museum on Jean D'Arc, and the Gothic cathedral. This majestic building, consecrated in 1063 by William The Conqueror, houses the remains of his ancestor Rollo the first Duke of Normandy (yes, the one from the Vikings series, though his portrayal there was heavily -if not completely- fictionalized) as well as the heart of his great-great-grandson, Crusader king Richard The Lionheart. You just get overawed, standing next to the mortal remains of such legendary figures. And hungry - luckily there was a big open market for food and local produce on that weekend. There, I bought some hydromel, the fermented honey mead one reads about in historical romance. While it's not something you readily find in liqueur stores, French farmers still make their own and sell it at local markets. It's similar but different to hypocras, another medieval drink which is basically wine infused with honey and various spices. The latter is much rarer, though I did buy a bottle from the gift shop of the abbey on Le Mont-Saint-Michel. Now, this place is one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Normandy, and did not disappoint me at all. It's so impressive that you think it must surely be an imaginative artists' creation, maybe an illustration for the Game Of Thrones books or some similar fantasy series. It is a fortified town built around a Benedictine abbey on a tidal island connected to the nearby marshes during the morning ebb, and isolated from land during high tide. Next to its religious significance, it was a strong defensive position that proved to be impervious to repeated attempts of conquest by the English during the 100-Year War. Long-time readers would expect me to make a culinary remark by now, and they would be right: The most famous dish on the island is Mère Poulard's famous omelet, so we had to try it. The original chef has of course been dead for 80 years, and an omelet in her old (Michelin star) restaurant costs €35 and requires reservation, so we settled for one of the competitors that advertised they followed the original recipe. Well, it was certainly the fluffiest omelet I had ever eaten (and, at €22, still the most expensive), but not the tastiest at all! As for the omelet at the famous Mère Poulard restaurant, most reviewers describe it similarly to what I myself tasted, so I highly doubt it's worth its price. As you may have already guessed, the small commune inside the island walls doesn't have a record shop, and neither did some other (nevertheless highly recommendable) destinations in our trip, like the beautiful seaside towns of Honfleur, Deauville and Trouville. I did have better luck in Caen, capital of the cider-making Calvados region. Of course I bought a bunch of different ciders to try, and the famous apple brandy that bears that region's name, as well as another drink I hadn't heard of before: it's called pommeau, and it's a mixture of Calvados and apple juice that's left to age in oak barrels for 30 months. It has a 16–18% alcohol percentage, and it's drunk as an aperitif. But I was going to tell you about the record shops: I visited two of them, plus the local Fnac store, all very close to each other. This Fnac (25 Rue de Bras, inside the Paul-Doumer department store) has a big vinyl department, all new of course. Most LP's cost €25-32, some offers for €17-25, and a few jazz/rockabilly ones for €10. CDs are noticeably cheaper, while there are also listening stations. Very close to it (43 Rue de Bras) you can find Sonic-Records. The shop gets some bad reviews on google, citing the owner's attitude as rude, but that was not my impression. The man is friendly enough, he was willing to speak English with me, and to answer my questions. He promoted his online shop, saying that the physical shop only holds 20% of his merchandise while the rest can be found here. It wouldn't hurt to take a look online before you visit. The shop has an especially good post punk/new wave collection, but you can find all styles incl. French music, jazz, rock, soul etc. New LP's cost mostly €20-30, while used LPs and CDs cost €10-20; prices in general are quite reasonable. Espace Disc (7 Rue Arcisse de Caumont) has a big CD/DVD inventory. Used CD's cost mostly €5,90-9,90. LP's (about 40% French and 60% international rock/pop) go for €10-25 (used) or €20+ (new). The stereo was playing The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking when I got in, I was surprised because I hadn't heard it for ages, actually not since I reviewed it for this blog, and not for a very long time before I did. It sounded better than I remembered.
Loire Valley
On the way to the Loire valley, we stopped at Le Mans (typically part of the same region). The city is famous for its 24 hour car race, but I couldn't care less about that. During the stop, I tried to get to both of the city's independent record stores: The first one, Vinyles Store France (4 All. du Bourg d'Anguy) was supposed to be open, but the owner/clerk had just put a sign on the door with his telephone number, and disappeared. Maybe he had an emergency, or more probably just didn't feel like working that day. At least the second one Unik Music (104 Rue Nationale) was open. A little further from the center, this shop seems to have a specialty in world music: lots of Afro & Caribbean LP's, music from the Maghreb, Pakistan, Latin America etc. Used LP's around €15-25, new ones €25+. The city also has a quite large Fnac (inside Les Jacobines Mall, 13 Rue Claude Blondeau). Next stop on our journey, Tours. I didn't know what to expect, but I absolutely loved its vibe! The city houses a big university and is home to some 20,000 students. It's full of bars and restaurants, many options to go out, and lots of young people hanging out till late at night. In a city with a demographic like that, I always expect to find good record shops, and the first one didn't disappoint me: Passe Passe Store had many good records at reasonable prices: used LP's mostly went for €8-15, while there were some for €3 or €1 - not just junk, too. I left with a big bagfull of (mostly cheap) LP's. Based on the number of Japanese editions available, it seems that the owner has business connections with Japan, or travels there regularly. There were also lots of Latin and world music records, pop, rock, jazz and prog. I also tried to visit another shop called Madison Records. Unfortunately, although the opening times stated on the door coincided with the ones google gave, the shop was closed - this time there wasn't even a note. Shame, because the records on the front window piqued my interest. Inside, I could see mostly vinyl LP's, some CD's and music-related merchandise. I kinda liked the neighborhood, too (it's on 135 Rue Colbert). It's a bit further from the center, but has interesting shops. Now that I'm checking the internet again, I see two more record stores: O'CD (45/47 Rue Marceau) and Baromètre (13 Rue du Petit Saint-Martin). I must have ignored them because Google describes the former as a DVD shop and the latter as an appliance store. A more careful look at the photos and reviews would have revealed they both sell music CD's and vinyl. Anyway, I doubt I'd have the time to visit them all anyway. For those interested in cooking, there's an amazing shop with spices from all around the world called Terre Exotique with the sublabel "Civilisations & Gastronomy". It's based on a beautiful mansion on the bank of the Loire, a few kilometers outside Tours. We stopped there on the way to the castle of Amboise, and my partner bought all kinds of nice stuff. There are almost 300 chateaus on the Loire valley and we would have loved to see them all, but chose the royal castle of Amboise for its history: Leonardo Da Vinci was a guest here, and is buried in its chapel. Many other historical personages have lived here too. If you've seen the TV series Reign which concerns the young Mary Stuart a.k.a. Mary Queen of Scotts, a lot of it is supposed to take place in Amboise even though it's actually filmed in Ireland. A visit is certainly recommended. Last stop, the city of Orléans. Probably the best record shop I visited in this trip was Planète Claire (11 Rue Croix de Malte). It is packed with records (and CDs) of all kinds. I was especially interested in the many garage rock/post punk/alternative records, but there was also classic & hard rock, jazz, psychedelia etc. Used LP's mostly cost €9-16, new ones €17-30, and CD's €6-8, all pretty affordable. After an hour of browsing around, I took a handful of records to the cash register where I was informed they didn't accept any cards, so I had to leave most of my choices behind. The other independent record store in town is Haffidread Records (133 Rue de Bourgogne, at the center of the old town). It's only open 2-7 p.m. so I didn't catch it open, but it gets good reviews for its selection, prices, and for its affinity with reggae. On the same street (Rue de Bourgogne 239) I also passed a second-hand store selling records, books, CDs etc. May be worth a look, too.
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