In this photo from around 1910, a train has just arrived from Paris and is waiting on the quay in Cherbourg. The photo, much enlarged, is now on display at the spot where it was originally taken over a century ago. The railway line from Paris to Cherbourg was inaugurated Read More …
This welcome poster at the entrance to the parking lot of the Cité de la Mer (City of the Sea) in Cherbourg was probably just intended as a collage showing various elements of the Cité in no particular relationship to each other, but I still find it irritating because it Read More …
This large baggage room in the former maritime railway station doesn’t really have much to do with emigration, since it wasn’t completed until 1933, when the flow of emigrants was already greatly reduced. But it is now used as part of the Cité de la Mer to explain the history Read More …
My recent visit to Cherbourg, France, has reminded me of a minor mystery in my family’s past, namely my father’s eleven-week trip to Europe in 1931. He was 26 at the time, single, living in Chicago and working for a wholesale costume jewelry company called Morris, Mann & Reilly Inc. Read More …
These people lined up on the pier at Pont Tournant are waiting to board a boat called the Adèle, to take them on a one-hour tour of the harbor in Cherbourg, France. It is also possible to embark on the Quai de France, near the Cité de la Mer. This Read More …
Cherbourg’s historic theatre, from the year 1882, faces onto the city’s main square, the Place Général de Gaulle. In the center of the front façade are the busts of three men: Corneille, Boieldieu and Molière. Two of these, Corneille (1606-1684) and Molière (1622-1673), are unsurprising. Corneille was best known for Read More …