ing beverages. Vieux Calvados is an excellent
_pousse cafe_. It reads almost like a fairy-tale to be able to recount
that the delicious oysters from the coast-villages of Ouistreham and
Courseulles can be bought at 50 centimes the dozen or very little more.

Cherbourg

This calling-place for Atlantic steamers is a very likely place for the
earnest gourmet to find himself stranded in for a day, and I regret that
there is no gastronomic find to report there. A most competent authority
writes thus to me on the capabilities of the place:--

"There are no restaurants, in the true sense of the word, in Cherbourg.

"The leading hotel, where most of the people go, and which is the
largest, with the best cuisine and service, is the Hotel du Casino. This
hotel is managed by Monsieur Marius, and though partially shut during
the winter season, travellers can always get a good plain dinner there.
During the summer season, that is from May till October, the hotel is
fully open, and has a _petits chevaux_ room, entry free of course, and
also good military music in the gardens, twice a week. The gardens are
also very prettily illuminated very often, whilst from time to time
firework displays help to pass away the evenings. The dining-hall faces
the only nice portion of beach in the town, and being entirely covered
in with glass, is warm in winter and cool in summer, when it can all be
open. The meals are usually _table-d'hote_, but it is possible also to
order a dinner if one prefers to do so. Here also the traveller will
find a little English spoken among the waiters and management, which may
be useful to him. The wines are pretty good, but there is no very
special brand for which the place is known; also good Scotch and Irish
whisky can be obtained at a reasonable price; the hotel does not boast
of any special _plat_ either.

"The Hotel de France, another fair-sized hotel, is the one patronised
mostly by the naval and military authorities of the town, but is not so
amusing a place for the traveller to stay at or dine at; though I
understand that the dinner to be obtained there is in every way
satisfactory.

"Finally, I might mention two other hotels at which one can dine
comfortably; these are the Hotel d'Amiraute and the Hotel d'Angleterre,
at both of which a good plain dinner is served.

"The chief joint obtainable here to be recommended is of course the
mutton, as Cherbourg is noted for its _pre-sale_ all over France; but