May 2, 2025

Cherbourg is primarily a commercial port with few tourist attractions. When we arrive at ports like this Chongae and I typically take off by foot and see what lies ahead. After we got through the port, I saw a sign for marche which I recognized as “market” in French, so we took off in that direction.

In short order, it began to rain, and we realized we did not have an umbrella with us. We felt like we were in some type of French movie as we trudged along battered by rain. Thank God I have an adventurous wife because we surely got misdirected and after about 45 minutes, we arrived at a fishing pier and a market completely drenched. We both agreed it was actually a lot of fun and recognized with the convenience of a car at home it had been some time since we walked in the rain together. When we arrived at the market, we realized this was not the market we were expecting.

We had arrived at a marche aux poissons (a fish market) where customers could purchase fresh caught fish to bring home or be brought over to a few onsite restaurants where cooks would prepare the fish to your liking. As it was about 10:30 in the morning we thought it was a little too early for fish. We also saw some caged chicken, but I was afraid to ask if filets de poitrine de poulet (chicken tenders) were also prepared on site.

I also learned that the cinema was invented in Cherbourg, France. The Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, debuted a new photographic technology that allowed photos to be taken at a rate of 16 photos per second. When those images were then projected at the same rate, it gave the illusion of movement. The Lumiere brothers first movie, which lasted only 46 seconds, showed a steam train pulling into a station. Legend has it that the audience screamed and dived for cover when they saw the train coming toward them because they were convinced that the train would burst through the movie screen and crush them.

So, funny enough, the founders of modern cinema ended up having little involvement in the future of films, even after their tiny box had such a profound impact upon the world’s entertainment artforms. By 1905, after touring their system around the world, Auguste and Louis left the film business as they saw it as no more than frivolity.

The rest of course is Hollywood history! Movie studios produced around 700 movies at the height of the short movie popularity in the 1920s. This “Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema” started with the release of the first long-running feature talkie film, The Jazz Singer, in 1927. The popularity of this movie quickly elevated Warner Bros into one of the big Hollywood Studios. All film studios received substantial growth during the years of the Great Depression in the US, with the ever-rising number of people seeking entertainment on silver screens and the adventures of their favorite film stars especially child sensation Shirley Temple.

As a side note, there was a movie made called “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” Set in 1957, this pastel-colored movie depicts a woman’s (played by the iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve) self-growth journey after being separated from her lover by the war. There is now a shop in Cherbourg called “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.” Our cruise director, Daniel, shared that out of curiosity he visited the shop. He was told that the least expensive umbrella was 500 Euros about $565.00 dollars. He was told that it really was not a good choice because it was not weatherproof! You can’t make a story like that up!

Finally, upon returned to the port we went through a different entrance to the port. This was the last stop for transatlantic dreamers. The Titanic sailed from here before arriving in Cork, Ireland for its maiden voyage. Two Hundred and Forty-Seven passengers embarked at Cherbourg.

Thanks for traveling with us.