jane1144

Day 18 Friday, Sept. 21st

Well, we had a really good sleep and got going around 8:00. We went in to town for breakfast which proved to be a bit of a challenge. There were several restaurants, but they just had coffee. We drove on a bit and found a nice little bakery which also sold coffee to go. We bought raisin buns which were excellent and the coffee was passable. As an aside, we find coffee here to be very strong. Since we can't even do Starbucks at home (too strong, too burnt), we are really missing our Timmies!!

We stopped around lunch time in Bayeux and toured the massive cathedral there. We stopped at a small restaurant and had a terrible lunch. Yes, even worse than McDonald's if that's possible. We continued on, driving through beautiful countryside. Things seem greener here than when we were father south. Maybe Normandy is more in the British weather patterns. We drove through lots of villages whose names I recognize from the D Day invasion.

We got to Caen and toured the Peace Memorial Museum which was well worthwhile. It gave the history from 1918 onwards and then gave the politics leading up to WWII. You walked through in chronological order, seeing some short films, reading translated information, and looking at historical pictures and artifacts. It was a most informative place.We spent about three hours there and then set off for our final destination for today, Arromanches.

Our GPS went crazy when we got to the town, although she has been totally reliable for the last while. We finally just turned her off and fended for ourselves. I knew that our hotel was right by the water (L'Hotel Du Marine), so I just headed for the harbor. Voila, there it was with a parking lot right beside it. A miracle! It turns out the parking is 1 euro per hour, but between 19:00 and 09:00 it is free. It works for me!

We wanted to go to the Cinema Circulaire (Arromanches 360) to see the D Day presentation. The girl at the desk said it was a 10 minute walk which it would have been if it were flat. They never tell you that it is straight up! It took us about 15 - 20 minutes and we were a bit puffed when we arrived. (I must say that we have improved our fitness levels quite a bit on this trip with all the walking and climbing). We got our tickets and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the movie to start. It took place in one of those theaters in the round. The screens go a complete 360 degrees around you and you stand so that you can turn if you wish. There was a brief introduction in three languages and then the movie began. They cleverly showed footage taken during the war and interspersed it with modern day footage of the same places. No dialogue was necessary. The war footage was very graphic, showing wounded and dead men and women. The damage to these pretty little villages was immense, much of it done by the allies who were trying to cut off the German communications and supply lines. The modern footage, in color, was taken as if you were flying over the area. It was a bit of a motion-sick challenge for me, but I made it! The whole movie was only about 20 minutes long but you emerged feeling outraged at the senselessness of man's inhumanity to man. I remember feeling the same when we went to the Memorial in Hiroshima.

Our hotel is delightful, but it was occupied by the Nazis during the war. We are on the third (4th) floor and there is an elevator. Our room has twin beds, a TV, closet, bureau, and desk, and, of course, a bathroom. We have a window that looks out over the ocean. At the moment we are waiting for someone to help us turn on the heat as it is about 18 C. and cloudy.

Although there is a restaurant here, I think we are going to another down the street. Stew has his eye on fish and chips and beef bourguinon seems to be calling me!

bardo1

t

TDudette

Wonderful.

tom18

I can relate to your comment about the girl saying that it would be "only a 10 minute walk" to your hotel while neglecting to mention that it was straight uphill. It seems as though locals and tour guides in Europe always say "it's a short walk" to someplace, when it turns out to be much longer. And it seems that EVERYPLACE in Europe is up some sort of a hill. But as you say, all that exercise does help one's fitness!

Sorry to hear that you had a bad lunch in Bayeux. We visited Bayeux a few years ago and found their restaurants to be wonderful - best we've encountered in Europe. Guess you must have just hit a clunker!

irishface

Still with you and enjoying all of your descriptions and adventures.

jane1144

Day 19 Saturday, Sept. 22nd

It was nice and cool in our room for sleeping and we awoke, well rested, at about 7:00. We showered and were ready to go, but at that hour, the French haven't even turned the air on! Nothing really happens until around nine. Then, of course, they close for lunch from 12:30 to 3:00, even the tourist info places!! We decided to head towards Juno Beach which is in the village of Courseulles-sur-Mer. We hoped that we might be able to find breakfast by the time we got there. There were actually two places open. We ordered petit dejeuner pour deux and got juice, good coffee and a basket of baguettes and croissants. There was a selection of jam and honey, and, rare as it is, there was actually butter. We lingered over breakfast, enjoying the views over the harbor and putting in time because the Juno center doesn't open until ten. We walked around town a bit and found a fish market just setting up. I have never seen such big lobster in my life. The tidal range is about 15 feet here so the boats were high and dry at low tide.

We made our way to the Center a little before ten and went down to the beach to see the perspective of the soldiers who landed there. We went in and got our tickets and an orientation from a young, bilingual Montrealer. The Center is run by the Canadian Legion and they have specified that they want the young people working there to be bilingual and between the ages of 20 and 30, reflecting the age range of the Canadian soldiers. There are four such workers and they are here for four months at a time.

The Museum was very good and, in addition to information about the invasion, they showed what life was like in Canada both then and now. We spent about an hour there and then headed towards the American sector at Omaha Beach. We went to the Cemetery which was amazing, but you are looking at more than 9300 graves with crosses (or Stars of David) made of white marble. We saw the graves of several unknowns and they all had had some flowers left on them. The grass is green and manicured despite the fact that people are free to walk among the rows of graves.

After lunch, we moved on to Pointe au Hoc, the invasion point of the American Rangers. The landing area has steep rock cliffs to scale to get up from the beach. On top, there were German pill boxes and bunkers. I just can't imagine how anyone made it.

I failed to mention that it is really windy today, mostly cloudy with some sunny breaks. I really could have worn my winter coat, and certainly would have appreciated gloves and a hat. I finally relented and put up my hood, so you can imagine how chic that was!

Driving through all the little French villages has been delightful. The buildings are made of stone. Most roofs are black slate, but we have seen a few thatched roofs as well. The farms are often one building, with the house in one part and the barn farther along in the same building. There is a profusion of pink hydrangeas at every turn. The blooms are drying now but are still showy. The road can get quite narrow and once or twice we have had to stop to let on-coming traffic pass. Now that I understand how the signs work, I am good to go. Easily 90% of the intersections are roundabouts, which we love, so civilized.They are very efficient.

We found a super market on the way home. Stew, who has been shopping deprived for three weeks, had a great time buying snacks and wine. We bought wine at E 2,95 a bottle. We are trying it as I write this, and it is actually excellent.

We are going to have dinner in town again tonight and tomorrow we are off to Arras, the city nearest Vimy. We will be spending two nights there and will be touring with my cousin, Marilyn and her husband, Doug who are coming from London on the train.

Someone commented yesterday about all the walking we have been doing. If it were only walking it wouldn't be so bad, but it is mostly climbing! Today is the first day we didn't really climb since Rome. When we were first in Venice I thought I would die. I decided to put my orthotics in my shoes (I have been delinquent for a while) and I should have used them more gradually. I was so stiff, sore and tired that I could hardly get up the stairs to our room at the end of the day. And Venice was flat! Gradually we have found ourselves getting fitter. Three or four flights of stairs with luggage are nothing now. We walk on average three to four hours a day. Since we have had the car, we have not had so much luggage management to contend with. I am so glad we have only carry on type suitcases...best decision of the whole trip. I have to admit I have stopped walking at warp speed and have adopted Stew speed. I had to do that when we were really hot, just to survive. I think it has been the key to our success. Slow and steady wins the race.

TDudette

A lovely way to improve your fitness!

jane1144

TDudette,
You are so right. I ate bread and drank wine like I would never see them again and came back about 2 lbs lighter! I could walk around Paris indefinitely.

jane1144

Day 20 Sunday, Sept 23 rd

We woke to a dark, cloudy day. We got going about 8:00 am and drove to Honfleur. What a lovely town. We made our way down to the boat basin and looked for a restaurant for breakfast. We ordered petit dejeuner and got the obligatory croissants and baguettes, along with juice and coffee. We lingered over our coffee and Stew said, "well at least the rain has held off" and, with that, it started to pour! We headed back to the car, sheltering in a few shops on the way. We actually didn't get too wet. This looked like a spot you would want to explore on a nicer day. It is actually loaded with restaurants all of which have bright umbrellas outside. On these cooler days, they also have outdoor heaters.

Most of our trip today was on toll highways. These are at least four lane, divided roads. The tolls are quite expensive. It was E 28.90 for a four hour trip. Our bottle of wine was E 2.90. You can see where the priorities lie! We have not seen one police car on any of the roads we have traveled. However, they have speed cameras so everyone stays pretty well within the limits. The entrances and exits have very short lanes so you really have to stomp on it to get up to speed (which is 130 km/hr). It's a bit of a challenge when you are driving a car with the acceleration of my sewing machine!

We drove the rest of the way to our destination, Arras, stopping once for gas. It took a bit of exploring to find our hotel, as it has an address not recognized by our GPS. I had printed out Google instructions which worked pretty well. Once we got there, we put it into the GPS with the lat and long so we could come back when we wanted to.

We settled into our room and then found directions to the Gare Arras where Marilyn and Doug's train would arrive. We got there easily and in less time than we had thought. We parked and went in for coffee and a cookie which we shared. While we were waiting we noticed a large number of teenagers and their parents. Nobody had any luggage. We finally figured out that they were waiting for a group of exchange students from Australia. The students eventually arrived, looking pretty well tuckered out. Goodness knows how long they had been traveling. I bet they will sleep well tonight.

Marilyn and Doug arrived right on schedule and we made our way back to the hotel. After everyone was settled in we enjoyed a bottle of wine before we went to the hotel dining room for dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and we went back to our respective rooms for an early night. Tomorrow, we are off to explore Vimy and the places that our Grandfathers served in the First World War.

2010

I'm a bit late for the party but am I ever glad I arrived!

I enjoyed reading about your stays in Venice & Rome. We had dinner at Barababao on our first visit in Venice. Great to hear that the food is still good! And wasn't the Church of St. Agnes on Piazza Navona just a gem? I read with interest about your days in the Cinque Terre, a place where we would love to go!

You covered a lot of territory in France! Actually, it sounds like we were in Normandy about the same time! I agree that Mont Saint Michel was exhausting! I am looking forward to your impressions of Vimy, especially with your family connections to the First World War!

irishface

Love your figures of speech! "... our car with the acceleration of my sewing machine" made me laugh! This report is informative and lots of fun. thanks for sharing!

TDudette

ttt

jane1144

Day 21, Monday, Sept 24th

Well, we have had a big day today. We started out at 9:00 with Marilyn and Doug, driving toward Vimy with the idea that we would find breakfast somewhere along the way. That proved to be more difficult than one would imagine. We could find no sign of a restaurant at all. Finally, we drove into Lens and found a place that served coffee. When we asked for breakfast, the lady said that she didn't offer breakfast, but sent us to the bakery around the corner. She told us to bring back what we bought and she would give us coffee. It worked perfectly. We had croissants and a baguette, but no juice. It did the trick. We headed back out towards Vimy. We knew that we had a tenuous weather forecast and it rained off and on.

We finally caught a glimpse, from a distance, of the white Canadian Memorial. It is simply spectacular. It was on a much larger scale than I had imagined. It was windy and cloudy, but the sun broke through every now and then so the white monument was just gleaming. The view from the ridge is over a vast expanse of farmland. The Memorial itself is surrounded on all sides by the craters left from the bombardment.
We eventually made our way to the visitor center and signed up for the tour of the tunnels and trenches. When we started out it also started to pour rain. It had become increasingly windy and the rain was basically blowing sideways. Our tour guide, Carolyn, was excellent as she led us first down into the tunnels. The tunnels are made of chalk and are about 8 meters under the ground. You certainly can't imagine spending a lot of time down there. As Marilyn said, "I don't want to hear anymore about your cave stay!!" She was right, “our” cave was luxurious compared to this. From the tunnels we emerged into more rain and went into the trenches. The German trenches were only yards away. It is unimaginable what soldiers went through in the trenches. Our weather was certainly miserable, but we weren't standing in water and mud up to our knees. The tour was a very moving experience and we were all so glad we had come.
We decided to drive towards Beaumont-Hamel where the Newfoundland Regiment monument is, hoping to find some lunch along the way. Once again, we couldn't seem to find a restaurant so we ended up going to a super market and assembling a picnic which we had to eat it in the car because of the rain. I'm sure it was not the birthday lunch that Marilyn had imagined, but it kept body and soul together.
We arrived at the Memorial to find that they were not offering tours and that some sections were closed because of the weather. They had had some falling tree branches and the wind was up to about 75kms/hour according to the guides. We made out to the monument which is spectacular, a big stag on a hill. Once again it is surrounded by the pock marks of war. The interpretive center looks like a Newfoundland house and was very informative. Almost everyone in this regiment was killed or wounded as they bravely fought through an untenable situation.

The whole experience of visiting these memorials was very moving and the miserable weather added to the mood. We all agreed that we are richer for having been here and prouder as Canadians.

We worked our way back to our hotel and decided that a glass of wine might be in order. We enjoyed discussing our day and went for dinner at seven. We will be up early tomorrow to take Marilyn and Doug to pick up their rental car. They will head to Normandy and we are off to Paris for our last week.

jane1144

Day 22 Tuesday, Sept 25th.

We were up early (it's genetic!) and went into the dining room for breakfast. Much to our surprise we found Marilyn there, already up and going. My how her plans had changed! We were supposed to be driving them to the car rental place and they would be off to Normandy, staying in the same hotel where we had been. Then they were to continue west to Cherbourg, turn in their car and take the ferry back to Portsmouth. I think I have this right. They decided to look something up on line about their ferry reservation and found that the ferries were on strike, something you would think the ferry company should have contacted them about. So they started to rethink their itinerary. About then, their iPad died. They went to bed only to have Doug up sick most of the night. In the morning he wasn't feeling up to driving so Marilyn was at the front desk trying to develop her alternatives. The ultimate solution was for them to decide to take the Eurostar back to London, so we dropped them off at Gare Arras. I have just heard that they are happily ensconced in London and Doug is beginning to feel better. I can think of a lot worse things than a few extra days in London.

We set off down the A1 to Paris. It was an uneventful trip, other than there was way more truck traffic than we have seen so far. We had rain off and on, but it didn't last too long. I had decided to drop the car at CDG Airport so I didn't have to drive in Paris. That worked out well and we took the RER into Paris, about 40 minutes. It stopped fairly close to where we were going so we just had a couple of blocks to walk.

We had been given instructions on how to get in to the apartment and what key pad codes to use. We got in OK and the key to our apartment was waiting under the mat as promised. We called our landlord as requested and he is coming to meet us to explain everything later this afternoon.

Meanwhile we went out for lunch and had French Onion soup and a glass of wine to toast our arrival. We are in the Marais neighborhood, just north of Notre Dame, which is very interesting. There are lots of restaurants, dress shops, bake shops, grocery stores, art galleries and antique stores. The streets are very busy and cars are parked everywhere. There is lots of pedestrian traffic as well.

Our apartment is in an old building with a central courtyard which we overlook, so I imagine it should be quiet. I'm hopeful. We have a sitting room with a TV (with some English channels), dining table as well as a sofa and some chairs. There is a minuscule kitchen which Stew is exploring as we speak. The bed room is a good size with a queen size bed and built in wardrobe and closet space. Finally we can unpack and give up living out of our suitcases. The bathroom is small with a shower. This apartment is older but quite charming, decorated in a warm gray. It has wide plank hardwood floors which look original to the building. The lighting seems reasonable, but it isn't really dark yet. (We have found everywhere that lighting is dim because of energy conservation.) We have large windows so the place seems bright and airy. The location is very good and close to the Metro. We have a good Wifi connection but the password is 26 characters long, both letters and numbers. It took two of us to get it entered correctly! I think that this place will work out well.

I know that I am the only person on the planet that spent her first afternoon in Paris doing laundry, but that's what we did. It only took an hour and we are now good to last until we get home next week (next week??? How did that happen?!) We also did some basic grocery shopping and bought tonight's dinner which will be Greek shrimp on rice and a salad. We actually planned these chores so we are all set up for a busy 6 days. Dinner is starting to smell good. Our landlord just arrived, but we had basically figured everything out on our own including a hot water heating system.

We had dinner and decided to go for a short walk before dark. We are staying just one block north of the City Hall, so it was only about 10 minute trip to Notre Dame. We poked along in the little shops and made our way home while we could still see where we were going. It had also started to spit rain. So we are hunkered down for the evening and looking forward to a busy day tomorrow.

I'm feeling a little guilty that yesterday's post might not have done our trips to Vimy and Beaumont-Hamel justice, but I was tired when I wrote it. All I can really add is that, if you are Canadian and have any chance of seeing these Memorials, you will be overwhelmed. It was quite a moving experience. If you are not planning a trip to France, check it out on line (grandchildren please take note!) and learn the story of our coming of age as a nation.

TDudette

What is the name of your apartment?

Very enjoyable report!

Micheline

Jane I read about the trenches with great interest. 4 brothers, my great uncles fought at Vimy. The youngest, 19, was last seen delivering barrels of rum on horse pulled carts to the soldiers in the trenches. The other 3 survived but because they had been gassed had short, sad lives on their return to Canada.

jane1144

TDudette,
We stayed at la Verrerie through Paris Best Lodge. Both the broker, Paris Best Lodge and the landlord Eric were great to deal with.

jane1144

Micheline,
I am not sure if you know, but you can request their war records from the Canadian government. If you can get their enlistment records on-line (easy) you would know what battalion(s) they were with and you can probably read the Battalion war diaries on line. It is amazing what you can find It makes it so much more real.

travelgirl2

Enjoying your trip report, but cannot imagine sharing gelato! This is one thing I am not willing to share.

You are covering a lot of ground and seeing so many things. Do you plan to keep up the pace in Paris? You must both have high energy levels.

Happy traveling!

jane1144

Day 23 Wednesday, September 26 th

What a big day we have had. We got up about 7:30 and after his shower, Stew went out to the bakery for some breakfast add-ons. He came home and made scrambled eggs which we had with our croissants and a bit of bread that he had bought. Yummy. We decided to find coffee later.

We set out to do an historic walk of Paris, recommended in a guide book. First, we stopped to buy our four day museum passes, which allow you to skip the ticket lines. Our first stop was Notre Dame Cathedral. We took note of point zero, the place from which all distances in France are measured. Then we stopped to understand the facade of the cathedral. What a massive place. Inside, it is quite dimly lit and you can't use a flash, so it is a bit of a photographic challenge. Guess they sell more postcards that way! We walked all the way around, reading the guide as we went. The fact that people in 1100 could build it is amazing.

After we left Notre Dame we headed around behind it to see the Deportation Memorial which commemorates the French Jews who were victims of the holocaust. Unfortunately we couldn't quite get to it because of construction. We carried on with the tour and we crossed over to the left bank. We walked along noticing the ramshackle mediaeval architecture. We stopped for a while at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, recalling the original where the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound used to hang out. We continued on along St. Severin and past the church of the same name and into the Latin Quarter. We scoped out some restaurants for dinner another night. We also stopped for our coffee and ended up paying E8,80 for two cups of the worst coffee we have had. I couldn't even drink all of mine. We walked across Place St. Michel and crossed the river again on the Pont Neuf Bridge.

Our next destination was Sainte-Chapelle. Since it is situated in the middle of the Palais De Justice, France's Supreme Court, you must clear through airport like security. This of course creates a line, but it moved along fairly quickly. When you first enter the church, you find yourself in a small chapel which is on the humble side, but beautiful all the same. It certainly isn't the soaring cathedral you are expecting. You must climb a rather strenuous winding staircase to get inside the actual cathedral with its walls of stained glass. Unfortunately, it was a rainy, cloudy day so we were unable to see the windows to their full advantage. They were still amazing. There was also a presentation on the window restoration process which was of special interest to me as I have worked in stained glass in the past.

Reluctantly, we moved on past the Cite Metropolitan Metro Stop, one of just few of the Art Nouveau style subway entrances and then past the Conciergerie, Paris' prison where Marie Antoinette had her head removed. Our walk, which had taken about four hours, brought us back over Pont Neuf. Our plan was to do a tour of the Louvre in the afternoon so we stopped for lunch on the way. I had onion soup again but it was really salty. Stew did better with fresh tomato soup.

Then we were off to the Louvre. Although I was here once as a teenager, I didn't remember how huge it is. Our museum pass allowed us to bypass the lines and get right in. Then I had to stand in a 10 minute line for the bathroom! We had a tour to follow through the museum as well. All together we were there for three or four hours, hardly enough to scrape the surface. You could spend years here and not see everything in any depth. The buildings themselves are beautiful, even if they were stripped of the art. The ceilings, especially, were amazing. Among other great works of art, of course we saw the Mona Lisa...well almost. What a mob! Everyone was jockeying for positions, and then, we they got closer, they would take a picture of each and every family member in front of the painting. Takes a while! On top of that, several people were taking their pics with their iPads, which effectively blocked the rest of us. I finally got two pictures from a position about four rows back from the front. I got a picture, but can't say that I really got to see the painting. They really need to re-think their crowd control.

Before we got as far as Mona Lisa, we heard and announcement in several languages that the museum was being evacuated because of a "situation". We were to go to the nearest exit which we did. By the time we got there, we noticed people still buying tickets and coming in. We asked a museum guide who was unaware of any "situation". Quite reassuring!!! We watched for awhile and, since we no longer heard the announcements, we decided to venture back in. We had retrace our steps somewhat, but it seemed that everything was back to normal. We did see several police officers leaving with some of their equipment, so we felt everything was OK.

We finished our tour and set out to walk about a mile to our apartment. We stopped for some groceries on the way. We are now home and I have started to seize up! We basically walked for 8 hours, not fast, but almost non-stop. Everything hurts. Nothing that a glass of wine won't fix, but we will be staying in tonight.