Tag Archives: France

Things that happened in France

Arromanches, D-Day, France, Normandy

Cookie.. and Mooie.. and Looie!

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Hey guys! It has been a really busy day here in France. First place we visited was La Pointe du Hoc and it was beautiful!!! It had bunkers from the war, bomb craters that i could climb in and  a small museum to show all the memorials of people who died in the war.

The second place was Omaha beach a very quiet place with only a few houses on the hill. This was  a part of the battle field (apart from the houses) they had to climb up this big hill with everything they needed! Seems hard right?

The third place was at the Graveyard of all the soldiers who died in the war there was about… 10,000. Then we found a grave with words carved with gold marking where Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was buried. It was sad yet happy at the same time. Sad because they died for us and all the people there who were buried made my life and yours possible. Yet happy because their death was not in vain.

The last place was where we visited was  Gold Beach and we hung there in the sand I took my shoes off and played in the water! The was some left over cement pieces from the dock the town made for ships but it was destroyed in the war.  Turns out they were only up for 6 weeks!  The water started to rise so we went to dinner, but when we came back you could not even walk on the sand the tide came all the way to the rocks!

The last special place was where i met my friends (who are cows). We went there because my dad saw the cows and went to look after he stopped the car so I went too. The baby ones were on 1 side and the moms were on the other, we never found out why they were separated though. My cow friends were called Cookie,Mooie,and Looie. we chatted for a bit in Moo language and then we had to go we got back here and here I am now!

See ya next time!,

Syd

Audrieu, France, Honfleur

It Never Rains In Honfleur

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We were expecting some rain as we planned this trip, the Pay-Bas and Normandy are noted for cooler, wetter weather. We were hoping for some scattered showers but the last 24 hours was a bit more inclement than we wanted. Driving south through more rain we were wondering if we would get a break only to have the break reveal itself as we pulled into our destination for the day, Honfleur with warm sun and scattered clouds, just what we were hoping for.

Honfleur is a picturesque port town located on the south bank of the Seine near where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. Still an active port it also has a place in art history, several noted artists lived and worked here including Claude Monet and the visions seen in this area helped inspire the Impressionist movement. The city has one of the more interesting churches we have seen in a while, Saint Catherine’s. Since the area was populated by fisherman thus ship builders they applied some of the same techniques when these same people built the church thus some parts look like a boat.

We indulged  in local delicacies for dinner including some great Oysters, local fish and savory buckwheat crapés.

We are now at our home for 5 days, Audrieu a centrally located town from where we can day trip out to the many sights we want to see nearby. And much to Syd’s happiness there is a nice pool. Rain, rain go away!

Heard a loud groan from the north. Bye-bye Pay-Bas.

Approaching the Pont de Normandie.
Approaching the Pont de Normandie.
Crossing the Pont de Normandie.
Crossing the Pont de Normandie.
Honfleur Harbor
Honfleur Harbor
Honfleur Harbor
Honfleur Harbor
Saint-Catherine's Church & Bell Tower.
Saint-Catherine’s Church & Bell Tower.
Inside Saint-Catherine's Church.
Inside Saint-Catherine’s Church.
The ladies in Honfleur.
The ladies in Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
Walking around Honfleur.
A fish boat heading out for the evening catch.
A fish boat heading out for the evening catch.

 

France, Gosnay, Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

Kinderdijk

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Alas it is time to move on from Amsterdam. Our travel ‘method’ has always been to go visit a city/country for a short time to get the feel for it and then to return for an extended visit in several Amsterdam will certainly be on the list.

We had to make one last stop in Les Pays-Bas, what kind of parents would we be of we took Syd to this country and not visit a windmill? Luckily heritage and UNESCO made it easy by preserving a series of mills along our way in the village of Kinderdijk. The name means “Children dike” and is rumored to be where the folktale “Cat and the Cradle” originated when during a particularly bad flood a cat was found keeping a cradle floating in the flood water containing a sleeping baby in balance. I did not realize that families lived inside these giant pumps and had all the incidents that one would expect in such a situation.  Modern flood pumps have since replaced the windmills at this sites original purpose, the well preserved site was well worth the visit. Rains returned today so the site was fairly empty during our visit, their visit loss was a (wet) gain for us. Man, can those blades move, aerodynamics at its finest.

Our second stop of the day was to be at Ghent, Belgium however a major accident slowed us down for nearly two hours so we decided to press on to our evening destination. That part of the drive was an interesting test for the Garmin Nav system and reviled several of its short comings. When it said it knew a quicker route we said OK and ended up getting a nice tour of central Antwerp. And when the traffic became really bad due to the accident the system did not know, so the accident re-routing is flaky at best.

First night in France in Gosnay. The FIFA world cup is still on an although I enjoy being at work during the tournament due to the excitement of many of my foreign born colleagues it was nice to be in ‘Futbul’  countries the cup is in contest. Tonight was in no slouch, even though Germany had a solid lead the entire time the hotel staff was still as jumpy as a jackrabbit on a hot-plate. Lots of fun! Nice meal at a local brasserie, I know Americans have a reputation for being ‘ugly’ but boy there was trio of Brits in the restaurant as well last night that would have taken the top spot in any contest with their complaints…

A wet walk.
A wet walk.
A close-up of a still working mill.
A close-up of a still working mill.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Mills at Kinderdijk.
Those are big clogs to fill!
Those are big clogs to fill!
Singing in the rain.
Singing in the rain.