Normandy!
We spent about a week in Normandy in September, a great time. After flying to CDG, we rented a car and fought our way out of the Paris area in Monday morning rush hour traffic. Not recommended! We were very happy to arrive in Rouen and find our room at the Hotel de l'Europe. The hotel was just minutes away from the Place du Vieux Marché. The Place has a checkered past, as the place where Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake. Today it is the site of a large, modern church Jeanne d'Arc, and also a daily market. In addition, the square is lined with restaurants and is a popular spot with tourists and locals alike.
We had a great lunch at Restaurant Gill, in the Place du Vieux Marché. Great food and ambience, a good beginning to our stay. After jet lag naps we set out to explore lovely Rouen. Lots of medieval half timbered houses everywhere, great pedestrian walking areas. And of course the huge and beautiful cathedral, made famous by Monet, who painted it multiple times in all different lights. We walked around the town, saw the Beaux Arts Museum and a lovely little park across from it, and generally enjoyed getting to know it. We began to realize how significant World War II was in all of Normandy, and the huge damage that so many places suffered.
The next morning we walked some more, visiting more churches, including St Maclou and the Aitre de St Maclou, a courtyard surrounding half timbered buildings, with carved motifs of death--skulls and crossbones, sickles, and other symbols of death. It was for many years a cemetery for plague victims. Today it houses a fine arts school-go figure. But it does offer fascinating art.
Later we drove to Caen (with a flat tire as we were leaving town--definitely not recommended!), stopping along the way to visit the ruined abbey at Jumièges. We drove along the Seine through beautiful countryside to this large and impressive set of ruins, in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. After our visit we took a small ferry across the Seine to continue our trip.
In Caen our hotel was just around the corner from the Château, a huge complex with ramparts and towers. It's a great place to walk around the get views of the city. It also houses the fine arts museum and the Musée de Normandie.
We spent most of one day exploring the D-Day beaches and surrounding communities. We started in Ste-Mère-Eglise, made famous when the US paratroopers missed their target and landed there. Many were killed as their parachutes drifted toward town. One, John Steele, caught his parachute on the tower of the church and hung there for several hours, pretending to be dead, and thus saved his life. Today there is a parachute and a mannequin representing Steele on the church tower. Many people come to see this and to express their thanks in the church guest book for the Allied soldiers. The tiny town also has a military museum.
We drove from there to Utah Beach. It was sobering to see the bunkers still in place and to walk on the dunes and try to imagine what it was like. From there to Colleville-sur-Mer, site of the largest US World War II cemetery. We've all seen pictures of this, with the rows and rows of white crosses (and occasional stars of David), but it is very moving to see in person. It's a solemn place, where people come to honor and respect those who died there. It is on a hill overlooking Omaha Beach, where so many died, and a beautiful spot of remembrance. Even in late September it was full of visitors. We went from there to Omaha Beach. It looks like...a beach, in a small French town. Hard to imagine what all went on there.
Caen has built a huge memorial museum, dedicated not just to the history of the war but also to future peace. It's very high tech and comprehensive and provides information about events leading up to the war, the war itself, and post war/future.
We celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in Caen, having a great dinner at a very nice restaurant there, Le Bouchon du Vaugueux.
Next stop, Bayeux, home of the amazing Bayeux Tapestry. It's actually an embroidery rather than a tapestry, 70 meters long, displayed in a u-shaped case with appropriate lighting. It tells the story of the Norman Conquest and William the Conqueror. Really amazing--how often do you get to see something from the 11th century that still is intact and beautiful! The town itself was charming too.
We took a little detour to the town of St-Lô, which has the dubious distinction of being the "Capital of the Ruins." Some estimates say 95% of it was destroyed in 1944, as it was a crossroads and communications center. The church has been rebuilt, but the tours remain as the were after the destruction as a reminder. Another example of how significant World War II was to this region.
Next to Mont-Saint-Michel, where we had arranged to stay on the island for two nights. That was really cool. We arrived about 5:30 and the place was mobbed. We fought our way up the narrow main street that was full of people, and after walking up the cobble stoned Grande Rue we got to the Vieille Auberge. Our room, however, required walking up 66 more steps! Definitely worth it, as we had a big terrace with a great view of the bay, and a view of the abbey if we looked up. Cool. It was also great to watch all the cars and buses leaving the parking lot! When we went back down later in the evening the street was quiet. We got to walk around the abbey at night and enjoyed a great dinner of Moules frites (mussels and French fries) in a little restaurant overlooking the Bay.
The next morning we got up early for the sunrise and enjoyed seeing Mont-St-Michel covered in fog--very atmospheric. We walked out onto the grassy areas and saw some of the famous sheep grazing. The Mont-St-Michel lamb is supposed to be particularly tasty because the sheep graze on the salt marsh hay.
After breakfast we toured the Abbey itself, again climbing up lots of stairs to get there. As you approach the entrance, the left side is for groups and the right side for individual travelers. The groups side had a huge line, and there was no one on the individual side! We walked right in but of course were surrounded by groups. We had gotten the audiotour, and after a while we figured out how to pace ourselves so we could enjoy some of the beautiful spaces in between the groups as they made their way through. It made us even more grateful that we had the experience of staying on the island and experiencing the peace and tranquility of the evening and early morning.
By this point the 66 steps felt like nothing, since we had been climbing all morning. So I picked up some sandwiches we popped back "home" for lunch on our terrace before heading out again.
Our visit happened to be at a time when the tides were not high, which meant that we never actually saw the island surrounded by water. Huge sand flats went on for ages, and offered great views. In addition, that meant that we could walk all the way around the abbey on the sand at any time and get great views from all angles. Some people actually waded through various places where there was some water, and headed out to little islands and more distant spots. We were happy hanging out nearby.
That evening we once again enjoyed the tranquility and the sunset, and from our room heard the quarter-hour bells of the small Église St-Pierre, which we saw from our terrace.
The next morning we stopped at the Portes of Mont-St-Michel, basically an area of hotels, shops, and restaurants just across the causeway. The places there advertise themselves as having the view of MSM you don't get if you stay there. And the views were great. Most interesting was the dam that has been built to control the flow of water in and out of the bay. There have been problems over the years with silt building up, and MSM is in process of replacing part of the causeway with a bridge, to allow for greater water flow. The dam is part of the process of allowing water from the river in and out, to prevent the silt build up. It's very high tech and is another spot with great views.
From here we moved on to Brittany. Next blog entry coming soon!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Paris and the Loire, June 2011
Back to France, finally! I had so looking forward to this trip, and seeing Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris a few weeks ago just made me want to go even more.
We took an 11 PM flight, a new experience for us, and sat upstairs in a 747, also new. The section was fairly empty, and we had lots of legroom and even the chance to stretch out. Not a bad start! Arriving at CDG, we were swept along with the crowds, took the RER and then the métro, and eventually reached our apartment in the 7th, across the street from UNESCO and a short walk from the Eiffel Tower. Quite a residential area, different than where we've been before. After lunch at a corner café and a brief nap, we met friends Pam and Dick for a lovely dinner on Rue St. Honoré. Walking back, we just kept being thrilled to be in Paris.
Next day I took on one of my web site challenges, to explore the many covered passages of Paris. Built mostly in the 1800s, these early "malls" are today home to various shops, restaurants, offices, etc. Many were destroyed over the years, but 17 remain, and their architecture and structure are beautiful. Topped by glass roofs and sporting various tile floors, some like Passage Vivienne, are beautiful, while others are more work-a-day. Passage Brady has lots of Indian and Pakistani restaurants, and nearby Passage Prado has more of same, plus hair salons, shoe stores, telephone stores, and more. They're all interesting and I managed to visit 16 of the 17 that still exist. I will be writing about them on www.paristravelplanner.com, but haven't gotten that done yet.
On Thursday I went to our local market on the Avenue de Saxe. I love French markets! Beautiful produce, meats, cheeses, flowers, fish, and then clothes and hardware and various other things. Bought a few things for meals and snacks at home--we had a great salad lunch on our tiny balcony.
Our friend Stephanie arrived that afternoon and we walked around our neighborhood, enjoying the various views of the Eiffel Tower at each corner. A single leg here, just the top there--always something different to see. She and I continued to visit more of the passages the next day and went back to the Printemps by the Opéra Garnier for lunch in the beautiful restaurant under the dome there.
On the weekend we checked out the famous flea market (marché aux puces) of St-Ouen, near the Porte de Clignancourt. Amazing number of shops and stuff. We managed to get away without buying anything, but with lots of pictures and info for the web site.
Sunday we decided to go to a church service at the beautiful Église de la Madeleine. It turned out to be a special service honoring Scouts, so there were a lot of kids, which was nice, and the sermon was mostly understandable. Afterwards we were invited for refreshments on the terrace of the church. Unlike the coffee hours I am used to, which feature coffee, I was handed a very large paper cup of wine. When in Paris...
That afternoon Stephanie and I decided to visit the Grand Palais to see Anish Kapoor's Leviathan. Here's the story: "Each year the French ministry of culture and communication invites a leading artist to create a work that responds to the exceptional architectural space of the Grand Palais in Paris." The space is 13,500 square meters, and the work was a huge four-armed inflatable structure, the color of eggplant, that filled the space. Most interesting of all, you could go inside one of the big balloons, where you were bathed in red light and saw the structure from the inside. Very cool, but after that we were happy to walk outside for a while. Just before the Invalides we suddenly saw a huge group of roller skaters. Talking to one of them, we learned there is an open skate each Sunday in Paris, for 22 kilometers, that attracts a couple thousand people! Who knew?
Monday--our last day in Paris already? Zut alors! We spent some time writing and working on the site, and had dinner in the Rue de Buci to check out that area.
The next morning, off to the Loire. Train to St. Pierre des Corps (near Tours), pick up a rental car, then lunch and some visits in nearby Vouvray--lovely little village surrounded by vines. On to Amboise, where we found our apartment on the aptly named Rue de la Concorde, just at the base of the amazing Château d'Amboise. We looked out our living room window at one of the grand towers, and looked way up to see the ramparts--it is situated high above the Loire and the town, and towers over all, a beautiful and dramatic building. And what a fabulous location for our apartment--we loved having our neighborhood château!
We arrived on the night of the Fête de la Musique, a celebration of music held on the night of the solstice. Amateur and professional musicians perform everywhere--in tiny Amboise we must have seen and heard at least 6-8 different groups. And because it stays light until after 10 PM in France at the solstice, it was great fun wandering around the streets and finding different music. (And I just learned by looking on line that the fête was first proposed by Boston musician/conductor Joel Cohen, started in France in 1982, and has spread to many other countries.) This was a great introduction to Amboise.
Next day we visited the amazing and beautiful Château d'Amboise and the nearby Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci lived his last few years, at the invitation of King François I. It was a fabulous place, with a large exhibition of Leonardo's inventions and a large park filled with models of his inventions that you could play with! And by the way, as we drove through Amboise looking for the Rue François Ier, we also learned that our American GPS had a bit of difficulty with French pronunciation. He will always be "Fran-soys One-er" to us!
The next days were filled with château visits--Cheverny, Blois, Chenonceau, Chaumont, Villandry, Langeais, Azay-le-Rideau, and Ussé (supposed model for Sleeping Beauty). You can read about them on the web site when I get them written. All different, all lovely, all great visits. We continued to enjoy exploring the restaurants of Amboise and visited the wonderful local market (held in a large parking lot right next to the Loire) twice. We got very attached to "our château" and enjoyed seeing it from various vantage points, most dramatically from across the Loire at sunset, when it glowed golden.
One evening I went to the Château d'Amboise for the Sound and Light Show. Fabulous! I have described it as about 70% Revels and 30% Smirkus, with horses and fireworks thrown in. It is performed two nights a week in the summer and includes over 400 volunteers from Amboise and the nearby villages. Costumes, music, lighting effects, and dialogue, all in the beautiful setting of the château, combine to make a wonderful show. And I even got my picture taken afterwards with François Ier! A great evening in a magical setting.
All too soon it was time to head home. We drove through the vineyards on our way to return the car, even ended up back in Vouvray for our last picnic, and then took the TGV direct to CDG airport. For reasons I don't understand but don't question, I was able to get us frequent flyer tickets with a return flight in business class. So our last couple hours in Paris were spent in the lovely Air France lounge, sipping champagne and enjoying snacks, and then in our comfortable seats on the flight home, with continuing champagne. I could get used to this...but I can't!
So another trip comes to a close, and we have a ton of work to do on the website. This was our first venture to expand francetravelplanner.com beyond Paris, so there's plenty to do and it will take a while to pull it all together. But we're already thinking of our next trip...As one friend commented, "Paris never disappoints," and I have to agree.
We took an 11 PM flight, a new experience for us, and sat upstairs in a 747, also new. The section was fairly empty, and we had lots of legroom and even the chance to stretch out. Not a bad start! Arriving at CDG, we were swept along with the crowds, took the RER and then the métro, and eventually reached our apartment in the 7th, across the street from UNESCO and a short walk from the Eiffel Tower. Quite a residential area, different than where we've been before. After lunch at a corner café and a brief nap, we met friends Pam and Dick for a lovely dinner on Rue St. Honoré. Walking back, we just kept being thrilled to be in Paris.
Next day I took on one of my web site challenges, to explore the many covered passages of Paris. Built mostly in the 1800s, these early "malls" are today home to various shops, restaurants, offices, etc. Many were destroyed over the years, but 17 remain, and their architecture and structure are beautiful. Topped by glass roofs and sporting various tile floors, some like Passage Vivienne, are beautiful, while others are more work-a-day. Passage Brady has lots of Indian and Pakistani restaurants, and nearby Passage Prado has more of same, plus hair salons, shoe stores, telephone stores, and more. They're all interesting and I managed to visit 16 of the 17 that still exist. I will be writing about them on www.paristravelplanner.com, but haven't gotten that done yet.
On Thursday I went to our local market on the Avenue de Saxe. I love French markets! Beautiful produce, meats, cheeses, flowers, fish, and then clothes and hardware and various other things. Bought a few things for meals and snacks at home--we had a great salad lunch on our tiny balcony.
Our friend Stephanie arrived that afternoon and we walked around our neighborhood, enjoying the various views of the Eiffel Tower at each corner. A single leg here, just the top there--always something different to see. She and I continued to visit more of the passages the next day and went back to the Printemps by the Opéra Garnier for lunch in the beautiful restaurant under the dome there.
On the weekend we checked out the famous flea market (marché aux puces) of St-Ouen, near the Porte de Clignancourt. Amazing number of shops and stuff. We managed to get away without buying anything, but with lots of pictures and info for the web site.
Sunday we decided to go to a church service at the beautiful Église de la Madeleine. It turned out to be a special service honoring Scouts, so there were a lot of kids, which was nice, and the sermon was mostly understandable. Afterwards we were invited for refreshments on the terrace of the church. Unlike the coffee hours I am used to, which feature coffee, I was handed a very large paper cup of wine. When in Paris...
That afternoon Stephanie and I decided to visit the Grand Palais to see Anish Kapoor's Leviathan. Here's the story: "Each year the French ministry of culture and communication invites a leading artist to create a work that responds to the exceptional architectural space of the Grand Palais in Paris." The space is 13,500 square meters, and the work was a huge four-armed inflatable structure, the color of eggplant, that filled the space. Most interesting of all, you could go inside one of the big balloons, where you were bathed in red light and saw the structure from the inside. Very cool, but after that we were happy to walk outside for a while. Just before the Invalides we suddenly saw a huge group of roller skaters. Talking to one of them, we learned there is an open skate each Sunday in Paris, for 22 kilometers, that attracts a couple thousand people! Who knew?
Monday--our last day in Paris already? Zut alors! We spent some time writing and working on the site, and had dinner in the Rue de Buci to check out that area.
The next morning, off to the Loire. Train to St. Pierre des Corps (near Tours), pick up a rental car, then lunch and some visits in nearby Vouvray--lovely little village surrounded by vines. On to Amboise, where we found our apartment on the aptly named Rue de la Concorde, just at the base of the amazing Château d'Amboise. We looked out our living room window at one of the grand towers, and looked way up to see the ramparts--it is situated high above the Loire and the town, and towers over all, a beautiful and dramatic building. And what a fabulous location for our apartment--we loved having our neighborhood château!
We arrived on the night of the Fête de la Musique, a celebration of music held on the night of the solstice. Amateur and professional musicians perform everywhere--in tiny Amboise we must have seen and heard at least 6-8 different groups. And because it stays light until after 10 PM in France at the solstice, it was great fun wandering around the streets and finding different music. (And I just learned by looking on line that the fête was first proposed by Boston musician/conductor Joel Cohen, started in France in 1982, and has spread to many other countries.) This was a great introduction to Amboise.
Next day we visited the amazing and beautiful Château d'Amboise and the nearby Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci lived his last few years, at the invitation of King François I. It was a fabulous place, with a large exhibition of Leonardo's inventions and a large park filled with models of his inventions that you could play with! And by the way, as we drove through Amboise looking for the Rue François Ier, we also learned that our American GPS had a bit of difficulty with French pronunciation. He will always be "Fran-soys One-er" to us!
The next days were filled with château visits--Cheverny, Blois, Chenonceau, Chaumont, Villandry, Langeais, Azay-le-Rideau, and Ussé (supposed model for Sleeping Beauty). You can read about them on the web site when I get them written. All different, all lovely, all great visits. We continued to enjoy exploring the restaurants of Amboise and visited the wonderful local market (held in a large parking lot right next to the Loire) twice. We got very attached to "our château" and enjoyed seeing it from various vantage points, most dramatically from across the Loire at sunset, when it glowed golden.
One evening I went to the Château d'Amboise for the Sound and Light Show. Fabulous! I have described it as about 70% Revels and 30% Smirkus, with horses and fireworks thrown in. It is performed two nights a week in the summer and includes over 400 volunteers from Amboise and the nearby villages. Costumes, music, lighting effects, and dialogue, all in the beautiful setting of the château, combine to make a wonderful show. And I even got my picture taken afterwards with François Ier! A great evening in a magical setting.
All too soon it was time to head home. We drove through the vineyards on our way to return the car, even ended up back in Vouvray for our last picnic, and then took the TGV direct to CDG airport. For reasons I don't understand but don't question, I was able to get us frequent flyer tickets with a return flight in business class. So our last couple hours in Paris were spent in the lovely Air France lounge, sipping champagne and enjoying snacks, and then in our comfortable seats on the flight home, with continuing champagne. I could get used to this...but I can't!
So another trip comes to a close, and we have a ton of work to do on the website. This was our first venture to expand francetravelplanner.com beyond Paris, so there's plenty to do and it will take a while to pull it all together. But we're already thinking of our next trip...As one friend commented, "Paris never disappoints," and I have to agree.
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