Blogs from Bayeux, Lower Normandy, France, Europe

I liked spending easter 2012 here,the suprise wispa and mint aero bubbles easter eggs that were left on our pillows actually made it feel like easter and more importantly like home as thy don't have cadburys here but Jayne got them sent from England. The Jones family celebrate the day different frm home, when i rang my mum it was noisey and the room was overflowing with family and laughter and I have no doubt that Bens collecion of easter eggs would have been pilled on top of eachother to form a cadburys tower. Here, however 8 year old Fin received one easter egg which he got to choose and ate the day before and the only people who popped by to say 'Joyeuses Paques' were cusomers collecting easter cakes we had made for their loved ... read more

We headed to Bayeux for the sole purpose of visiting the Dday beaches and getting the full tour. We booked a half day tour ahead of time and were told to wait outside out hotel for 8:30 am.. The driver finally showed up at about 9 due to bad traffic apparently downtown. Our driver looked 19 and fresh out of school but we had a combined age in the van of over 300 due to all the other 4 people on our tour who ended up being all very nice. The weather was apparently very similar to June 6th 1944. Wet, rainy and bleek but we like the invaders mangaed to forge through it and get to see everything we wanted. Point de Hoc, which was bombarded for hours before a group of 200 rangers were ... read more

Our last destination in France before heading home was to Bayeux and the Normandy beach landings. The day we travelled to Bayeux was going to be a very interesting day on the Tour de France where Voeckler was going to be tested for the yellow jersey. We were hoping to make it to our hotel in time to see the end. Although at the train station there weren't any taxis so we decided to walk to our hotel which wasn't that far away. We walked passed a bar that was showing the Tour de France just along from the train station. We decided to stop and watch the very intense ending at the bar. Voeckler managed to keep the yellow jersey but only by 15 seconds which is good. The french people in the bar were ... read more

On the 22nd July we visited the sights of the D-day beaches through Normandy. Not really knowing too much about the American side of the landings, we decided to take the tour that went to the American sights of Utah and Omaha beaches. Of course, we were the only non-Americans on the tour though, which was not what we were expecting and took us by surprise suddenly being surrounded by American accents after having become used to European accents. But it was a fantastic tour. The stories of the planning and execution of the landings and efforts through the country side to re-claim the towns and region from the Germans were really inspiring. There were stories of paratroopers getting stuck on a church steeple and having to "play dead" for two hours to avoid being ... read more

Bonjour!! J'adooooooorrrreeeeee FRANCE! What a beautiful country. Am yet to find anything that I don't just love, love, love about France! But first of all, just to recap, before leaving for France on Monday on the Eurostar mum, Alissa and I spent Saturday and Sunday having a 'girls' weekend out, it was fab! Saturday was spent wandering through the Notting Hill markets and then we found a new hair salon that had just opened so we all went in and had our mullets trimmed. I had a fringe cut in and am feeling so much better, it's funny how a new hair cut can lift morale! Anywho, we met the boys on the Thames, after we'd had a quick (aka expensive) shop at Selfridges, where a festival was taking place, once the whole clan was together ... read more

So today was a day I had been pretty excited about for a while. Going on a tour of the D-Day beaches out in Normandy. For whatever reason I have kind of turned into a bit of a history buff/nerd on this subject and wanted to go out to the area to check it out and pay my respects at the American cemetary to all the soldiers we lost that day. Unfortunately it's a two hour train ride out to the town of Bayeux where the tour starts but it's a pretty nice ride. The countryside out in Normandy is beautiful and the architectural style reminds you of rural Britain for the obvious geographical reasons. I wish I could spend more than just an afternoon out here exploring some of the small towns. The tour consisted ... read more

BAYEUX Day 7 Not too much to mention today. I got up early and bee-lined it for the train station so that I could catch one of the 3 trains to Bayeux, Normandy. In the train station I kept hearing the bell they sound before they make an announcement. Now I kept thinking it sounded familiar and then it hit me. It sounded just like the music they play on Glee when it is coming back from commercial or changing to a new scene. Isn’t that weird? While I am talking about sounds, the French police siren is so very French. Every time I heard it I would think, ‘yup I am definitely in France.’ Also, France is full of motorcycles. So the sound of motorcycles and the police siren are what make me think ... read more