Advertisement
From Belgium we headed into France which was a nice change for us because we could understand much of what the signs and people say. As a Canadian it is embarrassing to admit that our French is less than good. Nick used to be close to bilingual and Sarah was okay, but now we have a hard time even stringing a sentence together, but we can often understand what somebody is asking and after a second can give a half-ass answer to get our point across (this was definitely not the case with Dutch or Flemish).
We first went to Rouen which is a beautiful old town with many churches and characteristic northern French architecture (what we might call Tudor style). Rouen is where Joan of Arc was tried and burnt at the stake by the English. (Nick thought when we arrived that it did smell a little like heretic.) Realising we really didn't know too much about this famous heroine we delved right into all the tourist attractions surrounding her history. Nick really wanted to see the tower where she was tried, and which is the only remaining section of the 13th century castle of one of kings of
the period. It was interesting, but the never ending circular staircase made us feel a little sick. We also visited a wax museum all about Joan of Arc. We are not normally in the habit of visiting wax museums, but this one (although small) gave us lots of information. After this we both had had enough of Joan, so we decided to visit the art gallery. It was quite a good representation of European art periods, but included a very strange modern photography display of two naked men wearing buckets on their heads and grappling. Needless to say, that shocked us both...but hey, that's modern art for you! After visiting all these cultural and informative museums Nick decided we needed a change. We spent much of one afternoon looking for a pub with a TV that would be showing the Champions League soccer game (luckily we found one as he has been going through sports withdrawal and he has missed the whole hockey season).
From Rouen we took the train to a little town in Normandy called Lisieux where we are currently staying with some relatives. It was in the train station that we started to get a little
Architecture of Normandy
Just how many springs have these buildings seen? suspicious of the country --- everywhere here it costs 30-50 cents (in Euros) to go to the public washrooms. As Nick attempted to use the one in the station, he was DISMAYED at the sorry state of the washroom! One would think that for 30 cents a head they could at least keep the thing clean. And so we have some tough questions for France's leaders....but questions like "M. Chirac, where does all the pee money go?" are unlikely to be asked in parliament. Can you say corruption scandal?
Here in Lisieux we are staying with some of the nicest people in the world....and boy do they know how to live! Every morning they threaten us with something called "Pain au chocolat" (oh that sweet, sweet chocolate pain!) and make us drink strong coffee from these tiny European cups. Not to mention the before, during, and after dinner drinks. It was during an aperitif before dinner (Nick knows these as "the pre-game warm up") that we discovered the liqueur named after this region - Calvados. It tastes a bit like Armagnac but a bit sweeter, and oh, so smooth! Otherwise, these people are up to their ears in cheese
- you wouldn't believe the many different styles of it they have lying around the house. We have so far learned that, just because a cheese SMELLS like stinky feet doesn't necessarily mean it tastes that way (and vice versa). Every day we are introduced to new foods - one day it was a full seafood platter for dinner, the next it was rabbit. Can you guess what rabbit tastes like? Yep, you got it - chicken. Just like chicken, but better.
It's always funny to see people actually displaying stereotypical behaviour for which they are known. Everyone here walks around with a full baguette under their arm...we're not sure if they eat them or there's just some good "don't leave home without it" marketing going on. We're still waiting to see someone in a beret with one of those long cigarette holders sticking out of their mouth (preferably wearing a tight black and white striped shirt and also holding a bottle of wine). We'll let you know if that happens.
Lisieux is close to many places, including Paris and the Normandy D-Day beaches. Our hosts Bruce and Mary Vonne lend us their car every day to go
sightseeing in the countryside. It's so beautiful here, so green and so OLD. Despite the fact that many towns like Lisieux were devastated by Allied bombing in '44, the average building is still centuries old. An example: the other day we took the car up to Honfleur on the north coast - the port town, still very much intact, is the place where in 1608 Samuel de Champlain and a number of settlers departed on a long journey to find and eventually found the city of Quebec. (Boy would they be surprised to know their descendants were to be known mostly for being fond of trapping and skinning cute furry animals, riding in canoes, playing goalie in ice hockey, creating exotic cuisine such as Poutine and for making us learn a song called "O Canada, terre de nos ayeux" - whatever THAT means...).
The other day we took a little road trip to Bayeux, home of the world famous "Bayeux Tapestry" - you know the one, so we don't need to explain it. Oh, you don't know? It's the tapestry woven in the 11th century to commemorate William the Conqueror and his successful Norman invasion of England. It looked
a little tattered, so Nick offered them a cool 50 Euros for it, but they didn't bite. After the Tapestry, we headed to the D-Day beaches, which are strung out along the north coast - we saw a German coastal battery and then drove east to see Juno Beach, where the Canadians landed on the 6th of June, 1944. There's a great museum at the site, geared as much towards non-Canadians as to Canadian visitors. A good thing, since the guest book revealed most of the visitors weren't Canadian.
If that wasn't enough, the very next day we were out again to Caen to visit the War Memorial, a vast museum all about D-Day, the WW2, the Cold War and future peace. It was expensive, but over the course of 4.5 hours we thought it was worth it - and would recommend it to you. It might seem like the whole area is totally focused on D-Day all the time....with good reason since in addition to all the tourism it generates, every week there's a story about another WW2 bomb that has resurfaced after 60 years. There's even a special government service that collects and detonates them. And so
Juno Beach Centre
This cool sculpture out front gives the impression of soldiers dashing up the beach together. the war still affects people here.
Tomorrow we're off to England via ferry from Le Havre to Portsmouth, and then up towards London to visit people....Here we come, Chip Cob and Beans on Toast!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0718s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
ravenlynne
Gina Shores
France looks Beautiful!
I'm enjoying your journal very much and living vicariously through you. Enjoy England! Gina