http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , France , Lower Normandy , Caen en-us Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:04:44 +0000 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:04:44 +0000 With our bags packed we load everything into the Ford Cmax our rental car for the next five days. The next challenge to figure out how to use the Sat Nav. We get the hang of it eventually and head away from Rotterdam and towards Lieden where we make a short pit stop to pick up costumes for a New Years fancy dress party later in our trip. Safely avoiding the canals which are freaky to try a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-470457.html Dias 47 a 49 Dormi por duas horas no banco da praa. Tive alguns minutos para enfiar o casaco dentro da mala e ir ao encontro de minha carona. Um Volvo preto para e me chama. A mulher era uma policial de quarenta e poucos anos. Tinha sido agente secreta da policial francesa e agora trabalhava na imigrao do aeroporto Charles de Gaulle. Seu trabalho era conduzir imigrantes ilegais de volta ao se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-442766.html Omaha And Mont Saint MichelArriving in Caen earlier than I intended I couldnrsquot check in to my hostel that was a bit out of town until 3pm so to make use of the time I headed back into the centre and visited the Chateau de Caen. Chateau seem to be a very loose word in France. Translated it literally means ldquoGrand Houserdquo but from what Irsquove seen it doesnrsquot matter whethe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-422318.html Day 14 Sunday July 5 2009CAEN FRANCEAwoke 700 am. Paid the 6 euro 8.40 USD to have breakfast at my hotel. The breakfast was ok. I thought it pricey for what I got. They offer the following Cereals 3 kinds Yogart fruit or plain orange juice coffee tea hot chocolate and 3 kinds of bread croisant roll sliced bread. Maybe I'm just cheap.Today's plan is to tour Normandy. A http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-421523.html Day 13 Saturday July 4 2009PARIS FRANCE4th of July Independance Day in the United States. Yet I'm in France. Doesn't mean a thing here.Having completed my research yesterday I am ready to travel south to Normandy. Aside from it's other attractions many would know that the Normandy area is where the DDay landings took place during WWII.After checking out of my hotel it took about half http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-420131.html Hello everyoneI hope all is well and that your semester is not too hectic. Irsquom doing amazingly. This coming week is our last week of classes before our two weeks off so my professors decided itrsquod be a good idea to give me a test in every class but one next week. Not cool. But Irsquom nonetheless loving every moment here Every Saturday afternoon in March Irsquove had an Interc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-385800.html Hello everyone this is the start of kyles jamies and ethans blog.this last week has been tremendously awesome from playing with hobos to partying on st pattys day we are ahving a blast. now we are in a small town of Caen just going to see the juno beach where the canadians helped in the war efforts. this is just a small entry but it is just to let everyone know that we are ok and having a great http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-383584.html Je disais la fin de mon entre prcdente que je suis partie tt le mardi matin pour une nouvelle destination. En effet jrsquoai pris le train vers 8h30 pour me rendre en BasseNormandie plus prcisment dans la ville de Caen. Bon ne faites pas comme moi et prononcer Can la madame au comptoir mrsquoa fait de lrsquoattitude il faut plutt dire Can .Je suis arrive un peu avant 11h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-339738.html Je disais la fin de mon entre prcdente que je suis partie tt le mardi matin pour une nouvelle destination. En effet jrsquoai pris le train vers 8h30 pour me rendre en BasseNormandie plus prcisment dans la ville de Caen. Bon ne faites pas comme moi et prononcer Can la madame au comptoir mrsquoa fait de lrsquoattitude il faut plutt dire Can .Je suis arrive un peu avant 11h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-339734.html Today I witnessed fullcircle the process of existance. It makes me marvel everyday how connected to nature you become living in the country and how detached us cityfolk are. My sunday morning started with a bit of a hangover unwittingly one hour ahead of schedule. Today the clocks went back in France and GB so what I thought was a late wakeup of 10am was really a fairly reasonable 9 o'c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-338658.html Itrsquos funny how free I can be with complete strangers. One of the best things about this host is that Jayne busies herself with a lot of social activities and while shersquos doing them I typically come with her. Therersquos not much work I can do on my own at her house. I get the benefit of glimpsing into the subculture of older British expats in France. Itrsquos remarkable an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-338648.html I haven't decided which major city I'm closest to. Two out of three hosts I've stayed with have threatened to kidnapstake my foot to the floor so that I couldn't leave. I think that's a compliment. And while the third was less violent he did invite me to come work the reception desk at the annual wine festival in Sitges Beach next year. One morning Jayne asked if I wanted to toast up a muf http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-336265.html Parisians are funny people. One the one hand they are extremely pushy i.e. see my entry on the metro rush hour craziness. On the other they are extremely considerate. For example whenever a woman is pushing her child in a stroller in the metro a man always stops to help her carry it up or down the stairs. Always. If no one notices she can easily flag someone down who graciously grabs the bot http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-333691.html Alors Commen d'crire Caen Bon pour sur ce n est pas notre coup de coeur puisque cette ville qui fut autrefois tres belle fut dtruite durant la guerre et qui est donc assez moderne mis part quelque batiments. on est tout de meme allez boire un coup avec le couple Benjamin Marie super sympa qui nous a hberg. juno beach vallait le dtour et ce fut un super pic nic. MymixxxxxxxxCoucou eih http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-325692.html A lot has happened since my last post in St. Malo. After getting stuck in St. Malo an extra day because of the rain I finally headed for Mont St. Michel. I could see the island in the distance pretty much most of the day. But when you get close the road heads south away from the coast to the town of Pontorson. The ride was nice and easy because the road was so flat as it followed the water. I went http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-315352.html This leg of the trip is rather symbolic because Lynne and I began this adventure on the 6th of Junemdashthe anniversary of the Normandy Invasion in 1944 DDay. DDay was the deadliest day in US military history where over 6000 brave men paid the ultimate sacrifice to liberate France and pave the way to end the war in Europe. The Longest Day is a remarkable movie about the Normandy Invasion. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-306278.html The following morning I meet Chris an American eating breakfast. Hersquos had a really rough time since arriving in Paris. He fronted up to Bastille Hotel on Saturday night at 2330 and presented his room booking to reception. They tell him that they donrsquot have a bed for him that hersquod cancelled his booking. Chris tells them that hersquod cancelled a booking for the 31st of May no http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-283633.html Alright...almost finished I promise The second to last stop during my week touring France was Caen in Normandy. There's really not too much special about Caen except that it is the closest semilarge city to the Dday beaches. Libby and I are both big history buffs so of course this stop was a nobrainer. We arrived in Caen at 830 April 24. Upon arrival we walked outside of the train sta http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-275082.html Early start today to make sandwiches etc for our 22hr ferry trip The day started exceptionally well as we started off with croissants and jam Mmmmmm We left in glorious sunshine which was the order of the day until nightfall We sailed in and out of the islands stopping at Korcula Hvar and Split. This was an a lovely lazy day taking in the scenery and wandering around the ferry The http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-268610.html March 18 20Tuesday March 18Tuesday began to be a very long day after my flight got in from Edinburgh. CDG airport in Paris is a big airport what I would call a real airport not like East Midlands where you can walk through the whole airport in under 10 minutes. Pack on back I made my way down to the metro station and into Paris. I really had no clue what train station I needed to leave fro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-265937.html