http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , France , Lower Normandy en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:04:25 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:04:25 BST DAY ONEWoke up at Nana and grandad's house. Daddy put the tent on the car and then we drove on the motorway to a services. I had a little ride and I got a floater ball toy from it. We went to the eurotunnel and we drove onto the car train. We got off in france. The weather was very sunny but then we got to the motorway and it was raining harder than ever. We stopped for ice cream and ice tea onm t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Mont-Saint-Michel/blog-307925.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 French donrsquot have the reputation for being the most open and friendly race in the world so you can imagine my shock the first time I received a random 'Bonjour' walking around in France. Admittedly my previous experience on French soil was a vist to Paris when I was 20 and probably not the most culturally aware however take my advice get the hell out of the capital and wander around http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Arromanches-les-Bains/blog-304874.html Today we visited 2 of the DDay beaches Juno Canadian and Omaha USA.Here are some photos.Operation Overlord DDay June 6 1944 For 4 consecutive years thousands of soldiers of all nationalities underwent intensive training in England. Although millions of tons of material were prepared and hundreds of tanks cars and trains were later dispatched for DDay its exact date remained a myst http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-297131.html Today we will begin our 19 day car journey through France. Our route will take us to Normandy Brittany Loire Valley Perigord Gascony Pyrenees ToulouseMontpellier Provence and Marseille.From Marseille we will take the superfast TGV back to Paris for a final 2 days there. Today from Paris we drove to Bayeux through Normandy. Normandy gets its name from the Viking Norsemen who sailed up the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-297127.html Bayeax is another beautiful town which was lucky to remain unscathed by the war. It has a Notre Dame Cathedral I almost think more beautiful from the Parisian one inside if my memory servies me right from 15 yrs ago. We will see in a few days.The D Day memorials from WWII are very moving particularly the cemeteries. We visited Arromanche which still has lots of reminders on the beach of the lau http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-292452.html Everyone said to me you must go see Mont St Michel in Normandy. I had seen pictures of it but they do it no justice. If my memory serves me correctly it was first started in the 900's. It was a Benedictine monastery and a fort for many battles throughout the centuries and was added to over the centuries but it was never defeated the fortress was too strong. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Mont-Saint-Michel/blog-292446.html Said good bye to everyone in the morning then on the train to Bayeux which took about 2 hours. Liked the town straight away quiet little place fair share of tourists but it was nice. Checked in then went for a walk around town and checked out the Normandy invasion museum was pretty good actually. And it had everythi8ng in French AND English which was very helpful.A local couchsurfer Nathalie c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-292105.html We left Bagnoles by 0800 surprisingly everyone was ready. We stopped for breakfast around 9 just stopped in a village on the road. Grabbed some croisants then went to a bar to get some coffee. We tried to take the backroads up to the coast but we eventually ended up on the super highway. After a few detours through the outskirts of Caen and near St. Mere Eglise didn't make it all the way http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Arromanches-les-Bains/blog-286196.html Our road trip started saturday morning. We rented a car from Hertz outside the train station. The guy there was really helpful and we ended up being able to get a 7 person van originally we had two reservations for small cars. They wanted 35 eurosday for a young driver charge but luckily Evelina is 25. We barely made it out of the tiny parking garage without harm and we were quickly on o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Mont-Saint-Michel/blog-285858.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 Sunday 11th MayThe day began by driving through more French scenic countryside.Navman got us to Bayeux efficiently too efficiently in fact because when we arrived our rooms had yet to be prepared. The hotel is a gorgeous old mansion with a beautiful staircase which we have to climb to get to our room. The room is quite large with carpet and a parquetry floor and furniture that is either antiqu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-282223.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 Apparently our wine cupboard was getting a little low so we hooked up with a few fellow Kiwis to do something incredibly tacky... a booze cruise. For those not in the know a booze cruise involves sailing over the channel to France filling your car boot with cut price wine and coming home the same day. Hmm ... this of course wasn't how the trip was proposed to me a drink over the Poterhouse a f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-271613.html France American Cemetery Memorial at Colleville Sur Mer Normandy.Monday 28th April 2008I was totally unprepared for the emotion of visiting the Normandy American Cemetery Memorial. We had originally booked a tour of Omaha Utah beaches but we had had a lot of long days over the past few weeks touring through the Loire Valley and Provence and we needed to pace ourselves a bit. For Reaga http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-271305.html France Bayeux..... One Pizza with Pepperoni Hold the Snails....Saturday 26th April 2008Ah the extremes between typical Aussie vs. typical French cuisine were definitely highlighted to us today when we were checking out the menu at the local pizzeria ... After a lovely French breakfast of fresh bread and preserves and yakking to Will and a couple from Tampa Florida while we ate we spent the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-271296.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 The last evening of this trip I stayed in the youth hostel of a very charming historical town in Normandy Bayeux.It was hard to believe I would be back to London the following day. One hundred and sixty five days on the road. Over ten thousand miles on the bike through four countries and two different continents. My mind is full of fragments of memories like a puzzle made out of so many images http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/blog-267123.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 On Tuesday morning I got up early packed my bags and headed to Paris St Lazare on the metro to take the SNCF overground train to Normandy to see the DDay landing beaches. I was amused to find out that the anouncement signal is the first three notes of Soulja Boy. I felt like busting out the dance but managed to restrain myself. I arrived in the small town of Bayeux around midday and walked to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-259975.html Mont St Michel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Mont-Saint-Michel/blog-239457.html Note We have caught up on the blog so you can see additional posts before this one.A lifetime of waiting has finally brought Jason to Normandy the region in France where the Dday landings codenamed Operation Overlord took place and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. Without a doubt this has been one of the most amazing experiences we have ever had. Not just because Tracey's grandfather wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-235020.html No travellers here but the place is amazing. More personality than I ever imagined a place could have. More than Broadmeadows even. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-225955.html Meeting my host with that mess is horrible but thankfully....I got the last train to St Malo had to change at Rennes in 12 mins and the train got there 10 mins late. As I was running thru the station looking for the connectoon which is not listed on the board....panicking and dunno what the hell will I do in Rennes. I found the SNCF staff and the bus was waiting thank godSo got on and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Mont-Saint-Michel/blog-222137.html We set off for Normandy in order to see le Mmorial de Caen a museum that takes you from WWI through WWII the Cold War and today. It's meant to show how things got out of hand and it emphasizes peace as a means of understanding and preventing further conflicts. It was probably the most interesting museum I've ever been to I would highly recommend itLower Normandy is beautiful it's very rur http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Arromanches-les-Bains/blog-219526.html So this is a bit behind but here goes by the way check out the Paris article again to see the attached pictures.After the bustle of Paris it was good to get into the quiet countryside of Normandy. Of course smaller cities have disadvantages too as I would find. Hopping off the train I found there was no map or tourist information at the station. I started out to the centre of town figurin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Bayeux/blog-218202.html Well after a couple of days fighting either cold or flu symptoms I finally managed to get on my way down to the ferry at Portsmouth to make the crossing to Le Havre and the start of my holiday to France Germany and Austria. I took my usual route down to Portsmouth avoiding any motorways and allowing more time for stop the run was quite pleasant and uneventful although it was damp conditions but http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Honfleur/blog-215396.html On Tuesday 25th September we had a long day of travel to get from Brugges to the town of Bayeux in Normandy France. We left the hotel around 7.30 am and after 3 trains and one 4 hour bus ride we arrived at Bayeux station around 5pm. It was cold and raining lightly when we arrived so we thought we would catch a taxi to our hotel only to find that there were no taxis and no buses in sight. So with http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/blog-215332.html Another update and hopefully it is not to far from the other one I posted otherwise I'm not up to date again.Well from the Mediteranean we went to a city called Toulouse which is not to far from the Spanish border so they have a big influence in this city. I wont be writing heaps on each place that we have gone to just the main things we did in the city well in this place there is the longest com http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/Caen/blog-215158.html Well I finished off a few things at work while Mum and dad rested up in Walthamstow. We grabbed another Car this time a Peugeot 307 and headed to the south of the UK. Mum wanted to go on a Mythic quest..so we visited Glastonbury Tor once the Isle of Avalon and Cadbury Castle formerly known as Camelot. Dad wanted to visit Dartmouth and I wanted to see the town of Torquay. Staying onboard a Cru http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/blog-212659.html