Advertisement
Published: July 26th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Vimy Memorial
Tomb of an unknown soldier Here are our pictures from our two weeks on the west coast of France...
After leaving Amsterdam we headed straight for Brussels where we spent a few days walking around the city eating fries, chocolate and waffles. We saw the town hall, the Atonium and even went to Miniature Europe.
On our last day we were lucky enough to meet up with Carmen and Kevin, a young couple we had met in Cambodia, for a coffee. It was interesting to chat with them as they had just returned home two weeks before from their own 4 month adventure. Steph and I had already started to think a lot about going home at this point and couldn't believe that we only had about 6 weeks left.
After three days in the capital, we went down to the touristy town of Brugges. A nice little medieval town, Brugges was jam packed with French and American tourists. We couldn't quite get a real feel for the town and we spent only one night there.
Feeling a little like we were rushing through some of the European countries, we decided to head back to France and discover the West coast of
Rouen, France
The view from our window...beautiful, but the bells ring...a lot. the country. After spending a night in Lille, we settled down in the small town of Rouen (famous for being the location of Joan of Arc's trial and execution) for 4 nights. Our stay was exactly what we needed and we had a wonderful time.
Of course, having our own hotel room for 4 nights always helps 😉
While in Rouen, we were able to do several day trips to other parts of the country. Our favourite, perhaps, was spending Canada Day in Vimy Ridge. It was a great way of understanding Canadian history and gaining a little more pride in the achievements of your country. It was also nice to be surrounded by other Canadians wearing red and white and waving their maple leaf. It was a huge moral boost and one of the best and most meaningful Canada Days I have ever experienced.
We also headed back to Paris for an afternoon where we went and visited the Louvre (for free 😉. It is so wonderful to be able to say 'Oh, lets go to Paris for the afternoon' and is definitely something I could get used to.
Another really important thing that we
Vimy, Rouen
Parks Canada? managed to do in Rouen was...LAUNDRY! Sorry. this might not sound very exciting but trust me, it deserves a mention in this blog.
After Rouen, we decided to learn even more Canadian history and went to the small town of Bayeux which is located in Normandy - the site of the D-Day beaches.
On the train ride from Rouen to Bayeux, we chatted with a French woman, Gylène, who was going to spend a few weeks with her sister, Monique, who owns a house close to Juno Beach. When we arrived at the station, we were invited by both of them to have lunch if we were going to be visiting Juno beach. Not really thinking too much of it, we said we would be at the Juno Beach Centre on the Monday and that maybe we would run into them. We said our goodbyes and we were on our way...
As we walked into the city, with our huge packs and an extra huge duffel bag we bought in Germany, we were a little surprised to find ourselves in a full-out Medieval festival. We couldn't believe how many people actually own medieval style clothing...In any case,
Vimy
OK, where is it? we had a great time.
We spent one day lying on the beach, trying to recuperate our long lost tans and visited the American cemetery at Omaha Beach. We felt a little guilty lying down, enjoying the sun on the same place hundreds of soldiers lost their lives, but in the end we realized that it was that very reason for which they were fighting for in the first place.
On Monday, as planned, we headed to the Juno Beach Centre. We looked around a little for the two French women, but without much success. We ended up going to the museum, which was very interesting and engaging. Almost finished, we were staring at a list of soldiers' names when we heard a little ruckus from the exit. Sure enough it was the two French ladies who had come in the centre looking for us. It happened so quickly, I'm not sure how, but before we could get two words out, we were in their car heading for Monique's seaside cottage. It was a lovely afternoon and we were treated to a wonderful roast for lunch, several glasses of wine and some very fine cheese. After we ate,
Vimy Memorial
Oh...there it is. Monique was nice enough to drive us out to the nearby Canadian cemetery before returning us to the Centre where we were even able to catch the last tour of the site. It was a whirlwind experience, but definitely one of the finest.
One thing Steph and I have realized is how wonderful people can be. We have met, re-met, stayed with, went out with, ate at and enjoyed the company of some truly wonderful people. We can easily say that it has been our time with these strangers, with family and friends that we have enjoyed ourselves the most and it will be those memories which will mark these past six months as some of the best of our lives.
Thank you.
After our time in Bayeux, we still weren't fully rested so we decided to head to the holiday town of St-Malo - the very same place that Jacques Cartier sailed from to establish French Canada. We relaxed on the sandy (and kelpy) beaches of St-Malo for 4 days and even got to visit the nearby Mont St-Michel. It was great. We could see the sea from our room's balcony and the crisp ocean air
was wonderful, despite it being extremely strong. After yet another vacation from our vacation, we were ready to leave mainland Europe for the next leg of our trip.
At this point, we couldn't believe that we only had a week before we were to meet Pat in Ireland.
Pat, Steph's brother, and his girlfriend Brittany had from the beginning been planning on meeting up with us at some point during our six months. It has always been on our minds that we would be seeing them and we were very excited when they said they would be meeting us in Ireland in July. It would be the first people we see from home in 5 months and funnily, they had also been the last we saw when we left.
Before we could met Pat however, we took a long and rocky ferry ride from Roscoff, France to Plymouth, England. We spent a night in Plymouth trying to get used to hearing English again...and hearing British English no less. We might as well have been back in China.
After Plymouth we were lucky enough to be able to go to Bath, England and sightsee in this beautiful
town, known for its natural hot spring and the Roman bath complex built around it. It was nice to get a little ancient history lesson before we enjoyed a couple hours in the actual modern city Spa. A little luxury for two hardworking backpackers.
With two nights before we were to meet Pat, we could barely contain our excitement!! We spent the day, long day in transit and traveled from Bath, through Wales, over the sea, and on to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, where we were to meet Pat the next day.
After a month of being just the two of us, Steph and I had started to really miss home, so Pat's trip was perfectly timed. It really allowed us to re-energize and get excited about traveling again. I honestly think that if we hadn't been meeting Pat and Britt, we would have been ready to come home a little earlier.
Now don't get me wrong we were having the time of our lives, we were just a little tired. HOWEVER, with a little bit of home coming to us, we didn't miss it so much.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.122s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 10; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0353s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Chadi
non-member comment
Me's Loving the Pictures
You both have become fantastic photographers! Good thing I have a wedding coming up :) Did anyone notice the crazy signage behind Alexis in the first "Bath" picture??