Blogs from Lower Normandy, France, Europe - page 39

I'm Alive! Hello all, Although I have yet to write an official email to family and friends about this blog, I wanted to start this up to let those who have the address know that I'm good. It's been a loooong past 4 days, but I'm starting to get settled in. I got my internet today as well as my cell phone (number to be sent out to those interested in calling lonely Kara in France!!) I've had my ups and downs, but I'm starting to really enjoy the history and people of France. The language barrier has proven to be a bit more difficult than I thought, but I'm hanging in there. I tend to freeze up when in shops buying things! A little tidbit on the history of Rouen. Tonight, I was hanging out ... read more

We headed out very early this morning for our drive to Mt St. Michel, the most popular tourist destination in France we were told. We arrived early before the crowds and were able to enjoy the peace and quiet of the 10th century Abbey. We toured a few of the small museums, but the best part was touring the Abbey itself. We had some audio guides to help explain the tour. The site is quite impressive, especially while approaching by car. Unfortunately the tide was out so we were not able to experience Mt. St. Michel surrounded by water, but it was still breathtaking. We learned that it is very dangerous to walk around the castle in the sand as there is “quicksand” that continues to claim lives each year. We had a nice lunch overlooking ... read more

After watching the Longest Day last night, we got up early this morning and headed toward Bayeaux. We were the first ones at the Bayeaux Tapestry, which is an 11th century historical account of William the Conqueror’s defeat of King Harold of England. Surprisingly, the tour kept the kids’ interest as well, except Will was not happy to learn that William was originally called William the Bastard until he conquered England! We walked around a short bit in Bayeaux which was bustling with activity on Christmas Eve. We also saw the huge cathedral which was impressive. Diana saw Santa pulling a bunch of kids in a horse drawn sleigh and commented that she thought Santa used reindeer?? Next, it was off to Utah Beach. We arrived to find it almost deserted being Christmas Eve. We were ... read more

We started out today with the intention of going to Arromanches and Gold Beach and then Bayeaux. However, the weather turned out to be so fantastic that we decided to continue along the coast toward Omaha Beach and Pointe-Du-Hoc. But I get ahead of myself. At Arromanches, we visited the Landings and Artificial Harbor Museum. There were two nice short films and some interesting displays. Arromanches borders Gold Beach and the first picture shown is Mike, Will and Diana preparing to advance up Gold Beach while Steven defended from the guns above. We walked from the museum to the Circular Cinema which was a 360 degree film about Normandy during D-Day and now. In between there was a Sherman tank which we took a picture of Will with. Next we stopped at the Longues-sur-mer battery, the ... read more

A little behind on my postings now- it’s been three great weekends out of Paris but that means I don’t really get that much work done. So this will be a little more brief than I would have liked, but just to give you a general idea of what has been going on… and I’ll probably write a lot anyway since I always get carried away with my stories : ) The weekend of my birthday, I went to Normandy with other IES people. We left early Friday morning on a bus and went first of all to a peace museum in Caen. The first part of the museum is dedicated to showing war paraphernalia like costumes, pictures, letters written by soldiers, medical kits, and lots of other ordinary articles from people’s lives. It focused mostly ... read more