Blogs from Lower Normandy, France, Europe - page 5

We began our day at 5:00 a.m. in order to get a taxi that would take us to a meeting point near the Arc de Triomphe for our Normandy Excursion. What we thought would thought would be a small group of eight soon looked like 20 or more, but we soon found out there were only 8 people on each individual tour. Luckily, we were among the first there, so were assigned to the first tour out. Our guide, Tej, was knowledgeable and friendly, and provided excellent narrative as we left the bustling Paris for more rural Normandy. He has lived in Thailand and Colombia, in addition to being a hang-glider and father of twins. He once biked a continuious journey across continents that took 5-1/2 years to complete and is fluent in at least four ... read more

Our Grand Tour continued from Germany into France with a very early morning train. Things were going quite well until our first of three trains was delayed by about 40 minutes, causing us to miss our connecting train to Paris. A word of warning to anyone traveling by the Deutsche Bahn: delays and late trains have become more and more frequent over the last few months. Allow for disruptions to your journey! Thankfully, we were able to be rebooked onto the next train - though there were no seats - and made our connecting train in Paris which took us out to Caen in Normandy. The next morning, Dad and I went to pick up our rental car and begin our first day trip to the Abbey on Mont Saint-Michel. This island fortress is a UNESCO ... read more

We had a really good peaceful night on the Aire at Dives sur Mer. Lots of motorhomes but not a sound other than the birds and the river Excellent value for 6€ (and that was only for filling up with water - actual overnight was free! First stop today, Super U for a list of things we'd run out of, and some main-meal ingredients to last us til we cross the water (after which we'll be at Tony's brother Andy's for a couple of nights). By the time we came out of there it was lunchtime, so since there was no café or bistro we snacked in the van, then headed to Lisieux to fill up the LPG at LeClerc's. Very confusing, as the whole car park/fuel area seems to be "protected" by 2.7m height barriers, ... read more

Reasonable night's sleep, but of course this IS a picnic area by a fairly busy road - one which never really fell silent. A bit more coming and going during the morning, but by lunchtime the place was starting to fill up with people from all over Europe. We spotted number plates from UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Czech Rep, and Poland. First, a random Spitfire went through its paces.Then, a display by French paras, jumping with WW2 round 'chutes from several squadrons of aeroplanes. Some that looked like C130 Hercules, others (I think) C160 Transall. Plus the odd Dakota to whet our appetites for later.Bit of a delay after these warm-up acts (which the Brits and French will doubtless both blame each other for), so the main event was much nearer 19.00 ... read more

Another peaceful night's sleep, with birds that awoke at a sensible hour too! The more we looked at the maps last night, and the info about the Dakota drop, the more convinced we became that we needed to be further South, nearer to Sanneville, if we wanted to see anything. So this morning, after a quick cup of tea and a wash, we headed for a picnic area right next to the drop zone shwnnon the website. Called at Hérouvillette aire again, hoping to fill up with water, but like the one we'd spent the night on, the borne needed jetons (metal tokens) which could only be bought from certain shops IN OTHER VILLAGES! One day all aires will have bornes which take plastic - but for the moment we'll just have to use our water ... read more