Blogs from Lower Normandy, France, Europe - page 7

First stop is to sort out our tickets for the train to Caen. Much quicker and easier than we thought after fighting the internet earlier. Then off to visit the Catacombs. This time we had prepaid, fast track tickets which only involved a 30 minute wait rather than 4 hours. The Catacombs are the underground ossuary of Paris and has the remains of more than 6,000,000 people artfully arranged in layers of fibulars and skulls. This was founded in 1774 after a series of cave-ins and remains from cemeteries were transferred between 1786 and 1788. More were transferred later. This has been a tourist attraction since 1874. From here, we headed off to see Notre Dame. This is a beautiful gothic cathedral. Again a queue to get in but it moved quickly. During the French Revolution ... read more

Tag 121 – 9. Dezember 2016 # Putzen in der Normandie Am Freitag fuhren wir schon um acht los, in die Normandie. Dort hatte die Familie seit zwanzig Jahren ein Wochenendhaus, oder eher, Anwesen, das sie jedoch in den letzten Jahren angefangen hatten zu vermieten. Für dieses Wochenende hatte es eine Gruppe gebucht, und so musste nun geputzt werden. Das würde den ganzen Tag dauern, deshalb hatte mir Françoise ja auch den Mittwoch ganz freigegeben. Ich saugte im ganzen Haus Staub und die Putzfrau wischte und putzte die Küche sowie die Bäder. Françoise und ich bezogen dann alle zwanzig Betten. Ich tat mich aber am Anfang schwer mit ihrem System – noch ein anderes als das, was ich in Hellevad gelernt hatte: Zu zweit! Jeder steckte eine Ecke in den Bezug und man musste dann immer ... read more

As we now have reservations for 6 months in Paris from Oct 1 – March 31 we needed to get moving so we hopefully can get there by the 1st of October. In some ways it seems like we have plenty of time as we decided to leave Weymouth on September 6th, but we always try to factor in the possibility that the weather may not be “right” for moving as well as we know we have to prepare to take the mast down in Honfleur so we can travel up the Seine to Paris. We also want to have some time to visit a few of the towns on our way to Paris. The battery was put in on Monday and the weather was right for us to leave to cross the English Channel to ... read more

Brittany is not well known for sunny days....but today, we are lucky enough to get one of those in the bag! The plan was simple...we were going to enjoy the stunning Mont Saint-Michel without the crowds. To do this, we wake up early and breakfast is taken during the short ride from Saint Malo. Time for us to try the famous kouign amann, a Britanny cake full of sugar. Yammie, but not something you want to experience every day! We arrived at the huge car park of Mont Saint-Michel by 8.30am, and the place is still empty. For the last few years, cars do not get anymore to the foot of the Mont. Rather, they have built a huge car park, and are providing bus transfers to the Mont. The car park fee is not cheap, ... read more

Drive down through Normandy avoiding motorways, as usual (as they send me to sleep) and keeping to the quieter roads which take us through pretty little villages. All very rural and pretty wet. There's been a lot of rain in this area, and indeed throughout France for several days now. We are consoled by the fact that it's raining at home too. The prime concern was to get over the Seine without going anywhere near Rouen as that is somewhere we try very hard to avoid having twice in the past encountered problems there. Bob instead navigated a route over Pont Bretonne and down through Port Audenay. Then we were in the area of lovely Normandy timbered houses. If this area was a bit warmer it would be lovely for a full visit but we are ... read more