Then to Point du Hoc and Omaha Beach

Now on to Pointe du Hoc. By the way, we are on tourist overload now. Every time we turn around there is some new site to take in, process, and learn about. What a trip.


If you have not read about this battle, you should. Imagine 225 Rangers climbing 100 foot cliffs with ropes and ladders to attack a heavily defended artillery site. This is the best preserved battlefield we have ever seen, with many large bomb craters and intact bunkers. The Rangers found the guns and destroyed them. Then they had to defend their position alone for 2 days waiting for reinforcements. At the end of 2 days they were down to 90 fighting men.


You are allowed to walk and explore the area. It really is an amazing place. Here I am in a bunker.



The gang on top of a bunker.




Gary exploring the German defenses.



The monument at Pointe du Hoc. President Reagan gave a GREAT speech here in '84, I believe, commemorating d-day. Look it up. What a great man!



The views were amazing.



The cliffs the rangers scaled. Incredible!















This is our new home for 2 nights. La Ferme aux Chats, or "the cat farm". Yes, there are cats. No, they are not allowed in the house or my bed. It is very close to Omaha Beach, near St. Laurent.


After dinner in the St. Laurent we went exploring. This is an intact bunker and gun located at the base of "the bluff" right near exit "E1", one of five exits off the beach on d-day.



Same bunker. Holley liked the shadows at sunset.



Omaha beach at sunset near exit E1.



Great picture of me on Omaha. We'll call it "contemplation". Holley is getting good with her camera.



Jenn and Gary enjoying the sunset.






What a beautiful picture of a beautiful couple.



Picking up shells on Omaha.









It is difficult to imagine the pain, suffering, and death that occurred in such a peaceful place.

Eiffel tower video 2

Yeah! The wifi here is working! It let me upload the last video, hopefully this one will work too.

Here's the twinkling lights of the Eiffel tower.

-Bloggin' on the go. Bonjour!

Eiffel tower video 1

Thought I would try to post the videos again. Hopefully it will work.

Figured out the country wifi is not strong enough to send video and pictures in the same blog. Here is the first video of going down the eiffel tower elevator. It's much better in person, but fun to see on video.

-Bloggin' on the go. Bonjour!

Les Mont Saint Michel 1

Ok, I tried putting the pictures to an original size and the fonts bigger, but the country wifi cannot handle the change. I hope it will post this with large size files so the quality of the pictures are better. (Those changes were not enough. NOW, I'm going to try posting this in two parts cross your digits.) We are now in a B&B near Omaha beach. Today was all WWII stops. I'll write about it tonight. So anywho, yesterday.....

Started the morning enjoying this beautiful view out our back window. Just before breakfast we took the luggage to the car and then I went back upstairs to our room to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything. When I walked in the room there was a couple in their pj's taking pictures out our window. I surprised them as much as they surprised me. I tried to let them know they were ok, but they just laughed, apologized, and laughed some more. I understood only about three words they said and I'm not sure how
many of my words they understood, but I did learn a smile is universal.




Here are Jenn and I out our windows at the B&B.




First stop, Azay-le-Rideau Chateau. The residence of the Kings Secretary.





Funny story: We have enjoyed reading the English translations of French directions and descriptions. We wonder if they just used google translate for everything as many direct translations make no sense at all - but they are funny. Example #1: on the brochure for one of the Chateau's it listed as part of it's amenities, "bebe espace" (this is the diaper changing area), the English translation read, "Space Baby". :)

We walked up to the car and on our way walked with a Baton Marching parade. The instructor(s) wore the same costumes as the girls (not a good look) but I could not get a good shot of them. Apparently baton teams are quite popular. Who knew?








Second stop, the chateau that inspired the book Sleeping Beauty. Usse, chateau de la belle au Boise dormant. It was a cool chateau to tour.




We even got to go in to the underground. This area was used during times of war. Probably for safety.




After you walk through the house you can go up the tower - where sleeping beauty is. They have displays such as the one below depicting the story of sleeping beauty. Kind of funny.




The funnest part was making our way around. We enjoyed walking through the attics too. They had so much stuff just piled up collecting dust. One portrait, covered in dust and well aged, had a severe cut down the center of the persons face. We are thinking it might have been a bad breakup.. ;)








Jenn and her Prince Charming.





We think we I'll buy one of these for blu. It's a cart built for a dog to pull a child around in.




Found a beautiful field of poppies! The midday sun was a little harsh, but we couldn't pass up a chance to take a picture there.





Bon Nuit. Loves

St. Michel part 2

We had our longest car ride today. Three and a half hours. It's the most sitting we have done during the day since we arrived in France a week ago. We had a little picnic lunch on the way. Here's our favorite part. ;)



Jenn with napkin to save the black shirt from all the powdered sugar.



Holley with her pretty strawberry tart.






And the boys each taking a generous bite of Jenn's pastry - after eating their own. Jenn has started a trend of ordering something different than everyone else - which means we beg for a taste every time. :)



There it is across the long field, Les Mont Saint Michel. This picture was taking while we were driving.



This is at the base of the village.



Took a quick walk through the village, to the hotel (so they wouldn't give our room away), then booked it to the Abby.



It took A LOT, LOT, LOT of stairs to get up to this point of the Abby. It's too late for me to give a lot of detail on this Abby now, but look it up and read the interesting history.



Dave and I are the wee little people in the fireplace at the end of this grand hall - and Gary wasn't even at the end of the hall for the picture. This place is huge.



Leaving the Abby tour.



Trying to find a crepe. They do not eat dinner until 7:30 here and when you eat lunch at 1:00 then do lots of walking and climbing it's hard to wait for dinner time to come.



This place has many different alleyways. It's such a cool village. This was the smallest we found. It took us a few practice pics but we finally got a
picture of all of us in it.



It was a tad tight.


Our hotel is the first building on the right with the light on in the top window. Buildings are squished together on this island!





We ran down to see the sunset. Which is hard to do after you finish a big French dinner!


Just got a few pics before the sun went down. Wish we could have been down there fifteen minutes earlier or have had a tripod. Here's two pictures of the backside of the island. It's an amazing sight!


-Bloggin' on the go. Bonjour!