We finally made it back to Paris

October 29, 2016

We finally made it back to Paris

Bayeux turned out to be a small city and the older part of town, where we were staying, was a fun place to explore. That area was filled with small little lanes and cobblestone streets. There was even a canal with a waterwheel running through the middle. Very charming.

On Wednesday, we took a bus out to the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. There is a large visitor center with all kinds of nicely displayed information on D-Day and the importance it had for the French and the Allies. They have done a nice job of giving personal examples of the soldiers who were involved.

The cemetery is a beautiful site that is laid out perfectly and well-maintained. There are around 9,400 people buried there, including some unknowns and some civilians. It overlooks Omaha Beach and is a peaceful, quiet, contemplative place. I can’t imagine what it must have like for the young men who were coming in to fight that day. Fear of the unknown and death were no doubt on their minds. Sobering.

After spending time in the cemetery, we walked over to where there are remains of German bunkers which we walked through and then hiked down the hill to the beach. The tide was out, just like on D-Day, so you could imagine what it was like as the soldiers were coming in on the boats and the Germans were firing down from on top of the hill. Fear must have gripped them.

We were glad that we visited the site because it was a reminder of how important D-Day was for the beginning of the end of WWII. Neither of our parents or any family members were in the military, so we never were raised listening to war stories. It gave us a new perspective.

We made it to Paris and to our Airbnb on Thursday without a problem. After we checked-in, we went down to see Notre Dame, which is beautiful. We walked along the Seine for, what seemed forever, walked by the Louvre, and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up, from a distance. By this time, my knees and legs were calling, so we headed for home. The place we are staying is very close to trains and metro stops so it’s convenient to travel around. There are also plenty of shops, etc. to buy food, or anything, for that matter.

Yesterday, was another day of walking all over Paris. We went down to Notre Dame where we had missed the Deportation Memorial, close by. It deals with the 200,000 French victims of the Nazi concentration camps. Another sobering, simple and tasteful presentation.
Then, we started a Rick Steves’ walk in that area of Paris. It took us to some interesting places, one being one of the few English bookstores in Paris, Shakespeare and Company. It is very tiny, old, jampacked with books, and so quirky and delightful. We loved it! The only sad thing, was that no picture taking is allowed inside, so our memories will just have to do, which is a little scary.
We sauntered over to the old medieval part of town, where the homes are skinny and out of shape, and the streets narrow. They call it the Latin Quarter today, but there is more of a visible Greek influence. It was fun. In a nearby church, where we stopped, someone was practicing the pipe organ, and was good, so that was a plus.

We made several more stops during the day, including Sainte Chapelle where the stained- glass windows are breathtakingly beautiful, the Conciergerie, where prisoners were held before being beheaded in the Revolution, Marie Antionette, included. Our evening climaxed with a visit to the Eiffel Tower. We got there during the evening hours, when the lights came on. It was beautiful! We finally arrived home, having added more miles to our ever-growing list.

Today, we went out to Versailles, toured through the chateau, and skipped the gardens, since it is pretty much the end of the season, other than the layout. All I can say about that place is, it is extravagance overload. To me, it is almost sickening. It made the chateaux in the Loire Valley we visited, seem like pauper’s homes. Go figure. No wonder there was a revolution.

After leaving there, we ended our day at the Musee d’Orsay, which is housed in an old railway station which is a fascinating structure. We walked all over, viewing some of our favorite paintings from the periods of Realism and Impressionism, and more. It was art overload, but interesting.

Tomorrow, it’s more art at the Louvre and other Parisian sights. I’ll try and get one more blog post in before we leave. We’ll see. It’s been a great trip, so far!

Chateaux and Mont St-Michel

October 25, 2016

Chateaux and Mont St-Michel

I’m sitting here typing with my hoody over my head because it is soo chilly in here. The apartment is cute, but could stand better heating. Roger just figured out how to turn on the heat in the bedroom, the only room heated, and turned on the towel warming rack, so we’re good to go.

Anyway, to get you up to speed with our travels, we arrived in Amboise, in the Loire Valley, by train, of course. We had to take a train to Paris in the early morning, and, on arrival there, we took the Metro to another train station, and hopped on another train to Amboise. We arrived before noon, without a hitch . . . until we reached the town and had to walk several miles to where we were staying. We found it without a problem, partly because we bring up satellite views of where we are going to be walking the day before, take pictures of them when we still are on WiFi, and then use the pictures to help us get to where we want to go. It works, usually. On the way to the Airbnb, we stopped at a sandwich shop and bought some lunch and at a Carrefour City market, which are small Carrefour (like our Costco) stores. We bought food for breakfast, etc.

The place we stayed, was an apartment with a garden that was run by a young couple. It was tastefully decorated and had everything that we needed. We then walked back to town, purchased some seats for an informal tour to two of the Chateaux, on Sunday. We then went to visit the Chateau Royal D’Amboise. This is a large piece of property, overlooking the Loire River, right in the center of the city. Leonardo Da Vinci is buried here. It is an impressive place but not as ostentatious as the two we visited on Sunday. After walking through the chateau, we started our walk back to the apartment and while walking went past some cave-like dwellings that used to be inhabited by the poor but now are renovated homes for the wealthy. Some of the unrenovated ones are used for wine storage, due to the constant temperature. We came to a local restaurant built into one of these caves and had soup and salad . . . both yummy.

Sunday morning, we walked into town and bought some train tickets for the next two legs of our trip, and then walked through the huge open market that they have every Sunday. There were all kinds of baked goods and other food items, flowers, live chickens, clothing, etc. You can tell that this is where people go on Sunday, not church. In fact, the main church in the center of town, is open but empty of pews, etc. Sad.

We then met our van to take us to the Chateaux. The driver spoke good English and could answer some questions, and we watched a short DVD presentation, each person in his/her own language. Our 8- member group was made up of Mexicans, Japanese and Chinese and us. The chateaux were about an hour away, so we were glad that we had a driver.

We ended up stopping at Chambord and Chenonceau chateaux. Chambord is mammoth and surrounded by a 20-mile-long stone wall. Its main attraction is its architecture, including a double-helix staircase. It has 440 rooms and a fireplace for every day of the year. It used to be a monument to the royal sport of hunting.

The next place was Chenonceau. This was a 16^th century Renaissance palace which arches over the Cher River. It is impeccably maintained and has beautiful gardens and fresh flower arrangements throughout and roaring log fires in some of the fireplaces. The setting is very impressive and is the most visited chateau in France. We enjoyed this one the most of those that we saw.

On Monday, we caught an early train to take us to Pontorson, so we could visit Mont St-Michel. Three trains, and about 8 hours later we finally arrived and caught a bus for a short ride to Beauviour where we stayed for one night. Our Airbnb was in a small town and our room was a renovated 250 year old stone room in a very small hotel run by a French man with his British wife. We loved the setting and the room. Since we were needing to get to Mont St-Michel before it closed, the owner told us how to walk the back way, across farm fields with a wonderful view of the Abby.

We arrived at the Abby in time to walk all over the island and up to the top, but the Abby was closed, to our disappointment. The experience of being there was satisfying. It is a small medieval town which surrounds a huge church built in the center. The island is surrounded by mud flats and arrival there was always subject to the tides but a causeway has been built to take care of that problem. Even though our visit was short, we were happy that we had the chance to experience it.

This morning we left Pontorson and took the train to Bayeaux, which is near some of the D-Day sites. We plan on visiting the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach, tomorrow.  Today, we walked around the old part of the city and took our own tour of the massive cathedral here that was built in 1066. Old but beautiful!

At this point, you’re all caught up. Our next stop is Paris on Thursday, where we will stay until we return home on November 2. Thanks

Luxembourg City and Colmar, France

October 21, 2016

Luxembourg City and Colmar, France

We have been on the move and visited Luxembourg City and Colmar, which we are leaving early tomorrow. I’ll try and catch you up.

We took our preferred form of travel, the train, to Luxembourg, found our Airbnb and then headed out to explore the city. We had a room and bathroom in a large apartment in a nice area of Luxembourg. Other than the WiFi was iffy and the toilet was not with the bathroom (a European thing), it was fine. We only spent one night there.

We managed to walk all over the old part of town which hugs a river canyon running through a part of the center city. Most of it is on top and a small part is down along the river. There was the usual cathedral, which was closed for construction. The Grand Palace was in the vicinity so we walked over and happened to see some African dignitaries arriving and the duchy and duchess leaving amidst a lot of pomp and soldiers, etc. You need to be in a small country or in an important city to see all these important government types. Fort Wayne is not a hot spot for dignitary stops. We saw more dignitaries while living in Jamaica than we have ever seen in the USA.

We walked along the Chemin de la Corniche, which is a pedestrian promenade overlooking the river. This runs into the Wenceslas Wall, the old city fortification, where you can walk along to a tower. We then went through the Bock Casemates, which are a series of passages and rock galleries carved by the Spaniards between 1737 and1746 and used for various things from bakeries to slaughterhouse, to most recently, housing 35,000 locals during WWI and WWII. Interesting!

By this time, we were at river level and able to cross over to what they call the Grund, which is a small area of narrow lanes containing shops, restaurants and businesses. There was not much going on by the time we arrived. We did manage to find a place to buy something to eat. It rained off and on during the day but it turned out to be a good day. One day in Luxembourg is about right for what we came to see.

The main city is about 50% expatriates due to a large amount of international government work, banking etc. There was so much construction going on, you know that money wasn’t much of an object. At one point, I counted 3 huge construction cranes in my view plus others on the periphery.

The next morning, we hopped on another train to come to Colmar, in the Alsace region of France. Some of my (Carol) Swiss ancestors came to America from this area of France due to persecution of the Mennonites in Switzerland. We are staying in an apartment in a 13th century renovated house. The apartment is wonderful but not one wall is straight. It would probably drive all the carpenter- types crazy. There is a washing machine here so we got our wash done, even though it didn’t come without some stress since we can’t read French and it took forever.

The old town portion of Colmar is so charming. It is pretty much right out of the middle ages. There is a canal running through which they have decorated with flowers . . . kind of a small Venice. The cathedral was built in the 1200s, if that tells you anything. A lot of the homes and shops were wooden and have been preserved. The city managed to be spared during the wars, although this area has changed hands between the German and French several times. French and German are spoken here.

One of the surprise highlights of our stay was we ran into our neighbor, Jim Sack, who is here visiting historical sites and checking out the wine, since this area is known for it. We managed to eat lunch together and he tried to get us up to par on all the history of the area. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much we absorbed.

Again, one of the sad things we have noted, is that most of the churches here are closed or made into museums. The cathedral would have been open but was closed for practice for a concert tonight. Oh, well.

If you love to shop, this is the place for you. Beautiful clothes, jewelry, art; you name it, it’s here.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Amboise, in the Loire Valley, where we’ll be for a few days. Hoping to see a chateau or two.