Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Itinerary Update - Brussels
So we left Oslo for Copenhagen... Decided by first thing upon arrival that Copenhagen was too expensive for us, so we went on to Lubeck Germany. We are spending a couple of days here and then heading to Brussels to meet up with Laura D (from St. Olaf). Sometime next week we will go to Amsterdam to visit with Nathan and Nadirah again (the people we camped with in France) and then are itinerary is unclear. We will have to see where the Eurail pass will take us.
On the way to recovery
Thanks for all your comments. We should hopefully have the computer back in a week. We shipped it to somewhere in Germany and they are supposed to mail it back to Nadirah in Amsterdam.
In the meantime, I´ll give you a little taste of the highlights:
In the meantime, I´ll give you a little taste of the highlights:
- White Stripes in Lisbon.
- Seeing people wear traditional clothing in Innsbruck Austria... when it wasn´t for tourists.
- Rome has so many ´ruins´ that some of them arent even tourist attractions. We spent the most time at the ruins that had a cat sanctuary in front of it. TJ cannot walk by a furry animal and not touch it.
- Beer in Munich... it´s never tasted so fresh. A bike tour is so much more fun after a stop at the beer garden
- Visiting Rachel and Andy in Oslo. I´m sure if the king and queen had been around, they would have welcomed me to Oslo with open arms... being a St. Olaf grad and all. Andy´s new nickname (given to him by a random women at the bar that kept talking to us, we assumed later to be a prostitute) - ghetto tiger.
- 60 spanish 15 year olds sharing the sleeping room with us on the ferry from Barcelona to Rome. They had like 2 chaparones who were just as bad as they were. I think the last one went to bed at 7am.
- A girl puking on the bus during the sound of music tour
- Rain in Oslo
- The prices in Copenhagen... We thought Oslo was bad. We had two hamburgers for lunch (no fries or drinks) that cost about 30 bucks. We ended up only spending 4 hours in Copenhagen because it was too expensive.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Meltdown
Well, the laptop (correction, notebook... you are not officially allowed to use it on your lap apparantly) died today. It could be a while before more updates. We will send a mass email once this debauchle is worked out so you don´t have to check needlessly (for all 5 of our readers).
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Itin and Blog Update - Italy, Austria, Germany, Oslo
We have had a hard time finding wi-fi recently, so it has been a while. We have just posted Andorra, Barcelona and Grenada. We still have Seville, Lisbon, Madrid and Rome. We are now in Innsbruck, Austria after leaving Rome. TJ wants to see the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg tomorrow and then we will go up to Germany. Next weekend we will meet Rachel and Andy in Oslo.
Grenada, Spain – 06/02
(Michelle) After getting about 3 hours of sleep (maybe) on the overnight bus, we dropped of our bags and we headed up (at what I thought was early) to Alhambra. For the main tourist attraction, this place was seriously lacking signage. It is a huge area and it took us like an hour to figure out where to buy tickets. Once we found it, we waited in line for 2 hours to get the tickets. By this time it is now almost 1 pm, we were told we could go into the complex at 2:00 and that we could go in the palace at 5:30. What? We really had no intention of spending our whole day in Grenada at the Alhambra. We decided not to wait until 2 to get into the grounds and snuck in via a side entry we found when we were looking for the ticket booth. They don’t collect “tickets” at these random side entrances, but they do at the three main exhibits. The Alhambra dates back to when the Moors ruled in this area of Spain from the 13-15 century. The Nasrid dynasty 
(pronounced Dinasty by our audio guide) wanted to build something that was a Mulsim heaven on Earth. The integrated gardens and water fountains were meant to accomplish this task. Unfortunately, I was possibly a bit too tired to fully appreciate this heaven. The palace was pretty cool though once we finally got to see it. Our time slot also housed a Japanese tour group. I forgot the common response to any non Japanese person speaking any word of Japanese was “Jyozu Nihongo” Aka “You are skilled at Japanese”. I’ve pulled out a few Sumimasen (excuse me) as we’ve tried passing through these tour groups at various tourist attractions and the response is always funny. A shocked look and a “Jyozu Nihongo” response. It’s so cute. Forget that I can barely say more than 10 words in Japanese anymore, I like to feel skilled. We returned to the Oasis hostel in time for the BBQ dinner on the patio. We had a nice conversation with 2 German women from our room over cheese stuffed peppers and chicken.(TJ) Grenada was warm.
Books read this far…
Last King of Scotland
The Big Sleep
The Historian (working on)
The Alchemist (Next in Que)
If anyone has any Book suggestions let me know.
Last King of Scotland
The Big Sleep
The Historian (working on)
The Alchemist (Next in Que)
If anyone has any Book suggestions let me know.
Barcelona, Spain – 05/30 – 06/01
(Michelle) We didn’t book ahead in Barcelona and it turned out to be a little tricky to get a room, but we finally found something that was decent. It seems that the hostels/budget hotels were mostly located on one or two floors of a building instead of being a whole building. This made them hard to find because there is no sign outside, just a name on a buzzer on the door. After settling in, we went to the museum of the history of the city, which is pretty cool. The museum is actually on top of actual uncovered Roman Ruins from when Barcelona was just the Roman settlement of Barcino around 2nd or 3rd century AD. You can go in the basement and walk through the ruins as they were found. Two take-aways –
In Barcino, the laundry cleaners kept buckets outside for men to pee in. They used the urine to clean clothes. That is what I call recycling.
Later on in Barcelona’s history, they described rulers by what kind of hair they had. Willfred the Hairy, Charles the Bald… and they didn’t say it, but I’m sure there must have been a Thomas
the Mullet or possibly a Thomas the Combover.
We walked down Las Ramblas, which is the main drag with loads of tourist restaurants and “fake statues” (real people acting like statues). At a newsstand, we bought a “What’s happening in Barcelona this week” guide. In it, we saw they had a Chicago Pizza restaurant. Well, we have to check that out. So we took the metro up there to see what it was all about. This was not in a tourist area, and the people inside were all locals except us. This place had a boat load of cool Chicago posters and signs
from the 80s. The crust of the pizza was decently close, but the pizza was missing a key element. There was no sauce…??? How do you have a Chicago style pizza with no sauce?
The next day we went to La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family), designed by the famous local architect Gaudi. I thought the days of taking 200 years to build a cathedral were over, but I was wrong. This started construction in the late 1800s and it doesn’t appear to be very close to finished yet (although construction was going strong during our visit). The only official purpose this building has served yet is that Gaudi is buried in the Crypt (he died after getting hit by a street car in the late 20s or early 30s). That being said, what is done so far is truly amazing. Perhaps my former roommates (both architects) will laugh at my amateur assessment, but it seems to me that Gaudi was an architectural GENIUS. The use of animals
and nature and hyperboles and curves and funky statues was kickass. Even though a genius, I think there was one thing that he overlooked on this one. With all of his super cool statues and curves outside, he created an awesome playground for pigeons. Not that we haven’t seen pigeons on most other cathedrals, but they were always cramped into little tiny spaces. These pigeons looked like they were having a lot of fun here and tons of places to hang out and run around on easily. It just seems wrong to me for there to be pigeon crap on the head of the little baby Jesus statue.
The next day, we went to huge market off Las Ramblas. It was pretty hectic.. So hectic apparently that it drove one woman in her early 50s to stop by the food stand we were at on her break, had a smoke, did a shot and then headed back to her stand. We ate some Shis Ka Bobs at the stand we were at and then headed up to Montjuic. At the top are some great views of Barcelona. Also, much to TJ’s delight, there was a military museum with a whole room dedicated to one man’s collection of little Spanish soldiers. While we saw loads of tourists on La Ramblas, we pretty much had the military museum to ourselves. They clearly don’t put too much into it as some of the glass cases holding the historical weapons looked older than the weapons they housed.
We also went to the Pablo Picasso museum here. Good stuff, but the best was the room where they had his inside jokes with his best friend. He basically took magazine pictures of models and drew in funny pictures of his best friend next to the model. This actually made Picasso seem like more of a person than anything I’ve seen on his work. Also cool was the room where he had loads of drawings mimicking the Meninas by Diego Velazquez (see note later on Prado museum).
It is 12 hours by bus to Granada, so it’s an overnight bus for us next.
In Barcino, the laundry cleaners kept buckets outside for men to pee in. They used the urine to clean clothes. That is what I call recycling.
Later on in Barcelona’s history, they described rulers by what kind of hair they had. Willfred the Hairy, Charles the Bald… and they didn’t say it, but I’m sure there must have been a Thomas
the Mullet or possibly a Thomas the Combover.We walked down Las Ramblas, which is the main drag with loads of tourist restaurants and “fake statues” (real people acting like statues). At a newsstand, we bought a “What’s happening in Barcelona this week” guide. In it, we saw they had a Chicago Pizza restaurant. Well, we have to check that out. So we took the metro up there to see what it was all about. This was not in a tourist area, and the people inside were all locals except us. This place had a boat load of cool Chicago posters and signs
from the 80s. The crust of the pizza was decently close, but the pizza was missing a key element. There was no sauce…??? How do you have a Chicago style pizza with no sauce?The next day we went to La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family), designed by the famous local architect Gaudi. I thought the days of taking 200 years to build a cathedral were over, but I was wrong. This started construction in the late 1800s and it doesn’t appear to be very close to finished yet (although construction was going strong during our visit). The only official purpose this building has served yet is that Gaudi is buried in the Crypt (he died after getting hit by a street car in the late 20s or early 30s). That being said, what is done so far is truly amazing. Perhaps my former roommates (both architects) will laugh at my amateur assessment, but it seems to me that Gaudi was an architectural GENIUS. The use of animals
and nature and hyperboles and curves and funky statues was kickass. Even though a genius, I think there was one thing that he overlooked on this one. With all of his super cool statues and curves outside, he created an awesome playground for pigeons. Not that we haven’t seen pigeons on most other cathedrals, but they were always cramped into little tiny spaces. These pigeons looked like they were having a lot of fun here and tons of places to hang out and run around on easily. It just seems wrong to me for there to be pigeon crap on the head of the little baby Jesus statue.The next day, we went to huge market off Las Ramblas. It was pretty hectic.. So hectic apparently that it drove one woman in her early 50s to stop by the food stand we were at on her break, had a smoke, did a shot and then headed back to her stand. We ate some Shis Ka Bobs at the stand we were at and then headed up to Montjuic. At the top are some great views of Barcelona. Also, much to TJ’s delight, there was a military museum with a whole room dedicated to one man’s collection of little Spanish soldiers. While we saw loads of tourists on La Ramblas, we pretty much had the military museum to ourselves. They clearly don’t put too much into it as some of the glass cases holding the historical weapons looked older than the weapons they housed.
We also went to the Pablo Picasso museum here. Good stuff, but the best was the room where they had his inside jokes with his best friend. He basically took magazine pictures of models and drew in funny pictures of his best friend next to the model. This actually made Picasso seem like more of a person than anything I’ve seen on his work. Also cool was the room where he had loads of drawings mimicking the Meninas by Diego Velazquez (see note later on Prado museum).
It is 12 hours by bus to Granada, so it’s an overnight bus for us next.
(TJ) I’ll cut right to the coolest thing to see in Barcelona, which is the Sagrada Familia. The last time I was in Barcelona I only saw the outside of the facades which are amazing. This time I splurged and actually went inside which also awe inspiring. The columns on the inside start of as squares or hexagons and then as they go up they gradually get more faces. So a hexagon at the 
base becomes a 12 sided more circular column at the top. After this they split off like branches from a tree to support the different vaults which have a geometrical appearance to a forest canopy. I’d say if the Catholic church had more cathedrals like this they would not have a problem getting people in the pews. It probably would not hurt either if they updated some of their beliefs. It does not amaze me that this has taken over 100 yrs to build. The stonework sculptures are pieces of art and are layered with all sorts of things that you do not see at first or second glance. Not to mention the numerous changes that have taken place and the enormous cost of this innovative ever changing design. They have made some good progress on this in the last 6 years but I think that it will probably take 10-12 more for them to finish barring no financial troubles. That it has taken this long to build is a statement in itself of how innovative and ambitious this building is considering the main portions of the design are over 80 yrs old.
base becomes a 12 sided more circular column at the top. After this they split off like branches from a tree to support the different vaults which have a geometrical appearance to a forest canopy. I’d say if the Catholic church had more cathedrals like this they would not have a problem getting people in the pews. It probably would not hurt either if they updated some of their beliefs. It does not amaze me that this has taken over 100 yrs to build. The stonework sculptures are pieces of art and are layered with all sorts of things that you do not see at first or second glance. Not to mention the numerous changes that have taken place and the enormous cost of this innovative ever changing design. They have made some good progress on this in the last 6 years but I think that it will probably take 10-12 more for them to finish barring no financial troubles. That it has taken this long to build is a statement in itself of how innovative and ambitious this building is considering the main portions of the design are over 80 yrs old.Andorra – 05/27 – 05/29
(Michelle) Andorra, ruled jointly throughout much of history by a Spanish bishop and the French King (or president in more recent times), is the only country whose official language is Catalan. The LP guide says most people speak Spanish here as well, but I wasn’t sure how much “most” meant. When we checked into our little budget hotel, I asked the women “Habla Espanol?” and she gave me a strong “Por Supuesto” response, as if almost offended that I asked. So, I ‘ve just been speaking my bad Spanish since then and that seems to be working out.
On a fashion note, Andorra La Vella is not afraid to bring back (or perhaps never stopped) both the male and female mullet. Although, some of the female mullets here have a bit more style to it than the ones of the past (a lot more curls).
We read that the four main things to do in Andorra are shop, go to Europe’s biggest spa, ski and hike. Andorra is in the middle of the Pyerennes mountain range and it is possible that there is roughly one square mile of “flat” land combined in this whole country. Pretty much everything else is built up into the side of a mountain. For about one and a half miles down one main drag, I would say that one in four stores was a perfume store, one in two stores was an electronics store of some kind and the rest of the stores were a mix of tobacco and clothes. The big draw for European shoppers is the tax free shopping. TJ and I price checked a few items and did not find them to be a deal compared to US prices, but we’ve heard that they are compared to Europe prices.
We had to wait until 8pm for the restaurants to open up, (we were hungry at 5) but it was worth the wait. We went to a tapas restaurant – my favorite tapa was a red pepper stuffed with some sort of unknown partial fish mixture. TJ’s was the house specialty of cheese porkloin bread.
Day two in Andorra was reserved for hiking. We were thinking we would try to hike to the highest point in Andorra (2964 meters) from Arinsal, but just 20 minutes (and about 1000 meters higher) than Andorra La Vella, the Arinsal climate was a bit different. When we got into town, we could see what was likely the highest point was still covered in snow. We found a different trail and it pretty much snowed on us the whole hike (we were just in 85 degree weather in Dordogne France, about 6 hours from here). I still enjoyed the hike, as it was very private, beautiful and steep (my quads did not appreciate the hike down). We had a drink at the bar while waiting for the bus back and chatted with the two bartenders. From what we heard and saw, we are totally putting this on a must return for a ski trip visit list. Tip from bartender… book it through a British holiday tour group (even from the US) for super cheap rates.
On a fashion note, Andorra La Vella is not afraid to bring back (or perhaps never stopped) both the male and female mullet. Although, some of the female mullets here have a bit more style to it than the ones of the past (a lot more curls).
We read that the four main things to do in Andorra are shop, go to Europe’s biggest spa, ski and hike. Andorra is in the middle of the Pyerennes mountain range and it is possible that there is roughly one square mile of “flat” land combined in this whole country. Pretty much everything else is built up into the side of a mountain. For about one and a half miles down one main drag, I would say that one in four stores was a perfume store, one in two stores was an electronics store of some kind and the rest of the stores were a mix of tobacco and clothes. The big draw for European shoppers is the tax free shopping. TJ and I price checked a few items and did not find them to be a deal compared to US prices, but we’ve heard that they are compared to Europe prices.
We had to wait until 8pm for the restaurants to open up, (we were hungry at 5) but it was worth the wait. We went to a tapas restaurant – my favorite tapa was a red pepper stuffed with some sort of unknown partial fish mixture. TJ’s was the house specialty of cheese porkloin bread.
Day two in Andorra was reserved for hiking. We were thinking we would try to hike to the highest point in Andorra (2964 meters) from Arinsal, but just 20 minutes (and about 1000 meters higher) than Andorra La Vella, the Arinsal climate was a bit different. When we got into town, we could see what was likely the highest point was still covered in snow. We found a different trail and it pretty much snowed on us the whole hike (we were just in 85 degree weather in Dordogne France, about 6 hours from here). I still enjoyed the hike, as it was very private, beautiful and steep (my quads did not appreciate the hike down). We had a drink at the bar while waiting for the bus back and chatted with the two bartenders. From what we heard and saw, we are totally putting this on a must return for a ski trip visit list. Tip from bartender… book it through a British holiday tour group (even from the US) for super cheap rates.We covered shopping and hiking, the ski season is over, so the only other thing to do in Andorra is go to the Caldea spa. So we splurged a bit to see the biggest spa in Europe. The place had a massive amount of pools: Roman baths, Aztec baths, Turkish baths and baths with grapefruits, hot tubs outside looking out into the tall mountains. It was a nice little complex. We also tried out some massages (shiatsu and underwater). TJ is a little scarred from the event as we both got male masseuse. I think he felt better though after he hit me with a few grapefruit in the grapefruit bath. It turns out that May is the slowest month in Andorra (between the ski and summer seasons). There were supposed to be two really cool bars to check out (one that bases its beer prices all night like a stock market, supply and demand – fantastic idea) but both looked like they took the month of May off.
(TJ) I thoroughly enjoyed Andorra with the exception of the two men giving me massages when I was essentially wearing a paper g-string (not that there is anything wrong with that). It’s funny how Michelle did not mention that to me when she said that she wanted to go to the spa and get messages. I guess I was imagining some nice Andorrean woman to give me a message not Oscar and Hector. I warn any of you who are getting messages to request female masseuses. That aside the rest of the spa was nice, especially the hot tubs on the roof that were surrounded by the peaks of the Pyrannes.
I think that the best way to describe Andorra is country that is 7 large ski villages with cheap electronics, perfume, booze and tobacco. So a pretty good place for a ski vacation I think. The other thing that struck me is how new most of the buildings are. I think the EU membership has really produced a real estate boom here. There are brand new villas built way up in the hills all over the place although we heard that they are cutting back on the building permits for these types. Anyway hopefully I’ll be back to ski what looked like some really steep slopes.
I think that the best way to describe Andorra is country that is 7 large ski villages with cheap electronics, perfume, booze and tobacco. So a pretty good place for a ski vacation I think. The other thing that struck me is how new most of the buildings are. I think the EU membership has really produced a real estate boom here. There are brand new villas built way up in the hills all over the place although we heard that they are cutting back on the building permits for these types. Anyway hopefully I’ll be back to ski what looked like some really steep slopes.
Albi France – 05/26
(Michelle) So we departed from our cute little bungalow and headed to Albi. The weather turned sour today, but we were not outside for much of it. In Albi we saw the Toulouse-Lautrec museum…the Moulin Rouge poster man! Maybe now I’ll watch the movie. What was cool about this art museum, versus others, is that it was mainly the work of one artist. TJ and I both thought it was a pretty interesting set up. It was cool to see the progression of one artist through his short and naturally tortured life (parents were first cousins, genetic disorder, under 5 foot tall, died at 37). In the museum, along with his art, they also had the cane that he used when he was in an asylum (it was hollowed out with a place for a tiny flask where people would
sneak him alcohol). We also saw a cool brick church with really bright and almost modern (although not modern at all) painting on the walls. This church also had the best painted eternal damnation scene we’ve seen so far.
We of course arrived in Albi during lunch when everything was closed but restaurants, so we had a quick lunch first to get out of the rain. I ordered what may be my favorite French fast food – the croq monsieur, which TJ aptly described as a cheese sandwich on steroids.
After seeing the church, we parted ways with Nadirah and Nathan. TJ and I, after looking at the map, realized that we were really close to Andorra, and when you have the chance to go to a country where the total population is 75,000 people, you have to check it out. “Why not?” So we took the train from Albi to Toulouse and then got the first train out in the am to Andorra.
(TJ) Note to self: arrange to have a hollow cane made to store booze and small glass in for when you are institutionalized.
Also Note to self: being boiled by the devil does not look fun, avoid eternal damnation.
Final Note to self: make sure to get last rights, knock on wood.
sneak him alcohol). We also saw a cool brick church with really bright and almost modern (although not modern at all) painting on the walls. This church also had the best painted eternal damnation scene we’ve seen so far.We of course arrived in Albi during lunch when everything was closed but restaurants, so we had a quick lunch first to get out of the rain. I ordered what may be my favorite French fast food – the croq monsieur, which TJ aptly described as a cheese sandwich on steroids.
After seeing the church, we parted ways with Nadirah and Nathan. TJ and I, after looking at the map, realized that we were really close to Andorra, and when you have the chance to go to a country where the total population is 75,000 people, you have to check it out. “Why not?” So we took the train from Albi to Toulouse and then got the first train out in the am to Andorra.
(TJ) Note to self: arrange to have a hollow cane made to store booze and small glass in for when you are institutionalized.
Also Note to self: being boiled by the devil does not look fun, avoid eternal damnation.
Final Note to self: make sure to get last rights, knock on wood.
Monday, June 4, 2007
The Dordogne, France – 05/24 – 05/25. “My daughter thinks that cow is giving birth.” “Why not?”
(Michelle) The second day we went to see some Cro-Magnon stuff. The Lascaux cave is home to some prehistoric art from 17,000 years ago. Discovered in the 40s, it was only open to the public for 15 years, as the tourists were causing more destruction in 15 years than there had been for 17,000 years. So instead they made a replication in a cave nearby that is allegedly identical to the original. It looked real enough to me. The next thing to do is to actually interpret the art. There is of course no way to interpret the art…. Thus our tour guides response to every random brilliant discovery by the people on the tour - “Why not?” I’ll tell you what though, this caveman world frightened and confused me. 
All the animal worship and what not. There was only one human depicted in the whole cave and according to another keen observation, he appeared to have died in battle with an animal. He was drawn as a stick figure and in a somewhat pornographic fashion (unlike the very detailed and beautiful animal drawings).
Please note, the picture attached is NOT the cow giving birth, but it may be a buffalo giving birth. “Why not?”
We also went to a separate cave where we saw art that was not in color, but more etched in the cave walls (this was the actual cave, not a reproduction – and we did get to ride around the cave on a train, which was cool). This one had mammoth etchings. This cave has been known about for longer, but is just a measly 13,000 years old. There was some controversy in the late 1800s that it was a hoax, but that theory has since been proven wrong when it was determined that on the mammoth etchings, there was some anatomical accuracy drawn that could only have been known by a person who encountered one (Actual mammoth remains weren’t discovered until the 1900s). The mammoth stands out from other animals because of a special butt flap of some kind. The purpose of this butt flap, we will probably never know.
On our way back from the caves, we decided to stop in Beynac (about 4 km from our campground) for some good local cuisine. “Garkone, table for Cuatro” – we are certain the locals are repulsed at the amount of butchering we can do to a simple request like, table for four. Either way, the food was very tasty at the place we chose. This was the only night we ate out in Dordogne, but we did not totally miss out on the local specialties… the previous day we purchased a tin with duck cooked in duck fat at a specialty store where we were instructed by the owner to heat up the duck in a pan, use the fat to cook potatoes and voila, we too can fix up our own Dordogne specialty. Potatoes cooked in fat…mmmmm. Dordogne is more well known for it’s Fois Gras. I stayed on the side of those who banned it in Chicago…why anyone would want to regularly eat oversized goose liver is beyond me. Nadirah and Nathan tried some though. They didn’t give it rave reviews.
We spent the next day just relaxing at our little bungalow and then the next morning, we moved on.
(TJ) Some people on the cave tour thought that they were really enlightening us with their insights in to the drawings that they read in guidebooks and claimed to be their own. Yes, there is a reason they hate us. Riding through the real cave also very cool even if we could understand none of it (the second cave only had the tour in French), but I froze- it was 55 in the cave and I was in shorts and a t shirt. While riding on the train I could not help to think that this would be a great roller coaster. Flying around corners while cavemen with spears are chasing you. Mark my words someone is going to do it.
Food:
I thought that I would do a short recap of my top five meals so far
1. Steak with Bourbon sauce and Sarlat Potatos at the Bonnet restaurant around Dordogne, some of the best potatoes ever.
2. Pasta with Fresh Vegtables, made in Amboise by Michelle and Nadirah
3. Japanese Food in Paris
4. Duck with Fatty Potatoes, made by Nadirah per local instruction in Trailer in Dordonge
5. Pasta at oddly fancy restaurant in Sligo, Ireland.
All the animal worship and what not. There was only one human depicted in the whole cave and according to another keen observation, he appeared to have died in battle with an animal. He was drawn as a stick figure and in a somewhat pornographic fashion (unlike the very detailed and beautiful animal drawings).Please note, the picture attached is NOT the cow giving birth, but it may be a buffalo giving birth. “Why not?”
We also went to a separate cave where we saw art that was not in color, but more etched in the cave walls (this was the actual cave, not a reproduction – and we did get to ride around the cave on a train, which was cool). This one had mammoth etchings. This cave has been known about for longer, but is just a measly 13,000 years old. There was some controversy in the late 1800s that it was a hoax, but that theory has since been proven wrong when it was determined that on the mammoth etchings, there was some anatomical accuracy drawn that could only have been known by a person who encountered one (Actual mammoth remains weren’t discovered until the 1900s). The mammoth stands out from other animals because of a special butt flap of some kind. The purpose of this butt flap, we will probably never know.
On our way back from the caves, we decided to stop in Beynac (about 4 km from our campground) for some good local cuisine. “Garkone, table for Cuatro” – we are certain the locals are repulsed at the amount of butchering we can do to a simple request like, table for four. Either way, the food was very tasty at the place we chose. This was the only night we ate out in Dordogne, but we did not totally miss out on the local specialties… the previous day we purchased a tin with duck cooked in duck fat at a specialty store where we were instructed by the owner to heat up the duck in a pan, use the fat to cook potatoes and voila, we too can fix up our own Dordogne specialty. Potatoes cooked in fat…mmmmm. Dordogne is more well known for it’s Fois Gras. I stayed on the side of those who banned it in Chicago…why anyone would want to regularly eat oversized goose liver is beyond me. Nadirah and Nathan tried some though. They didn’t give it rave reviews.
We spent the next day just relaxing at our little bungalow and then the next morning, we moved on.
(TJ) Some people on the cave tour thought that they were really enlightening us with their insights in to the drawings that they read in guidebooks and claimed to be their own. Yes, there is a reason they hate us. Riding through the real cave also very cool even if we could understand none of it (the second cave only had the tour in French), but I froze- it was 55 in the cave and I was in shorts and a t shirt. While riding on the train I could not help to think that this would be a great roller coaster. Flying around corners while cavemen with spears are chasing you. Mark my words someone is going to do it.
Food:
I thought that I would do a short recap of my top five meals so far
1. Steak with Bourbon sauce and Sarlat Potatos at the Bonnet restaurant around Dordogne, some of the best potatoes ever.
2. Pasta with Fresh Vegtables, made in Amboise by Michelle and Nadirah
3. Japanese Food in Paris
4. Duck with Fatty Potatoes, made by Nadirah per local instruction in Trailer in Dordonge
5. Pasta at oddly fancy restaurant in Sligo, Ireland.
The Dordogne, France – 05/23. “Canoe Loisirs?”
(Michelle) After leaving Amboise, we headed to the Dordogne region. According to Rick Steve’s, the three things to do in this area are canoe, see Cro-Magnon cave art and eat Fois Gras. Actually, I can’t remember if that is what Rick Steve’s said, but I am sure it was something like that. According to other travelers we met on the way, Rick Steve’s was in La Roque Gageac one night before we were! If only we had known… Perhaps we too could have been on one of his somewhat awkward travel shows. We pulled into La Plage campground (that is NOT French for 
the Plague) looking for bungalows… At first glance, it didn’t appear that there were any, but as it turns out, La Plage seems to be recently entering the bungalow business and there was one with our name on it. Although not totally confirmed, we may have been the first people to stay in this bungalow. It was still mobile home-ish in size and layout (2 tiny bedrooms, kitchen and table in the middle), but it was incredibly cute and bright, and it was only 11 Euro per night per person. What a deal! The best part was the location. It was very quiet, there was a cute older couple farming the land in front of us everyday, and a huge cliff across as the view and the river right behind us. The owner was getting ready for the busy season, which is mainly July and August, and he was working hard on the pool when we got there. The weather was fantastic, sunny and warm to hot everyday and big thunderstorms every night (thank God we weren’t in the tents, a couple of nights the thunder and lighting was pretty crazy).
We went on a canoe down the river the first day… It’s kind of like going down the Apple River, except in a canoe instead of a tube, no beer tree in the middle and instead of a view of drunk guys peeing off to the side, there is a view of amazing cliffs with castles built into or on top off it. Of course, it is not the busy season, so maybe in August there are drunk guys peeing off to the side here as well.
the Plague) looking for bungalows… At first glance, it didn’t appear that there were any, but as it turns out, La Plage seems to be recently entering the bungalow business and there was one with our name on it. Although not totally confirmed, we may have been the first people to stay in this bungalow. It was still mobile home-ish in size and layout (2 tiny bedrooms, kitchen and table in the middle), but it was incredibly cute and bright, and it was only 11 Euro per night per person. What a deal! The best part was the location. It was very quiet, there was a cute older couple farming the land in front of us everyday, and a huge cliff across as the view and the river right behind us. The owner was getting ready for the busy season, which is mainly July and August, and he was working hard on the pool when we got there. The weather was fantastic, sunny and warm to hot everyday and big thunderstorms every night (thank God we weren’t in the tents, a couple of nights the thunder and lighting was pretty crazy).
We went on a canoe down the river the first day… It’s kind of like going down the Apple River, except in a canoe instead of a tube, no beer tree in the middle and instead of a view of drunk guys peeing off to the side, there is a view of amazing cliffs with castles built into or on top off it. Of course, it is not the busy season, so maybe in August there are drunk guys peeing off to the side here as well.(TJ) This is another beautiful area of France. The Dordogne is a small river that flows through the area that is surrounded by hills/cliffs that are often topped with castles or chateau’s. There are also small villages every so often that are right along the river, a lot of the houses are built directly into the limestone cliffs. A little bit about the place we stayed at. The trailer was about 
20 yards away from a pretty good size garden. The garden was tended to by an elderly couple who had to have been in their 80s. They women was in the garden 7 to 8 hours a day, if not more. It was large but not that large. The man also probably put in 4-5 hours a day. When they were in the garden together it would seem that that they would grunt and point at things to each other. I don’t know much about gardening but it seems to me they were putting way too much time into this garden. I guess it was just how they stayed out of each others way. I’d hate to see how Michelle and I will be at 80, we already grunt and point at things to each other. Then there was our innkeeper. During our 5 day stay he was constantly power washing the concrete by the pool in a speedo. I still don’t know why in the hell he was power washing so much, was he trying to resurface the concrete? I can only think that he was procrastinating, when we really needed that pool to be open on the hot days.
20 yards away from a pretty good size garden. The garden was tended to by an elderly couple who had to have been in their 80s. They women was in the garden 7 to 8 hours a day, if not more. It was large but not that large. The man also probably put in 4-5 hours a day. When they were in the garden together it would seem that that they would grunt and point at things to each other. I don’t know much about gardening but it seems to me they were putting way too much time into this garden. I guess it was just how they stayed out of each others way. I’d hate to see how Michelle and I will be at 80, we already grunt and point at things to each other. Then there was our innkeeper. During our 5 day stay he was constantly power washing the concrete by the pool in a speedo. I still don’t know why in the hell he was power washing so much, was he trying to resurface the concrete? I can only think that he was procrastinating, when we really needed that pool to be open on the hot days. Sunday, June 3, 2007
Dinan and Amboise, France – 05/21 – 05/22. “Avez-Vous un bungalow pour ce soir?”
(Michelle) We drove to Dinan after Mont St. Michel. We were now on the hunt for “bungalows” to rent. Unfortunately, we got to Dinan too late and the only thing available was a campsite. So we set up one tent and Nadirah and Nathan were gracious enough to insist that we sleep in the tent (and they slept in the car). The next morning, we explored Dinan in the morning and it was 
actually a really cool little town. After a little walking tour and a cheese/ham buying expedition, we headed on to the Loire region, where the rich folk played back in the day. Amboise was the town we stayed in that night and after checking the first campsite for any “bungalows” they pointed us to another one they said did. We got there and they had a bungalow alright. It was a mobile home… fitting. The price was right, so we rented it for two nights. As much as we laughed about it, we thoroughly enjoyed our little mobile home for two nights (see TJ eating trailer style). The 
chateaus that we went to couldn’t have been more opposite from our lovely mobile home. A second home for a mistress (Chateau Chenonceau), a hunting lodge for a king (Chateau Chambord) and an aristocratic home with all the proper furnishings (Chateau Cheverny). “Release the hounds” - We got there in time for the 5pm daily feeding of the Hounds at Cheverny. Survival of the fittest is the best way to describe the event. In fact we may even have seen a choking casualty, the hound did not look so good as the keeper dragged him into the back room. From our chateau experience, TJ has decided that he too would like to be a “legitimized royal bastard”.
actually a really cool little town. After a little walking tour and a cheese/ham buying expedition, we headed on to the Loire region, where the rich folk played back in the day. Amboise was the town we stayed in that night and after checking the first campsite for any “bungalows” they pointed us to another one they said did. We got there and they had a bungalow alright. It was a mobile home… fitting. The price was right, so we rented it for two nights. As much as we laughed about it, we thoroughly enjoyed our little mobile home for two nights (see TJ eating trailer style). The 
chateaus that we went to couldn’t have been more opposite from our lovely mobile home. A second home for a mistress (Chateau Chenonceau), a hunting lodge for a king (Chateau Chambord) and an aristocratic home with all the proper furnishings (Chateau Cheverny). “Release the hounds” - We got there in time for the 5pm daily feeding of the Hounds at Cheverny. Survival of the fittest is the best way to describe the event. In fact we may even have seen a choking casualty, the hound did not look so good as the keeper dragged him into the back room. From our chateau experience, TJ has decided that he too would like to be a “legitimized royal bastard”.(TJ) It’s good to be the legitimized royal bastard. I’d be one if I could get some of these chateau’s. All of them were extremely nice and pleasing on the eye. A couple of things stood out in particular. At chateau Chambord, Leonardo Da Vinci designed a double spiral staircase that is the center of the palace. Apparently the French king paid Leonardo Davinci to move to this area of France in his final years to design palaces, cities and what ever else he deemed he needed from him. The feeding of the hounds was great at Cheverny, they most of fed 60-75 hunting 
dogs 300 lb of meat. What kind of meat it was I have no idea, I think I saw a leg and entrails of some kind, it definitely was not grade A meat. So they spread the meat out in a long pile and the dogs just have it surrounded and are barking and howling but not touching the meat. Finally the keeper waved his bullwhip and released the hounds, all hell broke loose. Dogs are diving into the food and carrying huge chunks of meat to the corners of the pens and trying to east it as fast as they can while defending it. One dog runs out of meat and starts going for another’s piece of meat, it was like musical chairs but with dogs fighting with each other over the chairs. By the end of it you would have 15-20 doges fighting over one scrap of meat, literally jumping on the dogs’ backs. Apparently one big dog chocked, I missed this with all of the chaos that was ensuing. Anyway it was a memorable experience to see the hounds fed.
dogs 300 lb of meat. What kind of meat it was I have no idea, I think I saw a leg and entrails of some kind, it definitely was not grade A meat. So they spread the meat out in a long pile and the dogs just have it surrounded and are barking and howling but not touching the meat. Finally the keeper waved his bullwhip and released the hounds, all hell broke loose. Dogs are diving into the food and carrying huge chunks of meat to the corners of the pens and trying to east it as fast as they can while defending it. One dog runs out of meat and starts going for another’s piece of meat, it was like musical chairs but with dogs fighting with each other over the chairs. By the end of it you would have 15-20 doges fighting over one scrap of meat, literally jumping on the dogs’ backs. Apparently one big dog chocked, I missed this with all of the chaos that was ensuing. Anyway it was a memorable experience to see the hounds fed.Bayeux, More D-Day beaches and Mont St. Michel, France – 05/19 – 05/20. “Hey, where are the poles at?”
(Michelle) That morning, we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry. This extremely long original historical linen cloth has the story sewn in pictures only of the events leading up to and the outcome of the Battle of Hastings 1066. It was quite an item to see, but unfortunately, the audio guide sort of rushes you through it. I could have looked at it for much longer. We did a quick walking tour of Bayeux (cathedrals, historical markers etc.), then we went back out to the D-day beaches. We went to the US cemetery, Omaha Beach, Pont Du Hoc and the German cemetery. TJ commented on all this in the previous entry (he got ahead of himself a day), so I will move on.
Later that afternoon, we headed on to Mont St. Michel – Yes, that is my mountain, and quite a mountain it is! Especially at night, when there are fewer people and the lighting is so soft. I felt almost like a child at Casa Bonita, without the Mexican food and neon necklaces, and if Casa Bonita was French for old castle on a little rock island instead of Spanish for pretty house. This was an island (although not now with the road built across) but the tides are extreme here, so at certain times of the day you could walk out to it, before there was a road. It was built as an abbey and many people made pilgrimages here in history.
We hit our first snag on our camping trip with Nadirah and Nathan. Nathan had borrowed a tent for TJ and I to use on the trip. Unfortunately, the tent bag was missing the poles. Like most snags, though, while difficult at first turned out for the better later, as it opened our eyes to the concept of the camping ground “bungalow”. That particular campground near Mont St. Michel had these little one room shacks with 8 cots, a picnic table and electricity, and that is it (you still use the campground bathrooms etc.), so we enquired about those. As it turns out, it was only 5 Euro more per person than camping and we could hang out without the million mosquitoes that were chilling outside. Voila. The next day, we went up to Mont St. Michel again for the Abbey tour and lunch.
(TJ) The Bayeux Tapestry shows the story how William the Conqueror came to the thrown of England. William was the Duke of Normandy and was promised the crown by his Father in law (King of England). There were some shenanigans however and another person (Harold) claimed the English crown. These shenanigans lead to the battle of Hastings in 1066 which paved the way for Norman rule in England, and William as the King. The tapestry was used as a way of showing common people who could not read the story of William came to be king and also as way of justifying to them his rule. This was especially important since he was taking over from the native Saxons of England.
Mont St. Michel- WOW, a spectacular looking place right out of lord of the rings. The whole abbey and town are built right into a rock. This was a impregnable fortress back in the day when England controlled large swaths of France, not this place however. This is probably a top 10 coolest things that I have seen in person, it looks surreal from and distance and especially so at night.
Later that afternoon, we headed on to Mont St. Michel – Yes, that is my mountain, and quite a mountain it is! Especially at night, when there are fewer people and the lighting is so soft. I felt almost like a child at Casa Bonita, without the Mexican food and neon necklaces, and if Casa Bonita was French for old castle on a little rock island instead of Spanish for pretty house. This was an island (although not now with the road built across) but the tides are extreme here, so at certain times of the day you could walk out to it, before there was a road. It was built as an abbey and many people made pilgrimages here in history.We hit our first snag on our camping trip with Nadirah and Nathan. Nathan had borrowed a tent for TJ and I to use on the trip. Unfortunately, the tent bag was missing the poles. Like most snags, though, while difficult at first turned out for the better later, as it opened our eyes to the concept of the camping ground “bungalow”. That particular campground near Mont St. Michel had these little one room shacks with 8 cots, a picnic table and electricity, and that is it (you still use the campground bathrooms etc.), so we enquired about those. As it turns out, it was only 5 Euro more per person than camping and we could hang out without the million mosquitoes that were chilling outside. Voila. The next day, we went up to Mont St. Michel again for the Abbey tour and lunch.
(TJ) The Bayeux Tapestry shows the story how William the Conqueror came to the thrown of England. William was the Duke of Normandy and was promised the crown by his Father in law (King of England). There were some shenanigans however and another person (Harold) claimed the English crown. These shenanigans lead to the battle of Hastings in 1066 which paved the way for Norman rule in England, and William as the King. The tapestry was used as a way of showing common people who could not read the story of William came to be king and also as way of justifying to them his rule. This was especially important since he was taking over from the native Saxons of England.
Mont St. Michel- WOW, a spectacular looking place right out of lord of the rings. The whole abbey and town are built right into a rock. This was a impregnable fortress back in the day when England controlled large swaths of France, not this place however. This is probably a top 10 coolest things that I have seen in person, it looks surreal from and distance and especially so at night.
Rouen, Honfleur, St.Aubin sur Mer, and D-Day Beaches, France – 05/17 – 05/18
(Michelle) Rouen has been a large “settlement” for a very long time historically. That being said, there was surprisingly few things to do here for the average tourist. I still enjoyed the town however. Hotel Flanders, where we stayed, would not have met Ned Flanders approval. Listed as the best “budget” facility in the LP, well, I guess I’m glad we didn’t have to see the second best. The price was reasonable, but the smell was not. I think there are quite a few lifers who live here. Perhaps like Tipitanka? Ang – was that the name of the “hotel” in Red Wing? The man running was pleasant enough though and at least he fixed our toilet after I said “La Toilette ne funcionette pas”. Thanks Lingo. 
We went to our funniest museum so far on our trip in Rouen, which was the Joan of Arc Museum. Clearly a small shop in Rouen realized that they were missing out on some coin as Rouen did not have nearly enough tourist sites being that this is the town were Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Thus, the Joan of Arc Wax Museum was born. While amusing in it’s unsophisticated set up (compared to so many other more professional museums we’ve been too), it was easy to follow the story of Joan through about 20 wax scenes. I’m not, however, entirely convinced anyone did a QC on the museum before it was opened to the public. Since she is a saint, I guess I shouldn’t doubt that the voices in her head were divine, but that is not nearly as interesting to me as the part of the story where the English, after catching her through a price on her head, told her she had to sign a document saying the voices in her head weren’t real (which she sort of did in a smart ass way) and that she had to stop cross-dressing, but she was in jail and they didn’t get her any different clothes to wear. Instead of coming out naked, she chose to put on the only clothes she had and so the “official” reason she was burned at the stake was for cross-dressing. It’s been a long time since I heard the Joan of Arc story, but if I ever knew that English trickery part of it, I certainly forgot it. Remembering historical facts has never been my strong point.
We were hungry at 5 and didn’t want to eat at McDonalds again, so we started the search for dinner earlier… Where we ended up at a bar that didn’t serve dinner until 7, so we decided to have a couple of beers while we waited. We ordered randomly, and TJ ended up with a red beer (with pink froth) and I ended up with a yellow beer that tasted buttery. We swapped… I mean, it really looks better if I had the pink froth beer, right? I actually liked it. Back in our room, which smelled surprising better with the leftover smell of the previous nights McDonalds (sad), we decided to watch two episodes of the Office we downloaded in London, instead of staring at the wallpaper paper that was pealing off or the cigarette burned rug and bedspread. Jim dressing up like Dwight = hilarious. I’m still laughing.
Nadirah and Nathan picked us up in Rouen the next morning. We did a tour of several small towns along the way, having lunch in a cute town called Honfleur. We even hit TWO St. Aubin towns. I wanted TJ to find out if he owned a piece of any of these (St. Aubin sur Mer was quite a nice ocean beach town). By late afternoon we were on Juno beach. We got there too late to see the Canadian war museum, but there was information posted outside as well. We also saw Arromanches (I’ll let TJ describe). When we got to Bayeux, TJ and I still needed to find a room (it was already 8pm). The guy at Nadirah and Nathan’s hotel told us there wasn’t a single room/campsite available in town. I think he really thought that, but we walked around the corner to the hostel and not only did they have beds, TJ and I got the third floor 10 bed dorm room all to ourselves. It was actually really cute there. If we had spent a little more time there, I think it would have been a very social hostel.
We went to our funniest museum so far on our trip in Rouen, which was the Joan of Arc Museum. Clearly a small shop in Rouen realized that they were missing out on some coin as Rouen did not have nearly enough tourist sites being that this is the town were Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Thus, the Joan of Arc Wax Museum was born. While amusing in it’s unsophisticated set up (compared to so many other more professional museums we’ve been too), it was easy to follow the story of Joan through about 20 wax scenes. I’m not, however, entirely convinced anyone did a QC on the museum before it was opened to the public. Since she is a saint, I guess I shouldn’t doubt that the voices in her head were divine, but that is not nearly as interesting to me as the part of the story where the English, after catching her through a price on her head, told her she had to sign a document saying the voices in her head weren’t real (which she sort of did in a smart ass way) and that she had to stop cross-dressing, but she was in jail and they didn’t get her any different clothes to wear. Instead of coming out naked, she chose to put on the only clothes she had and so the “official” reason she was burned at the stake was for cross-dressing. It’s been a long time since I heard the Joan of Arc story, but if I ever knew that English trickery part of it, I certainly forgot it. Remembering historical facts has never been my strong point.
We were hungry at 5 and didn’t want to eat at McDonalds again, so we started the search for dinner earlier… Where we ended up at a bar that didn’t serve dinner until 7, so we decided to have a couple of beers while we waited. We ordered randomly, and TJ ended up with a red beer (with pink froth) and I ended up with a yellow beer that tasted buttery. We swapped… I mean, it really looks better if I had the pink froth beer, right? I actually liked it. Back in our room, which smelled surprising better with the leftover smell of the previous nights McDonalds (sad), we decided to watch two episodes of the Office we downloaded in London, instead of staring at the wallpaper paper that was pealing off or the cigarette burned rug and bedspread. Jim dressing up like Dwight = hilarious. I’m still laughing.
Nadirah and Nathan picked us up in Rouen the next morning. We did a tour of several small towns along the way, having lunch in a cute town called Honfleur. We even hit TWO St. Aubin towns. I wanted TJ to find out if he owned a piece of any of these (St. Aubin sur Mer was quite a nice ocean beach town). By late afternoon we were on Juno beach. We got there too late to see the Canadian war museum, but there was information posted outside as well. We also saw Arromanches (I’ll let TJ describe). When we got to Bayeux, TJ and I still needed to find a room (it was already 8pm). The guy at Nadirah and Nathan’s hotel told us there wasn’t a single room/campsite available in town. I think he really thought that, but we walked around the corner to the hostel and not only did they have beds, TJ and I got the third floor 10 bed dorm room all to ourselves. It was actually really cute there. If we had spent a little more time there, I think it would have been a very social hostel.
(TJ) Rouen - Burn the Witch, Burn the Witch, Burn the Witch!
I’d probably skip Rouen if I could do it over again unless you’re a big Joan of Arc fan or a fan of crazy people in general. It was interesting however to see the catherdral that almost collapsed from allied bombing in 1944. All that held up on side of the church was a single column and flying buttress, there rest of the columns on one side were bombed out. The city hall also exterior was also heavily pockmarked from the battle for the city with small arms and probably some small field artillery.
St. Aubin Sur Mer – I’ll fast forward a little here. After driving around France for a week and looking at a road atlas I have seen more St. Aubin Sur insert French noun than I would of thought possible. There was probably 6 or 7 around Normandy and also many in Loirre Valley. Who is this long lost relative of mine and what did he do to get so many towns named after him? Somehow I think I’m owed some land in France or a title or something.
D-Day Beaches – As Michelle said we saw Juno and Omaha beach. Outside of the historical plaques they look like a relativly normal beaches. There are very few physical reminders that it was once a battle field. Its also hard to imagine the length of the invasion beaches, I’d guess that probably stretch 15-20 miles of coastline so keeping them as there were is impractical. We only saw a couple of areas that had big reminders of what took place. The first was Arromaches (also known as Port
Winston) where they allies built a artifical harbor by towing concrete barges that were then sunk to creat piers and breakwaters. You cans still see the breakwater and some parts of the concrete pier. The second place was Pointe du Hoc where Army rangers scaled a cliff to take out Artillery that covered the beaches. The artillery had been moved back 1 km off the cliff by D-Day. The rangers did find it however and took them out. After they took the guns out, they held the point for three days against numerous counter attacks. By the end of it, out the 250 men that were sent to take out the guns 95 were left. This area was heavily bombed prior to the invasion. Its more of a moonscape with all of craters that are as big as 20’ wide and deep. Apparently the bombers hit some of their marks because there are some massive pieces of concrete that looked like they were cracked in two and thrown 10-20 ft like a kid a thrown a tantrum with some wood blocks. The most moving thing to see is the various cemeteries. The 
American cemetery overlooks the beach and is immaculate (see beginning scene of saving Private Ryan). I think it had something like 9300 US graves. The rows of crosses are in perfect lines for as far as you can see at some points. This is actually US soil and is kept up by the defense department, which I will say they are doing a excellent job. We also went to the German Cemetery which contains something like 20,000 German dead. It contains more not due more German losses, but more so due to them not having the ability to transport them back when they were retreating. It definitely was more subdued atmosphere, where there were gleaming white marble American crosses in perfect rows the Germans had small Granite markers with two name per marker that laid flat on the ground. In the information area at their cemetery it was interesting to see some of the letters from all sides that some of the fallen had written and also what some of their children had written about parents that they never met. There was also a short history of the German/French reconcillation after the war and the how Cemetary is kept up by youth volunteers from many different countries dedicated to international peace.
I’d probably skip Rouen if I could do it over again unless you’re a big Joan of Arc fan or a fan of crazy people in general. It was interesting however to see the catherdral that almost collapsed from allied bombing in 1944. All that held up on side of the church was a single column and flying buttress, there rest of the columns on one side were bombed out. The city hall also exterior was also heavily pockmarked from the battle for the city with small arms and probably some small field artillery.
St. Aubin Sur Mer – I’ll fast forward a little here. After driving around France for a week and looking at a road atlas I have seen more St. Aubin Sur insert French noun than I would of thought possible. There was probably 6 or 7 around Normandy and also many in Loirre Valley. Who is this long lost relative of mine and what did he do to get so many towns named after him? Somehow I think I’m owed some land in France or a title or something.D-Day Beaches – As Michelle said we saw Juno and Omaha beach. Outside of the historical plaques they look like a relativly normal beaches. There are very few physical reminders that it was once a battle field. Its also hard to imagine the length of the invasion beaches, I’d guess that probably stretch 15-20 miles of coastline so keeping them as there were is impractical. We only saw a couple of areas that had big reminders of what took place. The first was Arromaches (also known as Port
Winston) where they allies built a artifical harbor by towing concrete barges that were then sunk to creat piers and breakwaters. You cans still see the breakwater and some parts of the concrete pier. The second place was Pointe du Hoc where Army rangers scaled a cliff to take out Artillery that covered the beaches. The artillery had been moved back 1 km off the cliff by D-Day. The rangers did find it however and took them out. After they took the guns out, they held the point for three days against numerous counter attacks. By the end of it, out the 250 men that were sent to take out the guns 95 were left. This area was heavily bombed prior to the invasion. Its more of a moonscape with all of craters that are as big as 20’ wide and deep. Apparently the bombers hit some of their marks because there are some massive pieces of concrete that looked like they were cracked in two and thrown 10-20 ft like a kid a thrown a tantrum with some wood blocks. The most moving thing to see is the various cemeteries. The 
American cemetery overlooks the beach and is immaculate (see beginning scene of saving Private Ryan). I think it had something like 9300 US graves. The rows of crosses are in perfect lines for as far as you can see at some points. This is actually US soil and is kept up by the defense department, which I will say they are doing a excellent job. We also went to the German Cemetery which contains something like 20,000 German dead. It contains more not due more German losses, but more so due to them not having the ability to transport them back when they were retreating. It definitely was more subdued atmosphere, where there were gleaming white marble American crosses in perfect rows the Germans had small Granite markers with two name per marker that laid flat on the ground. In the information area at their cemetery it was interesting to see some of the letters from all sides that some of the fallen had written and also what some of their children had written about parents that they never met. There was also a short history of the German/French reconcillation after the war and the how Cemetary is kept up by youth volunteers from many different countries dedicated to international peace.Versailles, France and Rouen, France – 05/15 – 05/16
(Michelle) After some communication with Nadirah and Nathan (Nadirah is a former co-worker of mine, we were planning to visit her and her husband in Amsterdam where they now live), we are extending our time in France to join up with their 2 week vacation here. ROAD TRIP. We are going to start off with them in Bayeux. They will not get there until Thursday though, so we found a few things to do in the mean time. On Tuesday, we went to Versailles. I guess you 
should see the most extravagant chateau in the country when you are in the neighborhood. Three king Louis’ ruled from there and it is quite a sight… although much of it does appear to be undergoing renovation right now. King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette are probably still lingering around there somewhere… Marie A had several extra houses built on the crazy big pool, fountain and statue filled grounds. There are some 2,000 fountains on the grounds. We probably saw like 30 of them, maybe, and we were walking on the grounds outside for at least an hour. This is a true sign of what you can obtain with a insane amount of money in the 17th and 18th centuries. Then we headed on the train to Rouen, which is about halfway between Paris and Bayeux. Up until now, we have enjoyed relative success with just speaking in English, in Paris. In Paris, people were very pleasant about speaking to us in English. I witnessed several people from other countries (China, Germany and others – I sat in the lobby to use to wi-fi for a while) just assume the front desk guy spoke English and started speaking to him in that instead of their own language or French. Rouen is a different story. We have started to pull out the Lingo now. We went in search for dinner, but all the restaurants we passed were closed except of course… McDonalds. We were really not trying to go to McDs, but it was the only place open at 8pm on a Tuesday night in our area. We did try the grocery first, but they didn’t have hot food and we are not in a hostel, so nowhere to cook anything. We did pick up a bottle of wine at the grocery before we headed to McDs. A local fellow about our age saw us collecting our McDs with our bottle of wine and he had a good chuckle at the thought of a Big Mac with wine. We laughed with him, because it is pretty funny. This time, when TJ ordered, he used the word ‘non’ in front of Mayo, so he successfully got no Mayo, instead of double mayo like the last time when he just said no Mayo. Thanks Lingo.
should see the most extravagant chateau in the country when you are in the neighborhood. Three king Louis’ ruled from there and it is quite a sight… although much of it does appear to be undergoing renovation right now. King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette are probably still lingering around there somewhere… Marie A had several extra houses built on the crazy big pool, fountain and statue filled grounds. There are some 2,000 fountains on the grounds. We probably saw like 30 of them, maybe, and we were walking on the grounds outside for at least an hour. This is a true sign of what you can obtain with a insane amount of money in the 17th and 18th centuries. Then we headed on the train to Rouen, which is about halfway between Paris and Bayeux. Up until now, we have enjoyed relative success with just speaking in English, in Paris. In Paris, people were very pleasant about speaking to us in English. I witnessed several people from other countries (China, Germany and others – I sat in the lobby to use to wi-fi for a while) just assume the front desk guy spoke English and started speaking to him in that instead of their own language or French. Rouen is a different story. We have started to pull out the Lingo now. We went in search for dinner, but all the restaurants we passed were closed except of course… McDonalds. We were really not trying to go to McDs, but it was the only place open at 8pm on a Tuesday night in our area. We did try the grocery first, but they didn’t have hot food and we are not in a hostel, so nowhere to cook anything. We did pick up a bottle of wine at the grocery before we headed to McDs. A local fellow about our age saw us collecting our McDs with our bottle of wine and he had a good chuckle at the thought of a Big Mac with wine. We laughed with him, because it is pretty funny. This time, when TJ ordered, he used the word ‘non’ in front of Mayo, so he successfully got no Mayo, instead of double mayo like the last time when he just said no Mayo. Thanks Lingo. (TJ) Versailles was about what I expected it to be. The palace was heavily gilded with stone wood and gold leaf. The gardens also seemed to be pretty immense with many statues and fountains and maze like shrubbery. The part that I was not expecting was the vast paintings that are on the ceilings of just about all of the rooms that we saw. The only other thing that I have seen like it is the Sistine chapel. I thought the best room was the hall of mirrors where the king used to receive dignitaries and also where the Versailles treaty that officially ended WW1was signed. This place was packed and there were so many people that it was hard to get around some of the smaller rooms. I felt attached at multiple locations where I was surrounded by school children suddenly or Italian tourists. The royal stuff is nice to see but it also would have been nice to see some of the servants quarters, kitchens etc. and hear about how the place was actually run on a day to day basis.
I had my first Royal with cheese last night with deluxe potatoes and will say that is was delicious. I was shocked at how busy the McD’s was, but then I thought about our food court experience and realized that “cheap” and “ok” fast food can be a little hard to come by here, hence the success of McD’s, KFC, Subway, etc. I also do not recommend wine with McDonalds.
I had my first Royal with cheese last night with deluxe potatoes and will say that is was delicious. I was shocked at how busy the McD’s was, but then I thought about our food court experience and realized that “cheap” and “ok” fast food can be a little hard to come by here, hence the success of McD’s, KFC, Subway, etc. I also do not recommend wine with McDonalds.
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