D-Day Beaches and Paris- tres' bien!

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Andy and I are taking a well-deserved break after two weeks of travel and sight-seeing in N. France. We are currently staying with one of my old college roomates from Iowa, Sheri Pressler. She currently works as a graphic designer for Shell Oil Company which is headquartered here in The Hague. We are enjoying some beach time, although due to the cold water of the North Sea, we spend most of our time people watching on the beach. I am recovering from a sunburn, while Andy is basking in his 'I told you so' privileges. It is fun see my friend Sheri again, she is so excited to have us here. We plan to take day trips to a variety of places around Holland and Belgium. On our list is: Brugge, Antwerp, Arnhem and of course, Amsterdam.

There is so much to say about Normandy that I hardly know where to start. There were so many moving scenes, so many sad memories and tributes to the soldiers who fought and died on and around these beaches. I am not exaggerating when I say that Andy knows every detail about the D-Day landings. It was so wonderful to have him there so that he could teach me what he has learned over the years. We visited each of the five beaches and took many photos (Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Utah beaches). While each of the beaches had some sort of memorial and a nice display of the Allied flags, the majority of the museums and artifacts were located at the western most beaches (Gold: British, Omaha and Utah: American)

We were both really impressed by the temporary port (or a Mulberry port) called Arromanches. This was located on Gold beach and it was designed by the British to be a deepwater port until a major working port could be secured. There are still huge chunks of it floating out there in the water. It was only supposed to work for 6 months, and there are still pieces of it almost 60 years later.

It was very sad to walk around Omaha beach. This beach is perhaps the most famous because it was the most difficult beach to take. There are very high cliffs along a really wide beach, I can't imagine how the boys got the courage to run that far in such minimal cover. The opening scenes from the movie 'Saving Private Ryan' probably give the best idea. The American cemetery is located right above Omaha beach. Over 9,300 American graves are aligned in perfect rows of white marble crosses. It was so very, very sad. We walked through them making mental notes of the ages and states that we saw on the crosses. We also went to one of the German cemeteries, the one at La Combe had the graves of over 21,000 soldiers. We noticed a major difference in the atmosphere between the two. The American cemetery had 1000's of visitors of every nationality. But at the German cemetery, we only noticed people speaking German. It is really sad to see that after almost 60 years there are still harsh feelings towards the Germans. They fought and died here too, but the tour buses only go to the Allied grave sites.

On a much lighter note, I have failed at the art of ordering food from a French menu. In a small town just off of Utah beach, I ordered from the menu by choosing the most interesting looking word in the 'Plat du Jour' list. Andy ordered a word that looked familiar to him: 'Steak.' I ordered 'Andouillette.' Okay- take it from me, never EVER order Andouillette! It was probably the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten. I had my suspicions, but I didn't actually find out what it was until two days later when we struck up a conversation with a French woman on the train to Paris. She politely explained that Andouillette is grilled pig guts. She said it is quite a delicacy. In Paris I also ordered raw, herbed hamburger meat. I thought that I heard somewhere that Beef Tartare was good! Note to self- always order what Andy orders.

For the history buffs out there, we also spent some time in the town of Bayeux. This is home to the famous Bayeux tapestry which has amazingly survived since around the year 1070 a.d. It is all hand stiched, and it tells the story of William the Conquerer's invasion of England in 1066 (Battle of Hastings) and his successful posession of the throne. All of the English royal lineage stems from William the Conquerer, so this is an important historical document. It is also amazing because it is about 230 feet long. It was created to decorate the nave of the Bayeux Cathedral, and it was requested by William himself.

We were sad to leave Normandy, but we feel that we spent enough time to really absorb everything. Now we have a list of WWII movies that we need to re-watch so we can recognize the locations. We spent 6 full days in Paris. What a wonderful, romantic, and charming city! We did all the major tourist things: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon's Tomb and Military Museum, Notre Dame, The Paris Opera House, Moulin Rouge and the Louvre. We stayed in a nice, but cheap one star hotel named Delhy's. It was in a great location, just 5 minutes from Notre Dame and 15 minutes from the Louvre. It is in an area called the Latin Quarter, famous for it's street artists and 100's of sidewalk cafe's. We often treated ourselves to a chocolate crepe for desert, sometimes too often :)

Andy and I took a day trip to go to visit the Palace of Versailles. It was the 'country home' for the French Kings and Queens. Among the famous former residents were several King Louis' (11-14), Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon. It is a huge really gaudy building surrounded by the largest gardens I have ever seen. To match it's impressive size, there are unbelievably long lines of tourists. We loved the architecture, the history and the famous Hall of Mirrors (where the treaty of WWI was signed), but it was really expensive, crowded, and all the gaudy decorations just seemed to look alike after a while. We were drained and exhausted by the end of the day. It is definitely something to see, just get up at the crack of dawn to beat all the tour buses.

We had one minor incident which we will remember for a while. We almost became the victims of a mini pickpocket gang on the Paris metro. One busy afternoon in a crowded station, about 4 kids shoved in behind us on the subway. They were aged from probably 10-14 and they looked normal enough. They tried to cause a distraction by asking us the time and one kid held up his hand in front of Andy's face. Luckily Andy realized what was going on and was able to protect his pockets. The older girl was going for our hotel room key in Andy's buttoned pocket. But as soon as it started, it was over..... the metro was at the next stop and the little theives ran away and up the stairs to get their next victim. We took a quick survey and were relieved to still have our wallets and camera. I did notice that my purse had been unzipped, but thankfully nothing of value was in there. To be honest, I had a few used kleenex at the top of my purse so I guess that is effective pickpocket protection! We have been taught a valuable lesson, if anyone comes up to us to ask us a question, or causes any minor distraction, immediately suspect a pickpocket. We have been leaving our room keys at the desk and we are still using our money belts.

Well, that is about enough for now. Enjoy the photos!

Jennifer & Andy