Bayeux Stopover

In addition to Juno Beach, we also made a pit stop in Bayeux on our way back to Paris.  It has the distinction of being the first French town liberated from Nazi occupation following D-Day, and since the Germans abandoned it to shore up the defenses in nearby Caen, Bayeux was spared the destruction that many other towns and cities in Normandy suffered.  As a result, it has maintained its very quaint character, with a mix of stone and half-timber buildings and a picturesque river running right through town.

The town is charming for sure, but its real claim to fame is the Bayeux Tapestry.  The tapestry, which apparently isn't actually a tapestry but an embroidered cloth (I wonder how many boring arguments historians/interior designers have had on this subject?), recounts the 1066 Norman conquest of England, led by William the Conqueror.  It was commissioned soon after the conquest and is in amzing shape for a 950 year old piece of cloth.  At nearly seventy meters long, the tapestry is like a huge comic book (or graphic novel, to use the modern euphemism) detailing the events leading to the invasion, the preparation of William's armies and the Battle of Hastings itself.  The museum containing the tapestry gives out audio guides that walk through the story frame by frame.  To give you an idea of how much information is on the cloth, the audio tour takes about twenty minutes.  All three of us really enjoyed the museum, as I think most people would, whether or not they're into the history of this period.

Scenes from a photographic copy of the Bayeux Tapestry (you aren't allowed to take pictures of the real thing)

The Longest Day, Canadian Edition

Photo by Dennis Sullivan. Department of National Defence / 
National Archives of Canada, PA-132790

As a Canadian growing up in the United States, I often received good-natured ribbing about my birth country's military might.  I heard comments like, "thanks for helping us out during World War II," and, "do you guys even have an army?" throughout high school, and I didn't know enough to be able to respond.  It wasn't until I took a World War II class in college that I learned that a Canadian division took Juno Beach, one of the five D-Day beaches, and even then, that was the extent of my knowledge of the country's involvement.  I really wanted to visit Juno during our time in Normandy, but our tour only covered the two American beaches and it lasted all day so I didn't think we would have time.  Thankfully, Lee and Magge indulged me and we stopped at the beach and the Juno Beach Centre, a museum dedicated to Canada's role throughout the war, on our way back to Paris.

The Juno Beach Centre, which only opened seven years ago, is extremely well done.  It covers a huge amount of  material in an engaging fashion using multimedia and interactive exhibits.  We spent nearly two hours in the museum, but I could have easily stayed for another hour or two.  Almost everything I read or watched there was new to me, from Canada's role as England's major ally prior to the USA's and Russia's entrance, to its efforts during the Italian campaign, to the details of the Juno landing, to its contributions to the final victory in Europe.  By the end of the war, Canada had the third largest surface fleet in the world, fourth largest airforce and had over one million men serve at a time when its population was approximately eleven million.  I'm embarrassed that I did not know the extent of my home country's participation.

Sitting on a bunker with the museum in the background

After the museum, we took a quick walk out to the beach itself.  Like the Omaha and Utah beaches we had seen the day before, it was a scene of tranquility with no sign of what happened sixty-six years ago except for a handful of German bunkers.  I got goosebumps as I tried to imagine what it looked like during D-Day.  Juno was the second bloodiest beach on that day, after Omaha, with the Canadian division taking over 1,000 casualties.  Despite the tough resistance, the Canadian forces actually penetrated more deeply inland than any of the other divisions.

Juno Beach

I've now lived more than half of my life in the US, and tend to think of myself as more of an American, but it would have been impossible that day to not have been swept up in Canadian patriotism.

The Longest Day (I'm referring to D-Day, not the tour)

As Jeff and I were planning the European portion of our trip, one visit we immediately agreed we needed to make was to the D-Day beaches in Normandy.  As luck would have it, Normandy was the final area that Mom and Lee wanted to explore in France, and so they decided they would join us for a long weekend on the northern coast of the country.  As I said in an earlier post, my mom was unfortunately not able to go, but Lee made the trek to enjoy a beautiful weekend with us.

In anticipation of our visit, I scheduled a day-long tour of the key beaches taken by American forces.  On Friday, we woke up bright and early to drive an hour to a McDonald's where we met our guide for the day, Eddie, a retired Lieutenant Colonel who served 28 years in the British Royal Marines.  Eddie's background showed through during the day, as he was able to give us deeper insight into the military tactics and strategy involved in the landings.  Having taken a couple classes on World War II during college, both Jeff and I had a fairly decent understanding of the war and D-Day.  Getting to step onto the beaches where these critical events took place and to have someone with military experience explain what had happened gave us a deeper appreciation for what occurred on that day than any book or class lecture ever has.

Mont Saint-Michel

Along with the D-Day beaches, Mont Saint-Michel was the reason I wanted to visit Normandy. From pictures, the fortified island village looked more like a The Lord of the Rings set than reality, and I've been looking forward to seeing it in person since this our trip began.  I thought we might have to cancel when Marcia had to cancel her trip out to France, but luckily for us, Lee decided to come and fought through jet lag to drive us.

Normandy: How I Wish You Were Here

I have to admit that I have been pretty darn lucky with how many times I have been able to see my mom over the past year. I cannot, however, deny that I was distraught when I found out that yet another of her employees felt the need to throw a wrench in our plans to meet. I have told my mom numerous times now that next year she will look back and be very happy that things have turned out the way they have for the business, but that does not mean I didn't want to go wring a few necks over in Durham (nobody makes my mamma mad and gets away with it!).

The trip was all paid for and the bags were all packed when my mom made the decision that she could not go. Fortunately, she did not see any reason why problems at Triangle should mean Lee's trip should be ruined as well, and so Lee, the trooper, made the trip over to France on his own to meet us. For the record, this means that Lee wins the award for meeting us the most times during the year. GO, LEE! (We'll definitely have to think up some awesome award for you.) Though the three of us did end up having a fantastic weekend together - or, as I dubbed it, "Kids' Weekend" - we did think about my mom a lot and comment frequently that we wish she could have been with us.

Our plan had been to meet up at the CDG airport and drive out to the northern coastal area of France. Our first stop together was to be Giverny to see the home of Monet. I know that this is probably one of the places my mom most wanted to see. The grounds were amazingly beautiful. We felt as though we were walking through Monet's paintings as we strolled the idyllic grounds of his home. Since my mom was unable to be with us, both Lee and I felt it important to take as many pictures as possible to at least give her a taste of what we experienced. So, Mamma, here are some flowers to make you smile :-) Love you!

Rome II

Our second stint in Rome was packed with tours.  This city gets mixed reviews from travelers, with many giving it poor marks because it's too dirty, too busy, or lacks the charm of many of Italy's smaller cities.  However, it may be my favorite Italian city, and the tours we did gave us a great a varied experience during our time there.  While many guidebooks say you only need to spend three or four days in Rome, Magge and I left feeling like we had just scratched the surface.

A Day in Kiersten's Italy Journal: Pompeii

I've already posted an entry from my youngest brother's Italy journal.  Here is a day from my sister's journal covering our day trip to Pompeii.  The pictures in this post are a mix of those taken by Kiersten and Magge.

The first time I ever read, or even heard about, Pompeii was when I was in second grade off a standard reading test. I just thought it was a made up little story about some small village in Italy.  As I found out more and more, I realized this place is not fictional, it’s real!  Pompeii soon made it on my list of Places I Want to Visit When I’m Older.  When I said “Older”, I was referring to when I was an adult, not a few years later. When I found out that I was actually going to Pompeii when visiting Magge and Jeffrey, I nearly wet myself.  I couldn’t wait to see this famous city.

Day Trips From Florence

As you all know, there is a great deal of logistical planning in our daily traveling lives.  While Jeff does the lion's share of the work (I'm generally busy conquering the world on my iPod - or so Jeff says), I do pitch in from time to time.  When we needed to plan our stay in Italy with the Bells, I decided I would look into the tour options available.  Though the Bells are far from difficult to please, I have to admit that I was quite nervous in trying to pick the right tours to fit everyone's tastes (I just wanted everyone to be happy!).  I struck gold when I found the Walkabout tours while planning our Florence leg of the trip.

One site we knew we wanted to visit during our time together was the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  I was worried, however, that making the two hour journey to Pisa just to see the tower might not be worth the hassle.  So I was pleased when I found the Best of Tuscany Tour, which included a stop in Pisa along with tours of Siena, San Gimignano, and lunch at a wine farm.  After reading all the glowing reviews on Tripadvisor.com, Jeff and I agreed that it would be a good choice.  We were thrilled we had found such a great way to fit in Pisa.  The company had another tour of Cinque Terre that had received rave reviews as well that I really wanted to also book.  Sadly, Jeff vetoed that tour because he had read that Cinque Terre was unpleasantly crowded in August.

Florence with the Family

When I was sixteen, I went on a whirlwind tour through Europe with a group from my high school.  We visited eight cities in five countries over seventeen days.  Of those cities, Florence was the least memorable.  (I think) we were there for two days, but all I remember was fighting through crowds to see Michelangelo's David and hopping the fence with my track team and coach to practice on a private local track.  For whatever reasons, the city just didn't stick in my mind.  Regardless, with my family meeting us in Italy, I was giving Florence a chance to prove my teenage sensibilities wrong.

A Day in Liam's Italy Journal: Rome

We have just capped ten days with my family in Rome and Florence.  My two youngest siblings are keeping journals to document their first trip in Europe.  Here is our first day in Rome as described in my nine year old brother's journal.  It follows the day that the family was supposed to leave for Rome, but their flight was canceled out of Charlotte and they had to spend a night in the Queen City.  I have edited it for spelling, but they are completely his own words.  All pictures were taken by him on his Nintendo DSi, unless stated otherwise.

Wednesday, July 25, 2010 - Fly in the Sky
In the second day in the airport we did the exact same thing as yesterday, except we rode the plane! The plane was humongous! There were about 45 rows! There was a movie/T.V. player but it cost money, though. I slept, read, ate and played DS the whole way. It was soooooooooo long! But we got there!

In Italy
Wow, in a whole different country. During the car ride, the driver was really nice. The drive was like a tour. I saw pyramids, bridges, lakes. Our REAL hotel was really nice. But it was exactly like our other hotel EXCEPT it had 3 big beds, a BIGGER T.V., and a great view. And a better thing than all those things, Jeffrey and Magge!!!!!!

Croatian Walls

Most of our time in Croatia has been spent in old, walled cities and towns.  While with Marcia and Lee, we visited the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Dubrovnik, Split and Trogir, along with the Walls of Ston.  After they returned to North Carolina, we stayed in Hvar for four days.  No pictures of half naked men here, just alleys, squares, forts and churches.

Krka National Park: How to Ruin a Beautiful Place

1.  Make it overly accessible.
2.  Build large pavilions where restaurants serve overpriced food.
3.  Invite people to swim in the water.

These are the steps Krka National Park has taken to transform itself into a water park.  When I read about the park and its waterfalls and looked at the pictures, they sounded and looked pristine.  Yes, the descriptions stated that people swam at the bottom of the lowest waterfall, but I envisioned something similar to what we saw in Australia: a handful of people but by no means crowded.  Excited by the pictures, Marcia (on her birthday), Lee, Magge and I changed our plans to accommodate the hour and half trip north of Split.  When we arrived, we were very surprised at what we saw.  The park was beyond crowded, with the waterfalls and its surroundings packed with people doing their best to make Krka National Park look like the neighborhood pee-filled pool.  We had planned on taking a swim, but I don't know if we could have found any spare room in the water.  Besides, the bathrooms there charged five Croatian kuna (almost a dollar) entry fee, so the aforementioned pool is probably cleaner.

Finally Got My Mamma

After spending a couple luxurious months in Southeast Asia, where almost anything can be had for a fraction of the price it costs in the States, the past week in Greece and now Croatia has been a very rude awakening. An hour of internet time in S.E.A. cost us less than a dollar (usually nothing at all because it was free wherever we were staying).  Here we are forced to pay over six dollars an hour.  So, at risk of being killed by husband, I must make my entry very short and sweet - not something that is easy for me.

To be honest, I did not have much time to get excited about seeing my mom and Lee, whom I have missed very much, because Croatia seemed so far away just two weeks ago when I was in Thailand and I knew I still had four countries to go before seeing them.  I could not contain my excitement, however, once we finally arrived in Dubrovnik, exhausted from a terrible night of traveling by bus from Macedonia.  Who would have ever thought transport in South America would seem so luxurious?

When Nature Throws You an Earthquake . . .

Due to our inconsistent internet access over the last couple weeks (and the exorbitant prices when it was available!), we are quite behind on our posts.  It also looks as though New Zealand will be offering a great deal of writing material, and Jeff (surprise, surprise) is fretting about us getting too far behind on our posts.  Since one of the major objectives of this blog is to create a magnus opus that we may look back on in years to come, we do not wish to leave out anything.  Consequently, my next few posts will not be nearly as detailed as usual and will rely heavily on pictures.

As would be expected with my mother, no earthquake was going to get in the way of us having an activity-filled vacation.  Yes, our Easter Island plans did not work out as hoped; however, we still managed to have a wonderful time together for our extended stay in Santiago.