not so romantic P A R I S on a Friday night

For anyone who has the chance to make a trip to the Normandy Beaches- we say GO!

Any time spent there is time well spent.
We loved this quick trip.

This next year marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy- there will be many celebrations and events happening surrounding this special anniversary.

I know each time from now until forever that we see Normandy in the news we will cherish our precious time spent walking on the beaches that our soldiers walked.

From Omaha Beach, we headed home. It was a whirlwind trip- something we are working to perfect.

On the map, it looked like we were making a simple circle.

I knew we were going close to Paris, but did not realize we would be going straight through Paris on a Friday night.

There was traffic and an accident {of course}, but we know it could definitely have been worse.

It added less than an hour to our drive time. 

Even still, we don't recommend driving through downtown Paris any night of the week- especially if it is Friday.

You know you have been in Europe a  little while when you wake your kids up to check out the Eiffel Tower {lit up beautifully since it was night} and they barely look out the window.

O M A H A beach

By the time we made it to Omaha Beach, the boys were about done with this history lesson.

It was too bad for them, we had more to see.

On June 6, 1944, Omaha Beach was the launching point of the US invasion of Normandy.

It was the primary entry for Americans into World War II.

At the end of a deadly day of fighting, the 1st and 29th divisions held positions around Vierville, Saint-Laurent, and Colleville- three villages that we drove through to get to the coast.
In many areas, it looks as thought not much has changed since World War II.

The homes look as though they are crumbling.
Everything looks old- like much of Europe, but different.

Throughout the villages, it is common to see American flags flying. In preparing for our trip, I read that the French in this part of France are very grateful and love Americans.

I can not imagine how relieved they must have felt the day the Americans stepped into the war starting in their backyards.

The Americans suffered 2,400 casualties at Omaha on June 6, but by the end of the day they had landed 34,000 troops. It was the beginning of taking down the German rule.

Overlooking Omaha Beach on the bluff is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.
The boys quickly became interested again as soon as we stepped foot in the museum, their attention was drawn to the documentary showing on the screen.

From the museum, we walked through the American Cemetery. They keep it beautifully manicured as with the other American cemeteries we have been to including Luxembourg and St. Avold.

Walking through the rows of white-marble crosses and Stars of David was stirring.
The location overlooking the beach and ocean could not be more peaceful and perfect.

After walking through the cemetery, we drove back through Colleville in order to reach the access road to drive down to the beach itself. 

Ty wasn't feeling well, so we let him {and Coleman} stay in the van while we walked along the water for a little while. 

A few pieces of tumbled glass and tiny shells were all to be found on this sandy shoreline. We were amazed at the difference in the three beaches especially being relatively close in proximity.

The feelings we felt and things we saw will stay with us forever.

I hope the memories stay with the boys just as long.  

U T A H beach

 On the first full day of the landing at Utah, 20,000 men had been landed and 1,700 military vehicles. This was a huge part of D-Day with far fewer casualties than at the highly-guarded Omaha.

Utah Beach might have been my favorite spot of this trip.

It was calm.
It was peaceful.


As we walked down the walkway to the beach, the first thing we saw were horses running along the shoreline.

Some were being ridden, others pulling small carts.

It felt a little like we were part of a movie.

We skipped the museum and went straight down to the beach.

Our time at Utah Beach was spent looking for treasures and taking in the beauty surrounding us.


Shells, rocks and lots of tumbled glass.

Of course, the boys loved walking out to the water.

We could have stayed there ALL day.

Pointe du H O C

From Etretat, we drove two hours down the coast to the Invasion Beaches.

The plan was to check into our cheap rental apartment {$117 for the night for all six of us is a huge bargain}, then see what we could see with what time we had left in the afternoon.

Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach were the three main sites we chose to visit and focus on.


The villages and French countryside on the coast made for an eye-opening drive from Etretat.

With so much destruction, signs of war times were everywhere.

Even after many trips to France, we were still surprised to find that the reception to our rental place was closed for lunch when we arrived. 

Most of France closes from noon until two o'clock for lunch. This reception was closed from noon until four o'clock. That is after opening at 9:00 and closing at 7pm. That is a six-hour day.

Nice hours, right?

We would have to wait to get our key, so we decided to go up the coast about fifteen minutes to Pointe du Hoc- one of the most important landmarks along the Normandy Coast.

This point of land was the Germans most heavily armed position along the D-Day beaches with guns capable of firing 12 miles to the east and west. 

Omaha Beach is 11 miles to the east. Utah Beach is seven miles to the west.

The Allies had to run the Germans off this cliff in order for the American landings to succeed.

They bombed it heavily dropping over 1,500 tons of bombs on this one cliff top making it the most intensely bombarded site of the D-Day targets.

It is one thing to read about the war and the bombings. 

It is another entirely different education in history to walk in the craters, through the bunkers and along the coast.

Seeing the barbed-wire lined paths and re-bar blown apart in the concrete brings the war to life.
It is a place we will never forget visiting.

After a sobering afternoon, we headed back to the apartment {now open to our delight} and settled in. Rooms were picked and the car was unloaded for the one night we were staying in Grandcamp Maisy.

The littles were excited for some time in the pool and Grandma heated up our big pot of delicious salmon chowder prepared before leaving Germany. Along with fresh French bread {because you have to buy bread when in France} it was the perfect meal at the end of our long day.

In our travels, we have become fans of renting places with a kitchen in order to heat up dinner we can make and freeze at home. It is much cheaper and easier than eating out on the road with boys who are already tired of traveling.

Usually, we do chili, white chili, pulled pork or a roast for French dips- all freeze well and are yummy heated up. We will add our salmon chowder to our list- it was wonderful and appropriate on this visit to the French coast.

Since Justin and Ty were little, all the boys ever want to do is get back to the hotel and swim.
A pool is obviously another huge priority at any place we stay.

Luckily, this pool was heated and comfortable even being the end of September. 
Up next on our quick three-day trip were visits to the Utah and Omaha beaches.

É T R E T A T rocks

Happy November!

With less than a year to live in Germany, we are feeling some urgency to check things off our list.

Normandy was a big one.

We feel so blessed to have been able to go while my mom was here in September.

As with every other trip we have taken here, we were not one bit disappointed.

All we were missing was Justin.
In planning any itinerary, I like to see what is around the area we want to visit. For this trip, we decided to first drive north of the beaches of Normandy beginning our trip at a place called Etretat.

Driving from our house to this beach off France was six hours. We hit the road at 4am, arriving just after 10am.

The area between LeHavre and Cherbourg are all of the Normandy beaches.

We started a little north and made our way down the coast going through Caen and Bayeux.

It was so, so beautiful. Even in September. I think we have decided we almost prefer traveling on the off season not just for lower prices but avoiding the crowds is really, really nice.

Parking was easy and there were just a few scattered visitors- just our style.

Really, it was the best possible time to be on the coast of France with our toes in the English Channel.

According to Wikipedia,  Étretat is best known for its cliffs, including three natural arches and the pointed "needle". 

These cliffs and the associated resort beach attracted artists including Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet. Above are a few Monet paintings I found online.

So close to Normandy, we had to go!

The cliffs were definitely impressive.
Even more exciting was the beach with tumbled rocks- each as smooth as if individually polished.

Every single rock- smooth and perfect.

Not a piece of tumbled ocean glass.

Not a single shell.

Simply rocks. Millions and millions of rocks.

As with every other body of water {large or small}, we had to keep Coleman at bay.
He is a  magnet for water- it does not matter how cold it is.

If he had a swimsuit on, he would have taken a swim with the elderly couple we watched jump in.
Crazy Europeans.

I'm not sure there anywhere in this world more peaceful and calming than on the shores of a beach. Any beach.

The smells.
The sounds.

The view.

A smile this big on the face of our little teddy bear makes a mama so happy.

Lorraine A M E R I C A N cemetery

It was another memorable day trip. Perfect weather, crisp fall colors starting to show and clear skies above.

With family visiting last month, I had my huge list of places to see. Some that we've seen that we don't mind visiting again.

There are others that we haven't seen that we want to check off our list. St. Avold and the US cemetery is one of those places I've really wanted to visit.

About an hour from our house across the border into France is the Lorraine American Cemetery and Monument.

It contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II in Europe, a total of 10,489.

The grounds are immaculate. We had a chance to see some workers meticulously hand-trimming the graves. It is a reverent, peaceful place.

We talked to the woman in the visitor's center for a while. She showed us online how to look up names on their site to search all Americans from war buried in Europe.

We couldn't help wondering if there were any relatives.

We could't help reflecting on what times were like back then.

C A R C A S S O N E

I have my baby home sick from school today. I feel pretty fortunate to be able to swipe my schedule and stay home when my littles need me.

I might be super productive.

Then again, I might just have to snuggle and pamper him all day.

We might just have to stay in pajamas, too.

I now know first hand how fast college comes.

Just around the corner.

I copied this picture straight from Wikipedia. It's so huge, it's really hard to get a picture of the entire structure.

This might be the last post {finally} on what we saw in Southern France this summer.

Listed as the second most popular destination in France after the Eiffel Tower is Carcassone.

We planned the day to hit Carcassone in the morning with a stop at a lake on the way home for some swimming.

What an amazing place. Every time we visit a castle or cathedral or any other place built so long ago, we can't help but wonder how they did it.

Every stone in place- it's really breathtaking.

I didn't read much about it before going but did know that portions of the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves were shot in and around Carcassonne.

I also discovered that concerts are still held there today. The week we were there Duran Duran was performing.

Duran Duran?

Tickets were over 40 Euro each. I found that crazy expensive especially considering they were popular when I was in sixth grade. We passed on the concert, but loved walking around the fortress.

Founded in the fifth century, though the Romans had fortified the settlement earlier.

It's a huge walled city with thoroughly restored in 1853. Walking around the insides is just like walking through an old village with shops, restaurants, museums and a beautiful cathedral.

It was amazing. The view was just as amazing from inside the walls.
It took a little bit, but we did find the lake we set out to see.

The boys all jumped in.

Jim was the good dad and got in as well.

It was a little too chilly for me- I got my toes wet then enjoyed some sun on the shore.

P O R T I R A G N E S

Happy October! I'm choosing to think sunny, happy thoughts today as the grey and darkness of winter are kicking in here in over here.

 

Portiragnes was definitely my favorite Southern-France beach.

Picture-perfect beautiful. The weather wasn't the most cooperative as a fog came across the beach marring the view of the lifeguards.

The water was warm, sand was super white and soft. If it would have been a little hotter- perfect.

I'm not a collector of much.

I like paper and pens. I don't do spoons. I don't do fabric since I don't know how to sew. I have forever loved shells even though I don't even have a collection of them. I remember numerous trips to Seward and all I wanted to look at and buy were the shells in the shops.

Love them.

I also loved collecting agates along Kenai beach in Alaska as a little girl.

It was my absolute favorite thing to do on the peninsula. I could spend hours searching for the clear rocks.

Sitting in the Mediterranean Sea collecting shells is pretty great, too. I have also fallen in love with searching for tumbled glass pieces.

I love not only how beautiful it is, but how relaxing the search is while watching what each new wave is going to bring ashore.

I've started my small collection in a mason jar.

I told Jim the bucket-list goal is to fill it up from beaches everywhere.

Simple pleasures.

girona S P A I N

First things first. 

Before sharing our adventures in Germany this week, I am going to finish highlighting the best of the Southern France trip we took two months ago. 

I can't believe it's been two months.

The beaches were the best. Next to the beaches, we did see some pretty amazing things.

 

Shortly after moving to Germany, we asked each of the big boys which country they wanted most to visit while living here.

Justin's response was Spain.

Ty chose Switzerland.

With Justin's time cut short, we purposefully chose to include Spain in this trip to at least get his feet in the Spanish-speaking country.

Looking on the map for a city that was close, I first found Barcelona. It was a three-hour drive from our house which would leave no time to see all that was there.

Closer to France is Girona, Spain or otherwise known as little Barcelona.

To my delight, I soon realized it was on Frommer's list of top 10 cities to visit in the world for 2012.

We had to see what it was all about.

The Girona Cathedral is absolutely breathtaking. Massive. Detailed. Astounding.

We've seen a few cathedrals in the last couple of years. I love them. The boys are not quite as impressed.

As long as Caden was able to go around listening to the little blips at each station around the grounds- he was fine.
 From the Cathedral, we walked down the surrounding streets known as The Call.

One of the best-preserved Jewish districts, the streets are narrow. Cobblestone is amazing.

It was a large Jewish settlement that was eventually expelled from Spain.

I couldn't help but wonder how it felt to be back in the times and the persecution they endured.

The boys {big and little} were restless, so we didn't stay long.   

 On our way home from Spain, we had to hit another beach. It helped motivate little people to cooperate through the morning if they knew they were getting to swim in the afternoon. 

Torreilles Plage, also rated excellent was not our favorite but definitely a spot where memories were made.

The water and view were beautiful.

The sand was listed as gritty and it was more natural and wild. With a rocky shore, it dropped off deep within a couple feet. Crazy deep which made me a little more nervous.

There were virtually no waves and the water was super clear.

It was rocky, not sandy- an attribute we would soon come to appreciate.

While swimming and goofing around wrestling with Coleman, Jim's wedding ring flicked off his finger into the water. 

At least five feet in depth, he couldn't immediately find his ring. He swam around looking and had Coleman and Caden on the search for it.

Before long, I got in {not much help} and our friend Ricky grabbed a set of goggles and started the hunt.

About that time, the big guys were back to shore, took the goggles from the little guys and started looking.

It was a full-on search for at least twenty minutes until Ricky came up with the ring.

We still have no idea how he found it. Partially covered with rocks, he only saw a little glimmer of shine and was able to pick it up. 

Had we been on any of other three beaches, there is no way it would have been found- they were far too sandy on the shoreline.

We both took our rings off for the remainder of the week.

I know I'm the mom but aren't they such good looking boys? I love them so much.