A Weekend in Normandy

Bonjour!

It's been a bit since I last posted, so I figured I would fill you in on my lovely weekend in Normandy! Departing early Saturday morning, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew about the famous graveyard with the iconic white crosses, and also that I had self loathing because I have never seen Saving Private Ryan... I still need to see it!! However, I didn't know too much about the history and what it would be like. After a three hour bus ride, we arrived at the D-Day Museum, dedicated to peace in Normandy. It was nestled in the French countryside, which was refreshing to see after being in the city for two weeks. 

Outside of the museum was a massive statue of the famous black and white poster: 

These two people actually didn't know each other... it was the end of the war and he was so thankful for the nurses & their help, that he kissed her! Aw :)

We then went in the museum where we watched a thirty minute clip of the storming of D Day, that isn't accessible to the public, which was super cool! We also walked around the massive museum and viewed artifacts from the war, videos, and timelines that were fascinating and powerful to read. I particularly found the people's clothes and belongings from the Holocaust to be the most powerful - you read about this horrific, historic event growing up, and then to witness real artifacts from it was very surreal for me. We then ventured on to the Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial. Most of the graves had names on them, but there still remains a group of unknown soldiers in which they built a memorial for. Interesting fact: Out of the 9,400 soldiers buried, 4 of them are women. 

Iconic white head stones

Beautiful memorial for unknown soldiers

After the cemetery, we then traveled to Omaha Beach - the beach where the storming of D Day occurred. After viewing the video from the museum, it was hard to stand on such a serene and peaceful beach, imagining that something so dark had happened there. 

When I thought it could't get any more beautiful, we went to the cliffs overlooking the beaches, where the American soldiers scaled the rocks to seek coverage from the Germans. The view was breath taking, and made you step back and appreciate life, and those that fight for our freedom. 

A hole from bombs that were shot from American naval ships off shore.. they were everywhere! 

Me hangin' in a hole.. kind of inappropriate but hey, it was comfortable! 

We spent the night in the small town of St. Malo in Britanny. It's a tiny, old pirate town right on the coast that is protected by a massive wall - the bus had to drop us off outside of the town because the roads were too narrow! I immediately fell in love with the cobble stone streets, small boutiques and wonderful smell of seafood that floated throughout. 

View from our hotel room! 

We went to a bar that night, that instead of bar stools had swings, and instead of regular bar tap handles, had babies arms and legs.. The bar was covered in dolls. It was extremely creepy, yet really cool and different at the same time! Although, it was definitely awk to watch the bartender hold the babies leg while pouring me a drink... 

Our last stop consisted of my favorite place I have been in Europe thus far - Mont St. Michel! I remember dozing off in my high school French class staring at a poster of this place that looked too cool and magical to be real. I was like, "does this place actually exist...?"

Now you can see why I thought that... I feel like unicorns should be parading around this place.

View from the top... It was super foggy but all of those black dots are people! They are walking from and island four hours away... You have to walk with someone who knows what they're doing though, because of the tides and "quick sand." 

Me at the top! 

At the top of Mont St. Michel was an abbey equipped with a church and old rooms. Pretty cool that all of this exists on the top of a massive hill! 

A replica of an old wheel that prisoners would stand in and walk like a hamster to wheel up food & necessities.... peasants. 

It was sad to leave this beautiful place, but overall it was a great weekend!

Until next time!

Gail

"Do French Things, Watch the World Go By"

Hi There!!!

On our tour around Paris from a couple of days ago (led by an adorable petite woman wearing red rimmed glasses), it was described to us that Parisians love to sit at cafes and "watch the world go by." This struck a chord in me because I marveled at the way the French lived their lives. I noticed that all of the chairs at the cafes faced the street rather than each other. The scattered people engaged in their conversations, while sipping on hot espresso's and observing the beautiful world around them - something I am definitely going to adopt while I am here. Even among the chaos and constant hustle and bustle, they still find time to stop and kind of take a moment for themselves.

As we drove through the clogged street of Paris, our quirky tour guide shared several interesting facts about Paris with us, that I obviously thought I would share! :

• There are 96,000 trees in Paris, each with a tag on it describing it's health (this made me think of my best friend Savannah who loves the environment!!)
• There is a lake... yes a lake.. underneath the Opera house.. Water from the Seine leaked in underneath and they couldn't get rid if it so they built a lake. It helps with the acoustics!
• Staying at the ritz costs 150,000 euro, aka like $175,000... a night. Casual.
• The guillotine was made to kill people in a more "humane" way - there is a massive statue that symbolizes all of the people that were killed by it (it looks kind of like a knife).
• Part of the famous lock bridge fell into the water because the locks made it too heavy - so they had to rebuild it. Kind of sucks for all of the people who thought their "lock love" would last forever... :/
• A French man made the Statue of Liberty to thank America for helping them in the War - he modeled her face after his mother
• The Louvre is the biggest art gallery in the world!! and a cabinet maker stole the Mona Lisa and hid it under his bed for 2 years before bringing it to Italy where they found out and made him return it..

The next day, we visited Notre Dame which was absolutely stunning. At the top, I felt one with the gargoyles, lurking over Paris. The city stretched for miles and the view even made the Eiffel Tower look small! The church bells rang and the brisk breeze swept in, making it a beautiful day to simply enjoy the view and admire the beautiful buildings and trees.

View from the top!

Steeple of Notre Dame

Towers of Notre Dame 

We then wandered over to a statue with a man on a horse, where we found a huge flock of pigeons scavenging for food. I then met two kids who taught me their ways on how to get the birds to land on them (kind of gross, but it was cool!) 

The pro's themselves 

Working my way into the crowd...

Got one to land on me! 

The last thing I leave you are two interesting cultural differences that I have slowly accustomed to because I am quite the avid coffee drinker... 

1) They drink large quantities of coffee out of bowls... 

2) They don't use travel mugs - rather they enjoy their coffee and drink it before they leave/get to where they need to be. Something I am definitely not used to..

Until next time!

Bonjour! I have only been in Paris for two days and I am already in love... between the laid back Parisian lifestyle, the cafe lined streets, and all of the old architecture, I just can't help but fall completely in love with this place. Oh and I'm in a cafe and there's a cat wandering around near me so obviously I am very happy about that... Before our arrival, we took the TGV (high speed train) from Cannes. Although I was half asleep the whole 5 hours, the views were amazing as we sped through the French countryside. It reminded me a lot of Ireland - green, untouched land expanding for miles, cows and sheep basking in the sun, and beautiful old homes that made you wonder what their interior looked like. It was really cool and surreal to witness a completely different lifestyle apart from mine. As I sat there, enjoying a delicious baguette filled with ham and cheese, it began to really hit me that I was headed for Paris and how fortunate I was to have this experience/opportunity.

Kelly & Renata sleeping on the train 

Beautiful French countryside

Upon our arrival in France, we then gathered our luggage and I was reminded of how much I packed... lovely. We decided to spend our first night out at a restaurant, famous for its portions, menu, and lively atmosphere. Not only was the food amazing, but as I looked around, I realized no one was on their phones. Rather, they were wrapped up in their conversations and simply enjoying the moment - something I think our generation severely lacks. It was definitely a great way to spend our first night and a lovely introduction to the next 2 months of my life! 

My delicious/huge meal; potatoes, eggs, salad, cheese, tomatoes & prosciutto = YUM. 

oh, and a shared bottle of wine :) 

On our Sunday, we decided to wander around and explore our new home. When I say I cried seeing the Eiffel Tower.. I am not lying. Seeing it in person was so surreal. I can't even imagine what it looks like at night!! I am eager and excited to begin classes and explore even more of Paris!

Au revoir for now! 

C'est la vie

Well hello there to whomever is reading this. It is a beautiful day here in Cannes, and I thought a post would be a great idea. I still can't get over that it's already October... I was sitting in class today learning some new information about how to use the past tense and then something dawned on me... I have been in class for almost 2 weeks now (intensive French at an International school before they send us off to Paris on Saturday) and I just realized how bizarre this class actually was. I looked around and realized there were Germans, an older German woman, Mexicans, a Swiss boy, Americans, and a French professor who couldn't speak English, and who I am pretty sure is hungover every class... what an interesting dynamic. It made me smile.

After class, my friends and I decided to spend the lovely day on the beach across the street.. The same beach from the night before where we spontaneously went skinny dipping. Why not, right? We were having a great time splashing around until we were joined by an elderly homeless woman, that to be nice, shouldn't have been naked. It was an interesting site to say the least and from then on we dragged our soaking wet bodies back to school and called it a night.  But today, today was a great day.

casual right....?

We sun bathed, swam for 95% of the time, and collected beautiful sea glass. 

I then attempted a cool hand stand photo, and Kelly photo bombed it....

Friends enjoying the beautiful water :)

C'est la vie.

Until next time,

Gail