My French daughter/boarder, Hanna (prounounced Anna en francaise...)'s dad, Warren, lives in a small village near Carentan so I caught the train from Paris to Carentan to visit him - hired a car to get around and we hit the ground running (what's new!) I had a list of a few sights I wanted to see so we headed for -
1. Bayeaux Tapestry - lucky with crowds and could view this fantastic 70m long cloth slowly - William the great's mother had the women in the town embroider it - it is an amazing sight especially if you are an embroiderer......such detail telling the story of how William of Normandy conquered the English and became WIlliam the Great after a short challenge and deceipt by his brother Harold...(that's it in a nutshell).
I just loved this - the work was sort of primitive but soooo amazing.
then to Arronmache and other beaches - where the allied forces hit the beach for the sometimes slaughter of their own against the Germans. There are still huge bunkers there and Warren told me that the germans brought all the products needed to build the bunkers, in from Germany and built them themselves and the walls an fllors are so thick and well built that they are impossible to destroy. In some places, like Arronmanche their is a floor under the hospital and it is built so well that to remove it would destroy the whole hospital - German precision.....
Other beaches here were named like after the countries that also landed eg Omaha, Utah where the Americans and Canadians landed - you could see why it was a slaughter as in the movie Saving Private Ryan - filmed here.
Then to Isigny - sur mer world famous for its Camembert/Butter and Creme Fraiche. Normandy is a huge dairy area and the ranfall is high there.
Next day to St Mere Eglise where now-famous John Steele got caught by his parachute on the steeple of the church and watched helplessly the fighting below where most of his fellow troopers were killed...
The area is alos well known for its Calvados - the cider liquer and on the coast, oysters or Huitres (en francais)....
Warren is a lovely guy who lives in Appeville in a small house he built out of a ruin of 3 walls and made a 2 brm/upstairs, downstairs home. He is totally self sufficient, growing all his own vegetables and fruit and preserves everything - such a lovely way to live. He is kind an gave me tastings of all the drinks he had made and each night I went to bed with more alcohol in my system than I had had for a long time.....oh well....too nice to say no hahaha!!!
Returned to Paris the next day to do a Fat Tire Bike Ride to Giverny - to see Monet's Garden and a not-to-be-missed experience.....It was so amazing...you can see why he was inspired.....HE rented this house for 7 yrs then purchased i and had the gardeners work on the garden to get it to the way it is today.........
Weather back in PAris was terrible so I went to see Harry Potter in 3D along with about 1000 others and the next day was the Tour de France ride described in a previous post....so of somewhat out of order.
It's difficult to maintain this blog and still go out enjoying myself so time will tell.....
1. Bayeaux Tapestry - lucky with crowds and could view this fantastic 70m long cloth slowly - William the great's mother had the women in the town embroider it - it is an amazing sight especially if you are an embroiderer......such detail telling the story of how William of Normandy conquered the English and became WIlliam the Great after a short challenge and deceipt by his brother Harold...(that's it in a nutshell).
I just loved this - the work was sort of primitive but soooo amazing.
then to Arronmache and other beaches - where the allied forces hit the beach for the sometimes slaughter of their own against the Germans. There are still huge bunkers there and Warren told me that the germans brought all the products needed to build the bunkers, in from Germany and built them themselves and the walls an fllors are so thick and well built that they are impossible to destroy. In some places, like Arronmanche their is a floor under the hospital and it is built so well that to remove it would destroy the whole hospital - German precision.....
Other beaches here were named like after the countries that also landed eg Omaha, Utah where the Americans and Canadians landed - you could see why it was a slaughter as in the movie Saving Private Ryan - filmed here.
Then to Isigny - sur mer world famous for its Camembert/Butter and Creme Fraiche. Normandy is a huge dairy area and the ranfall is high there.
Next day to St Mere Eglise where now-famous John Steele got caught by his parachute on the steeple of the church and watched helplessly the fighting below where most of his fellow troopers were killed...
The area is alos well known for its Calvados - the cider liquer and on the coast, oysters or Huitres (en francais)....
Warren is a lovely guy who lives in Appeville in a small house he built out of a ruin of 3 walls and made a 2 brm/upstairs, downstairs home. He is totally self sufficient, growing all his own vegetables and fruit and preserves everything - such a lovely way to live. He is kind an gave me tastings of all the drinks he had made and each night I went to bed with more alcohol in my system than I had had for a long time.....oh well....too nice to say no hahaha!!!
Returned to Paris the next day to do a Fat Tire Bike Ride to Giverny - to see Monet's Garden and a not-to-be-missed experience.....It was so amazing...you can see why he was inspired.....HE rented this house for 7 yrs then purchased i and had the gardeners work on the garden to get it to the way it is today.........
Weather back in PAris was terrible so I went to see Harry Potter in 3D along with about 1000 others and the next day was the Tour de France ride described in a previous post....so of somewhat out of order.
It's difficult to maintain this blog and still go out enjoying myself so time will tell.....
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