Road Trip through France

I know this post is WAY overdue and yes, Kelleyn, I still have Greece to do too! But here's our France trip that we took over Memorial day weekend at the end of May. I will put it back in chronological order next week...

Tal and I left Kelsey behind with the Bergs for the long weekend while we went on a road trip around France. It was our last trip together before the new baby comes. We SO appreciate the Bergs for taking such great care of Kelsey. We had a great time talking and laughing together no matter if we were driving for hours or out to dinner at a romantic Paris restaurant.

Our first stop after dropping Kelsey off in Gland was the Palace of Versailles.

VERSAILLES

Palace of Versailles

View from inside looking out at the gardens
Gardens/Hall of Mirrors

Palace Gates

PARIS

We stayed in an awesome Le Meridien right off the Champs Elysees near the Arc de Triomphe.

After Versaille, we DROVE into Paris, around the Arc de Triomphe (which we had to do twice since we turned one turn too early). It was a bit crazy, as everyone says but we never ran into traffic! Once settled, we headed down the famous street to the Rodin museum, famous for "The Thinker." He also had some other beautiful sculptures that we liked, but nothing like Michelangelo's David (in Florence).

Napolean's Tomb

Tally's First Sightings of the Eiffel Tower

View at Dusk

Our favorite "American Tourist"

We had dinner on the Champs Elysees at a place called Chez Clement. I told Tally the only thing that would make this place great is if we got a seat with a view of the Arc de Triomphe (only a few tables inside with a view). The waiter escorted us over there and we were stoked to have a good view over a romantic dinner. We ended up talking to the couple next to us from Chicago until 10:30pm! The food was great. Gotta love the French sauces!

Here's a pic of the Arc after dinner

The Louvre

The next morning we headed straight for the Louve. It's really bittersweet to travel when you are pregnant. It's harder on your feet, you have to stop to eat/pee more frequently, and you get more tired. HOWEVER, Paris was very friendly about escorting me to the front of every line. It also helped that we bought the Paris Pass, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone doing everything in two days. We ate croissants downstairs and then headed up the "Mona Lisa" wing first. We loved the Greek and Roman statues and thought it was a great culmination of our trips to Greece and Rome. They had a lot from the Borghese collection, which we had just seen in Rome. One of the things I loved most about the Louve - they allow you to take PICTURES! I couldn't believe all the flashes I saw though, it made me a bit sad. It's a delicate balance. We spent 4 hours in here, and my feet were killing me by the end!

This sculpture really impacted me, without meaning to. The child on her back must have been broken off, and only the hand remains. As a mother, it made me cry thinking about the different meanings behind this statue. Each child leaves an imprint...

Crouching Aphrodite, Roman

1. I just liked this - a mom and child with the child wearing presumably "daddy's helmet." 2. Venus de Milo 3. Model for Statue of Liberty 4. What the heck!? 5. The Winged Victory of Samothrace, 6. Dying Slave - Michelangelo Buonarroti

1. The Wedding Feast at Cana, Paolo Caliari or Veronese 2. A VERY good artist painting a replica of this painting - much more colorful. 3. Mona Lisa 4. The Intervention of the Sabine Women, Jacques-Louis David

After the Louve, Tal and I went to Angelina's Cafe (my friend Jenny recommended it). They are famous for their hot chocolate and yummy desserts like the Mont Blanc.

After Angelina's we went to the Orsay. It is exactly what was missing from the Louve. It contains many famous impressionist paintings like Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet and others.

1. Van Gogh, self-portrait 2. Van Gogh, Slaapkamer or Bedroom in Arles 3. Monet, Rouen Cathedral 4.

We spent too much time in the Louve and the Orsay, so we had to rush to see St. Chappelle and Notre Dame. We caught a cab and made it in time to see both.

Inside of St. Chappelle

Outside Notre Dame

Back side of Notre Dame

We went up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and got a great view of Paris. It's amazing how many streets come off this roundabout!

Afterwards, we decided to go back to the Eiffel Tower to take in the romantic atmosphere. To get there, we BOUGHT TICKETS and took the subway. After entering out ticket in the machine and going through the turn style, Tal and I emptied our pockets of all the old tickets, including the one-way ticket we had just used. When we got off the subway, we were stopped by the France transportation authorities and asked for our tickets. We (of course) thought that once you get in using a ticket, you wouldn't need it. WRONG! They charged us 50 Euro each! In pregnant state, I was very rude to these authorities, tried to explain, threatened to run, and then started bawling when they finally made us pay. It seriously put a huge damper on things for awhile and Tally kept telling me there was nothing we could do about it so I might as well get over it. I don't know why it made me so mad, but I eventually got over it. I just hate being punished and accused of something I didn't do. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites of the tower.

I loved when the lights went on and it started sparkling!

I had to take a picture of this - THE BERGS - we were thinking about you guys.

GIVERNY

Monet's Home

On Saturday morning, we left Paris towards the Normandy D-day sites. Along the way, we stopped in Giverny, where Monet lived an painted his famous water lilies. Here is the view of his gardens from his home window.

Here is his house

This is the pond, and the bridge and all the water lilies.

Tal and I from the bridge - we don't look posed or anything ;). We had to set the camera on a tripod and make everyone stop for a minute so there were no second chances!

We would love to have my grandma Nanoo paint us a picture of the water lilies for our house someday. We loved the peaceful gardens and the little town of Giverny. The best part was, we got to skip to the front of a huge line b/c of my huge belly.

ROUEN

Joan of Arc church & Rouen Cathedral

We were PLEASANTLY surprised by how much we loved Rouen. We popped up from the parking garage into this gorgeously fresh market. The fish didn't even smell and the fruit and vegetables were so beautiful I almost didn't want to eat it. Okay, I DID eat it and it was delicious! The fruit we bought here and the pain au chocolat (several chocolate croissants) were all we had to eat until dinner.

Exactly how I'd picture a cute, French town.

Inside of the Joan of Arc church

Sculpture of Joan of Arc

The wide angle of the church. The cross marks the spot where she was burned.

1. Vieux Marche - this cute part of town. 2. Eglise Jeanne d'Arc - Joan of Arc church. 3. Rouen Cathedral that Monet painted at least 30 times in different lighting/weather (see one below)

There was a lot of good shopping on the walk from the church to the cathedral. We walked down to the cathedral and then to the Museum of Fine Arts in Rouen and saw some more of Monet's paintings (bottom right is Renoir). It was unimpressive after having come from the Louve/Orsay but was still cool to see.

D-DAY SITES

German Cemetery

It holds twice as many bodies as the American Cemetery but is way smaller. The soldiers are buried in twos.

Point Du Hoc

This was probably our favorite site to see. It still has huge craters in the ground from the air raids and many of the cement structures. This point sticks out between Utah and Omaha beaches and intelligence told the US there were three long-range guns that could fire down on the beaches, creating more casualties for the beach landings. So the US had the rangers climb up and secure the point. The Germans had moved the guns a mile away before the attack so there was no immediate threat like previously thought. However, it was still a strategic place for the US to have control of. The rangers were successful with light casualties and a group of them found the guns a mile away and destroyed them.

A pic of where the gun used to be

The part of the point where most of the rangers climbed up

Casemate built to hide artillery and protect soldiers

Tal and I hiding out, looking for the enemy

American Cemetery

Wow, what an impressive cemetery. The first thing that struck me when we walked in and saw all the graves stretched out to seemingly no end was the French flag next to the American flag on all the graves! I didn't realize how much the French play a role in celebrating d-day and remembering the soldiers who died. There are 9,387 of our military dead buried here. Many were moved back to the states to be laid to rest in their home towns.

We had tickets to the memorial service since we were there on Memorial day. The most interesting speech was from a veteran who landed on Omaha Beach on D-day. He told of how he was shot once, then kept going; twice, and kept going; and was finally stopped when he was hit a third time. He recounted how he watched his commrades go down and what was going through his mind. He was very humble and brave.

This is the main monument there called, "Spirit of American Youth." There are a few olive trees planted around it to represent peace.

Half Staff

Tal at American Cemetery with Omaha Beach behind him

List of soldiers whose bodies have never been found or identified. The ones with the dot next to them have since been identified.

Omaha Beach, where so many lives were lost. Now, it's just a normal beach where kids play in the sand and people sunbathe.

More pics from Omaha Beach. The one on the top right is to show how far the beach is on low tide and how far the soldiers had to come. I don't think pictures do it justice.

Utah Beach

We didn't enjoy Utah Beach as much as we thought we would. It seemed much more commercialized and cheesy than Omaha.

The German army used concrete and steel contraptions along the beach to impede a naval attack. They looked something like this.

Right as I was taking this picture, an American soldier walked up from the beach. I found it very fitting, and yet sad. How easy it is for us to walk freely here today because of what these brave men fought for on D-day and beyond.

A picture from 1944 next to the restaurant on Utah Beach
A pic today...gotta love the Coke advertising

For those that have seen the Band of Brothers, this is the monument to the 101 Airborne Divisiton, EZ Company. We also drove past Brecourt Manor but didn't get a picture.

The church that Lt. Winters climbed up to see where the guns were

A hello from an old vet driving a war vehicle

MONT ST. MICHEL

We arrived around 5:30pm and it's a good thing we did! The entire "island" closes down by 6:30pm because the tide rises! When we parked, they said we needed to move our car by 6:30 or else it would be under water. Talk about motivation! I was so glad we decided to leave a bit early from the D-day sites. It was definitely worth going inside and walking around. We walked up to the top and walked through the Abbey (no easy feat for a prego lady). If you've been to a lot of churches/castles in Europe, it's probably not worth walking through, but we didn't know and we got some cool views of the water/area below.

This was a cool windmill along the way

Our first good view of Mont St. Michel

Other cool views

Parking lot & entrance - there were a few cute shops and I bought a little French nautical outfit for the baby. I couldn't resist!

The drawbridge, when you first walk in

A look up from the bottom

Tal and I wanted more time watching the tide rise so we parked a little ways out and walked back to this spot. I wished that we could see it at sunset, but that wouldn't have been for several hours and our hotel was still 3 hours away. We would love to stay on the island some day. It would be very quaint and relaxing.

LOIRE VALLEY

Our first stop was the Blois castle, since that is the town we stayed in. We just drove past it though because we really wanted to see this one.

Chateau de Chambord

This huge castle was once the hunting lounge of King Francois I. We didn't go through it because we heard it wasn't worth it but we felt like we got a lot out of walking around the grounds. When we were taking pictures, I told Tally it looks like we're photoshopping ourselves into a fairy tale!

Chateau de Chenonceau

We drove past a few other castles, but once again, we had a destination in mind. And we weren't disappointed. This was our favorite castle. It is a beautiful country villa/castle surrounded by a moat and inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Chateau Chenonceau is called the women's chateau because women were so involved in its creation and figured prominently living there. Katherine Briconnet was instrumental in its building. Later, after it became a royal residence, it became the chateau of Diane of Poitier, King Francois I's mistress. When Francois I died, his jealous wife Catherine de Medici took her revenge by making Diane give it to her. We toured inside, walked around the gardens, went through the maze - and it only took us 2 hours :). I am always sad to see scaffolding, but it's inevitable in Europe. Anytime they do work to a building, they are required by law to put it up.

I loved this tower. You can't tell in the pic but there were birds flying all around and through it!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall...luckily with her husband behind her so she didn't fall!

The gardens next to the castle

I loved the interior of the castle. You can tell it was designed by women! I wished that my sister- in-law Mary Jane could see it!

What great castle is complete without a garden maze!? Tal and I raced around the maze. He won, but only since I stopped to take a picture of him ;).

We had an awesome time together, but were glad to see our sweet little Kels when we picked her up. It was so nice that we were able to do this with just the two of us - we were able to do so much more! Thanks again Jacob, Jessi, Abram & Chloe!