Normandy!

In June I decided it was time for another road trip. Sooo... Stephanie and I made our way to France for a trip through the Normandy region. We took a train from London to Dover. Then boarded a ferry to Calais, France. The train took a bit over an hour and the ferry took a bit over two. When we arrived in Calaic it was pouring rain!! Not a great start for a road trip. Luckily they upgraded our car to a mid size and it had a nav system. After about an hour we figured out how to get the nav system to speak english... but it never could pronounce the French street names. :o)

This is a picture from the ferry.... not a pleasant start!

Luckily the weather improved rather quickly and we were able to make some pleasant stops in some smaller french towns. They all seemed to have markets so we made the best of it by browsing and sampling the foods...

Of course a trip to the Normandy region wouldnt be complete without stops at the battlegrounds, museums and the American Cemetary... so as you can see from the pictures we made those stops.


These are the remenants of the artificial harbor which was constructed in and towed from England to faciliate a landing on non-protected beaches. It is pretty surreal how it has all been left as is..



Mmm.... chocolate and pistachio ice cream!!


The American Cemetary.... the land was actually given to the US by France..... so this is on "American soil"

The next few pictures are the battle ground that was featured in Savin Private Ryan. All of the crevasses are bomb craters!





This was a charming little costal town. I really enjoyed the market. There was lots of fresh cider as this part of France isn't wine country..... but rather cider country.... due to the apple orchards.


We made a trip to the town that Claude Monet lived in. We saw his house, studio and the family graves. We also saw the garden where there is the water lilly pond that was the inspiration for many of his water lilly paintings.











Another nice picture of one of the costal fishing villages..


Me with an arm full of fresh cider....



One of the very cute country hotels we stayed at...




A cathedral.... the name of which I can't currently recall. I need to check the guide book...





Another country hotel which we stayed at..

Me in front of the abbey of Mont St Michael...

One of the streets in the abbey.


The church in the abbey.

After all of the fun and games it was time to head home.... we just made the same trip in reverse order... below is the white cliffs of Dover on our way home..

It was well worth the trip.... especially if you are a history buff... but even if you just like small fishing villages and fresh jam and cider. :0)

Cheers!

Scott