Day 31 - Thursday, May 24th - Honfleur to Paris

Today we depart Honfleur and head for Paris where we will say au revoir to our trusty car which is a little battered and bruised from our exploits.  But first, our major event of the day is our trip to Giverney, the home and gardens of Monet.  The flowers at Giverney were absolutely beautiful, the best gardens we've seen on tour.  And Monet's famous water garden was so peaceful.

Japanese bridge at Monet's Water Garden.

One picture just doesn't do this site justice, so I am going to include a small slideshow of photos taken at Giverny.  To view the photos in a larger format, just double click on the slideshow, then you can scroll through the photos at your own pace.

Day 30 - Wednesday, May 23rd - Bayeux to Honfleur

We are lucky again today with beautiful weather for our trip to Honfleur.  Today was supposed to be Terry's third D-Day beach site day, but he decided he had seen enough.  He wasn't all that interested in the British and Canadian sites (my apologies to any British and Canadians who might be reading my blog).  Anyway, because we didn't stop for any sightseeing, we arrived in Honfleur before lunch so it allowed us ample opportunity to check out the town.  It is a lovely little seaport town which was, and still is, a hangout for artists.  Painters such as Boudin and Monet came to Honfleur for the light and started the Impressionist movement by creating the Honfleur school.

Honfleur, Normandy

Artist painting the harbor at Honfleur, Normandy.

Day 29 - Tuesday, May 22nd - More D-Day Beach Sites

We have an absolutely beautiful day for touring the D-Day beach sites today.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Our day starts out by heading to Arromanche where the Allies built a portable harbor to offload the tremendous amount of men and materiel needed to supply Operation Overlord.  Two were built and were necessary because no natural harbor had been captured.  Remains of this incredible operation are visible.  From there we stopped at Longue-Sur-Mer to see the remains of four German gun batteries that fired on the allied troops trying to land at Omaha beach.  These batteries were connected by an extensive set of underground tunnels.  Next, we came to the sobering but impressive American cemetery located directly above bloody Omaha Beach.  Here lies over 4,000 American soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice for our freedom.  The following short hop was to Pointe-Du-Hoc where the cliffs overlooking the channel are the highest and demanded the most intense effort to conquer.  Over 300 Rangers stormed the cliffs using London firemen's ladders and grappling hooks to get to the top.  Less than 100 survived the assault.  Lastly, we visited a German cemetery and found three Trautmann's buried there.  Terry's biggest surprise touring the Normandy Beaches was how much bigger the whole area was than his conception of it from reading about it.

The American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France

View from inside German Gun Battery looking out onto Omaha Beach.

Cliffs at Omaha Beach which had to be scaled by the Rangers.

Day 28 - Monday, May 21st - Mont St. Michel to Bayeux

Today was, again, not the most ideal of weather, but we made our way over to the Normandy beaches and the D-Day sights.  The next three days are what Terry came to France to see.  He's endured castles and ruins, chateaus and cathedrals for me, so the next three days are all his.  Three days out of the last four weeks; a fair exchange, wouldn't you say?

Our first stop was Saint-Mère-Eglise, the initial parachute drop behind enemy lines and thus the first town to be liberated by the Americans.  Up until today my only knowledge of this town was from the movie "The Longest Day" where Red Buttons dangled from the church steeple for hours.  And come to find out, there really was a parachutist that got stuck dangling from the steeple, his name as John Steele.  He has become a local hero and he came back numerous times to visit the town after the war was over.

Just down the street was a terrific museum, the Airborne museum.  This was a highlight for Terry, and I enjoyed it too.  The museum had lots and lots of memorabilia, a WWII glider, tanks, and a C-47. Fascinating!

From there we drove to another museum called "Deadman's Corner Museum".  This was unique in that it actually contains a huge collection of authentic WWII memorabilia that the owner had collected by either purchasing it from or donated by service men who wanted their mementos to be protected for years to come for others to see.  A uniform from Lt. Winters of "Band of Brothers" is there.

Our final stop, and the subject of our photo of the day, is Utah Beach which was one of the two beaches for which the Americans had the responsibility of capturing.

Utah Beach

Day 27 - Saturday, May 20th - Dinan to Le Mont St.-Michel

Today was another day of, well, I'll give you three guesses... it's a four letter word that begins with "r".  Anyway, making the best of it we decided to once again change our itinerary so that we did the indoor activities today in the hopes that tomorrow would be a nicer day.  So we drove about 120 miles straight to the Caen Memorial for Peace Museum.  We spent about 2-1/2 hours touring the museum, ate a bite of lunch and then moved on to our hotel for the night which was at Le Mont-St.-Michel, about 100 miles back in the direction we had just come from (still raining, I might add).

Our photo of the day is taken by Martha of Terry and me hiking in the rain up to "The Mont" for our overnight stay.

Arriving at Le Mont-Saint-Michel

As a postscript to this blog, the rain finally stopped and we were able to tour the abbey and walk around the village.  In the evening we were able to capture some beautiful photos of "The Mont" illuminated.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel at night

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Day 26 - Saturday, May 19th - Dinan and the Brittany coastline

I hate to say it, but today was another cloudy, rainy day.  We stuck to our schedule of following the back roads of France and found some really beautiful beaches and quaint villages along the coast of Brittany.  Our photo today is of the beach town of St. Cast-Le-Guildo where we walked along the beach at low tide and picked up shells.  I especially like this picture because Terry caught the reflection of the buildings in the thin layer of water that remained on the sand during the low tide.  Notice how far the water has receded, and we weren't all the way down to the waters edge when Terry took this picture.

Low tide at St. Cast-Le-Guildo, Brittany

Day 25 - Chinon to Dinan

Today was another overcast and murky day with bouts of rain.  Making the best of it we headed to Dinan.  I had originally thought that this would be an all day trip, but to my surprise, we arrived by lunchtime, too early to check into our hotel.  So we decided to do some sightseeing of the neighboring towns and have our picnic on the beach of Dinard.

After lunch we headed over to St. Malo which is across the bay from Dinard.  From there we drove back to Dinan and checked into our hotel.  All this sounds like a lot of driving, but the cities are all in pretty close proximity to each other, it's just navigating the narrow, twisty, turny country roads that takes up most of the time.

Our photo for today is a picture taken from our picnic vantage point on the beach of Dinard looking out across the bay towards St. Malo.  I am also including an enlarged photo of one of the boats that looks like it has a pair of legs under it.

Day 24 - Thursday, May 17 - Amboise to Chinon

Today we headed out for Chinon.  It wasn't a particularly pretty day, mostly cloudy and some rain.  We ended up touring the Chateau Villandry, which is known for its beautiful gardens, in the rain.  It was too early in the season to have the spectacular display of flowers that they are known for, but it was beautiful none the less.  

After touring Villandry we drove straight to Chinon and since we arrived too early to check into our hotel, we did some laundry.  This was an experience in itself. :)

Finally we were able to check in and we then set out to tour the castle in Chinon which has a very great and impressive history including such notables as Joan of Arc and Richard the Lionhearted.

Our photo of the day is taken by Terry of the gardens at Chateau Villandry.

Gardens at Chateau Villandry

Day 23 - Wednesday, May 16th, Chateaux of the Loire Valley

Today was chateau day.  As for me, I couldn't get enough of the elegance and the beautiful gardens.  If you talk to Terry, however, I'm sure you'd get a different perspective. :)

We first visited Chambord, the largest of the Loire chateaux, being six times larger than the average Loire castle (440 rooms and a fireplace for every day of the year).  Chambord began as a simple hunting lodge in 1518 by Francois I and took 15 years and 1800 workman to build.

Next we visited Cheverny which was a much more manageable size.  It is one of the more lavishly furnished Loire Chateaux and was in immaculate condition.  The family that owns it has been the owners from the start and they really take pride in it.  In fact they still live on the third floor of the castle.

After a bit of lunch on the castle grounds we went to visit Chenonceau, by far the most popular of all the Loire castles.  It also is in impeccable condition, and as with Cheverny, fresh flower arrangements adorned all of the rooms.  It is nicknamed "the chateau of the ladies" as it housed both the mistress and the wife of King Henry II (not at the same time).  It truly is a lovely castle and for that reason I choose it for my photo of the day.

Chateau de Chenonceau

Day 22 - Tuesday, May 15th - Sarlat to Amboise

This morning we bid farewell to Sarlat and the Dordogne region and head for Amboise and the Loire Valley, known for its elegant castles and palaces (over a thousand in fact, and hundreds of them are open to the public).  We drive pretty much straight through to Amboise, making only one stop along the way in Oradour-sur-Glane.  While we saw many more beautiful sights on our trip than this, Oradour-sur-Glane was so powerful and moving that it wins the prize for photo of the day.

On June 10th, 1944, four days after the Normandy invasion, Nazi troops methodically rounded up the entire population of the town of Oradour-sur-Glane, known as "Village des Martyrs" and methodically gunned down 642 townspeople including men, women and children.  Next they set the village on fire leaving its victims under a blanket of ashes.  The town was been left untouched for more than 60 years as a reminder to visitors to simply" Remember"and never let an atrocity like this happen again.  We were visibly moved by the enormity of the carnage and the stoic resolve of the French to remember it is this graphic reminder.

Oradour-sur-Glane
"Remember"

Day 21 - Monday, May 14th - Dordogne River Valley Scenic Loop

Another beautiful, sunny day in paradise.  Today we spend our day touring the beautiful countryside and several castles in the area.  Two of the castles or fortresses visited today, Beynac and Castlenaud, were built for defensive purposes.  Both had spectacular views over the area from their defensive positions on the hills.  Later in the day we visited one of the "cutest towns in France", La Roque-Gagaec, which is sculpted out of rock between the river and the cliffs.

But our photo op of the day was when we took and unexpected tour Le Chateau des Milandes, the former home of Josephine Baker.  Josephine Baker's story is amazing and one that I would like to read about in a little more detail at a later date, but the shot of the day came when we attended a bird show at the chateau and one of the birds, a Little Owl (yes, that's actually the name of it, it's a European owl) mistook Terry for its handler and landed on Terry's arm.  Terry was able to get the following picture of the owl on his arm by remaining still and taking the picture with his other hand.

Little Owl landed on Terry's arm at Chateau des Milandes.

Day 20 - Sunday, May 13th - Albi to Sarlat

We had a gorgeous day for traveling today to Sarlat.  Along the way we stopped at some beautiful villages and countryside.  These wonderful cerulean blue sky days make it hard to pick the photo of the day, but for me, I'd have to pick the unspoiled medieval village of St. Cirq Lapopie, perched on a cliff 330 ft. above the Lot River.

St. Cirq Lapopie

But I can't just leave you with one picture from such a beautiful day.  Our evening in Sarlat was equally as beautiful.

Place Liberte, Sarlat

Day 19 - Saturday, May 12th - Carcassone to Albi

Today we had a long drive from Carcassone to Albi.  The weather was not really conducive to sightseeing as it was rather overcast so we just drove straight through, arriving in Albi around 10:30 AM.  We checked into our hotel early and went out to tour the town.  Our photo of the day is of Albi's Sainte-Cecile, the largest brick cathedral in the world.

Sainte-Cecile in Albi, France.  The world's largest brick cathedral.

Day 18 - Friday, May 11th - Collioure to Carcassone along the "Cathar Trail"

The weather was glorious today for our journey from Collioure to Carcassone.  En route to Carcassone we took the opportunity to visit some of the castle ruins of the Cathars, a peace-loving Christian sect who spoke out against the Catholic Church and were therefore exterminated. We stopped at two of the most spectacular of the many in the area:  Queribus, famous as the last Cathar castle to fall; and Peyrepertuse with its spectacular views (and much longer steeper hike).  They guys decided not to accompany us girls on this hike. :)


Then we made our way on to Carcassone, a huge walled city which was also once a stronghold of the Cathars until 1209 when the crusading army of Simon de Montfort forced its citizens to surrender and the Cathars were expelled.


I had a hard time deciding on our photo for the day, so you get two for the price of one.  The first one Martha took of Terry and me at our first stop of the day, Queribus, and the second photo is taken by Terry and is of Carcassone lit up at night.

Terry and me up in Queribus - you can see the Pyrenees mountains in the background.

Carcassone lit up at night.

Day 17 - Thursday, May 10th - A day of rest in Collioure

Today we had originally planned to take a drive into the Pyrenees but due to an overcast day with fog and low hanging clouds we decided to make it a day of rest in Collioure.

Collioure in the morning light.

Day 16 - Wednesday, May 9th - Arles to Collioure

Today we travel from Arles to Collioure, also along the Mediterranean but on the other side of the Mediterranean just a few miles from the border of Spain.  Our drive to Collioure is not too far so we took a detour to visit Abbaye Fontroide, southwest of Narbonne.  It was a beautiful abbey with well manicured grounds.  We hit the abbey right at lunchtime so we took the opportunity to have our lunch at the picnic tables provided at the abbey instead of eating in the car.

From there we headed into Collioure and arrived just as the sun decided to appear for the afternoon.  Collioure is a beautiful, picturesque seaside town with a lovely castle right in the middle.

Terry captured this photo of the fishing boats in Collioure,

while Martha shot this beautiful photo from the balcony of her hotel of the Royal Castle lit up at night.

Day 15 - Tuesday, May 8th - Nimes and Avignon

We spent a couple of hours this morning doing laundry.  I’d say we did pretty well going two weeks without having to do laundry!!  Afterwards, as we had already visited most of the Van Gogh sights and Roman ruins in Arles, we decided to venture off to Nimes, one of ancient Europe’s largest cities.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Nimes was the terminus of the Roman aqueduct for which the Pont du Gard (visited earlier in our trip) was built.

From Nimes we traveled to Avignon which served at the “Franco Vatican” from 1309 to 1403.   In 1309 when a French pope was elected, Pope Clement V, the French king convinced the newly elected pope that Italy was a dangerous place for a pope to live, so the entire headquarters of the Catholic Church was moved to Avignon. 

Our photo of the day, however, is of the only colorful thing I could find in today’s photos as it was kind of a dreary, overcast day.

Children enjoying a beautiful merry-go-round in the plaza outside the Popes' Palace in Avignon.

Day 14 - Monday, May 7th - Cassis to Arles and the Camargue

As we bid farewell to Cassis, we know another adventure awaits us in Arles, our home base for the next 2 nights .  Arles was the hangout of Vincent Van Gogh and the town is filled with reminders of him.  In addition to the Van Gogh sights there are plenty of Roman ruins for us to climb on and investigate.  But before we reached Arles, we made a stopover in Saints-Maries-de-la-Mer in the heart of the Camargue.

As legend has it, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene came ashore at Saints-Maries-de-la-Mer and lived out their days in France.  The town is very Spanish in character, as is Arles, with bullfights and colorful costumes as they would wear in Spain.

After a quick stroll through the town we headed deeper into the heart of the Camargue which is one of France’s nature preserves.  It looked very similar to our Everglades, only  without the alligators.  It is famous for its wild bulls, white horses, and pink flamingos.  Terry captured our photo of the day of some wild flamingos in flight.  The experience was truly awesome.

Wild flamingo in flight in the Camargue

Day 13 - Sunday, May 6th - Villefranche-sur-Mer to Cassis

Again, our day started out cloudy with a few showers along the way.  Luckily, though, the weather turned beautiful just before we arrived at our final destination for the day, Cassis.  

Cassis is a lively little fishing village filled with colorful boats and buildings.  The town was crowded with people when we arrived, but it seemed to quiet down as the afternoon progressed.  Perhaps the crowds were heavy because it was a Sunday and everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather on their day off, or the fact that it was France’s election day.  We’ll never know.  I guess we will have to return someday on a weekday just to check it out.  Anyway, I really loved this charming village and have made it my photo of the day.  It’s easy to see why it has been called “the prettiest costal town in Provence”.

Cassis' fishing fleet

Day 12 - Saturday, May 5th - St.-Paul-de-Vence and Nice

Our weather started out a bit cloudy as we headed out for the hilltop village of St.-Paul-de-Vence.  It is a beautiful “artsy” village with lots of upscale shops and galleries.  After spending about an hour or so we made our way back down to the coast for a visit to Nice, getting there in time for lunch.  

After lunch we took a leisurely stroll along the  beach on the “Promenade des Anglais” (walkway of the English) which was so named because it was financed by wealthy English tourists who wanted a safe and comfortable place to stroll along the beach.  Martha gets the prize for the photo of the day as she captures Terry scanning the beach for topless women.  Yes, there were a number of them!

Terry scopes out the action in Nice

Day 11 - Friday, May 4th - Eze-le-Village, and Monaco

Today we set out for Monaco via the Middle and High Corniches (coastal roads that twist and turn along the edge of the mountain cliffs high above the sea).  On our way, we stopped at the beautiful village of Eze for its breathtaking views.  In Eze we visited a cactus garden 1,300 feet above the sea.  With over 400 different plants, beautiful statuary, and 360-degree views, this stop was well worth the hair raising trip up the mountain and makes it the subject of my photo of the day.

Then it’s on to Monaco where Terry had a field day taking pictures of all the fancy cars:  one Lamborghini, several Ferraris, Rolls Royces, and Bentleys, not to mention Mercedes and Porches galore.

Jardin Exotica - Eze-le-Village

Day 10 - Thursday, May 3rd - Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to Villefranche-sur-Mer

The weather was beautiful today for our travel day to Villefranche-sur-Mer.  Along the way we stopped in Aix-en-Provence to visit the Cezanne's art studio, then headed for Antibes and the French Riviera.  Antibes is the world's largest yacht basin, and it did not disappoint.  We ate our lunch of bread, wine, cheese and sausage in the car as we gazed at the beautiful yachts agains the azure blue water and cloudless blue sky.

Then it was on to Villefranche-sur-Mer, our home base for the next 3 nights.  Villefranche is also along the coast with its own yachts and beautiful blue water, but it is smaller and much quieter.  Our photo of the day is of our view from the balcony of our hotel room in Villefranche.  Ahhh!

View from our hotel, Hotel de la Darse, in Villefranche-sur-Mer

Day 9 - Wednesday, May 2nd - Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and surrounds

Today brings us another beautiful sunny day as we venture this time to the south of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to the villages of Les Baux, St. Remy, Glanum, and Eygalieres.  But first, we took a side trip to the Pont du Gard (the subject of our photo of the day) which we missed Monday due to the rain.

Pont du Gard
This beautifully preserved Roman aqueduct was built in about 19 B.C. as the critical link of a 30-mile canal that supplied nine million gallons of water per day (about 100 gallons per second) to Nimes - one of ancient Europe's largest cities.

Day 8 - Tuesday, May 1st - Isle-sur-la-Sorgue & neighboring villages

Today was a national holiday in France, Labor Day.  We spent the day visiting the tiny hilltop villages of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Gordes, Roussillon, Apt, Bonnieau, Lacoste (made famous as it is the village of the Marquis de Sade, his chateau is now owned by Pierre Cardin), and Menerbes.  The village that gets our vote for photo of the day is Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.  It's spring, the source of the Sorgue river, is a beautiful crystal clear turquoise color and the town itself was just so picturesque.

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
The fountain, or spring, of Vaucluse, situated at the feet of a steep cliff 230 metres high, is the biggest spring in France. It is also the fifth largest in the world with an annual flow of 630 million cubic metres.

Day 7 - Monday, April 30th - Vaison-la-Romaine to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

 Today's photos (yes, more than one photo today) are for you, Tom.  We visited  Chateauneuf du Pape, the ruins of the castle of the Pope and the vineyards from whence come your favorite wine.  The rest of our itinerary got rained out for the day and we decided to go directly our next stopover, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, where we will spend the next three nights.

No, we did not take the wine tasting tour, it was only 10:00 in the morning.  The look on my face is pure joy!

Day 6 - Sunday, April 29th - Vaison-la-Romaine and the Villages of the Cotes du Rhone

We had beautiful blue skies for our sightseeing today to the quaint villages that surround this area:  Seguret, Le Crestet, Suzette, and Gigondas; however, today's picture is of the street leading from our hotel.  This is a two way street, but barely wide enough for one vehicle.  Meeting another care requires one of them to retreat.  In this picture, we are taking a pre-breakfast photo-op stroll in the dappled sunlight.  Euphoric comes to mind.

Upper village of Vaison-la-Romaine

Day 5 - Saturday, April 29 - Beaune to Vaison-la-Romaine

Today was a travel day.  We drove from Beaune to Vaison-la-Romaine, most of which was spent (no pun intended) on France's national toll roads.  As you can tell from the photo, it was another overcast day.  If I hadn't witnessed it for myself on the first day of our trip, I would swear that France's skies are grey instead of blue.  But the clouds do appear to be breaking up, so maybe tomorrow we'll get lucky.

Today's photo op was taken at our only real sightseeing stop, Cluny.  The views from up here were really beautiful.

Abbey of Cluny
Cluny abbey was founded in 910 by Guillaume d'Aquitaine. Building was completed in the mid 12th century, the high point of the abbey's history. For five hundred years, until Saint Peter's in Rome was built, the abbey church of Cluny was the largest religious building in Europe (177m long). Cluny produced a number of Popes.

Day 4 - Friday, April 27th - Exploring Burgundy

Facade of the chocolate shop in the movie "Chocolat"

Are you seeing a pattern here?  Yes, another rainy day.  But we made the most of it by visiting some very quaint little villages in Burgundy.  I chose today's photo especially for the ladies of First Lutheran (our church back home) who attended the Mid-Winter Women's Retreat in which we watched the movie "Chocolat".  This is it!  We are in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, the town where the movie was filmed.  This photo is the actual building in which Vianne had her chocolate shop.  BTW, there is no statue in front of the church, nor is there a river anywhere nearby.  The river scenes were filmed in England.  Oh well, that's Hollywood.  The town was charming, though, and the people friendly.  Most of them got to be extras in the movie.

Day 3 - Thursday, April 26th - Beaune & surrounds

Another day without seeing the sun, but at least it didn't rain on us today.  In the morning Terry and I went our separate ways.  Jim took Terry to visit a castle that was an airplane museum (on the grounds of the castle) and a car museum (inside the castle).  They also had thousands and thousands of model cars and planes.  Terry was really in hog heaven.  Martha and I visited the main attraction in Beaune - the Hotel Dieu which is a 15th century hospice.  But the highlight of the day was our visit to the charming 15th century castle Chateau-de-la-Rochepot.

La Rochepot Castle

Day 2 - Wednesday, April 25th - Vezelay to Beaune

Chateau de Bazoches-du-Morvan

Today was another dreary day.  As a matter of fact, I don't believe we saw the sun at all today.  But we had fun sightseeing all along the way from Vezelay to Beaune.  The highlight of today's journey, for me, was our stop at the Chateau Bazoches-du-Morvan.  This castle was beautifully restored and in excellent condition.

Day 1 - Tuesday, April 24th -- Paris to Vezelay

Basilique Sainte-Madeleine
Vezelay, France

The winner of today's photo of the day was an easy choice as this is the one moment of sunshine we had for the day.  Our whole day we spent darting in and out of rain until the end of the day when we arrived at our destination for the night, Vezelay.  We checked into the hotel, walked up the hill to the basilica in the rain, and toured the inside.  When we stepped out, the sun had come out and we were able to snap a few photos of the church and grounds bathed in sunshine.