Wednesday, July 30th---le Mont Sainte Michel

According to legend... Michael, the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches--St. Aubert in 708 and instructed him to build a church on this rocky island. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until St. Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger.

The mount is depicted in the

Bayeux Tapestry which

commemorates the history of

FRANCE and the Norman conquest

in 1066.

The beautiful cloister, this beautiful

walkway surrounds the garden.

The priests would come here

to pray for 8 hours a day.

Tues Evening, July 28th BAYEUX, France

Another historical beautiful Cathedral in BAYEUX.

Reggie TRIED to correct

my pronunciation of Bayeux.

He said it's NOT like

"Louisana's Bayou"...Ha!

Had dinner in Bayeux...

les pommes--APPLES, their specialty!

Drank the famous Apple Cider Brut!

Dinner began with apple sorbee,
chitlets with apples, patee with apples,

salad with apples, a fantastic apple dessert.

What a treat!

The narrow streets are all over France!

We visited the Museum of Bayeux Tapestry--

it is one of the oldest surviving complete tapestries in the world.

This tapestry is 20 in by 230 ft long and was made in the 11th century.

It tells the story of the history of France. The main character of the tapestry

is William the Conqueror. William was the illegitimate son of Robert the Magnificent,

Duke of Normandy.

The Bayeux tapestry

is embroidered with

wool yarn on a woven

linen using

two methods

of stitching:

outline or stem stitch

for lettering

and the outlines

of the people.

It's so beautiful...

and unbelievable.

Honfleur, Normandy -- Omaha Beach

I LOVE Honfleur!

It is so beautiful--so colorful! What a sea port!

We had a crepe and an expresso at one of the outdoor cafes! C'est formidable!

Omaha Beach -- in Normandy

The honor the French bestow on America

The American Memorial is overwhelming.

A GIFT is given: Normandy Beach

this piece of land was given

to the U.S. from the French

showing respect and honor

to all the Americans who came

to Normandy and gave their lives

to help win WWII.

600,000 men landed

on the Omaha Beach

and there were

93,000 casualties.

July 27th/Monday Evening - "Les Miserables" in Montreuil sur Mer

The rain stopped, so we left for Montreuil sur Mer to see the famous play "Les Miserables!" Montreuil sur Mer is a city surrounded by a great wall that we walked on before we ate dinner. The flowers were so amazingly beautiful and the village is full of flowers.

HISTORY: In Montreuil sur mer--1522 Henry VIII

of England and Charles V of Spain combined

forces to destroy the town's aged

medieval walls, but failed.

They attacked again In 1537

and succeeded. Montreuil

was heavily damaged, leaving

the town and the

Abbey Church of Saint-Saulve

partly ruined.

French king François recaptured

Montreuil sur mer for France,

and ordered the the wall to be rebuilt.

By 1567, Montreuil became the

French border stronghold

against the might of Spain.
In World War I, Montreuil was the

headquarters of the British Army in France.

All of France... is filled with

history. Every village in France has

a WWI & WWII War Memorial listing

the names of every man
from their village who lost their lives

fighting for France.
I loved this Memorial statue

in Montreuil showing an angel

taking the military man to heaven.

All the Memorials read: We Will Never Forget.






"LES MISERABLES" a novel by French author, Victor Hugo and is widly considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century, with the story starting in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo. The novel focuses on the struggles of an ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. It examines the nature between Law and Grace. It is full of history--it contains factual, historic events, including the Paris Rebellion Uprising of 1832. The play is presented outdoors and started about 10:30 PM and ended late that evening about 12:30 AM. The play was presented entirely in french, of course!!! Bien sur!! 400 people from the village of Montreuil sur Mer filled the cast of actors, singers and dancers. It was extremely well done! The evening ended with fireworks... what a night!! "Incroyable!" Unbelievable!

July 27th, Monday - Driving up the French Coast to Calais!

VISITING AND SANTE!!... I met a special friend of Reggie's. Chantel. She shared her life, her story--with such compassion and humor, I LOVED listening to her! I SO wish my "french" was better so that I could have communicated directly with her. She has lived so much history.

After leaving Chantel's, we spent the day driving up the
northwest coast to CALAIS. It was a little rainy today, but beautiful. Calais is north of Wimereux just a few miles.

Visiting a special small Chapel along the coast on the way to Calais.

We also drove by the English Channel Tunnel in Coquelle, which is 4 miles west of Calais. The underwater Channel Tunnel (le tunnel sous la Manche) is 31 miles long. The terminals are unique facilities designed to transfer cars from the motorway onto the tunnel trains at a rate of 700 cars and 113 heavy vehicles per hour. The train travels up to 160 kilos per hour. Amazing.

Virtually the

entire town Calais

was destroyed

by heavy

bombardments

during WWII.

Places d'Armes,

the distinctive

Town Hall

is one of the

few surviving

pre-war buildings.

Bourgeois de Calais is one of the most famous sculptures by Auguste Rodin, completed in 1889. It serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years War.

England's King Edward offered to spare the people in the city of Calais, if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. King Edward demanded that they walk out almost naked, wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers soon followed suit, stripping down to their breeches. The burghers were expected to be executed, but their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa who persuaded her husband, King Edward to exercise mercy by claiming that their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child. Their lives were spared.

Sunday Evening in the city of Lille

Lille! I LOVE this city. Incredibly beautiful!

The downtown city square
fills the eye and heart with awe.
C'est INCROYABLE!!!!!!

Across the border for a day... to Brugges, Belgium

We took the day and traveled

north to BELGIUM.

Pictures are worth a thousand

words. Another unbelievably

beautiful place!

Mais QUI...

I could live here!

BRUGGES is often referred to as the VENICE of BELGIUM because of all the canals in the city. They prefer you speak English. In fact when I went into one of the shops and bought some gifts for Christmas, I thanked the clerk in French... and in a most gracious and kind voice she said "Keep your french to yourself." I told her I was an American and she told me they prefer to speak English here. That surprised me! Reggie then gave an explanation about Belgium and some of the political struggles this country is having.






This beautiful woman was sitting in her doorway making a lace collar with all these bobbins. Her hands moved so quickly and it was incredible how fast she counted--separated--skipped--and twisted all these bobbins to create this beautiful collar. AND she was talking and explaining to all of us at the same time! Very FUN!

This is where the nuns live. Quiet and beautiful.

Had a great day. I loved how this little girl was dressed, everyone dresses so

beautifully here. We walked so much today we could NOT FIND where we had parked our car. GOOD THING I had my handy dandy miniature COMPASS and we found a map. Within the hour... ha! we found the hidden narrow street where we had parked the car. We had a snack--a torte & icecream yogurt & Expresso and then headed back across the French border.

Boulogne & Wimereux-- shopping... a nice walk... and Dinner with Friends

I got up about 10:00 AM, I can't believe I'm not tired! I'm wondering about "jet lag" Time will tell... We had a fantastic breakfast prepared by the Professeur Regis. Fresh bagets and croissants, yogurt, juice, cheese and fresh coffee. Tres gentil! We went to Bologne and Wimereux, I met several of Regie's good friends in town. We went shopping for dinner, fresh vegetables, fresh crab, fresh oysters, fresh shri mp, fresh clams AND fresh muscles (for lunch).




















Prepared as much as we could for dinner, set the table, last minute cleaning details. Made muscles for lunch... the "best-EVER" muscles! I never knew the Professeur was such a gourmet chef! We went for a walk along the river and around Wimereux, then had dinner with Bruno and Francine; Patricia; and Pierre (Eva had to work). Dinner was wonderful!!!
I am so impressed with the French-----they are so efficient and eloquent when eating their meals. I have to admit... I am envious of their grace and manners ... I finished last and my plate did not end with a beautiful finish-----BUT! I did thoroughly enjoy their love of life & friendships and the meal was magnificient!

Reggie cooked this incredible meal for all of us.

What a feast!

Bienvenue Wimereux, France! ! ...............the "West Coast"

Dinner was finished and we jumped back into the car and arrived in Wimereux, France around midnight. I can't believe it. The English Channel is right out the front window of Regie's place. It is so beautiful here. Bienvenue! I was in bed by 1:30 AM (which is 4:30PM my time--- I think--- I'm not sure) I am going to stop thinking about that now. I'm in FRANCE now ! It's 1:30 in the morning and tomorrow is a big day in Wimereux!

AMIENS for dinner and a walk

AMIENS is a peaceful city of canals and unbelievable flowers and narrow roads and the weather was perfect! It was Friday night and the street cafes were full of people. We had dinner at one of the outdoor cafes. All the tables were right next to each other, so when you have dinner you actually visit with the people next to you and enjoy their company. I felt a little awkward at first. In the states we are told not to disturb other people in a restaurant. But in France, everyone seems to enjoy each other's company. It is all SO FOREIGN here... but I think I could get used to this new way of thinking, I like it. I had a fantastic dinner of pork. I am still so excited, I wasn't able to eat all of it.


Then I saw it! The Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens, (Notre-Dame Cathedral of Amiens), I couldn't believe how huge it was and the detail of the hundreds of sculptures were meticulous. I felt speechless as I looked up at this unbelievable piece of architecture that began its existence in 1220. Words cannot describe it magnificent beauty and grandeur. It is of the same design at the Notre-Dame in Paris. It is also the tallest cathedral in France. The original cathedral was destroyed by fire.

Aux Paris! Je suis arrivé!

I have arrived! July 24th 5:30PM Paris time/8:30AM-my time! I'm ready for the day. Regie was there to pick me up. It's so unbelievable to be here! We didn't drive into Paris at all tonight. 5 days in Paris is coming the end of August! We stopped for a coke in the airport, but I was so excited I didn't drink much of it. So we took to the roads--full of toll fees. Everything is so green and such a beautiful countryside! Everything is so FOREIGN! Ha!

There are license plates from

everywhere. Germany, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Norway,

Great Britain.

I quickly learned about the "Contrôler Automatique"---

Speed Control Electronic Eyes--

that flashes a picture of you in your car and

are sent a ticket in the mail!

If you are French...after you accumulate 12 points,

You just don't speed in France.

Then there are the "Rond-point"... the Roundabouts!

They are everywhere!

Reading a map in France is VERY DIFFERENT

than reading maps in the USA.

And all the signs are very tiny,

you have to know WHERE and HOW to find them.

The traffic lights are small and very low.

Everything is so FOREIGN here! C'est magnifique!

From Seattle to LONDON!

I left Seattle July 23rd, Thursday evening at 8:00 pm........ on British Airways for 9 hours (the plane left an hour and 15 minutes late from Seattle) The evening darkness quickly disappeared and the morning was already being born as I flew over beautiful Greenland, I slept a little, took a couple of walks around the plane. Visited for about an hour with two ladies, one from Ireland--one from Denmark--talking politics of ALL things! But it was very fun. I loved their accents! They had difficulty understanding each other--but I could understand both of them for some reason. So I ended up "clarifying/translating'" HA! The Irish woman would ask me, "what did she say? did you understand? It was humorous. Brunch was then served on the plane at 10:00AM--London time/2:00AM -my time.

This is all I saw of London, but it was beautiful!

I arrived LATE in London at 1:00AM--London time/5:00AM-my time. I made my way through the London airport... it was pouring rain! RAIN...Imagine that! AND there was some sort of "extra" security going on in the airport...so......... I had to go through customs and everyone was having everything searched. My plane was late and I was waiting in a mile-long line to catch my plane to Paris. I finally got through customs and RAN to the gate where my plane was to take off in 5 MINUTES! The door was still OPEN! I couldn't believe it! I sat down and the captain made an announcement that with the security problems and the rain, it would be at least an hour before we would be departing! I would be late arriving in Paris, but at I MADE this flight!

West Coast to West Coast - Viva La France!

JULY 20th--Monday Night! One last visit to the Oregon Beach!

JULY 22nd--It's Wednesday now...and I am at Tytus and Cathi's in Washington. I leave tomorrow, Thursday at 7:00PM to fly to London, England, then onto Paris! C'est incroyable! Unbelievable.
I ate breakfast with Bridger & Addy! Then had a massage this morning at Hand-n-Stone...

Cathi made me my favorite... a Bon Voyage Cherry Pie and Bridger picked me a bouquet of daisies (my favorite too!) Red carpet treatment. woooohooo.