The French border was only a little more than an
hour's drive north from our house in Vitoria, Spain. Trips across
the border to Biarritz were frequent and rewarding since the town
is such a jewel and has fantastic ocean beaches. Crossing the
border was a cinch. Long gone are the stops for passport checks
and customs inspections. Only the big trucks are inspected now.
It's a good thing since Lana and Ann didn't have valid Spanish
visas for most of the time we spent in Spain thanks to a lot of
wishful thinking and a few lies on the part of Greg's contract
firm. But as you will see in our photos we didn't let a little
thing like lack of visas stop our travels.
France is a big country by EU standards. We only made a small
dent during our travels. Naturally, Paris was number one on the
list of places to visit. In fact we managed to make two trips
there in less than six months. The first was dedicated just to
seeing Paris while the second trip included the annual
international air show at Le Bourget, Flanders, Normandy and part
of Brittany On the first trip to Paris we managed to see the more
well known sights including the Eiffel tower, Church at Mon
Marte, The Louver, Place de Concorde, Left Bank of the Seine,
Notre Dame, and the Moulin Rouge where we were fortunate to see
one of the last performances before it went out of business. For
more on Paris see the following link:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/paris/
The second trip was primarily to see the air show at Le Bourget
and then continue north to Flanders and then south along the
Atlantic coast through Normandy and Brittany back to Spain.
Flanders proved to be a disappointment in that it is essentially
flat farmland with little of interest in the towns and villages.
Most likely this is a result of the near total destruction
occurring in both world wars wherein Flanders was in the midst of
some of the worst fighting. We did manage to visit the beach at
Dunkirk where there are memorials to the British who died trying
in vain to prevent the Germans from gaining a total victory, but
aside from the war memorials there isn't much of interest. The
interesting and scenic part of the trip began as we approached
the area in Normandy, which is now well known for the events that
happened there in June 1944. Before reaching the heart of what is
now known as the D-Day area we visited the Benedictine Abbey in
Fecamp, which has an extensive museum of medieval art and
artifacts as well as the famous distillery, where the
world-renowned B&B and Benedictine liquors are created. Many
of the photos in our collection show the exterior and interior of
this interesting spot. If you are going to Normandy it should be
on the list of places to visit.
Our hotel that evening was in the Best Western hotel in Bayeux,
which is located between Caen and St. Lo. A big discovery we made
while in France was the great value of Best Western hotels in
that country. In other countries they can be expensive, but in
France they are hard to match for price, interest and frequently
great meals. In many places the American chain has purchased
quaint, smaller hotels with a high character in good repair. The
staff is always friendly and helpful and English is always
spoken. This was the case in Bayeux as we had a lovely late
afternoon dinner on the open-air terrace that must have taken a
couple hours to enjoy. The next day we visited the WWII memorial
at Omaha Beach and the D-Day museum at Arrowmanches. The memorial
with its ten thousand crosses each marking a fallen US serviceman
or woman casts a spell. There is some kind of presence there,
something which cannot be adequately described as if the
collective souls of the fallen have created an eternal aura.
Omaha Beach lies just beneath the bluff upon which the American
memorial is situated. There on June 20, 1944 my dad came ashore.
The beach looks no different from beaches anywhere, but what
happened there will long be remembered as the beginning of the
end of WWII.
That evening we stayed in a 17th Century hotel near Mont St.
Michele. Another Best Western it was perhaps the best deal of our
trip not only from the price but also the incredible ambience of
the spiral the original wooden staircase, our provincially
decorated and scrupulously clean room to the magnificent dinner
including delicacies such as truffles served with roast wild
boar. The total price for the hotel and dinner for three was less
than $100. The next day we visited the famous landmark that sits
on its own island and rises above the surrounding lowlands like
fairy castle on a cloud. The history of the abbey and other
interesting information as well as WWII lore can be found on the
following link:
http://www.highonadventure.com/Hoa98oct/Normandy/normandy.htm
Before heading south towards Bordeaux and home, we visited Cape
Frehel and St. Malo in Brittany. The cape is one of the most
scenic locations on the Brittany coast and sports an ancient
lighthouse atop sheer cliffs. Not much else there but the view is
well worth the drive along back roads. St. Malo is an old coastal
city inside an impressive fortress. Now a major tourist haunt, it
once was a bastion of defense for pirates and other adventurers.
Check the following link for more photos and information on this
interesting city.
http://gofrance.about.com/library/weekly/aa091400.htm?terms=st.+malo+france
No one sees very much of France in a week or two. We only tasted
a little and plan more trips to experience the Cote d' Azure
along France's Mediterranean coast as well as the French Alps. If
we ever have work in Toulouse these will be among the first
places. But until more time and money are available we will just
have to dream and plan for these adventures.
Two years have passed since the foregoing was written. During
the past two years we have managed some trips to the south coast of France known
as the Azure Coast, in French the Cote d' Azure. Last Fall we also visited
Corsica, the French island and the birth city of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Both are spectacular in natural beauty and full of interesting places to visit
not to mention the multitude of good places to eat and drink. No wonder
they both are primary targets of most travelers coming to Europe. In our
rather meager collection of photos we hope you can get some of the flavor of
these locales.
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