Beaches of Normandy, Chartres, & Noyers-sur-Serein

One destination Andy and I have been looking forward to is Normandy. Grandpa Choules family line comes from Normandy, so that excited me to see the region where my ancestors came from. And, we both love WWII History, but it is definitely a passion of Andy's.  Grandpa Brown fought in the European Theater and was a reserve for Patton's army. His story is remarkable, and over the years, has fed that history bug in Andy. Andy read Stephen Ambrose's D-Day about a month ago, and I must say, I don't think I have ever seen him not be able to put a book down! It is such a thorough and comprehensive account of the preparations, events, and aftermath of D-Day.   D-Day was such a pivotal point in the war and was the game changer. Andy was my own personal tour guide for the day and I loved it. Though I had come to a few of the sights when I was backpacking with my two friends in college, I feel like I have a greater knowledge, appreciation and reverence for what happened here. We are so grateful for the bravery and sacrifices of these soldiers who laid down their lives.  They understood how important this day was, whether they lived or died. Coming here is a very sobering and humbling experience. I only wish everyone could come here and experience what we did.  The more years go by, I think our society is taking more and more for granted. But this generation was special. They understood gratitude, sacrifice and love for their country.  These are just some things I miss about sitting down and talking with my grandfathers and Grandpa Brown.  I don't think there will ever be another generation quite like this one. May we always remember their sacrifices and live with grateful hearts for the freedoms we enjoy.

September 11, 2014--Daddy's Travel Log

We set out for Normandy this morning.  Our first stop, however, was not quite what we had expected.  It was called the Omaha Beach museum.  It was full of stuff, but not very organized.  WE told the lady at the front desk we were looking for a place with a movie to give us a history and prospective.  She reluctantly pointed us to the Battle of Normandy Museum in Bayeaux.  This place had an introductory movie and different scenes set up to show different kinds of guns and equipment, hospital setups, tanks, earth moving equipment, etc.  It was well done and had placards in French and English describing the scenes and challenges of the war.

We grabbed a bite to eat at the local McDonalds.  Only one type of hamburger or chicken sandwich each with or without bacon.  They also offered potato wedges or French fries.  Go figure.  It hit the spot.  Then we headed for Omaha Beach Museum, which focused on Omaha Beach and also had scenes set up showing the different equipment guns, bombs and ammo.  It also had a movie that gave more of a history leading up to the D-Day invasion.  It was amazing to me the challenges this invasion encountered, mostly weather related.  Fortunately, the Germans were so caught off guard they could not give a formidable fight at the location.  While Omaha Beach and Utah Beach did suffer significant resistance, Juno, Sword and Gold beaches which were attacked by the Canadians and British went rather smoothly. We were able to walk on Omaha Beach. A very sobering experience. How grateful we are for the sacrifices and bravery of these soldiers.

Omaha Beach

One of the memorials

flags of all the nations who fought on D-Day

oh Andy

Inside one of the German Encasements

whoa!

 Our next stop was Pointe Du Hoc, a peninsula that jutted out giving the Germans a commanding view of both Utah and Omaha Beaches.  The Germans had constructed bunkers and entrapments to accommodate five large guns that would have wreaked havoc to ships attacking the beaches.  Fortunately bombing in previous days had left only two of the guns functional.  The others had been moved inland and were soon destroyed by the marines assigned to take over this critical location.  The US had built a visitors center at Pointe du Hoc which gave the history of capturing this key location.  It comprised an introductory movie and placards along walkways out to the emplacements to give the history and memorial of what happened.  The place was somber.  The craters created from all the bombing could still be seen.  The concrete bunkers and emplacements were still intact in many places.  You could sure see how tough it would be to overtake these key defensive positions.  I am encouraged to read more on the whole day.

Walking towards Pointe du Hoc

One of the many bomb craters. Still visible today

one of the bunkers

Pointe du Hoc

This pic gives you a good idea of what the rangers had to scale. They had a hard, terrifying job. As they were scaling the cliff, bullets were coming down on them. The closer each ranger got to the top, the more dangerous it got. Some wouldn't make it all the way up, yet others had to use all their strength to keep climbing. 

Right above where the Rangers scaled up the cliff

From Pointe Du Hoc, we went to the town of Bayeaux for dinner.  We found a steakhouse of sorts called Boucherie.  Andy and Bethany had a chicken and apricot salad, Tammy had a goat cheese and toast salad and I went with a burger. Which the French don’t like to cook.  The meat is supposedly so good it should be eaten raw I guess.  Despite its rawness, it was good.  Tammy is never one to pass up a good crème Brule and Bethany had a chocolate mousse.  Andy and I helped where we could but the girls were quite defensive of their desserts.  After dinner we headed back to Jenny’s place and soon were in bed, having had a full day.

September 12, 2014

This morning mom and I woke up first , showered and I made breakfast with fresh eggs from Jenny’s chickens.  The last minute, tammy reminded me to put cheese in the eggs and I used the rest of the package, perhaps a little too much cheese.  It was yummy though.  We also had sliced peaches, fresh plumb jam a la Jenny, yogurt, OJ and a dark chocolate peanut butter cup for good measure.  

breakfast chef at work

about to bid farewell to La Petite Ferme

After cleaning up and packing, we were soon on the road to Chartres, France to see the cathedral John Welsh had referred to in his description of the Good Samaritan Allegory.

My only goal was to see the Good Samaritan Plan of Salvation Allegory window which we were able to photograph.  Half of the Cathedral has been restored and looks beautiful.  In a few years, hopefully the rest will be restored to its original spender.

Chartres Cathedral

The Good Samaritan Window. Amazing.

Chartres

After Chartres, we ate at McDonalds then drove to Noyers-Sur-Sereins, a medieval town which was truly medieval.  Some buildings were literally leaning and somewhat twisted.  It was a combination of a village out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Popeye.  As we walked around, we say a couple pruning some flowers outside of their house speaking English (British).  We stopped and chatted for a while.  It turns out they were from Cambridge and bought this house to come to during the off season.  They told us about the town.

Entrance to Noyers-sur-Serein

Timbered architecture

Yes. It leans!

We ate dinner at a quaint little restaurant near the entrance in the photo above left called Restaurant de la Vieille Tour.  Our waiter was also the owner along with his wife who did the cooking.  He was born in Canada, was schooled in the Netherlands and was of Dutch parents.  His hair was crazy big wave Dave and he was a great host.  They had a cat that kept jumping up on the bench next to Tammy.  It never begged for food which surprised me.  Very territorial, however.  We have VERY tender veal & rice and Bethany had some well-prepared duck.  For dessert we had molten lava cake, a ginger tart with vanilla ice cream and a poached peach in a cinnamon sugar sauce with a slice of cream in the middle.  YUMMY!!!  The stop was well worth it and the town was killer. 

At the Restaurant. So Charming

Kitty kept coming up on our bench

Escargot!

molten cake

ginger tart!

Peach Melba!

 From Noyers-Sur-Sereins we high tailed it to Geneva as we had at least three more hours of driving to get there.  Mom and I were still suffering from jet lag and slept much of the way.  Andy was a driving fool and drove the whole way.  We arrived in Geneva at around 12:30 am and staggered up to Andy & Beef’s apartment which is a great place.  Separate living, kitchen, bathroom and Master.  What a great place.