Louvre, Eiffel, more Notre Dame and Shelly

On Wednesday morning, our suburban chain hotel served us day old baguette and croissants. Mon Dieu! By the time we made our long journey into the city, we only had two hours to tour the Louvre. Most of the groups made their way first to see the Mona Lisa. It's worth the effort, but more to see the massive crowd than to actually see the painting. The rest of the museum is more manageable, and I saw quite a few amazing pieces in the short time wandering around. We went next to the Latin Quarter and everyone was on their own for lunch. Afterwards, we toured Notre Dame and its beautiful stained glass windows, exterior carvings and gargoyles. Our next stop was back to the Eiffel Tower, this time we took the elevator to the second level and got some great views of Paris. Our final activity for the day and with the school group was an evening boat ride down the Seine.

The next morning, the school group got on a bus and headed to the airport. Mara and I went into Paris and found our next hotel, back in the Latin Quarter. After a trip to the laundromat, we visited the Institute du Monde Arab. Its exterior is made up of adjustable metal disks that can be opened or closed depending on how bright the sun is and how much light they want to let in. We walked along the Seine back to our hotel and then met up with our friend Shelly. On our way to dinner, we stopped in at Notre Dame. It was evening, so it was dark in side, making it a very different experience than during the day. For dinner, we found a lovely little restaurant and had a traditional Parisian 3 course meal. Tres bien.

Paarrisssss

On Monday morning we hopped on a bus and headed to Chartres. A town with a beautiful cathedral full of stunning stained glass, pillars, flying buttresses and gargoyles galore. After visiting there, we drove on to Paris, stopping first at our suburban hotel. Once we checked in, we walked to the train station to head into the city. The journey took over 45 minutes, so staying out of town is going add quite a bit to our daily travel time. Our first stop was a crepe shop for dinner. Then we walked along the Champs Elyses and watched the sun set near the Arc de Triumph.

The next morning a bus picked us up at the hotel and took us on a tour of Paris with a couple stops for photos. Then, it was on to Versaille. We split into two groups with one going inside first while the other toured the gardens. Both halves of the tour were enjoyable, but the inside was extremely crowded and the outside was full of lovely flowers and nice weather. On the way back into Paris, we drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana died. Adults on the tour found that interesting.

We had French pizza for dinner and then walked up some back streets to Mont Martre. Great views of the city, lots of fun street performers and vendors and another lovely Basillica. We walked down the many steps and then caught the metro back to the hotel.

Normandy and Breton

Our first stop for the day was the D-Day museum in Caen. There were very interesting displays to see and a couple movies to watch. It would be easy to spend much more time here, but we needed to push on. We went for lunch in the town of Arromanches, a nice coastal town with plenty of little dining spots and shops to check out as well as a lovely beach. From there, we went to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach. No matter how many images you may have seen of military cemeteries, when you stand in the middle of the white crosses and see straight rows of them going in every direction, it is quite moving. After leaving the cemetery, we went to a small memorial on the beach where many of us walked in the sand and a few of the kids went into the water. Our final stop was the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Memorial where the Germans had built bunkers to fight the allies as they attempted to climb up the cliffs. It's where the beginning scenes of Saving Private Ryan are based upon.
Our hotel for the night was an old abbey called L'Abbey. It was a very nice spot with a sun heated pool and tennis court. Many of the adventurous went swimming.
The next morning, we went to Mont St. Micheal. We walked quickly through the town so that we could tour the church first. It was quite lovely and on the way out, we were able to shop a bit and enjoy the town. Next, we drove on to St. Malo, a walled city that was 80% destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in it's original design afterwards. The very proud residents consider themselves of St. Malo before Breton or France.