Weekend in Normandy - D-Day Beaches - Part II of II

Our Sunday was spent exploring the D-Day Beaches. Our first stop was the American Cemetary overlooking Omaha beach (one of the landing sites during the Normandy Invasion in WWII) which contains over 9000 US military who died, mostly during the invasion. After spending some time inside the museum watching film and touring the exhibits, we ventured outside to the serene and pristine lines of gravestones. Reading the names on the stones, coupled with the visual of the rows and rows of markers, made the loss poignantly real and left lumps in our throats for most of the morning.

Our second stop was Point-du-Hoc a memorial and museum dedicated to the United States Army Range Assault Group during Operation Overlord. The site of museum is fact the remains of a cliff top German machine gun post, which looks much like it must have looked, in the years immediately after the war. The attack site is still covered in its actual bomb craters and many of the original fortifications. Rupert & P had a great time, climbing in and out of the bunkers, block houses and through the reinforced concrete tunnels. I stayed above ground for the most part, it was a bit too real for me.

D in the crater field

Unfortunately the children conked out before we made it to the Canadian landing site, Juno Beach. Perhaps another time.

Weekend in Normandy - Mont-St-Michel - Part I of II

Last weekend, the BC bus finally rolled out of Paris on our first trip to see more of France. We rented a small car and drove 2.5 hrs to Villers Bocage in the heart of Normandy to our accomodations, La Ferme du Pressoir B&B. With an Audi in the driveway, the smell of farm, and a big old harvest table, we knew we were home.

P,D, and a new friend, holding their monnaie d'argent, outside our B&B

Nothing but the best of France for Breakfast, but what is D doing in Mark's chair?

Our Saturday was consumed by Mont-St-Michel, an ancient abbey built in the 8th Century, that sits 1km off the North Coast of France. Even though the tides no longer completely cut the Mont off from the mainland, Mont-St-Michel is one the most impressive things I have seen since we moved to France. It is inspiring on so many levels - the beauty of the man made structure completely isolated in its natural surroundings, the history, the stunning gardens inside the abbey, the simplicity of the abbey rooms, and the views!!! Then there was the constant questioning of how & why.

We entered the small touristy town at the base of the Mont and walked it's narrow cobbled stone streets. Then wound our way around the island, stopping at many great views and finally climbed the multiple sets of steep steps to the abbey. Once on top, we truly felt it's grandeur and it was clear why this has been a spiritual place for the millenea and continues to be a place of pilgrimage. Since the season doesn't get any lower than mid-January, we got to enjoy the experience as it should be, quietly and calmly, sometimes not seeing another person for extended periods of time.

The girls on the man made causeway in front of Mont-St-Michel

Smiling D


P & D enjoying the view from the top

For more info on Mont-St-Michel

Hunting and Gathering

Our quest for firewood on the streets of Paris has become more than just stocking our woodpile for free, it has become, our mission.

With a good eye, the trees with their log bases (buches) can be found, but the base removal is our biggest challenge. The hammer didn't help, and after my "friend" referred to me as a "Pikey" for my logging activities, I started to become discouraged. The trees will soon be gone and some other lucky scavenger will have reaped the rewards. Just so you don't think I am crazy, there are others out there collecting the buches. I have not seen them, but I know they are out there. Many of times, I have spotted a tree (buche intact) on my way somewhere and planned to make a removal attempt on my way home, only to be disappointed upon return, to find the tree left bucheless.

On our way home from the library yesterday, P spotted a buche and encouraged the broken me to have another go. It had been more than 24hours since my last attempt, so I was well rested and P's motivational words were enough to encourage me to try one more time. I decided to retry "the twist" method. It worked! The stands are basically screwed into the trunk of the tree. About fifteen twists and the base was off.

After a quick walk of the hood, the girls and I came home on top of the world - four buches and high hopes for more tomorrow. Relic would have been proud.

Queen for a Day

The past week or so, I have noticed that my boulangerie, Secco (not to be confused with Rupert’s boulangerie, you will have to ask him for the name) has been full of plain flat, round, flaky pastries. After a couple of days of watching almost every person in line buy one, and P noticing (and wanting) the crown that came with the pastries, it was time to find out more. So I asked my French tutor, who has come to be my primary translator of French culture, what French tradition were we missing?

The pastries are the “Gallettes du Roi” which celebrate the epiphany, or the feast of the kings, which happens the first Sunday (after the first Saturday) in January.

Baked inside the cake is a ceramic figurine called a fève, literally meaning, a bean (which is what were put in Gallettes long ago). The person who finds the fève is declared the king (le roi) or the queen (la reine) and gets to wear the paper crown that comes with the Gallette. Luckily, my tutor pointed out that the gallettes only come with one fève, so I might want to get two Gallettes and avoid the inevitability of one disappointed little girl.

D and I picked out the traditional almond Gallette and a chocolate one and the family enjoyed them for dessert tonight.

Pastries, prizes and crowns, what could be a nicer tradition for two little girls?

The queens

The fèves

End of the Holidays

Taking down the tree is always the marker of the end of the holidays, but what do Parisians do with their trees when they are done with them?

Most of the city just leave them on the street and the daily (yes daily) garbage pick up, carts them away with the rest of the garbage. But despite Paris's bad rap for recycling, the city does offer tree recycling at designated parks.

There wasn't much left of our tree to recycle, after we dragged it to our not so convenient park, but we did pick up a tip while we were there. A man and his family were taking all of the log stands off the bottom of the trees and taking them home for firewood. Like most things here, firewood is not cheap and over the next week or so, the streets are going to covered with free firewood. My first attempts to get the stand off the trunk have been unsuccessful, but I have put a hammer in my purse for tomorrow and I am hoping for better success.

Happy mulching

What Christmas holidays would be complete without a skate at city hall. P & D couldn't be missed by their fellow skaters. Besides their Canadian expertise on ice, they were the only two kids at the rink wearing helmets.

Back to school today and Paris gets a real snow. Apparently Paris's largest snowfall in nine years. The snow actually accumulated on the ground!!! Eat your heart out Ottawa. (D with her best friend A on their way home from school.)