Monthly Archives: November 2014

Normandy and the D-Day Beaches

November 22, 2014

Hello traveling companions, After Paris, we rented a car and set out for Normandy to visit some of the most anticipated …

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The massive and breathtaking Chartres Cathedral dwarfs everything else in the town.

Some of the re-creations are remarkable in their accuracy and detail. This man is a life-sized figure in a diorama.

Bayeux’ main “claim to fame” is the Bayeux Tapestry. This remarkably preserved, 230-foot long work of art dates from the 11th or 12th century. It is well worth a visit.

Even worse are the mobs surrounding the Mona Lisa. She hangs forlornly on her own massive wall. It takes patience and fortitude to get close enough to appreciate the masterpiece.

This shot was taken from a high vantage point over the town. The church on the right is Saint Leonards. We were staying in a quaint flat on Rue Saint Leonard., near the church, so Leonard Cohen songs constituted the soundtrack running through my mind.

All over Normandy, memories of the war are kept alive by artifacts that remain to this day, such as this part of the artificial harbor assembled in the days following D-Day.

Coffeshop Freedom

Paris is a feast for the eyes, filled with sculptures, monuments, and fountains.

Inside the chapel is another Black Madonna. These are so called because of the natural color of the wood from which they were carved, together with centuries of darkening from being in smoky interiors.

The buildings are skinny because they authorities created a tax structure based on the width of the buildings.

I saw the light at different times of day play with the colors and shapes in the harbor, creating something new each time.

The women and children were locked inside the town’s church.

Chartres, like virtually every town in France, has created monuments to memorialize those who suffered and sacrificed in both World Wars. This monument honors the hundreds of Chartres civilians who were killed by the Nazis in WW2.

The memorial for Jean Moulin, the most famous hero and martyr of the French Resistance. The sword is held defiantly, but broken. The Resistance did what they could against the Nazis, but every attack or act of sabotage brought on brutal retaliation. The Nazis began killing 10 innocents for every German killed or wounded by Resistance attacks. Later they upped the ante to 100 people, randomly rounded up from the population.

I loved seeing their actual signatures close up. The signatures somehow take me to the moment when the artist declared the work finished. It shows their humanity, somehow.

Most of the old buildings are each uniquely decorated

The lines and angles of the buildings are not quire square.

The Aure has been an integral part of the town’s life for centuries.

Prostitute’s windows in De Wallen

Narrow, winding streets lead to delightful scenes like this.

This is the beautiful and solemn American Cemetery overlooking the English Channel in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. It is the final resting place for 9,387 Americans who died on D-Day and in the subsequent Battle of Normandy.

The little River Aure runs through the middle of Bayeux.

Charlie rides

Almost every European town has a weekly Market Day. In Bayeux it is a festive and crowded occasion.

Visitors to Mont St. Michel see it first from miles away as a small mountain looming above some of the flattest terrain is France. This is a telephoto view from the visitors parking lot a mile-and-a-half from the island.

…but it is a real challenge to portray the exquisite, creamy smoothness of the bodies of Cupid and Psyche, in this work by Antonin Canova.

Everywhere I turned, another photo popped into view.

We waited to get into the oldest part of the Cathedral, the crypt beneath it. Visitors are only admitted with a guide. Ours spoke French, so we had to read up on what we were seeing.

Boats of every size and description sit high and dry, stranded until the next tide comes in.

The Orsay lets you view Paris through the face of a giant clock, visible for blocks from the outside.

Dam Square Monument

Max, host of the Amsterdam Songwriters Guild Open Mic

Crowds can be horrible. Here the famous sculpture, the so-called “Winged Victory,” would be lost in the crowd if it were not elevated.

The Seine, with its grand bridges and surrounding buildings, is one of the great, iconic sights in Paris.

We visited Point du Hoc on the English Channel in Normandy. On D-Day, Army Rangers had to scale these cliffs under fire. Their mission was to take out a German gun battery.

Our Lovely Amsterdam Apartment

Once on the island, labyrinthine stairs and passages lead through and around the town and the abbey.

Colors reflected in a boat hull

The sign says something about a “bird raft.”

Charlie and Frans

Houseboat and Car

This is the harbor where Monet created “Impression: Sunrise,” the painting that rocked the art world and gave the new movement it’s name.

I can’t be sure I was seeing what Monet saw, but there was something unique about the pictures I was getting.

Every Cross or Star of David marks the grave of an ordinary American who made an extraordinary sacrifice. This is the grave of Broadway Sims, from Tennessee. His name made me want to know his story, and a reader of this blog responded, so CLICK THE PHOTO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BROADWAY SIMS. A website about him will open in a new window.

Like all cemeteries, an aura of sadness envelopes it. But this one is special because of the stories it tells, the historical figures who populate it, and the traditions that have developed at their graves. Here are some of them.

Amrita

Many of Bayeux’ old Medieval structures remain intact and in use.

Portmarnock beach sculpture

This early Christian chapel and pilgrimage sight was built into a vast, steep cliff, for defensive purposes.

We picked up our first Parisian baguette and settled in for our first night in Paris.

We visited the Place Pigalle neighborhood, home of the famous Moulin Rouge burlesque club, among more seedy sex establishments. We succumed to the temptation of the Starbucks across the street. The Moulin Rouge is in the background of this photo.

Art is everywhere in Honfleur. This metal sculpture was outside a gallery.

Charlie performing at an open mic

Martello Tower, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Sarah wiaits for the #21 bus.

Westerpark Canal

The town features one quirky sculpture: A fanciful representation of the novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac, donated by the people of Russia. Balzac spent his early childhood in the region.

This little chapel is in the hills overlooking the town. Here Sarah is exploring the area.

Window shopping at the Condomerie

We strolled the Champs-Elysees, and saw the Arc de Triomphe. As fans of the Tour De France bicycle race, this was a special treat. The final stage of Le Tour is held on these cobblestones.

As in many European towns, a church or cathedral provides a convenient orientation point. The spires are often the first thing a traveler sees when approaching the town.

This is the final resting place of the tragic, doomed 11th century lovers, Abelard and Heloise. As the story goes, when Heloise’s uncle found out about their illicit affair, he had Abelard castrated and sent Heloise to a nunnery. Their love letters after this became famous. In 1817 their bones were finally united here. Lovers now leave their own letters at the grave.