We think the French hide some of the roads that they call "Tourist Route's"... Leaving Angers was a good example. We were looking for the intersection that would take us from Angers and allow us to follow the Loire to Saumur. We lookie high and low and finally Louise just said, "lets just head that was and we will (should) find the river and then we can contunue even if we make up our own way... After running around in circles for about 45 minutes, we did just that. As luck would have it, we did find our road. It wasn't about just finding a rouad, it was about finding some of those great "chateaus" that are found i the Loire Valley. Once on the correct road, we did find our chateaus. Fact is, we put together another "French" picnic and ate on the grounds of Le Chateau d' Amour (Chateau de Saumer). It sits high on the hill overlooking the town of Saumur, the valley and the River Loire. It is amazing as in this area alone, there must be 10 "chateaus. We've opted not to visit the interior of each and everyone and we probable wqill only see i 1 in 15 totally anyway. Most of these chateau are in need of some of total remodel and that takes more money thatn the illages, towns, or private owners can afford. Down the river, our next stop was at "Fontevraud Abbeye Royale". This was a huge Abbey that consisted of the mister church, the "Grand-Moutire Cloister", the refectory and dormitories, the "Romanesque kitchen, and the Saint Benoit Infirmaries. Everything here dates bvack to the 13 and 14th centuries. This cloisdter followed the Benedictine rules, which were very strict. We were able to jump into a guided tour that was about half through, but we did learn a lot even in that short a time. This hole area is built on chalk, just as we found in England around Dover. The stone that they use for building isd pretty soft, so it doesn't last as long as those built with granite or marble. As we continued our drive along the river, we passed a very small village that wasd carved into the side of the chalk hill. There must have been 15 to 20 individual homes. Then jsut a littlew further up river, we came upon a winery that was carved into the same hillside. Of coarse being a winery, we just had to stop, see and sample...What it was initially, was a large manor. We were abl to take a self-guided tour through all the rooms, and found it to be very interesting. In some respects it was kind of like BGon and Doug's home in CDA (underground) and another was like the B&B we stayed at in Cappadocia Turkey. This turned out to be the "stop of the day". Everything that we "tasted" we loved... it could have been disastrous, but we held it together by only buying 2 sparkling (Saumer Champigney "Lena") and a great red....belive me, when I tell you they are wondrful !!! Now we are off to find a place to stay. We finally ended up just outside of a small village called Loudun. The campsite is surrounded by wheat fields, a small lake, and a village park nexct door. As we checked in, we couldn't help but notice th people from Loudun coming in force to the park. They were having a great time with lots of booths for food, games, drinks, and a stage where they hadf a group of older men and women dancing "folk" dances. We even joined in in a couple of other games... Tomorrow...Cognac
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13 -14 August '05, Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday was a travel day. leaving Dinan, we headed towqard Reenes, and then on to Angers. The weather is still holding, with sunny days and cool evenings, so driving was a delight and absolutely beautiful. Arriving in Angers, we found the traffic really light and hardly anyone in sight. This Monday is "Feast of the Assumption" and the whole weekend is a "bankers holiday". It also is one of the most important holidays in France. It seems that everyone has left. our new campground is about a 5 km walk into Angers, has a nice swimming pool, is next to a lake and river, and has more walkng/biking trainl than you can count. I'm sure wwe can find something to do....besides, it has a computer with 'FREE' internet access. Sunday we put on our "hiking" swhoes and headed into town. Angers was heavily damaged during WWII, buy has come back with a lot of charm. It straddles the Maine River, and has a lot to see on both sides. The big draw that we really came for is the "Apolcalypse Tapestries". They are kept at the Chateau d Angers (Castle). The Castle comes from as far back as the 9th century and like most other castles, has had to put up with a lot of different invasions. A point of interest, is that this castle has 17 towers. This is in addition to all of the other towers hat were on the city walls. it was and still is quite a structure. Inside, we found the tapestry, and what a masterpiece of medieval art. It consists of 77 pieces and stretches out for 335 feet over-all. Most of the pieces are about 3 1/2 feet high as well. It is huge... Opposed to the tapestry in Bayeus, this is a true "tapestry" and that in Bayeux was an "embroidery". The story here illustrates the book of Revelations written by St John with scenes like "Le Grande Prostitute, and Babylon invaded by7 demons. It was very impressive to say the least...I hate to say it, but as we were walking toward another part of the castle, I was drwn into having a "coffee with cream"...which, turned out that we just had to have lunch as well. A chicken breast salad, quiche, 1/2 liter rose, and a baguette...we're really getting into this French stuff.. Crossing the plaza, we decided to take another "tourtist sightseeing train" ride. It was amazing, but the city was absolutely barren of people...a very few restaurants and bars, the TI, and the castle...I think that was it...no cars, no people except a very few tourists,... someone opened the doors of the city and let all the locals out I guess... Then our walk back to the campground was like walking around Green Lake on a sunny day...except no one on the beaches Tomorrow...catching a few "Loir Valley Chateau 's 12 August '05 Friday
This is the first entry since my computer crashed...I am now having to re-type each journal as I get to an internet cafe...imagine, no spell check !!! After a devasting evening last night with my computer giving me fits, we started out this morning for a day trip out a little closer to the coast. We drove to Dinard from Dinan (about 15 miles). Leaving Dinard, we headed west to a little village of Saint Jacu-de-lamer. As we approached the main street, it was very apparent that they were having a street market. I think the whole of France was invited, as it was full and getting fuller the closer we got into the village. With everyone parking on the side of the main street, it was almost impossible to meet another vehicle coming towards you. Fortune was looking our wqay, as I was able to slip right into one of those little sp[ots so we could walk up the remaining 3 blocks to the market. We were4 looking for something to make a picnic lunch. As we walked all throught the streets and checked out all the wares of the vendors, we finally found a small grocery store that filled our needs. Now to get to "Bumble Bee". Making a "U" Turn we headed out for a castle/fortress called Fort la Latte. We thought we were going to be the only people there as there just wasn't any traffic going our way on this tiny road. What a surprise we had waiting for us when we pulled up to the parking lot. It was jammed... WE did fina a spot we could slip into. Putting everything into the backpack, we started our trek of about 1/2 mile to the castle. Fort la Latte is located out on the very end of a pointe, over-looking the Atlantic Ocean. It is sitting on a solid rock base with the waves coming at all sides. The wind wasd blowing pretty good, but we found a spot out of the wind and overlooking the castle to enjoy our very "French" lunch of baguette, cheese, ham, and half bottle of rose. Getting back to the campgrond, we had a couple from Great Britain over for a glass of wine. A very nice couple and we look forward to seeing them again... Tomorrow...moving on southbound 10 August ’05, Wednesday. le Mont St. Michel Abbey First thing this morning (about 10:30), we headed onto Bayaux and found the internet café. We were so far behind in touching base with the email, we were afraid that we would never catch up. First, I want to say thanks for all the letters (emails). We really appreciate you taking the time to write. Second, sorry we didn’t answer them right away. Unfortunately, the key board at this internet café wasn’t one that we could change over from the French board to the “English” board. The key locations aren’t too much different, but those that are make it tough to write a return. We will catch up soon, I promise. Third, seeing as how this internet café was the only one around for miles, they were charging a ton…$6 Euros ($7.80) per hour… Completing that, we headed back up to the coast. Our first stop was at La Pointe Du Hoc and Grandcamp-Maisy. This was a vital position for the Nazis, as they could fire across to Omaha and Utah beaches from there. Besides, they thought that this position high at the top of the cliffs overlooking the sea was just about impossible to attack from the sea by the Allied troops. Fortunately, two battalions of Rangers using hook and rope ladders climbed these cliffs and completely caught the Germans off guard. It also helped the Rangers that the Air Force bombers had almost totally destroyed the heavy artillery before they arrived. It wasn’t a piece of cake for the Rangers, as it did take over 2 days and with them starting with 225 men, they only had 90 remaining and many of these were wounded. The history of D-Day really is something to read and of course to remember. From there we headed on down toward Saint Lo and then to Coutances, Avranches, and then to La Mont St Michel. We were about 15km (about 9 miles) from La Mont St Michel, and we could see it in the distance. What an amazing site. It is a “rocky, cone-shaped islet”, in the Gulf of Saint Malo and is connected by a causeway with the mainland. It is a Benedictine abbey and has some small houses and shops that are after every penny you may have in your pocket. The abbey and the other “monastic” buildings date some as far back as the 13 century. There was a small abbey that began in 966 on the same spot. It has been a long time since we have been to a “site” that was totally crowed with tourists. Every parking location was taken and even those that weren’t parking locations had cars, campers, caravans, and buses in them. The traffic was bumper to bumper and barely moving, and the foot traffic was amazing. We pulled off to the side of the road, I jumped out and ran across the street, quickly took 2 pictures, ran back, made a “U-Turn” (I’m still thanking the guy who let us in line going back), and headed the heck out of town… What a mess… Seeing as how we were going to camp there, we had to review our plans… We headed on down the coast and have finally settled into Dinan. We understand they have a wonderful “Walled” town on a river, so tomorrow….Dinan and hopefully an internet to up-load at… 9 August ’05, Tuesday. Omaha Beach If you can imagine this, we are taking a day of rest… I know, everyday could be called a day of rest for us, but having to go and see all of these sites, eat all the different foods, travel all the different roads, etc etc. We have just finished our second day here over looking Omaha Beach. The weather has been just about perfect, and we both had a chance to sit in the sun for a couple of hours (with a ton of #35 on us). Louise has just previewed again Bruce and Peg’s journal for this area. As always, it is fun to follow their trip. Some things we agree on and others we differ, but that’s what life is all about. The campground is pretty full, even though it isn’t a weekend. Right in front of us is a small play ground and it is fun to see the different kids inter-acting with each other. When we woke this morning, the sun was up and shining in the windows. Apparently, we are facing east, as the sunrise this morning came right out of the sea. Last night as we looked out at the sea, we noticed a glow on the horizon, and determined that it was one of the larger coast towns in Great Britain. As I looked on the map, it must have been Portsmouth or Brighton. There is no doubt, when they decided to hit the coast from Great Britain on D-Day, they didn’t have far to go. Well tomorrow we will head back to Bayaux again. We have just got to find an internet café, we’ve been out of contact too long. Then, we will head back out to the coast and head for the Utah Beach area. There is so much to see and do in this area. 8 August ’05, Monday. Today we checked out of our campground and headed out to the Normandy Coast. Our first stop wasn’t at the coast, but at a grocery store. If we are going to eat tonight, we are going to have to stop and pick up something. We stopped at a large store called E’lecleric. It is a store that supplies more like a very large Fred Meyers. It has everything, so it seems. Anyway, we did our shopping and then headed out for the coast…we thought. As it was, we found we were heading off in the wrong direction after traveling about 6 or 7 miles, so finding a very small and narrow “back road”, we wound and wove our way back to the road we should have been on…we kept cool and enjoyed the back country for a while. Getting back on track, we found our way to Arromanches. Arromanches sits right between the D-Day landing sites of Omaha and Gold Beach. There is no doubt that this village and all the others along the beach got the hell kicked out of them during the Allied invasion. Today, you would never have guessed the damage they sustained as they have turned this village into a well run “tourist” town and doing it well. Arromanches is a “hot” tourist town, and I mean hot. People, cars, and buses were everywhere, and parking was at a premium. We were one of the fortunate ones, as we found ours right away. Walking through town and seeing a few sites that the area has to offer, and we were back on the road to our next little village along the coast. As we drove along, we noticed a lot of the Nazi bunkers and of course some of the jeeps, tanks, and other war machines that were left behind. Then, we found the “Normandy American Cemetery”. This cemetery is the largest I have been to, with 9,387 service men and women interred, and covering over 172 acres, is one of 14 permanent cemeteries that are on foreign soil. We were very impressed with the overall beauty and serenity of the cemetery, and felt very humble to have had a chance to see it. Continuing our drive down the coast and leaving the first part of Omaha Beach, we found a campground that sits directly above the center of the landing site, so we have stopped here for a couple of days. Already, we have walked down to the beach and into the small village and back, had a barbecued hamburger here at the van. Tomorrow….more beach time 7 August ’05, Sunday. Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde as known to the French…or, “The Bayeux Tapestry”. Over 9 centuries ago this tapestry was embroidered (a seventy meter long strip of linen) to record the scenes of medieval life, popular fables and mythical beasts, along with the story of “The Norman Conquest of England”. Technically it’s not really a tapestry, but an embroidery. We were stunned at the stunning detail and the skill that it took to complete this “story”. The work was supposedly done by Monks in England, and completed in time for the inauguration of Bayeux Cathedral in 1077. It was commissioned by Bishop Oddo, who was William’s (King of England) half-brother. As we entered the room with our headsets on, the tapestry was rolled out on a wall in front of us. It looks and reads like a modern classic comic book…only 70 meters long… They say that it is “generally accurate”. The clash of William (the bastard son) and his cousin Harold on the battle field of Hastings over who would be King of England, (which we visited last May, at Battle where we were looking for more information on Thomas Goodman). The battle fields of Hastings near Battle, and that is where the Abby is located that we visited as well. The location where Harold fell dead from the arrow to the eye is found there. We had another incredible day... What a piece of “art history”. It is hard to imagine that the quality of this medieval work and linen of the time, it is almost perfect after all this time. You would have expected to have at least a few holes in the linen or possibly some of the wool thread of the embroidery faded out or eaten by moths…it was amazing. Oh yes, it even depicted Halley’s comet which appeared in 1066. Well on to lunch… we went into this little outdoor restaurant in the middle of town. In looking at the menu prior to entering the garden area, Louise pointed out that they were serving mussels…I’ve been wanting to have them for quite awhile, so today was the day. I had Mussels ala Normandie (in a cream sauce)…they were outstanding. Louise had a half a chicken and freits (fries) and we shared a carafe of rose wine to finish the meal off. MMMM… GOOD !!! Then back to “Bumble Bee”, and west to Saint Lô. Saint Lô is where some of the US forces came through to liberate the town after the landings at Utah Beach Normandy. In walking through Saint Lo, it was kind of like picturing in your mind just what it might have been like being one of the troops coming into the town to liberate those people from the Nazi’s. In looking at the pictures of the destruction from the invasion, that are in all the museums and some of the churches, it is not too hard feel the impact and despair that was happening at that time. I’m sure in the next few days we will see and feel a lot more. 6 August ’05, Saturday. Caen didn’t have a campground, so we had to head out to the coast to Ouistreham. There we found 2 to chose from. The first one they were trying to put everyone on top of the other, so we opted for the 2nd. This one turned out to be overly expensive, but we bit the bullet and stayed one night anyway. In the morning we headed back into Caen to see the “Caen Memorial – A Museum for Peace”. This is a war museum that proclaims itself to be a “Museum for Peace”. I think they succeeded in their intention. As we approached the front of the building, it seemed like we were walking up to a “Fortress type of Wall” in more of a modern way. Once you are inside, you find yourself walking down a spiral walkway that is taking you from WWI and the Treaty of Versailles towards WWII. From the very start, you hear the voice of Hitler booming from all around you. On the walls are pictures taking you back to the time of WWI and on. Along with the pictures you can read about what was happening at that time…it is a great history lesson. A little later as we continued down, we started to see short movies, and articles of war, from clothes, armaments, vehicles, and planes from the time. The museum was set up so that you could learn more about how the two major wars started and why. It also showed you how the countries were rebuilt and how the people survived. Also, it showed how the USA landed onto the beaches of Omaha and Utah on D-Day. The finality of the tour was with 2 films with the accounts of D-Day and the course of the rest of the war. After 3 hours, we left feeling drained and rather insignificant in the big picture. The walk back to “Bumble Bee” was rather sullen. I guess this is one of the reasons we decided we had to come here. We saw a little bit of what WWII was about in Great Britain and the D-Day invasion, and now we are here in Normandy to see some more. We are heading west to Bayaux to find a campground, but upon getting there, we found that the door was closed..(they were filled up), so we headed on towards St Lo. Tomorrow…The Bayaux Tapestry 4 August ’05, Thursday The Blue Virgin Window “The Church of Our Lady”, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres, France. It has been a long time since I’ve gone to a class lecture, but that is just about what Louise and I did this afternoon. We had heard about a guide at the cathedral in Chartres, a man named Malcolm Miller. He is supposed to be able to give you the tour that was really worthwhile, although it could be a little costly compared to others that we have attended. It seems that Malcolm Miller has been around this cathedral for a few years (since 1958 from Great Britain) and also has had some “in-depth” studies on the histories of the church and the Christian religion. Our tour cost us $10 Euro each for the hour, and I must admit, I would have paid more. It would do an injustice to Mr. Miller and the Cathedral if I were to go into detail on our web-page, so I won’t, except to tell you that the first church was built on this site some time prior to 743, as at that time, they were “rebuilding” the church after it was destroyed by Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine…are you following me??? Really, Mr. Miller was superb in his direction as we toured the cathedral for the hour. One big negative, it went way too quick. Also, we aren’t into purchasing much for ourselves on this “journey”, but we made an exception in this case…we bought a book that Mr. Miller wrote on the Cathedral. The church is best known for its 13th century stained glass windows that depict various bible stories of the old and new testament. Since in medieval times, there weren’t many written words, thus the windows were used to tell the stories of the bible. Pilgrims come from all over the world each year to view a piece of cloak, that was given to the cathedral by Charles the Bald and it is thought to have been worn by Mary when she gave birth to Christ. This cathedral is reported to be the 3rd largest cathedral in the world behind St Peters in Rome and the Salisbury Cathedral in England. Now we’ve seen 2 and 3 and we look forward to seeing number 1 soon in Rome. We had just about run out of time to get lunch before they close for the afternoon, so we ran across the street to a street side café. ST. Joel had French onion soup and Louise had a great blue cheese salad and a carafe of wine. We kind of like the French café’s. Our walk into and back from town took us along the bank of the river with having to cross it twice on a couple of unique bridges. Just prior to getting to the campground, I spotted another café with a patio right on the edge of the river. This gave me an excuse to have a café espresso and a small treat. Tomorrow…Northwest to Caen and the beaches of Normandy 3 August ’05, Wednesday. The weather has been very nice the last few days and the outlook is for the same. Louise mentioned this morning that the mornings are more like early Fall than those we think of in August. The sun is shining, and the temp is rising, but there is something cool and refreshing in the morn. One thing for sure, it makes for a great driving day. We left Troyes and headed west, passing just under Paris. Our first stop today was the Palace of Fontainebleau. This was one of the favorite palaces of the kings of the 16th through the 19th centuries. Now after having a chance to visit Versailles and now Fontainebleau, (2 palaces that are close to each other and to Paris), I don’t understand the favoritism of those kings to Fontainebleau. I didn’t think it held a candle to Versailles. It may have been much bigger, but the architecture and the gardens at Versailles were much superior (even if it poured the afternoon we were there). My thinking of Fontainebleau may have been influenced by the extravagance of the palace…the overall size being what is was. Even being a king, with all the extravagance that would be expected, still makes this excessive and in my opinion “over-done” (I’m sure your happy to hear my opinion, aren’t you ?). Continuing our westward route, we arrived in Chartres just before 4. We are again camping in a “municipal” campground. The grounds are nice and reasonable, as before, and are within a 20 minute walk into the town. As we were about 3 miles outside of Chartres and traveling through the rolling farmlands, were the wheat is being harvested, we could see in the distance the tall steeples from the cathedral. For over the centuries, those making a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres, have had this same site to enjoy and lead the way. Tomorrow….Cathedral of Notre Dame and the town of Chartres |
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