Road trip to Normandy

We have a favorite B&B near the beaches of Normandy.  We have referred over 10 people there and have always wanted to go back to this renovated old mill, exquisitely decorated and peaceful. It was a place I had always wanted to take my friend, Wendy, to see.  When she told me she would love to see the Normandy beaches, I planned a girlfriend get-away, along with my friend Amy.


But this meant renting a car....which also meant I would have to drive.  After checking rates, it made sense to keep the car that we rented for Burgundy, but that meant driving in Paris.  That was something I was NOT going to do.  It's not that I can't drive in a big city. But Paris, with all of it's round-abouts and NO marked lanes, and CRAZY fast drivers.......It stresses me out just being a passenger!  Besides, to get out of Paris, it usually means driving around the Arc de Triomphe to get on the freeway, the granddaddy of roundabouts.  It has 12 avenues radiating from the Arc!  

So, after begging and promising to give countless backrubs to Lyle,  I convinced him to drive us out to a freeway entrance.  What a guy, huh?


We picked up Amy and headed toward La Defense, where Lyle works, just outside of the city limits....yes, driving around the Arc.  After a few attempts at finding a drop-off point, he did find a corner near his office.  We said our good-byes and he watched us take off for the A13.


We did pretty well, until we missed a turn to get off on the N13, which I thought was more direct.  Well, French freeways do not make it easy to turn around.  It usually involves driving 20 or 30 kilometers back, going through the toll booths again, and then going through more roundabouts to find the highway.  We dutifully did that, but found out that the N13 was a VERY slow way to go, slowing down through small villages, hills, valleys, and behind huge semi-trucks.  It turned a 2-hour trip into 5 hours.  We rationalized the mistake by saying it was an adventure....and picturesque too!

We arrived to a very warm 90-degree day at Omaha Beach, where people were sunbathing, swimming, and walking.  It was hard to imagine the 10,000  lives lost on beginning on June 6, 1944. We could see the bunkers in the hills above.  It was emotional. 

Amy knew the way from the beach up to the American Cemetery overlooking the sea, so we hiked up there.  The thousands of crosses lined up brought tears to our eyes.

 So did talking to an 85-year old  veteran from Oregon, who hadn't been here since seeing his buddies die around him.  As he told us a little of the story, we told him a big thank-you, all of us trying to hide our tears.  Yes, every American should see this if they can.  I have been able to come here twice.

 

 

We drove a few more kilometers to see the area where the German troops had their bunkers, still left untouched after the bombings.

 

 

We wondered what these young German soldiers were thinking as they also toured the area....

We headed to our B&B, checked in, and relaxed for a few minutes as we took in the country views....

 

 

  ......before having to head for dinner in the pretty little village of Bayeux, the first town to be liberated by the Allies. It escaped bombings and destruction, and still has buildings from the 15th century. It is so refreshing to see the streets still lined with American, French, and European Union flags.  We found a cute little place for dinner, then walked the winding streets....
 

 

 

We woke up to a foggy and rainy morning, had a wonderful French breakfast.....

and had to get going on our road trip.  We stopped in Bayeux to check out the majestic Cathedral of Notre Dame in the middle of the town.  

This cathedral was constructed in the mid 11th century.  William the Conqueror, who was King of England, was present for its consecration in 1077. 

 After stopping  at a few shops and picking up some antiques, we were back on the road again.  Our time schedule forced us to get going before noon so that we could reach our next destination - Giverny.

This time we took the freeway...and reached the town of Vernon in a few hours.  Amy hopped on the train back to Paris,  and Wendy and I drove to the little town of Giverny where Monet's garden is the main attraction.  I had been there with my girlfriends in June, but Wendy hadn't seen it.  It was a delight to visit it again.  Spring flower gardens were now filling up with autumn blooms. 

 

 

 But the famous water-lilly pond appearance doesn't seem to change much.  It is always the beautiful scene that seems timeless, just as Monet painted it a hundred years ago.

Our road trip ended that evening as I dropped the car off in Vernon, to avoid driving into Paris, of course.  We took the train for a relaxing one-hour ride into Paris, a bit worn out, but filled with some wonderful memories. 

Searching for the grape harvest

It is feeling like Fall here in Paris......the leaves on the Sycamores  lining the boulevards are turning brown and fluttering to the streets.  It seems rather EARLY, but it also has been dry so maybe the poor trees just can't keep their leaves.

One of the fall events we wanted to check out was the grape harvest.  A year ago we spent a few days in the Burgundy region, but it was in May when the vines were just beginning to bud.  We thought it would be fun to see the vineyards in their full glory and MAYBE see some harvesting.  So, after picking up my friend from the airport who came for a visit from Minnesota,  the three of us rented a car the next morning and headed out of Paris.  Seeing a few chateaus from the road was our "bienvenue" to Burgundy.

The last time we went, we rented a cute little house in the village of Meursault, very near to all of the popular wineries.  Well, this time we didn't get that chance, and instead took a risk at staying at a "17th centutry farmhouse in the middle of a national park".  And that is what it was.  We drove the back roads into the immense and sparsely inhabited plateau of forests, lakes, and hills, the Morvan.  Quite remote!  But we did find the little house on a hill, complete with a garden full of blackberries, lavender, apple and pear trees,  and even a fig tree.   Is this our place?????

 Well, unfortunately NOT!  Just a cute place near to OUR PLACE:

The inside had been remodeled, of course, and it was somewhat cozy.  Never mind the cobwebs in the rafters, or the fact that once again, we were sleeping in a renovated barn.  It wasn't 4 star, but it did have what we needed.  The setting was "country", off the beaten-track.  Lyle didn't comment......Ok, it wasn't THAT bad!  It was, after all, just one night!

 

 

We had the afternoon to explore Beaune and Meursault, showing Wendy where we had been before. The vineyards, fully of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes,  were beautiful, but not quite ready for harvesting. We drove up a side road and stopped to pick a few Chardonnay grapes and were surprised at how SWEET they were!

 

 

Of course, we had to do a little wine-tasting and have a Beef-burgounone dinner on the plaza.  They just go together on a crisp fall evening.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day.  I asked Lyle to take me out on the back roads for a driving lesson using a "stick-shift", which I hadn't done in probably 15 years!  After a few kills of the engine, it all came back to me and I told him...."Just like riding a bike....once you learn, it just comes back!"  Why did I need to do this?  Because we were keeping the car for our girl's adventure to Normandy in a few days following.  (I have never driven in France before, so I was a bit nervous!)


I calmed myself down a bit by taking a walk down the country road from the farmhouse before packing up to get back to Paris......

We explored the town of Autun which was near the farmhouse, Lyle giving in to my needing to see the Roman ruins again.  This town was founded in the 1st century BC and was a huge town back then.  Part of the Roman wall and arches still stand.....and the theater too.  Okay, I know I have seen Roman theaters before in Sicily and Orange in Provence, but I just HAD to check this one out too!  I keep telling Lyle that I wanted to be an archaeologist back when I was in sixth grade studying the Greeks and Romans!

 

The weather was beautiful for the two days and we had to head back to Paris that Sunday afternoon, this time taking some back roads through the hills and valleys and small, quaint villages.  I think by the time we reached Paris in the evening, Wendy's stomach was still a little queezy from the many twists and turns....or was it the dinner the night before?  Welcome to France....sometimes it does take a bit to get used to the food!

(Rentrée)

Back in Paris, we are in the midst of "rentrée", which is the French phrase for "back to school". It also means back to work, coming back, re-entering. We have re-entered Paris and see the stores re-opening and Parisians returning to the city, after 3-4 weeks of being on holiday. The French do know how to take time off....and it is very apparent in August when Paris eerily feels like a ghost town at times. Well, not quite. But when the local dry cleaner, the baker, the corner grocer, etc. are all on "vacance" for the month, it leaves us looking elsewhere. Even our local grocery store was closed for the month for a complete remodeling.

So why the parentheses? Well, because I was in the midst of telling about our Norway trip, and have, myself, been on vacation from the blog. So I, also, am re-entering, but will delay the end of the trip to catch up on our other trip......a trip back home.


It was busy, of course. A memorial service for my mom, who passed away in April, brought
relatives and friends together.....good to catch up with everyone, but also a hard day for many of us. Weddings and funerals...they bring us together.

Our cousins from Virginia came in two carloads, with parents and five kids!

We had birthdays....and we celebrated FIVE of them! My step-dad turned 80, both of our first-borns now into their 30s, and then Lyle and me. Celebrating continued with barbecues and a party for me, given by my thoughtful husband. Do I dare say how old?




A baptism brought more family together, as the youngest grandchild, Emmett, had the attention for the day. What a little blessing he is!


A wedding shower for Ashlee and Eric, Lyle's nephew, was celebrated at the annual Tollefsrud get-together at the lake home of Lyle's brother Paul. Over 15 cousins played in the water, went for boat-rides, and had an "inside" picnic when the rains came. It didn't stop the fun.




With all of these events, we still squeezed time to spend with grandchildren, sometimes with sleep-overs, sometimes just going to the beach or zoo. Yet, there still seems to be never enough time, and the three weeks went too quickly, and we still were not able to connect with special friends too. That is the tough part about returning home for visits. The time flies too quickly. We couldn't do it all.




When we thought about the priorities of the trip home this time, we put family first. I think we did that. We also did a few of the things we miss when we live in an apartment in Paris....like grilling, a little golf, and relaxing "at the lake".



One thing we didn't expect? How about a tornado? Yes, it went right down my son's street! Thank God Rachel and Ava were lunching with me at the Mall of America. We headed back to the house to see the damage, but were thankful that it was minimal....just some roof shingles, some uprooted plants, electricity out, but no trees down (unlike, unfortunately, at the neighbors' houses).



It was a full vacation, filled with so many good memories, some painful (as two of my friends also passed away during the time home).  Saying au revoir gets harder each time, though, and tears from kids and grandkids always touch my heart. But we are heading towards the end of our French assignment and look forward to embracing our time here, as well as to our next visit home.

Bergen

Our road trip to Bergen was, again, beautiful.  We drove along fjords, through LONG tunnels through the mountains, and beautiful countryside.  The air was still and we marveled at the mirror images of the landscape outside our car window...

Scenery like this drew our breath away...

Bergen.....the second largest city in Oslo was founded in the 11th century, and became the center of Norwegian trade by the 14th century.  You can guess what they traded.....cod.  The way it was dried made it easy to ship all over Europe.  After dropping off our suitcases in an old train hotel, we went to the fish market, the Torget, along the North Sea.  The mix of seafood, furs, and local Norwegian food filled our nostrils and we couldn't help but stand and sample some (the crab legs, not the wolf hide!)....

Because this city gets over 80 inches of rain in a year, you can bet it's not sunny very often (around 60 days per year, actually).  It was a bit overcast and rainy, but that doesn't stop these hardy Norwegians.  One of their sayings: "There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing."

A walk along the harbor in the evening as the rain cleared made us wish we knew someone with a boat....

....and sunset is around 11:00 pm!

The next day we went back in history to the oldest area of the city, Bryggen, a merchant center of the Hanseatic League.  We toured the old homes, shops, and banks where young men came from all over Europe to learn the trading business during the middle ages.  Many of the old wooden building have burned down over the years, but some are still intact.  We also toured some excavations beneath the city.

Ribs of an old ship excavated under Bryggen

For a beautiful view of the city, we took the funicular to Mount Floyen...

Because the evening was light so late, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the town.  An interesting thing happened to us at the little restaurant where we had dinner, though.  The waiter noticed the "Tollefsrud" name on the reservation and lead us to a table.  The waitress serving us told us that she was from the town of Tollefsrud!

Love those narrow streets!