We stayed in the city of Caen in Normandy where the big WWII museum is located. We went to the museum, which is huge, and also saw their special exhibition on 9/11 that they have set up. Everything was really well done and interesting.
After the museum, we then drove out to Omaha Beach. We went to the American Cemetery that looks out over the beach and walked down to the beach. It was strange being right there and thinking about the horrific and important battle that took place right there. It was almost hard to believe it could take place at such a beautiful spot. Sitting on the beach looking out to the shining water was a bit surreal and unbelievable.
We went to one of the German bunkers on Omaha Beach and though it is mostly closed up, it was still cool to see. There is one full bunker completely open at one of the other beaches, but it was closed that day so we didn't get to see it.
While driving through the small Norman towns, we came across a little chateau with an apple orchard that sold freshly made drinks. The owner was really nice and surprisingly spoke very good English. He also had an adorable little boy that asked as all to "chink chink" our drinks (toast them). They let us walk around the chateau and take some pictures, it was really fun.
That night was a huge festival in Caen for the summer solstice. The streets were packed, there were tons of bands and lots of streetside crepes, mmm. We didn't know the festival was happening so I didn't have my camera with me - shame!
The next morning, Brent's birthday, we drove to Paris. We had some issues with the Tom-Tom GPS, but we made it finally :) Our hotel was in a great location so that was good. We walked to the Sacre Couer, hiked up the stairs for a great city view, ate an amazing dinner then finished the evening under the lights of the Eiffel Tower.
The Sacre Couer
My favorite Eiffel photo that I took
The next day, we did a Segway tour of Paris. It was really cool and we saw a lot. It was 4 hours long, we had a great tour guide, and a small group with a couple other Aussies. We did a Segway tour in Prague last year and loved it and were not disappointed this time either! We got to see a lot of the city without getting too tired out, gotta love it. That night we took the ride up the Eiffel Tower and that was a blast.
On our final day, we went to the Catacombs which was pretty cool. Brent has wanted to go since he saw a program on it when he was young. It was a bit morbid walking among the millions of bones in patterns, but also really interesting.
Brent found a section that was placed there on his birthday, eerie!
Our final stop was the Palace of Versailles. The lines were so long so we decided not to go inside and just walked around the immense gardens. They are so huge! It was a really hot day so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I have wanted to go there for so long, I loved it! Next trip we'll go inside, but we were at our limit of waiting in lines at that point!
It was an awesome weekend and we had a blast. The food was of course amazing, the people were nice, and the subway was not as stinky as expected. I have a bunch more photos on my flickr site if you care to peruse: www.flickr.com/photos/lauradolman
