Great last breakfast in France. Our host Florence just kept bringing stuff in. She has been great and her place a perfect base.
Met a mother and son from Canada at breakfast. They had done a bike-and -barge tour in Belguim then trained to Bayeux. They were supposed to be elsewhere but there was a train related strike Thur so they had to quickly find a place.
Turns out the guy, is military, and done significant time at Vernon which enabled him to participate/volunteer a lot at Ironman Canada so we had some good conversation. They were trying to figure out how to rectify their itinerary given the changes in train schedules.
The drive to Paris was event-less. The last mile to the rental-car return lot next to train station was, well, not event-less. After a number of hairy-scary loops and breath-holding multi-lane round abouts we finally found the street and got the car dropped off.
Then like most airports, the track for our train to Zurich seemed like 2 miles away. Finding our actual seats and storage for our luggage took some time then we settled in for 4 hr train ride.
We were fortunate to run into a very friendly and helpful customer service rep at Zurich airport. He helped us get our bearings then later when we were outside looking for hotel-bus zone he recognized us and said we should check our bags and bike tonight at air canada's desk and not have to carry them to hotel and back etc.
He finished his smoke and said come on I take you. He did too. Using the staff elevator and hall-pass we got to air canada check in. They were to open in 10 minutes and we scooped 1st in line. Nice to have that done the night before.
We are to overnight at ibis then head back to airport at 8am for our 10am flight to Toronto.
Friday, 14 June 2013
The sands of Juno and Omaha
Primary reason for including Normandy in this trip was first and foremost to visit Juno beach and the Canadian WW2 museum, monument and memorial. Sharon's dad Otto Hansen, proudly served our country in the historical invasion that liberated Europe and put an end to the horror.
I find it surprising that today's museum has only existed since 2002 given the commitment of forces and the number of Canadians who gave up their lives.
The beach itself is actually quite nice. Good sand and a what looks like a great surf for those who like that. The surrounding area has been built up with many condo-like resorts taking advantage of the 8km long beach. In one way sad to see but hey time moves on and it is a beautiful area which should be used.
There are some bunker remains here and there. Most collapsing in some fashion or another. It is something to see walls/roofs that are truly 2-3 meters thick of re-bar laden concrete. You really can't comprehend until you see it.
The museum itself is very well done. Not big or loud. Very Canadian. The displays, the flow, the information simply solid and extremely captivating.
We spent 5 hours at the Juno beach site then headed for the Canadian cemetery and between closed roads due to re-surfacing and detours, our GPS could not get us there. We then rushed to Omaha beach which is about 30min down the road as we knew the memorial closes at 6pm.
The memorial at Omaha beach (which was the only beach bloodier than Juno on D-Day) is big, bold and beautiful. Actually, much more Canadian content then I expected. Seeing the 9,000 or so white crosses live in person rather than on the silver screen is beholding. Without even thinking you start reading the names.
There are many bunkers around, much different set up than Juno cuz Omaha has a hill-top and it was heavily fortified making picking off the assault teams easy stuff.
Just such a contrast to see/feel such absolutely beautiful sand and surf knowing that it was such a different place some 69 years ago.
Toasted those who had fallen and those who came home and became the men/women they were.
I find it surprising that today's museum has only existed since 2002 given the commitment of forces and the number of Canadians who gave up their lives.
The beach itself is actually quite nice. Good sand and a what looks like a great surf for those who like that. The surrounding area has been built up with many condo-like resorts taking advantage of the 8km long beach. In one way sad to see but hey time moves on and it is a beautiful area which should be used.
There are some bunker remains here and there. Most collapsing in some fashion or another. It is something to see walls/roofs that are truly 2-3 meters thick of re-bar laden concrete. You really can't comprehend until you see it.
The museum itself is very well done. Not big or loud. Very Canadian. The displays, the flow, the information simply solid and extremely captivating.
We spent 5 hours at the Juno beach site then headed for the Canadian cemetery and between closed roads due to re-surfacing and detours, our GPS could not get us there. We then rushed to Omaha beach which is about 30min down the road as we knew the memorial closes at 6pm.
The memorial at Omaha beach (which was the only beach bloodier than Juno on D-Day) is big, bold and beautiful. Actually, much more Canadian content then I expected. Seeing the 9,000 or so white crosses live in person rather than on the silver screen is beholding. Without even thinking you start reading the names.
There are many bunkers around, much different set up than Juno cuz Omaha has a hill-top and it was heavily fortified making picking off the assault teams easy stuff.
Just such a contrast to see/feel such absolutely beautiful sand and surf knowing that it was such a different place some 69 years ago.
Toasted those who had fallen and those who came home and became the men/women they were.
Wed, another good day to be indoors, this weather has really begun to be tiresome. Cloudy, windy and unseasonably cool. We did 2 museums today (wed) and did not get to the beaches.
We spent unexpectedly most of the day at the Caen War Museum. It has minimal Canadian content, however, it was engaging and kept our interest.
We knew there was not enough time left in the day to visit the Canadian memorial/museum so we headed back to Bayeux and visited the tapestry. They do kind of rush one thru viewing the artifact by issuing an audioguide (podcast you listen to via a phone like device) that describes what you are seeing and it moves you thru the story. Sorry we have no pictures.
The exposition and additional video were quite well done too.
Dinner was, well, like the others....... super...... at a restaurant that is known for local Normandy menu, the English was weak and we did recognize "tripe" "gizzards" etc. and decided to stick with a pork and chicken offering. Guess which drink is who's?
Plan for tomorrow (Thur) will be Juno beach and the Canadian museum then Omaha beach and the US memorial.
We spent unexpectedly most of the day at the Caen War Museum. It has minimal Canadian content, however, it was engaging and kept our interest.
We knew there was not enough time left in the day to visit the Canadian memorial/museum so we headed back to Bayeux and visited the tapestry. They do kind of rush one thru viewing the artifact by issuing an audioguide (podcast you listen to via a phone like device) that describes what you are seeing and it moves you thru the story. Sorry we have no pictures.
The exposition and additional video were quite well done too.
Dinner was, well, like the others....... super...... at a restaurant that is known for local Normandy menu, the English was weak and we did recognize "tripe" "gizzards" etc. and decided to stick with a pork and chicken offering. Guess which drink is who's?
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Why or how do the French stay thin?
Tue:
Home base established now in the city of Bayeux. We will explore the beaches, monuments and memorial museums from here for the next 3 days.
The drive was just under 5 hours. We selected the alternate (read: no toll) back roads route on the GPS and averaged maybe 75kph total. It was fun seeing so much of the countryside very similar to rural Canada (albeit the villages a century or two older).
To our surprise, our accommodations are not in the outskirts of town, rather Hotel Sainte Croix sits right in the middle of the old village centre. On the up side, we can walk any/everywhere.
The room comes with a small TV, however, no sports channel so no Stanley Cup will be watched.
The dining, oh this is getting tiring, was incredible. A new restaurant that was suggested to us. Once we found it we walked in to find it totally empty. Humm, not a good sign. Within the hour it was hoppin. We keep forgetting that the French like to eat after 8pm so when we start at 7 or 730 it is us who are abnormal.
A twist on the tomato, cheese and basil dish. The tomatoes and cheese are diced, tossed and presented in a cup.
This parcel contained a warm goat cheese, apple and ham with a fairly strong mustard.
Sharon had a stuffed quail on pureed sweet potato.
Monsieur enjoyed a grilled pollock smothered in a sausage accompanied by a small quiche and sweet potato mound topped with a sundried tomato.
Sharon's desert was a apple pie with ice cream. This is apple country and they are in lots of recipes.
They called this creamy chocolate cake. It was creamy, and it was chocolatey, but there was minimal of what I would call "cake". In Canada we would have 2 inches of cake and some icing. This baby was 2 inches on creamy chocolate and 1/4inch cake.
We burned all of maybe 100 calories off with a brief walk as we waited for darkness and the light up of the cathedral.
It is Wednesday morning. We have enjoyed our breakfast and are heading off to the tourist info center for a map then to Caen and the Canadian war memorial and museum.
Home base established now in the city of Bayeux. We will explore the beaches, monuments and memorial museums from here for the next 3 days.
The drive was just under 5 hours. We selected the alternate (read: no toll) back roads route on the GPS and averaged maybe 75kph total. It was fun seeing so much of the countryside very similar to rural Canada (albeit the villages a century or two older).
To our surprise, our accommodations are not in the outskirts of town, rather Hotel Sainte Croix sits right in the middle of the old village centre. On the up side, we can walk any/everywhere.
The room comes with a small TV, however, no sports channel so no Stanley Cup will be watched.
The dining, oh this is getting tiring, was incredible. A new restaurant that was suggested to us. Once we found it we walked in to find it totally empty. Humm, not a good sign. Within the hour it was hoppin. We keep forgetting that the French like to eat after 8pm so when we start at 7 or 730 it is us who are abnormal.
A twist on the tomato, cheese and basil dish. The tomatoes and cheese are diced, tossed and presented in a cup.
This parcel contained a warm goat cheese, apple and ham with a fairly strong mustard.
Sharon had a stuffed quail on pureed sweet potato.
Monsieur enjoyed a grilled pollock smothered in a sausage accompanied by a small quiche and sweet potato mound topped with a sundried tomato.
Sharon's desert was a apple pie with ice cream. This is apple country and they are in lots of recipes.
They called this creamy chocolate cake. It was creamy, and it was chocolatey, but there was minimal of what I would call "cake". In Canada we would have 2 inches of cake and some icing. This baby was 2 inches on creamy chocolate and 1/4inch cake.
We burned all of maybe 100 calories off with a brief walk as we waited for darkness and the light up of the cathedral.
It is Wednesday morning. We have enjoyed our breakfast and are heading off to the tourist info center for a map then to Caen and the Canadian war memorial and museum.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Walk-about
We spent 5 hours following a walking tour map, and some friendly advice from an elderly transplanted british gentleman.
Chinon's primary history surrounds the fortress dating back to the 11th century. The structure itself is nothing like the chateaus and palaces we have been visiting, this is more of a ruin.
We did not tour the actual fortress on the advice of our new found friend. We did explore the roads and alleys leading away from it where there are amazing old cave homes.
As the immediate area is really cliffs down to the river, people carved out homes in the face of the cliffs.
Today, rich city folks are renovating them into unique homes, part of their house makes use of the caves.
The authorities closed off many of them, and the local kids we were told opened them back up for hang outs.
We stopped at a market, purchased some chips, wine and some glasses (drinking out of the bottle is so not French) and ate our lunch on the river.
Found the tourist information centre which has wifi, where we updated the blog then walked again for a couple more hours before returning back to our room.
We had arranged a tour of the winery with our host for 6pm. A couple from Germany joined us for the tour.
This vineyard/winery does about 120,000 bottles per year. They have 20 huge stainless steel vats. All the wine is stored in the hollowed out rock.
This area stays at a steady 12 degrees and 74% humidity which she says is ideal for the aging of the wine. They do some with oak.
We did some tasting and she gave us the bottle of the stuff we thought was our favourite.
At the moment (8:30pm Mon) it is pretty much empty so I guess we will be buying some more in the morning.
Tuesday is transition day as we head north to Normandy. Will update Wed.
Chinon's primary history surrounds the fortress dating back to the 11th century. The structure itself is nothing like the chateaus and palaces we have been visiting, this is more of a ruin.
We did not tour the actual fortress on the advice of our new found friend. We did explore the roads and alleys leading away from it where there are amazing old cave homes.
As the immediate area is really cliffs down to the river, people carved out homes in the face of the cliffs.
Today, rich city folks are renovating them into unique homes, part of their house makes use of the caves.
The authorities closed off many of them, and the local kids we were told opened them back up for hang outs.
We stopped at a market, purchased some chips, wine and some glasses (drinking out of the bottle is so not French) and ate our lunch on the river.
Found the tourist information centre which has wifi, where we updated the blog then walked again for a couple more hours before returning back to our room.
We had arranged a tour of the winery with our host for 6pm. A couple from Germany joined us for the tour.
This vineyard/winery does about 120,000 bottles per year. They have 20 huge stainless steel vats. All the wine is stored in the hollowed out rock.
This area stays at a steady 12 degrees and 74% humidity which she says is ideal for the aging of the wine. They do some with oak.
We did some tasting and she gave us the bottle of the stuff we thought was our favourite.
At the moment (8:30pm Mon) it is pretty much empty so I guess we will be buying some more in the morning.
Tuesday is transition day as we head north to Normandy. Will update Wed.
Monday, 10 June 2013
Castle free day.
Today we are spending just meandering the streets and alleys of Chinon and taking in the sights. The wifi offered by the Tourist Info Centre is great but quite slow. We will update soon.
Ring Roads and Castles
Apologies to our avid followers for the gap. Friday was a travel day, and our current accommodations do not have 7x24 wifi, rather there is wifi access during the office hours of the partner vineyard and wine shop business.
The Loire:
Our journey to the castles and vineyards of the Loire Valley by car. The plan was we would taxi to the train station we arrived in Paris and depart from there with a car rental. The idea being when our trip was over we could easily connect with our train to Zurich and our flight back home. Good plan.
What this meant was that we would have to drive thru and out of Paris. Now I know busy and backed up traffic, Canada is not immune. However, at home we stay in our lanes (we know cuz they are painted), we signal, we yield on agreed upon protocol. I know that to the seasoned French drivers (car, truck or scooter) and pedestrians, what we witness is not reckless abandonment of everything we know driving-wise, rather, an orchestrated symphony of chaos to scare the crap out of us rigid North Americans.
Mission accomplished. I salute the Parisians. I was scared, terrified is more like it.
We arrived at the Sixt car rental express kiosk and naturally the car we reserved was not available and they need to substitute. No problem as long as it is big enough with hatch for my bike case and our luggage. We came to an agreement on a Renault Clio cross-over like model. The hatch ended up not being big enough for the bike case, that is why we asked for 4-door model, to ensure we had an option. The bike case easily slid into back seat thru the passenger door.
Now, to get from he parking garage to the freeway (ring road express way) that will lead us out of Paris and south. That task we figured would be handled easily with the navigation system in the car. Yep, that is what we thought. Well, it took us a bit of time to transverse the French to get English set up as the language. Problem, is that appeared to be just for the female voice, everything else stayed in French. Good grief. To cut the story short, we did get a destination inputted and we did exit the parking garage with fingers crossed.
The next 30 minutes were hairy-scary. Lots of construction, a missed "keep right" or "bear left" then finally we were on the ring-road and moving at a fantastic speed of perhaps 20kph. We did with the great directions of our GPS exit the express way and made our way south then west. In total about 3.5 hours all said and done.
The Loire river kind of cuts the country in half with the valley running east-west. Home to a thousand castles, chateaus and palaces of all shapes and sizes. Hundreds of these, mostly restored during the Renaissance period are available to the public (with a fee of course). A very important agricultural region to the country and world renown vineyards.
So castles and vineyards it is then for 4 days.
Our home base is the Chinon area. Specifically the Domain De Beasejour Vineyard and B&B.
Chinon a pleasing, sleepy town straddles the Vienne River and hides its ancient streets under a historic royal fortress. Chinon is best known for its popular red wines and a great launching point for seeing the sights west of Tours. Additionally we decided on Chinon as our base because it offers a peaceful world of quiet cobbled lanes, historic buildings, and few tourists because you pretty much need a car.
Breakfast was on the terrace of the main house. It was about 17degrees with somewhat threatening skies. With the suggestion of our host we targeted two specific Chateaus to view. The first Villandry and the second Langeais. The former much grandeur and with an absolutely stunning garden. We spent nearly 4 hours there before tracking down a country farm lunch-house highly recommended by Rick Steves. We spent a full hour enjoying our hazel nut terrine, steamed asparagus, unique bacon and other trimmings before experiencing desert of 3 layer chocolate brownie, sautéed pineapple, fritters, ice cream and a dose of dark chocolate.
The second chateau Langais is a park right on the river bank. Not a defensive structure and more of a palace the rooms were very well restored with period furnishings and the narrative very informative. Very little of the 14th century structure actually exists but the 15th and 16th rebuild was well done.
Since lunch was quite filling, we decided to pick up some groceries on the way to our B&B for a light dinner and tomorrow's lunch.
Sunday:
Woke up to rainy weather, decided not run and slept another 45min. After breakfast we made our lunch and headed east to try to take in 3 castles.
The first was Chambord. Next about 30 min down the road we visited Chateau Cheverny.
Are attempt at 3 was a bit aggressive as we found it past 6 when we exited Cheverny. So we headed back to our base and stopped for dinner at a place recommended by our host. The French sure know how to do salads as we feasted on a very eclectic array of veggies mixed in with cheeses, egg and ham. Desert was apple crumble and a crème caramel. Finally made it back to room at 9pm. These days are just too long.
The Loire:
Our journey to the castles and vineyards of the Loire Valley by car. The plan was we would taxi to the train station we arrived in Paris and depart from there with a car rental. The idea being when our trip was over we could easily connect with our train to Zurich and our flight back home. Good plan.
What this meant was that we would have to drive thru and out of Paris. Now I know busy and backed up traffic, Canada is not immune. However, at home we stay in our lanes (we know cuz they are painted), we signal, we yield on agreed upon protocol. I know that to the seasoned French drivers (car, truck or scooter) and pedestrians, what we witness is not reckless abandonment of everything we know driving-wise, rather, an orchestrated symphony of chaos to scare the crap out of us rigid North Americans.
Mission accomplished. I salute the Parisians. I was scared, terrified is more like it.
We arrived at the Sixt car rental express kiosk and naturally the car we reserved was not available and they need to substitute. No problem as long as it is big enough with hatch for my bike case and our luggage. We came to an agreement on a Renault Clio cross-over like model. The hatch ended up not being big enough for the bike case, that is why we asked for 4-door model, to ensure we had an option. The bike case easily slid into back seat thru the passenger door.
Now, to get from he parking garage to the freeway (ring road express way) that will lead us out of Paris and south. That task we figured would be handled easily with the navigation system in the car. Yep, that is what we thought. Well, it took us a bit of time to transverse the French to get English set up as the language. Problem, is that appeared to be just for the female voice, everything else stayed in French. Good grief. To cut the story short, we did get a destination inputted and we did exit the parking garage with fingers crossed.
The next 30 minutes were hairy-scary. Lots of construction, a missed "keep right" or "bear left" then finally we were on the ring-road and moving at a fantastic speed of perhaps 20kph. We did with the great directions of our GPS exit the express way and made our way south then west. In total about 3.5 hours all said and done.
The Loire river kind of cuts the country in half with the valley running east-west. Home to a thousand castles, chateaus and palaces of all shapes and sizes. Hundreds of these, mostly restored during the Renaissance period are available to the public (with a fee of course). A very important agricultural region to the country and world renown vineyards.
So castles and vineyards it is then for 4 days.
Our home base is the Chinon area. Specifically the Domain De Beasejour Vineyard and B&B.
Chinon a pleasing, sleepy town straddles the Vienne River and hides its ancient streets under a historic royal fortress. Chinon is best known for its popular red wines and a great launching point for seeing the sights west of Tours. Additionally we decided on Chinon as our base because it offers a peaceful world of quiet cobbled lanes, historic buildings, and few tourists because you pretty much need a car.
Breakfast was on the terrace of the main house. It was about 17degrees with somewhat threatening skies. With the suggestion of our host we targeted two specific Chateaus to view. The first Villandry and the second Langeais. The former much grandeur and with an absolutely stunning garden. We spent nearly 4 hours there before tracking down a country farm lunch-house highly recommended by Rick Steves. We spent a full hour enjoying our hazel nut terrine, steamed asparagus, unique bacon and other trimmings before experiencing desert of 3 layer chocolate brownie, sautéed pineapple, fritters, ice cream and a dose of dark chocolate.
The second chateau Langais is a park right on the river bank. Not a defensive structure and more of a palace the rooms were very well restored with period furnishings and the narrative very informative. Very little of the 14th century structure actually exists but the 15th and 16th rebuild was well done.
Since lunch was quite filling, we decided to pick up some groceries on the way to our B&B for a light dinner and tomorrow's lunch.
Sunday:
Woke up to rainy weather, decided not run and slept another 45min. After breakfast we made our lunch and headed east to try to take in 3 castles.
The first was Chambord. Next about 30 min down the road we visited Chateau Cheverny.
Are attempt at 3 was a bit aggressive as we found it past 6 when we exited Cheverny. So we headed back to our base and stopped for dinner at a place recommended by our host. The French sure know how to do salads as we feasted on a very eclectic array of veggies mixed in with cheeses, egg and ham. Desert was apple crumble and a crème caramel. Finally made it back to room at 9pm. These days are just too long.
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