I’m posting twice today. Since my Normandy post was so intense, I thought I’d let it stand on its own. Sorry that it’s so long, but I wish you could have experienced Normandy with us and wanted to give you just a little taste of what it was like for us. So now back to the rest of France. Once we got back to Bayeux, we had dinner at an outdoor restaurant with some of our friends from Saugatuck, Michigan and Chicago. What a coincidence that we all have ties to the same area! We’re making plans to get together when we’re up north. I entertained them with “Dottie stories” from our first trip. They laughed so hard. It was a lot of fun, but on to some misadventures. The other day when we got way to the top of the monastery, I found that my memory card was full! Horror of horrors! You know me and my pictures. I frantically tried to delete earlier pictures (which I had saved on my laptop). It was really quiet when the guide was talking, and I could see people looking around to see where that beep...beep...beep sound was coming from in a monastery with no modern conveniences! And at the American Cemetery yesterday, Ann walked into a glass door! I’m telling you, they keep that place too clean! I'm losing track of days now. I was too tired to pack up my suitcase the other night, so I got up at 5:30 this morning to do it--only to find out that we weren't leaving there until the next day. The packing/repacking is getting confusing. My curling iron was MIA for 24 hours, and today it's my comb. And the plumbing continues to be a problem. Every time we change hotels, we have to relearn how to use everything. I had a tough time figuring out how to get the water on in the shower this morning, but the place we stayed at in Bayeux was really nice. There are three buildings here--the mansion, "granny's house," and the stables. Guess where we were staying. That was a no brainer. Actually, though, the rooms are just as nice in the stables as in the other buildings. HOWEVER, the Internet connection was lousy in our room. That’s why you didn’t get a post yesterday. Last night, though, I had to check my mail. Boomer has diarrhea, and I’ve gotten several frantic messages from John and Robin regarding the little guy’s digestive issues. Can you guess that John is not too happy right about now? About 10:30 PM, I finally took my laptop to the office, where the signal is fine. The office closes at 11:00 though, so I didn’t have much time. I went back to the room and tried to get on again there, but no luck, so I went downstairs and outside the stable door and sat on the ground typing on the computer. Pretty soon some noisy Americans (not our group) came back to the hotel and were locked out, of course. Eventually the owner came out to let them in. He saw me by the stable and came over, waving his arms and speaking French as fast as he could. I have no idea what he was saying. I tried to explain why I was there, and he waved me to the office. I think he was going to let me work up there, but I was too embarrassed and just shut my laptop and ran upstairs. When I got back to the room, I decided to shave my legs. The sink is really, really high. Try as I might, I was not able to fling my leg over the counter to get it in the sink. I grabbed the rickety old chair in the room and stood on it. When Ann saw me, she started yelling: “Are you crazy? What are you doing? Do you want to kill yourself? If you fall and kill yourself, what am I going to do with your body? I don’t even know if John has a passport!” Where’s her sense of adventure? We’re now back to Paris for one last night in France. :( We made our last interesting stop at Giverny to see Monet’s gardens. I got some “postcard” pictures, but not nearly as many as I could have as we spent most of our time in the gift shop. Speaking of which, Ann purchased another suitcase today. Oh, and Ann is not the only adventurous eater on the trip. I ate crawfish—and loved them! It was hard saying good-bye tonight to all the wonderful people we met on the tour! But onward to new adventures in Italy. Deb is on her way. Venice here we come!

One of the reasons I picked this tour is that it included Normandy. For years, every time I saw pictures or stories about the American Cemetery, I thought it would be wonderful to see it. I never thought I could, but now this dream has come true for me! It was an incredible experience visiting the beaches in Normandy and ending the tour at the cemetery. I don't think my eyes were dry all day long. We had a wonderful British guide for the whole day. He has made it his life's mission to study this period of history, and he has talked to hundreds of veterans and told us their stories and showed us their pictures. He loves these men and treats their stories with such reverence. He talked about the war movies we're all familiar with and told us the rest of the stories, those that were incorrect or just not finished in the movies. We made a quick stop first at the German cemetery, where about a third of the dead were teens or seniors who were conscripted at the end of the war--the expendable soldiers. Our next stop was the town of Sainte Mere Eglise. It was made famous by the movie The Longest Day, where Red Buttons played the paratrooper whose chute was caught on the bell tower of the church. But there was more to the story. Another soldier was caught on the other side of the bell tower and still another was on the ground. A German soldier mortally wounded the man on the ground (right where we stood) and turned to shoot the soldiers on the bell tower. Before he died, the soldier on the ground shot the German and saved the lives of his buddies. That wasn't in the movie. Our guide Stuart told us about a man named Bob Murphy whose story was also in the movie. Bob came back to this town several times every year and became like a godfather to the villagers. Everyone knew him. (He was actually an attorney to the Kennedys after the war.) Stuart came to know him quite well, and the last time Stuart saw him, Bob told him he had a terminal illness and wouldn't be back again. He knew Stuart always told his story on the tours, so he said he would be looking down and smiling whenever Stuart gave his tour. In Utah Beach, the boats had to come in at low tide because there were so many obstacles and mines planted there. So many things went wrong that day. The boats landed there by mistake, about a mile from where they were supposed to be. It was lucky because they only lost 190 out of 16,000 (imagine 16,000!) men that day, but within three weeks there were 5,000 casualties. Standing there looking out from the beach, it was hard to wrap my mind around the idea that 826,000 men landed here. Pointe du Hoc was probably the most moving site. This is where 225 Rangers climbed 100 foot cliffs. The area had been shelled by air for six and a half weeks before D-Day. I wasn’t expecting to see all the craters. It really makes war seem real for the first time to see physical evidence like this. Our guide Arnaud told us later that’s why the French were so against the second Iraq war. So much of their country had been devastated by the war, and they were hesitant to wish this on anyone. The job of the Rangers on D-Day was to take out six big German guns on Pointe du Hoc and hold the road until reinforcements came. Of the 225 men, 167 made it up the cliffs through heavy fire. Once they got there, they found telephone poles instead of guns. When the shelling began, the Germans moved the guns. At the end of the movie, one of the men said something about it being all for nothing, but once again, that wasn’t the end of the story. Two soldiers found five of the six guns hidden in an orchard unattended by the Germans who were up on a hill watching the invasion on Omaha Beach. They used fermite (?) bombs to incapacitate the guns. Other Rangers took the road. Mission accomplished. But instead of waiting for three hours as planned for others to come, it was 60 hours under heavy fire before the reinforcements could get there. In the end, only 87 men of the original 225 were alive. On Omaha Beach, it was to be shock and awe by the air force, and the men arriving by boat were just supposed to mop up. Once again, things didn’t go as planned. Because of heavy fog and low clouds, the planes were unable to see anything. They couldn’t risk bombing our men,so they couldn’t drop most of the bombs. 95% of the targets were missed. The men coming by boat were easy targets—85% of them lost their lives that day. Stuart has told this story hundreds of times, but he was still emotional, as were we. We were on American soil when we visited the American Cemetery. France has given this piece of land to the U.S. Nearly10.000 Americans are buried there, about one third of those who died in the Battle of Normandy. There are 42 sets of brothers and a father/son buried there. It’s such a beautiful place! It’s landscaped so beautifully, and there’s not a blade of grass out of place. It’s situated right along the water. You would be proud of it. It was a very, very moving experience. Stuart helped Ann find the grave of her sister-in-law’s uncle, Theodore Zajac. When he saw the date of death, he said there were very few casualties that day and that Theodore may have been wounded a few days early. I can’t imagine having a better guide at this special, special place. This is definitely one of the highlights of my trip to France.

When my eyes opened this morning, they were greeted with the sight of the sun rising on Mont St. Michel. Talk about a room with a view! Later, we went up to the abby. When we finally got to the door of the abby, I thought that wasn't so bad. But it was like a Disney line--as soon as you get in the building, you see more lines. Well, once we got in, there were probably another two hundred stairs. It was worth it, though. We had a great guide, and it was so interesting to hear about how the abby was built. It was started in about 700, and it was built on a peak of the mountain. Crypts were built first to make the top flat. Only 13 monks live there now, and the youngest is only 19 years old. Only 25 residents altogether live on the island. Only two rooms had fireplaces--the room where royalty stayed when they made pilgrimages there and the room where the monks copied manuscripts because they couldn't write if their hands were cold. The abby was so fortified with the walls that it was never invaded in any war. Legend has it that St. Michel always protected it. The statue of St. Michel acts as a lightning rod and still protects the mount today. Very interesting tour. Ann decided to skip the walk up to the top and spend her time shopping. She enjoyed that very much except for when a pigeon made a deposit on her! In the afternoon we went to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066. We really enjoyed seeing it. It's unreal that this was done nearly a thousand years ago! Afterwards we went into the cathedral and saw where the tapestry was originally displayed. Ann has been lighting candles at every church we visit. We had the very best meal by far tonight with our group--well, except for the topping on the salad which was foi gras, gizzards and bacon. We picked all of that stuff off, and the rest was pretty good. The entree was great. It was filet mignon with a wonderful mushroom sauce. FYI, filet mignon is pork. Arnaud said he can't get over how in the states we call beef filet mignon. The dessert was awesome too--raspberry Charlotte. Bathroom update: Today we were happy to find one that had a men's door and a women's door; however, once you got inside, there was no wall between the rooms! In case you missed it, I posted earlier today also as yesterday I had no Internet access. More pictures too.

Yesterday was an interesting day, to say the least. We had a five hour bus ride to Mont St. Michel, but we made a couple of stops on the way. The first time we stopped, everyone headed for the restrooms. When I saw the squat toilet, I couldn't believe it. I thought they were only in Italy. No one seemed to be making a fuss, however, so I didn't complain. Turns out all the toilets were normal except for mine! But that's not the end of it. We next stopped for lunch at an awesome midieval village called Fougeres. The specialty of the area was crepes, so I was in heaven. Before we left, I thought I'd stop in the restaurant restroom. Big mistake. It was a unisex restroom....with no door....one urinal and two stalls....and the urinal was occupied! I stepped back and tried to nonchalantly look at brochures until the guy was gone. One of the stalls had a light but no paper, and the other had paper but no light! Oh, I can't wait to see what we get in Italy. The next stop we made was Cancale to see the oyster farms and have an oyster tasting. Arnaud, our guide, told us there are rules for everything in France, and he had to show us the correct way to eat oysters. There were two different kinds. Ann ate both kinds. She has been very adventurous in her eating! You should see what she had for dinner tonight. She had an appetizer which included the whole shrimp, eyes and all. They are black, beady eyes, and I thought they were fake eyes, but no--they were real. She ate them--not the eyes, just the shrimp. She also ate big snails, baby snails, and baby shrimp as well as oysters. This part of the country, Brittany, is known for omelettes, so that's what I had for an appetizer. I had some poison for my main course. Actually, it's poisson in French, which means fish. It was cooked in parchment. I don't know where the French come up with this food! And the cheese in this part of the country is nasty, made from sheep I think. Not at all like the others we've had. We both said we were anxious to get to Italy and just eat pasta and gelato. We are in Mont St. Michel now. There's a monastery built on a mountain, and the town is built around the monastery. We were a little disappointed because the tide is so low. Usually when the tide comes in, it's really cool because this place becomes an island, but now it's more like a sand dunes. There are tons of flies and mosquitos, and the stairs! Oh my, the stairs! Our room was the highest of anyone's, and we had a terrace. There's a cemetery about two stories down from our room. We figured it was for the people who couldn't quite make it as far as our room! But wow, what a view! After dinner, I went for a walk on the ramparts and got to the top by the abby. Robin, it's like Matera but with five times as many stairs. And Billie Jo, be sure to do some heavy-duty walking in the evenings or you're going to have a hard time keeping up with me when we walk in the park! The bus ride was great. The French countryside is beautiful with its stone houses, some with thatched roofs, with brightly colored roses threllised along the walls. There were white cows, black roosters, sheep, horses, and even windmills. So, so beautiful! I’ll try to write again tonight to catch up with today’s activities.

Today was a fantastic day. BTW, thanks for all your mother's day wishes (and cards!). Our hotel is so cute! We open the windows and the smell of the roses comes in the room. We had the best bread at breakfast (found out it's brioche) with homemade jelly that the owners make. There are about 50 varieties that they make. And we eat goat cheese with honey and walnuts that we shell ourselves and put it on the bread. And the croissants are THE best I've ever eaten. Good thing we're walking off all these carbs. Today was supposed to be a two people day, but it was definitely a four people day before it was over. Even I was tired. We went to another chateau, Chenancou, but it was way better than yesterday. I definitely wouldn't have minded living here except there was not a bathroom in the whole place. And Ann found her House Hunter's International, believe it or not, at the chateau! She liked this chateau a lot. The place she picked was actually the farmhouse, but it really was awesome. Afterwards, we went th Amboise where we chose to take a tour of the house in which Leonardo da Vinci spent his last three years. They had a wonderful display there. They took the plans for all his inventions and built them--a plane, a car, ball bearings, etc. It was fascinating, and the gardens were beautiful. And the best part, Ann says their restroom was 4-Star! This evening we had a wine tasting at the hotel which was so, so fun. The owner of the hotel is a wine expert, and we learned so much. Well, not that much apparently, because he gave us a quiz, and I came in way near the bottom. One thing I learned was that in France they do not irrigate the vineyards.  The grapes "have to find their own water."  That's why it makes such a difference from year to year whether the wine is good or not.  You've heard people say that it was such a good year?  That's why.  We both ate pate. Can you believe it? I think I ate it because I was a little tipsy after five glasses of wine, so I probably would have even eaten the horsemeat! (Ann thinks you don't believe she ate horsemeat. Do you?) Afterwards, I wanted to take a walk on the ramparts, which probably wasn't a good idea after all that wine, but I had company. Four of us ended up going. The ramparts are the stone wall which was built around the whole town for protection, and the views were awesome. Ann wisely chose just to head off for dinner with other members of the group. We joined them later, and it was a really great evening. I had been wanting to try a tart tatin (upside down apple pie), and I had that after dinner. It was great! We came home after 10 o'clock, so we all had to use our keys to get in the back way. Kind of like sneaking in after curfew. We held up OK in spite of all our stair climbing today, but tomorrow is the real test. It's about a million stairs up Mont St. Michel, so we can't even take our suitcases, just a small bag. Alissa, we haven't found any French princes, but we have had an awful lot of cute waiters. Your grandmother wanted me to take a picture of the one tonight, but I couldn't do it without being too obvious. Actually, the guy who came into our hotel room in Paris was even cuter. I mean--he was REALLY cute. He unlocked the door and came in unannounced (your grandmother was in her PJ's already). He didn't speak English very well, and I kept asking him what he was doing there! Finally I figured out he was there to adjust the A/C. He apologized that his English wasn't so good. I thought with looks like that, even his French didn't have to be good! You wouldn't believe how teeny, tiny our shower is. And the light in the bathroom is over the shower. I saw Ann putting her makeup on in the shower this morning. Time to pack for tomorrow. I'll put a few new pictures on tonight, but I don't think I'll drag my laptop up Mont St. Michel tomorrow.

We're now in Chinon, another cute little French town. And our hotel couldn't be more charming. We had a busy day before we got here, though. In the morning, we split up in groups to shop for our picnic lunch in the market. We had to buy the cheese. It was so much fun trying to ask questions in French and make decisions. There's one cheese that's called "horse dung" because it looks like that. It's as hard as a hockey puck and covered in mold, but it is so good! It's my favorite. We bought about six different kinds. Most of the cheese here is goat cheese, very yummy. Afterwards, Ann and I went walking around town. She likes to shop, and I like to take pictures. While I took off to take some shots, she'd pop into a store and look around. Before we left for Chinon, we all met in the park for our lunch. We had meats, cheeses, breads, fruit, and desserts and a few bottles of wine. The weather was perfect, and we both enjoyed it very much. Ann especially loved the sausage and was a little disappointed when it was gone. I was chatting with Cesar, and he told me that it was made of--Jody stop reading right now--horsemeat! Yes, horsemeat. I was debating whether to tell her or not, but I couldn't help myself. I grabbed my camera and told her right then and there. She was surprised to say the least, but she said she still liked it. We were a little sad to leave Bourges, but it was time to leave. On the way we stopped at a chateau in Chambord. It was used as a little hunting retreat in the 1500's. It was a long walk to get there, and there were lots and lots of stairs. Ann did not like it at all. She said it was fake! I pointed out the silk wall coverings, and she said, "fake, fake, fake." She said some Disney people probably made it. Personally, I don't think I'd want to live in a chateau either. There's a spiral staircase that goes up about five flights of stairs in the center. Can you imagine wearing those hot, bulky dresses and going down that spiral staircase every day? And what if you forgot something upstairs? Forget it. And who needs over 400 rooms? Aren't 200 enough? Anyway, it's interesting to see how royalty lived. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's chateau. Ann does like the cathedrals, though, and she was glad to see one in Chinon. We had probably our best meal of the trip tonight at our group dinner. We had a salad with bacon and hot goat cheese (very good), perch wrapped in a pastry and some sort of noodle thing. The dessert was awesome. I'm not sure what it was, but it was great! The French do make good pastries. And it's official--I've learned everybody's name! Our daily problem? Our tub/shower in Bourges had a clothes line that you could string across, so I decided to wash some clothes. In the morning, I took down the clothes. When it was time to take a shower, I forgot that the line was still there. It was exactly at neck height, and I almost decapitated myself. When we were in Paris, we saw the last thing Marie Antoinette saw before she was guillotined, and all I could think of was that the last thing I would see in my life was a shower stall in France!  And for those of you who wondered why she wasn't smiling in all the pictures, she said that she's taking lessons from her new BFF, Mona Lisa. We're having a lot of fun, wish you were all here, and we're enjoying hearing from you. Check out our pictures. This is the best Internet connection so far!

We love Paris, but we also love Bourges! On the way, we stopped at Guedelon, where a midieval castle is being built using tools and techniques during that period. It was very, very enjoyable. Interesting, and the forest setting was beautiful. We had a picnic lunch with the group with eclairs for dessert. Ann made the supreme sacrifice and gave me the chocolate one while she ate the coffee flavored on (not too good--as bad as our ice cream last night). We had a four hour bus ride to Bourges, and the French countryside is beautiful. We stopped to take pictures of the vineyards. I'm afraid I'm having trouble getting the photos on line tonight, but maybe tomorrow. Bourges is just on the edge of Burgundy, in the Berry region, near the Loire River. We had some awesome wine from the region. It's Sancerre, if you can find it on line or anywhere. Walking around Bourges is like walking around a movie set. Most of the buildings were built in the thirteenth century. The cathedral was incredible. The stained glass windows were even more impressive than Sainte-Chappelle. Our guide was wonderful! She had so much knowledge, and explained the stories in the windows. After the tour, quite a few of us went to dinner at an outdoor cafe. The waiters spoke almost no English, and the menus were only in French. We pulled out our French phrase books, but it was difficult to figure out what everything was. The couple with us got their salads a good 20 minutes before our food came. Jane's dinner was not what she ordered, but she didn't want to send it back because it would take too long. And their desserts were not what they ordered. The people at the next table waited about an hour for their food. One of the waiters walked away down the street and didn't reappear until much, much later. But the wine was great! Put a big smile on Ann's face! ;) Afterwards we walked around the town. They have a light show after dark, which was nice. The cathedral is lit up at night and music of the time is played throughout the town. Ann said if Bourges was on Househunters International, she could definitely live here. It's got very few American tourists--it's not even in the Rick Steves book because it's away from everything. A real gem. We picked up some trivia today. Cul de sac literally means butt of the bag, or bottom of the bag. French roosters don't say cock-a-doodle-doo. Instead they say cock-a-rico. We saw lots of cats in Bourges, Robin. Reminds me of Vieste. Problems today? A couple. I didn't hear my alarm this morning at 6:00. I didn't wake up until 6:30. Ann got up early and was in the bathroom when she heard it go off. She was afraid that I died or something (not that she bothered to check!) and was wondering what she would do. And my clothes got wet on the floor again. We had a very tiny elevator in the hotel in Paris. When we were trying to squeeze in (think subway) with our luggage, Ann had to reach over me to push the button. We kept going to the basement and up to the same floor we were on. Finally we realized that we were pushing "1" to go the first floor. In Europe, the first floor is "0". I wasn't able to answer any of my e-mails today, I'm afraid. This Internet connection is screwy here. Maybe tomorrow....