good bye France

We are headed back to Germany for a couple of days before setting out on yet another adventure . . . which has not been decided yet! We caught a taxi to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport. I have never flown (is that a word?) in or out of CDG because of all the horrid stories I hear. Well, now I know why . . . NEVER, EVER again! We had a direct flight from Paris to Munich at 8:45am . . . we arrived around 7:00am . . . let me just say the Lufthansa line was unbelievable. We checked in at the kiosk and the line to drop bags was unbelievable . . . so we got in a shorter line that said "service" . . . well at 8:10 we were still in line when I saw a lady holding a sign for the Munich flight. I waved and she moved us to the front. We would have never made our flight . . . we drop bags and hurried to security . . . had our boarding pass scanned at least 3 times . . . arrived at the gate where boarding begins. Did I stress that I hope to NEVER fly into or out of CDG?

We were so happy to be back in Germany!!! As we waited for our bags, I was approached by a photographer who wanted to take Colin's photo. I was like okay. It was some unveiling of a Munich display in the terminal and it was press day . . . of course the little stinker posed and did exactly what they said only to finish and say to me, "Mom, I worked very hard today." Seriously, it was so funny and I just rolled my eyes and walked on because I knew the bakery had a nice fresh pretzel with butter waiting for me!

Colin's Photo of the Day
Just another shot of a 'vehicle' . . .

Paris in a Day

I was determined to some how see 'under' Paris. If the catacombs wasn't the way then maybe I would give this a try . . .

. . . do you know what that means? Of course I don't know French either but it was a tour of the sewer system or underground pipe system . . . sounds gross doesn't it? Well, actually it was pretty educational and neat. It did not smell that bad either. It opened at 11am so we got there at 10:30am . . . I told you I was determined. We would have been first in line but did not want to look silly standing in line so we fed the pigeons.

It was another first for me in Paris . . . I climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe . . .

OMG that's a lot of steps especially when a certain six year old is running and I am trying to keep up! I made it and trying to recover . . .

Finally all better and able to smile . . .

A view of our next stop from above and far away . . . Sacre Coeur

My favorite spot to just hang out and relax in Paris is here . . . do you see us?

It was time to leave the city and head to a hotel near the airport. Colin is thrilled because it has a pool and honestly I am too . . . need some relax time. When we arrived we could not get a taxi to take us to the hotel. They told us to just wait for the free shuttle bus. We waited and waited and one to our hotel never showed up . . . we again asked to be taken to the hotel and finally the last guy in line agreed to take us. He really did not know where it was but found it. How surprising that a taxi driver did not want to get guaranteed money? The hotel was nice . . . we quickly got our suits and headed to the pool . . . only to be told no because they were having a water kickboxing, aerobic, high energy class . . . I had one disappointed little boy. We waited for 30 minutes and the class ended . . . we both got in and the water was cold but felt oh so good. Since the hotel was basically in the middle of no where the only option for dinner was at the hotel . . . how bad could it be? BAD! I mean BAD! Colin ordered the fish and it came out still frozen inside . . . I sent it back. It tasted terrible both times but at least the second time it was warm. I ordered a chicken breast that had to be sitting for at least 20 minutes before it made it to the table . . . I am sure I was being 'punished' for sending back the frozen fish. Oh well at least the fries were yummy! It is an early wake up so to bed we go.
Colin's Photo of the Day
Just one to show we now have probably a thousand shots of emergency vehicles . . .

to Paris

After the quick stop in Rouen it was time to head to Paris . . . drop off the rental car at the airport and hopefully a quick ride into the city. This was my 5th trip to Paris and there was one place I was never able to visit . . . it closed at 4pm. We arrived at our hotel around 3:00pm and quickly set out to see if we could make it. We got there at 3:30pm and there was a line . . . we were told we would probably not make it inside but could stay if we wanted to take a chance. I wanted to stay since I knew it was closed on Monday because this was our only change to get inside. At 4:00pm, the line was closed to enter . . . guess where we were? 5 people from the front . . . can you believe that? I was very disappointed! What upset me the most, even though I knew the place 'closed' one hour before the 'real' closing, was we were SO close . . . I pleaded that we would walk super fast but no luck. I tried to play the pity card and stuck Colin in front of the sign and said, "Stand there and let me at least take your photo since they did not let us in." Oh well, guess it means some day I must go back. Now that I have totally built up this place let me tell you where it was . . .

Did that catch you by surprise? You can go here to read more; maybe next time I can see it in person. Totally weird but it is a very popular place to visit and when you have been five times you sort of branch out to odd places. It took me the rest of the day to get over it but I am over it! We hoped back on the Metro and headed to Notre Dame . . .

and found this lady which Colin really loved . . .

. . . she was such a happy person and went to anyone who was standing around and would get them involved. It was hilarious watching this Asian man! In case you are wondering, YES tons of hand sanitizer was used after we left!

After a typical tourist menu meal . . . which was cheap and good by the way . . . it was time for a Seine River Cruise. Colin was not as interested as I thought he would be but it was nice to sit and feel the cool breeze. I liked these faces on one of the bridges . . .

During the boat ride as we passed the Eiffel Tower I asked Colin if he would like to go to the top of it . . . he said, "no way!" I told him too bad because I had already bought our tickets . . . such a great mother. After the boat ride we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower. Of course the lines were ridiculously long, but I had purchased our tickets online . . . great idea! NOTE: always check to see if you can pre-book tickets to popular sites. The pre-purchased ticket line had no one, and we merged right in to get on the elevator to level 2! Of course the second line from level 2 to the summit was longer but only waited about 30 minutes. Colin was getting excited and once we were on top and outside he was thrilled and not nervous at all and started taking a closer look down below . . .

It was very crowded at the summit as it was around 9:45pm and the sun was starting to set . . . never thought about that when I booked tickets but the crowd was bearable. We went back down to level 2 where I told Colin I had a surprise for him . . . when I pulled it out he gave me some love . . .

. . . and then we both had a drink of hot Dr. Pepper. Where did I find Dr. Pepper in Europe? When in London 5 days earlier . . . yes, I carried it around for that long. So we spent the evening of the 4th of July on top of the Eiffel Tower sipping Dr. Pepper. Oh and YES it tasted like a real Dr. Pepper!

It was a great day . . . but long!

Colin's Photo of the DayHe said he was going to tell Papa . . . planning at dinner as usual!

to Rouen

Today we made a quick stop in Rouen or as I like to call it Joan of Arc town. Before we left the hotel I told Colin to go to the restroom but he insisted he did not have to go . . . you so know where I am going with this one don't you! About 15 minutes in the drive he had to go . . . in Europe it is no big deal to pull over and do business so after the toll booth we did just that . . . and like any great mother what do I do? Of course, grab the camera, LOL. Do you see him?

It was Sunday so I expected Rouen to be a ghost town but was surprised it was not locked down tight. I had two things I wanted to check out . . . which means find them, read any plaque, and take a photo. First was the exact place Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. I know that sounds morbid but it is historic. Here is the spot . . .
. . . the cross looks like a sword . . .

. . . the church next to it was very modern but the more I looked at it the more I liked the architecture . . .
(the above is not my photo but from somewhere on the internet; thanks for sharing)

Second, was the Cathedral that Monet painted about 30 times . . . different times of year and in different lighting. It was so massive that it was impossible to get a good photo. You are walking down a typical street of shops and bam there is this huge building . . . too bad there was a lot of scaffolding around but you get the point.
A neat clock between stop one and stop two . . .

There are three things Colin keeps asking for: Dr. Pepper and sweet tea (such a Texan), chocolate chip cookies, and pretzels . . . well we found the cookie and stopped to eat it near the clock tower . . .

. . . more to come on the Dr. Pepper. As we entered the parking garage to leave we saw this . . .
. . . probably one of the things I love the most about Europe . . . all the markets with fresh goods . . . not just fruits and vegetables but meat, fish, cheeses, flowers; you name it they probably have it!

The detour was over so back on the road we go . . .

Colin's Photo of the Day
Not a bad perspective of the Cathedral that Monet apparently saw in so many different ways too . . .

to Honfleur

It was a scenic drive from Pegasus Bridge to Honfleur . . . small roads that skirt the coast line and would cause you to be car sick! It is a region that many in France escape to for holiday . . . very touristy looking hotels line the beaches and very crowded. We arrived in Honfleur and found the hotel very quickly and a parking spot across the street . . . double score! We checked in and set out to explore. It is a small town and not really much to do which is exactly what we wanted for the afternoon . . . place to sit for me and area for Colin to run around. Of course he saw this first and was ready to go . . .

. . . so I bought 5 tickets and sent him on his way . . . not alone of course. He rode twice and then we walked around.

There claim to fame is having the oldest wooden church in Europe with a separate clock tower which I might add is pretty impressive on the inside as it is mainly built from wood. It looks so plain and simple on the exterior but the interior will knock your socks off . . . sorry no photos . . .

It was back to the carousel for Colin and sitting at the cafe enjoying a drink and dinner for me. It is nice outside and enjoying the sun with a cool breeze! Oh and I only took nine photos while in town.

Normandy, day 3

We are leaving the area but have one more stop on our D-Day tour . . . Pegasus Bridge . . .

The original bridge has been removed and is at the museum. I really knew nothing about the bridge other than the name . . . you can read more about it here. The museum is very nice both inside and outside. It was a short stop but time to move on to the next town. We are not visiting any more D-Day sites. I had planned to do this last year but cancelled . . . I am so glad we did it this year!

Colin's Photo of the Day
I kid you not he took over 10 photos of this . . . hey whatever makes him happy!

Normandy, day 2

It was another busy day . . . so much to see and so little time! The morning started at Pointe-du-Hoc which is about the mid-point between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. I am not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't what I expected. Don't get me wrong it was a great place to visit but just different . . . I wasn't expecting to see the craters where bombs were dropped . . . but it sure was a big cliff for those men to scale . . .



. . . I knew there have/had been issues with parts of Pointe-du-Hoc sinking or washing away and sadly they had removed the 'pointe'. It is being reinforced to prevent future damage . . . I read about it in a recent Texas Aggie magazine. None the less, you still get the point . . . Colin really enjoyed running around and going inside the old bunkers. I swear I don't know where that kid gets all his energy! So I can not at least mention the leader of troops at Pointe-du-Hoc . . . I mean I am a very proud Aggie you know. Of course that would be James E. Rudder who was an Aggie too and later became president of Texas A&M University . . . hmmmm, I don't know the Aggie Campo but I am sure someone reading this does, LOL.

Next stop was Omaha Beach . . . it was much different that Utah Beach. Utah was rocky, and Omaha is flat. It is lined with beach houses and looks like a summer vacation town. It doesn't look flat here as I am standing on higher ground but trust me it is flat . . .
Just down the road was a Big Red 1 Museum . . . very small but worth the visit. It was break time so we stopped at the only place we saw open for a quick lunch. You could tell it was a Mom and Pop place which are usually pretty good . . . when I opened the menu the first thing I saw was the Obama Burger . . . oh gee seriously? I don't even know. I ordered a salad and Colin got pizza . . . go figure right? I should have been keeping tally on just how many he has eaten on vacation.

We tried to time it so we arrived at the American Cemetery around 2:00pm for the tour but it just wasn't working. I tried to explain to Colin that we could not run wild like we do when we visit the College Station cemetery . . . we don't act like animals but he does sit on Sean's headstone . . . I mean what more can you say . . .
. . . it is at the most beautiful location . . . overlooking the beaches . . . the most perfectly kept lawns . . . beautiful flowers . . . just overwhelming as always. They do a very nice visitor's center which has not been open very long . . . great video presentations that tell about specific soldiers and interview their living relatives. Of course I cried as I can relate. I have worried about exposing Colin to this but he has done remarkably well . . . he really does stay focused while at the museums.

We are staying in Bayeux which is a nice town but their claim to fame is the Bayeux Tapestry. It was really the only thing I wanted to do in the town. It was pretty impressive I might say and the free audio guide explained every inch. The thing is long . . . 230 feet long . . . yes, just one piece of cloth! I would not call it a tapestry but embroidered cloth . . . just my two cents!

The final stop of the day was at the Arromanches . . . they were big chucks of concrete being used for the artificial port /harbors used during the war . . . if you look behind us you see these long black things . . . that is them . . .

. . . we also stopped to see a movie that was on a 360 degree screen with no words . . . interesting. It mixes war footage with present day footage . . . it was okay. Of course Colin noticed the beach again . . . tons of people lounging around . . . I changed his shoes and let him splash while I walked and thought about all that had walked there before us . . .

Colin's Photo of the Day
It's back . . . taken at the American Cemetery . . .