Paris, France: Part 2

 

 We took the subway and were pleasantly surprised with this accordion music on our way to the d'Orsay museum, where we visited an impressive collection of impressionist pieces. 

Sophia (and the princess crown rattle that has its final resting place in Paris.)

We enjoyed a quick but beautiful walk to Les Invalides, which houses Napoleon's tomb.

La Sainte Chapelle was one of my favorite places, although on the outside it doesn't look like much! It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns. It was begun some time after 1239. It was damaged during the French revolution, but then heavily restored in the 19th century. It is one of the most extensive in-situ collections of 13th century stained glass anywhere in the world.

Brian and the girls have a rest.

A beautiful view of Notre Dame, which we walked by each day on the way back to our apartment.

Paris, France: Part 1

Our first full day in Paris, we set out on foot to the Ile-de la cite (an island in the Seine river) from our apartment near the Latin Quarter on the left bank. We were en route to catch a Batobus water taxi to the Louvre, but first we fueled up with a nutella and banana crepe from a restaurant vendor. Yum!

Eating a crepe for breakfast

Descending down to the Louvre Museum

 After a brief set back when we had to take Sophia out of her frame backpack and put her in a borrowed Louvre stroller, we made a bee-line to the Mona Lisa. You can't tell from this picture, but there were at least 100 people swarmed in front of the painting at any given time. So, we had to wait very patiently as we were jostled to the front of the line. The girls were so excited to see the Mona Lisa, having read about her in a couple of books they have. Their favorite is a children's story book (one in a series of art-related books) called Katie and the Mona Lisa.

The girls loved visiting the Mona Lisa!

 After seeing the Mona Lisa, we followed the crowds to a few other key pieces of artwork, including this statue, the Venus de Milo.

Venus de Milo

After the Louvre, we set out to walk through the Tuileries Garden and then along the Champs Elysees to reach the Arc de Triomphe, which was a lot further than it looks! But we made it...here are a few things we saw along the way.

Oh, and my friend Kathleen was kind enough to inform us that the Tour de France would be culminating on the Champs Elysees on Sunday during our trip! That might explain why we couldn't find accommodations easily. And so we avoided the Champs Elysees on Sunday, until late in the day we doubled back to make it to the l'Orangerie Museum...only to wonder why one of the metro exits had security and was blocked. Duh. We emerged to a sea of people and saw the last of the support cars with bikes on top drive by. But we did make it to the museum the next day.

And we did make it to the Arc de Triomphe, despite the 3 mile walk uphill.

View of the Champs Elysees from the Arc de Triumphe

We're taking the Batobus to the Eiffel Tower to get in line.

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We waited for 2 and half long hours to go up into the Eiffel Tower. It was touch and go there for the last 30 minutes, as Sydney and Brian both had to use the bathroom (which had closed). But they were able to hold out and make it to the top. Sydney and Miranda were rewarded promptly with Ben and Jerry's ice cream AND souvenir Eiffel Towers. They don't get too many souvenirs because Brian is a minimalist who doesn't want crap piling up. But especially after perseverance to transcend this world in the most visited paid monument in the world, Brian felt they were deserving. But isn't it also appropriate to get a souvenir (a French word that means "to remember") in France?

Brian "accidentally" ordered us two LARGE beers at a Paris cafe at dinner that night.  We considered it our crash course in the metric volume system! Oui, oui, it was a good way to end our first day in Paris!

Normandy, France: Saint Mere Eglise, Utah Beach, and Arromanches-les-bains

Paratroopers stormed France by air as part of the Normandy invasion as well. Saint Mere Eglise is home to the Airborne Museum, as it was one of the main towns where paratroopers landed to secure the higher grounds above the beaches.

DOUGLAS C47 plane

WACO glider

Gliders were used to deliver paratroopers as quietly as possible in the middle of the night, although they were dangerous and many people perished in the crash landings.

There is a statue of the paratrooper John Steele, whose parachute got caught on the side of this church. He could not free himself and pretended to be dead for two hours before the Germans took him prisoner. He later escaped from the Germans to rejoin his division and helped attack the village to capture 30 Germans and kill another 11 This incident was portrayed in the movie The Longest Day.

We visited Utah Beach on a beautiful crisp afternoon. We learned the troops landed here off course by about a mile, but Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. quickly investigated his surroundings to adapt the plan of attack, which was successful. He is known for famously exclaiming, "We’ll start the war from here!"

On our last morning in Normandy, we visited Arromanche to view the remnants of one of the two amazing temporary harbors that were built by the Allied forces.  Pieces of the harbor were created in the UK and, as part of the invasion, were brought by ship across the English Channel and quickly assembled together to form a break wall and a working harbor that was used to unload tons and tons of military equipment fairly quickly and efficiently. The technology and speed with which they pieced together this harbor amazes me, as does the ability of the forces to keep this all covert. That would never happen in today's world with satellites and communication technology, but thank God they pulled it off then!

Normandy, France: Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach was the second stop we made on our tour of Normandy. As most people know, it was part of a larger operation to move in and secure several geographical areas (among them Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword beaches) to connect Allied forces, uniting efforts to combat German military.

Coast Guard Memorial at Omaha Beach

View looking east from west side of Omaha Beach

Even after visiting Normandy, I can't begin to describe all the events that happened that day and subsequently. But to summarize, it was a very daunting task with geographical and meteorological challenges, gruesome bloodshed, and what seems to me to be a miraculous victory in the long run. The movie Saving Private Ryan, although a fictitious story, depicts some very lifelike scenes of the D-Day landings.

Omaha Beach was the site of the first American Cemetery in France, but it was later moved to another location nearby. We drove a short distance to also visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France, which now contains the graves of 9,387 military, most of whom lost their lives during the D-Day invasions.

A Time Capsule to be opened 100 years after D Day (2044)

Beginning our walk through the cemetery

We explained to the kids that each cross represented an American person who died fighting to help other people. It is a hard concept for young kids, but when faced with a visual of so many crosses representing so many people, I thought it was worth a try. It is a beautiful, peaceful tribute to so many courageous soldiers.

1,557 names are inscribed on the Walls of the Missing, which is a semicircular garden. The names of those since recovered and identified are marked with rosettes.

It struck me that it was nothing short of amazing--standing in these spots and hearing the obstacles that were overcome by some very brave fellow Americans. You can be sure my very next thought was a prayer of immeasurable thanks. The world would be a very different place if not for this turning point in history. Here's hoping future generations will look back knowing we did what was needed for this this day and age...I'm not so sure, but that's another whole blog.