Road Trip!

Hey everyone – it’s Jen checking in. Jonté and I have gone back and forth about who was going to write the blog about our trip. He started it about three times but was never satisfied with his work so he decided that I should give it a try. So…here is my try and I will warn you now that it’s going to be long and there are lots of pictures!

Before I go too far I have to say that what we were able to see and experience in the last few days is – in some ways – very difficult to describe with words. I’ll do my best but honestly, until you’ve seen it for yourself, you won’t have the full appreciation.

We left Saturday morning and headed north to Paris. We had both been to Paris previously but wanted to see the sights together. The drive was not bad at all but as we neared the hotel we ran into some issues. We weren’t able to find the hotel we originally wanted to stay at so we used the GPS to help us find a different hotel in the area. We were lucky enough to find a couple right next to each other but we had a very hard time actually getting there! The turn off of the main road was quite awkward – there were three different driveways – and so we ended up going around in circles three different times until we entered the right driveway. It was a little stressful in our car – we were both ready to just be there and sure didn’t anticipate our struggles. But – when we did finally arrive at the hotel we were happy with the price and the location was great. We stayed in the “La Defense” area of Paris – on the northwest side. The Metro stop was about 2 blocks away and we had a parking ramp for the car. It was all good!

The first thing on our agenda was to get some food. Jonté was hungry (shocking) so I wanted to take him to a place I had been to on my previous trip. The joint was called “Breakfast in America”. It’s like a 50’s style diner that serves typical American food. I know some of you are thinking we should have had some great French food or something but trust me – we’ve had plenty of French food and were really hungry for something we knew. The best part about dinner – Coors Light! We haven’t found any “good” beer over here so it was nice to taste a beer that we were familiar with.

We didn’t do much on Saturday night. It was late by the time we had finished dinner and we were both pretty tired as we didn’t sleep much the night before. We went down to the Champs Elysees and wandered around the Arc de Triomphe and then decided that we’d head back to the hotel and get a good night’s sleep so we could really enjoy the day on Sunday.

Jonte' outside of Breakfast in America; us in front of the Arc de Triomphe

We got our money’s worth on Sunday and thankfully we seemed to avoid the rain as much as possible. We spent much of the day just wandering the city. We walked along the Champs Elysees again, over to the Seine River, down to the Louvre Museum, over to the Notre Dame, through the Latin Quarter, over to the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) and then to the Eiffel Tower. There is nothing quite like walking along the Seine River. It’s honestly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. We enjoyed just being on our own schedule and stopping by the little shops along the way. Architecturally the city of Paris is amazing. The pictures just don’t do it justice. The Latin Quarter was a little neighborhood just a few blocks from the Notre Dame. If it hadn’t been a Sunday I think that area would have been even busier than it was. Restaurants and shops – it was a cool section of town. One of my favorite stops was the Luxembourg Gardens. A friend of mine who’d been to Paris said this was a “must-see” and after being there I definitely agree. It’s like Paris’ version of Central Park. It’s not quite that big but it was just a really beautiful and peaceful park right in the middle of town. There were plenty of people out – and I imagine that on really nice days that park is full. We would have stayed longer but the rain clouds were moving in so we wanted to get somewhere to take cover for a little bit. Our last stop of the day was the Eiffel Tower. As we were riding the metro to the Trocadero we were actually in an above ground train. That allowed us to watch the rain just pound the city. We could tell we were going in the direction of the clear skies and were really hoping we would miss the downpour. As we came up out of the subway we were excited to see that the rain had stopped! The views of the Eiffel Tower we got were just awesome because the clouds and the color of the sky were so unique. If you are planning a trip to Paris I highly recommend that the first time you see the Eiffel Tower is from the Trocadero. It’s such a great sight. We took tons of pictures and slowly wandered across the river to the base of the tower. One of the things I really wanted to do was to go up to the top of the tower. By the time we got in line it was about 9:00 and it was cold and windy. We thought the rain was done though and we knew it was going to rain all day the next day so we decided to do it. One elevator takes you to the first level – then we switched elevators and went to the second level. On the second level – which is probably about 1/3 of the way up the tower – Jonté was able to take quite a few good pictures. I – on the other hand – was not feeling that great. I was way more scared and uncomfortable than I thought I would be. I’m really not afraid of heights but for some reason I was pretty unsteady. The last elevator - the one that takes you all the way to the top – goes right up through the middle of the tower and has glass walls. So in other words – you can see outside the whole ride up to the top. I didn’t really enjoy it at all but once we got to the top and I realized we were in a fully enclosed area I relaxed and was able to enjoy it! The view was amazing – we could see for miles. It was just a really unique way to see the city. We did climb up about 12 stairs and go outside but that was a short lived trip. It was so windy and cold – it felt like we were going to blow right off! We ventured back down to the bottom and walked back across the river to catch the light show before we called it a day. We had literally walked around all day and were ready to put our feet up.

The first pic of us with the Eiffel Tower; Jonte' acting tough during our walk

The Norte Dame; Luxembourg Gardens

Luxembourg Palace sits on one end of the Gardens; you can see the rain clouds moving in

Such a beautiful landmark - and the clouds behind make it look even better

We were having a little fun with the camera :)

A view of the Tower from about half way up; I'm smiling because I'm at the top of the Eiffel Tower!

The end of a great day in Paris

Monday greeted us with more wind and rain. It was disappointing because the weather had been so great the past couple of weeks. We went back into Paris to have a good breakfast and do a little shopping before we took off. We left Paris and headed further north. We were headed to the coastal town of Honfleur and then we were going to work our way west to a couple of the beaches of Normandy. Since we didn’t have to be back until Wednesday we had a couple of days to see as much as we could. We stopped in Honfleur and walked around for a while – we were trying really hard not to think about how cold we were. The wind was just crazy and because we were right off the English Channel is made it even worse. Honfluer was cool though – a nice little port town and a good place for us to stop. We then made our way to Caen. By the time we reached Caen it was about 7:00 and we knew we were still about 25-30 miles from Omaha Beach. With the weather the way it was and the darkness rolling in we decided to stay in Caen for the night. We found a nice hotel and a Pizza Hut :)

A view of Honfleur; we found a nice spot to enjoy a drink in Caen

Early the next morning we left Caen and headed north to Omaha Beach. For both Jonté and I the historical part of our trip was very important. My dad and Jonté’s stepdad are both history buffs and would have really loved to see the beaches of Normandy. So I think we both felt even more anxious to see all of it for them but we really hope they will both be able to see it for themselves next year. Omaha Beach is the site of the US Cemetery and Memorial – along with a great visitor’s center. The visitor’s center provided so much information about D-Day- what led up to it and even the events after it. To say that being there was humbling is an understatement. There are over 10,000 white crosses in the cemetery and all of those people died for our country. The grounds themselves were immaculate and the view – overlooking Omaha Beach – was inspiring. The whole place took my breath away. I kept thinking about what those soldiers must have been thinking as they were in their boats coming up towards the beach.

That powerful quote greets you at the entrance to the Visitor Center; a view of Omaha Beach

A view of the cemetary from the memorial and vice versa

Lasting image from Omaha Beach

From Omaha Beach we traveled just west to another major battle sight – Pointe du Hoc. The cool thing about Pointe du Hoc is that the grounds really haven’t been touched. The old bunkers and the craters from exploding shells were still there. We weren’t able to get out to the memorial pillar because they are doing some work to stabilize the cliffs. Pointe du Hoc is on top of a huge rock cliff – which the US forces climbed. I wish we could have gotten out more to the edge but what we were able to see was so interesting.

Jonte' getting warm down in a bunker; a view of Pointe du Hoc

Our next stop was Utah Beach. It was very, very different than Omaha Beach. There were a couple of monuments and a small museum. We managed to walk out onto the beach – even though the wind was so strong we weren’t sure we could even see with all the sand blowing in our faces. I ventured all the way out and put my feet in the water. It was cold – very cold. Again – as we stood there and thought about what the troops did all those years ago – we couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. I think if the weather had been nicer we would have stayed much longer at all three of our stops but in the end we were just so thankful to have had the chance to see them at all. It was truly inspiring.

Utah Beach; Jonte' with a statue dedicated to the Marines involved in the battle at Utah Beach

I told you I put my feet in the water...and it was COLD!

To complete our busy day we traveled about 80 miles southwest to the Mont-St-Michel. I don’t really even know what words I have to describe the Mont. It’s like a town built around a famous Abbaye – only it’s built on a little island and is built up. Ok – that’s not a very good description – you all should really just Google it! From a distance it looks like a huge castle and up close it was one of the most unique places we’d ever been. We wandered around – climbed tons of stairs – and enjoyed the views. It was a nice way to end our trip.

Our view from the car - we're about 5 miles away; Mont-St-Michel up close

A different view - this time looking out

So…all in all we had a really great few days. We made it home safely and are now back to our normal routine in Vichy. Jonté and the guys have one game left – on Tuesday the 11th. With the playoffs now out of the picture we’ll be heading home very soon. We are both getting very anxious – I plan to start packing sometime this weekend. Our trip was a great way to see another part of France before we’re back to the states for a while!

Hope this post finds all of you doing well – thanks for reading! Au revoir!