Our new home in England

Day 4 ~ We toured the Eastern, British and Canadian Landing areas, including Longues Battery, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. This is our guide Ashley giving showing us where we were headed:  

  It is amazing what is left from the war, including many batteries and the equipment in them: 

This is my favorite photo of all  :)

They spoke French, but when I grabbed onto them and said "photo", many of the nice young men complied with my request.   :)

By the time we reached the Eastern beaches, it seems that the kids had had enough history and just wanted to play in the sand:

And that goes for kids of all ages ~ even "almost teenagers"   

In this part of France, they are so thankful and appreciative of the Allied Forces who liberated them.  The flags fly everywhere!  It may just be part of the tourism, but it is nice to see.  

Our final stop of the day was the famous Pegasus bridge.  

The taking of Pegasus Bridge in the early hours of D-Day was a major triumph for the Allies. The control of Pegasus Bridge gave the Allies the opportunity to disrupt the Germans ability to bring in re-enforcements to the Normandy beaches, especially those that the British and Canadians were landing at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

Control of the road, also meant that the 6th Airborne Division, that had been dropped to the east of Caen, could be supplied by Allied troops that had landed at Sword Beach. Without any control of this road, the 6th Airborne would have been starved of vital equipment.

And we were there ... learning and reliving D-Day via lectures and a movie in the museum.  

Cafe Gondree - this building is said to be the first to be liberated after 6th British Airborne Division captured Pegasus Bridge.  I've heard from numerous people that the lady who runs it is a grumpy old woman and that no photos are allowed, so we just took photos from the outside. 

Super interesting trip and I would highly recommend it to all.  

The time came to drive back to Calais, take the tunnel back to the U.K,, drive back to Waterloo train station in London, hop on the train back to Cobham, hop in the car and go home.  

This lovely girl was happily (and lazily) awaiting our arrival!  

Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately one kilometer off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 100 hectares in size, the island has a population of 44

It is believed that Aubert, Bishop of d'Avranches, founded a sanctuary on Mont-Tombe, after 3 successive appearances by the Archangel Michael. Consecrated in 709, the church has attracted both the curious and pilgrims from all over the world ever since.

After having been made into a prison from the time of the French Revolution up until the time of the Second Empire, the Abbey became the responsibility of the Historical Monuments Department in 1874.  Since 1969 the Abbey has been home to a monastic community, ensuring the continuation of a spiritual presence.

Called "The Wonder of the Western World", the Mont-Saint-Michel is surrounded by a magnificent bay, which is the theater of the greatest tidal ranges in Europe. 

Situated between the Point of Grouin (Cancale) in Brittany and the Point of Champeaux (towards Granville), in Normandy, the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel is also included on the UNESCO list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage sites.   So those are some facts and some of the history of Mont Saint-Michel. Here are some photos from our day visit.  

The approach:

 The initial walk up the main street:

Some of the very cool architecture:

Of course we climbed to the top of the Abbey:

Due to the tide, we were able to hike out quite far, to get a view from a totally different angle:

And after our departure and on our way back to Bayeux, we stopped to pay our respects.

Arromanches, France -- we happened upon this cute shop and were lured in by the artistic cow guarding the door way ... how can you pass by this and not go in???   

His shop sells paintings of cows in all sizes and colors and on multiple surface types.   This was one of my favorites:

 Sadly I didn't have enough time to shop and select and pay, so I will have to do it online, or go back to Arromanches again.  

By the way... he was so nice.  He gave a post card to Jack as Jack had mentioned he liked it.   What a nice man!  

Our second stop - Omaha Beach.  Again, so gorgeous, so sunny, so hard to picture the battles and the horrific loss of lives.

Most sobering of all was the visit to the magnificent U.S. cemetery which covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. Thank you to all those brave soldiers ~ we are forever grateful.

Then onto an adjacent French town with some cute shops and beautiful flags for photographing.

Sunday, June 22, 2014 ~ After an early breakfast, we departed at 8:00 am for a full day exploring the Western Area of the Landing Beaches.  

We stopped first in St. Mere Eglise - reported to be the first French town that was liberated.  And in the movie "The Longest Day" (which I haven't seen yet), I'm told that Red Buttons plays the part of Pvt. John Steele -- the guy you see hanging off the church because his parachute got caught.   

We visited the museum and the church ... didn't stay long in the church as I forgot that mass would be taking place -- oopsie!  

Jack wanted to check out the size of the bomb ... it is a large bomb!

The guys really did enjoy checking out the WWII machinery.  

And the hydrangeas were beautiful!   

Our first beach stop was Utah beach.  It was such a beautiful day that it was hard to imagine all the devastation that took place on that same beach 70 years ago. 

The left over bunkers and batteries make it all very real.

And these two goof balls have fun along the way: 

We did a family tour of Normandy France starting on Saturday June 21 and concluding on Tuesday June 24 ~ it was a memorable trip and a very sobering one as well.   As a preface, I need to share that I am not a history buff at all and have never much been interested in either of the World Wars.   But this trip changed that a bit.  I now have a very strong appreciation for all that the young men of World War II gave up to protect the world against Hitler.   

On Saturday, we left home in Cobham and took the train to Waterloo station where our coach picked us up.  It was a long day of travel on the coach but nice to finally see how and where to take a vehicle to France via the Eurotunnel.   We departed England at Folkestone and took the tunnel route to France.  On the way, we learned all about the lead up to the Normandy Landings from our expert guide.  

We eventually arrived at the lovely city of Bayeux, France where we would be staying for the next 3 nights.   The first thing we did was unpack our bags and then start out walking to check out the town.  

First we walked to the museum, but we just missed the last entrance, so we ventured across the street to the Bayeux War Cemetery.   The most amazing thing was how young so many of the soldiers were!  

And sadly, there were way too many with this inscription "known unto God"  

After our reflective time in the cemetery, we walked back into the center of the town.  We checked out the magnificent cathedral, the High Street, and were scoping out the place for dinner.  

But before that -- first stop - an Irish pub for a cold beer.   :)

And by the way, that other beer belongs to the photographer, not the son!   ha

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant, and then headed back to the hotel.   We watched some of the World Cup Soccer with French commentators, and each messed around on our own tech devices.   

There was a show at the cathedral in town.  The show was advertised to start at dusk, which turned out to be around 10:30 pm.  I went alone as the guys were tired, and it was an amazing show.   The title was in French, as was the entire show, but the topic was the Liberation of France.  It was a beautiful show and I'm glad that I stayed up for it, as it was the only date it would be showing while we were in town.  

The story was told with lights on a tree.   I don't know French so didn't get the whole story, but it was a beautiful evening and a beautiful light show.  

`

From most everywhere we ventured on Tenerife, we could see El Teide (rhymes with "lady") rising up to meet the sky.   It is the highest mountain in Span ~ 12,198 feet above sea level.  And it is a white-knuckle drive to get there.  Beautiful, but scary!  

  Since the 1966 movie One Million Years  BC, starring Raquel Welch, El Teide's bleak lands have been used as the back drop for a number of science fiction movies.   

We hiked a bit to explore the ever-changing terrain. 

As we began to head down the other side of the mountain, we realized we were above the clouds -- that white layer in the back of the photo is the clouds! 

And it was cool to pass through them;  I felt as if I was in the area of Lake Tahoe in the U.S., not the Canary Islands in Spain.  

Ah ... safely home again and relaxing after a stressful day  :) 

lo que es un gran día, y buenos noches!   

First things first -- time out to feed the fish at the koi pond ... these fish know exactly when feeding time is! 

Next up - some golf ... and what a beautiful course! 

Along with two VERY handsome mannequins in the pro shop!  :) 

Because the holiday weekend had passed, and we knew from my new friend Martim (welcome desk at the resort) that occupancy was low, we asked to move to a room on a higher floor -- we have an improved view (and the original one was awesome)  ! 

Thanks for the info Martim!  

Our first trip away from the resort was a trip to the harbor area of Los Gigantes - which looks directly at a large cliff.  This port offers great options for water sports and whale watching, but on our day there the water was way too rough. 

So instead we opted for a non-traditional (at least for us) local Easter dinner of paella for us, pizza for Jack.  yummy! 

Upon our return, more pool time and a beautiful sunset.   

Normally I am a very linear person ...I can't possibly write about something that happened in April until I have covered everything that happened prior. So this makes me very uncomfortable sharing our Spring Break 2014 trip without sharing all the local fun we've been having prior to that -- I am moving out of my comfort zone!  :)

However ... many have been asking about this particular trip, so I will share it now, and follow with other fun events like the Cheapside Hoard, Friday hikes, the British Library, the play "Urinetown", St. Pancras hotel, the play "Once", and a trip to Shere, UK ... all that in March!   More on that later...

Tenerife!  

Tenerife is one of 13 islands that makes up the Canary Islands. Six of these islands are uninhabited, while Tenerife is the largest at about 800 square miles.

The weather was perfect!  Especially since we were leaving behind a mostly-rainy England.  :)

We stayed at a wonderful resort - the Abama, a Ritz hotel -  http://www.abamahotelresort.com/

The pool was great, and not busy at all.  In fact, those two heads belong to my two guys:

And a nice beach as well.   You can get there via a tram, but most days we chose to walk and soak up the sunshine! 

And after a long day of relaxing (and swimming, and hiking), what a great place to unwind:! 

With a new favorite Spanish wine, of course  :)

I said I'd finish the Rome trip so I will do that now.   So far in Rome we visited Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, did a HoHo bus, a VIP visit to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill.  

On our last full day, Wednesday, we spent the morning at the market in Campo De' Fioro, stopped at the the Piazza Navona and then the grand finale trip to the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.  My one regret is that we didn't leave time in the day to climb the Copula of St. Peter's -- we'll do that on our next visit for sure.

The Vatican Museums:  Founded by Pope Julius II in the 6th century, the Vatican Museums inside the Vatican City boast some of the world’s most important relics. Attractions of the museums include the spiral staircase, the Raphael Rooms and the exquisitely decorated Sistine Chapel. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. Today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgment, are widely believed to be Michelangelo’s crowning achievements in painting.

So here we are - the final stop - the Vatican museums.  My first recommendation is to use a guide!  We did and it was such a benefit.  It wasn't that there were massive lines to skip, which I'm told is a big benefit in the summer, but that this place was so massive ... without a guide we wouldn't have known where to even begin, nor would we have known what to look for.

I can't describe all that we saw as it would take a guide and a guide book but will, for the most part, let the pictures speak for themselves.

First, a beautiful day for February: 

As we walked along the hallway, there was just so much art all around us -- it was hard to comprehend and take it all in.  

Sure, why not?  ... a hall way full of tapestries:

And beautifully decorated ceilings that go on and on and on... 

And rooms with so much art all around... you could spend a full day in many of these rooms - seriously!

And a rainbow!

There are no photos allowed inside the Sistine Chapel.  We had about 15 minutes to sit and reflect and enjoy the beautiful artwork.  Then on to St. Peter's Basilica: 

The center of the Catholic world and a major tourist attraction, the Basilica of St. Peter is a huge church: with an interior height of 120m, the space shuttle, together with its booster rockets, could fit inside, as could the Statue of Liberty. The basilica stands on the traditional site where Peter, the apostle who is considered the first pope, was crucified and buried. Construction on the current building began in 1506 and was completed in 1615. Many famous artists worked on the complex and its surroundings: Michelangelo designed the dome while Bernini designed the great St. Peter’s Square.

This place was impressive!   Jack even liked it more than the Colosseum, which totally surprised me.

There was a mass going on while we were there but it was in Latin, so we didn't even pretend to be good Catholic visitors as we wouldn't have understood a word, so we enjoyed it from a distance versus sitting in the pews.   

On every wall, in every nook and cranny, there are sculptures and paintings and statues that are amazing.  Here is an example of one, which no one paid any special attention to because there was so much to overwhelm the senses!

It was raining quite hard as we left, so we took our time, strolled around the area, and got some nice night time shots:

On our way back to our hotel and to dinner, I bribed Jack with McDonald's if he would let us walk versus take a cab.  With much pleading, it worked.   We passed the Castel Sant'Angelo on the way, but Jack had had enough tourism for one day, so this is one site we skipped, but it was beautiful lit up at night:

Castel Sant’Angelo began life as the mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian, built between 135 and 139 AD. Subsequent strongholds built on top of the mausoleum were in turn incorporated into a residence and castle by medieval Popes. The building was used as a prison until 1870, but now houses a museum. Among the most well-known tourist attractions in Rome, film buffs will recognize it as a setting from “Angels and Demons”.

Still in the Shoreditch area of London and so much more street art to experience and enjoy.  

This one is by the artist Stik, who I'm told is a very friendly person.  He is from London, was homeless at one time, and his work is now collected by the rich and famous -- way to go Stik!   This art piece is about harmony:

Talk about at "2 for one" ... it is right next to a piece by Otto Schade: 

This door was done in 2008 by C215, using a multi-layered stencil approach, and can still be enjoyed today: 

Thank you to the Shoreditch community for being tolerant and welcoming to street art!

This bird on the big wall is by Roa, an artist from Belgium:

Next to it is a break dancer by Martin Ron, and Argentinian,  Below the bird there are very detailed zebra sound waves (not pictured) by the Italian artist 2501 ... the sound waves are not described but left to each person's own interpretation.  

I must have zoned out a bit, as I don't have any notes, but something about this being done by a guy/gal couple, perhaps husband and wife ... it is beautiful and so very detailed.  My apologies to the artists. 

Jesus, compliments of Paul Don Smith:

By the artist EKG 

And art by Saki & Bitches - according to Dave, the Far Rockaway bar in London has a full room of her work - http://www.farrockaway.co.uk/

For those who are Facebook friends, you already know that I recently went on my first walking Shoreditch Street Art Tour, hosted by Dave, and that it was one of the coolest thing I've done since I've been living here in the London area.   You can check it out at www.shoreditchstreetarttours.co.uk  -- it is a tour that you won't forget, I promise.   I'm going to attempt to share some of what we learned on the tour, and more importantly, share some of the amazing wonderful art that we saw.   First the disclaimer... I am not an expert!  Just a new fan with an appreciation for all the art that I've probably walked by in the past.  Also, my apologies to Dave and the artists if I get any of this wrong ... I'm relying on my scribbled notes.  

First, there were three types of art that we experienced:  muralism, street art and graffiti.  Muralism is legal, the barrier to entry is that you have to be an artist and have some talent.  You can be asked to create the mural, paid to create it, so you need to have some skill that is appreciated by others. On the other hand, street art is illegal.  It has to be done clandestine, quickly or at night.  There are no barriers to entry and we learned that there are many types of street art, which you'll see in a bit.  The third type is graffiti, and these are words.  The target audience for a graffiti artists is other graffiti artists. 

Around London, prior to 2008, street art was viewed as a bad thing, and there was a budget for removal of street art around London.  When the recession hit in 2008, this line item on the budget was removed and I would say this is a good thing ... it makes way for the art to be viewed and enjoyed by the rest of us.   

Our first stop (and I didn't write down many of the street names, but they we stayed in the Shoreditch area) - we saw sticker art.  Now that I know to look for it, it is all over the place! 

More on that on that front later. 

Now we're getting to some bigger art on the walls.   Again, if you want the details, Dave is your man!  But I can tell you that the way the paint drips on this horse, is the mark of a street artist -- dripping is a good thing! 

Once an artist creates and displays his or her street art, anyone can add or subtract from it ... it is there to be modified. 

The artist who created this character "Crunchy Crunch" is Ronzo and there was a series of Credit Crunch Monster statues around the city.  If you want to read more about it, check out this Londonist article

See the horse head on the right ... there's more art to the right - some work by Conor (the horse piece), and graffiti to the right of that.

We learned that street art is about humor, anti-authority and something else.  When I remember I'll come back and share it.  We also were treated to "single layer stencil art" as a technique.  

Some of the names are great.   This artist "616" was an electrician, and now an artist -- here is a piece of his work:

C215 is a French artist.  C215 was his cell number when he was in prison for 6 years.   Look at his cool signature block -- very creative. But I guess that's why he is an artist.!  I'll post the full work at the end of this blog post, as it was one of the last ones we visited.  

Mr. Farenheit is a German artist, Alo is Italian, Otto Schade is Chilean, Saki & Bitches is of Japanese heritage ... they come from all over the world to participate in this great art form -- thank you London for letting it be viewed!   

This door art is by ACE

 -- he released a short video of an artist-cam view of himself out on a "bombing" mission - watch this and see how it captures the tense and dramatic process of placing street art on the street:  

http://youtu.be/M44VTYq0wks

Here is one - German expressionism:

I LOVED this area ... so much art in this little spot of town: 

This beautiful heart by Shok-1:

I will come back and finish re: Rome ... I promise I will.  But after Jack and I left Rome, we flew back to London, re packed, then headed out on Friday morning for a 3 day weekend in the English countryside, to an area called the Cotswolds.  I'll share more on that later too.   :)

But .. what I am most excited about is my circa 1780 dough bin!  Here it is, in the room full of antiques, and the room itself dates back to 1490:

Baking used to be an important weekly task in many households. Bread was a staple food in Europe -- people depended on having plenty of it: not just medieval peasants with scant resources, but 19th century middle-class families too. These might be big families, active, with farmhands or servants to feed as well.

The flour was tipped into a dough box or trough to start bread-making. It held the flour more tidily than a bowl. If the trough was on legs it didn’t need to sit on a table, and could be moved to a part of the room where the temperature was right.

The box’s position was important. The lid was good for keeping in the warmth, and it protected the dough from mice, ash, or other things that could damage it. This was especially useful if the dough was left to rise for a long time, and overnight was not unusual. 

The lid offered a surface for shaping the risen dough into loaves and then leaving them to rise again after being handled. 

So that's what I purchased -- a dough bin!  Here is a photo of us bringing it back to Cobham -- poor Jack and poor Shelby.    ha

And here is where it "lives" here in our home in Cobham -- love it! 

And it will be a reminder of great times in England when we do move back to the U.S.