France Trip #2 (Stop 3 of 3 - Normandy)

Our last stop in France was the Normandy region. We saw quite a bit of the WW II historical sites as well some other interesting things while we were there.

The first stop was at Mont St. Michel which is on the northern coast of France. It is an abbey which is still used today. The site of driving up to it was quite impressive as it sits up on a rock formation that can be surrounded by the sea depending on the tide.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the abby - include one of the cathedral -

Alex and I looking down on the sea over the side of the wall of the abbey

We thought we were smart and decided to only get one audio tour so Carlye could listen but Alex still wanted it from time to time so that he could learn about the history of the abbey

Here are some pictures of Alex and I standing in one of the large chimneys as well as him up on my shoulders which he enjoys as you can tell -

Alex playing peek-a-boo behind the pillars.

After we left Mont St. Michel we made about a 5-10 minute trip down the road to a place called Turtle Bay, which houses turtles, lizards and crocodiles.

There you could get in the habitat with the turtles and "pet" them. Alex was very excited to get in there and get close to the turtles -

Evidently Alex was in a kissy mood on this specific day as he kissed the turtle and tried to kiss the komoda dragon through the glass -

The last exhibit was the "crockers" as Alex calls them -

Alex found a tunnel that he and mom got to crawl through I think he was looking to get close enough to kiss the "crocker"



But this was about as close as he got down there -

We stayed in a hotel near the beaches in Normandy. We first visited Omaha beach and some of the museums in there area.

Here is a picture of the monument on Omaha beach for the National Guard-

Omaha beach -

Bunker where the Germans were trying to protect Omaha beach -

Outside one of the museums at Omaha beach - Alex liked what he called the "big trucks" -

Inside Alex found one of the big bombs that were used in the area - finally he passed out in the stroller after running around quite a bit in the museum -

We then visited probably one of my favorite stops of the trip "Pointe du Hoc". It was an area that the Germany's defended that was up on a 100 foot cliff that overlooked both Omaha beach and Utah beach (the two beaches where the Americans landed on D-Day). The area was captured by the Army Rangers who had to scale the 100 foot cliff in order to get up to the Germans.

This is the area where the German had the large caliber gun that could reach both beaches at Pointe du Hoc -

The area is well preserved and you can still see the effects of the war (holes in the ground that are 20 feet deep and a lot of concreate and rebar). On the picture on the right is one of the bunkers that was still in tact which is where the German soldiers slept.

One of the bunkers as Alex and I explore -

Alex is very trusting he likes to jump into my arms especially from a higher place - here he is inside one of the bunkers and also at the top of the bunker from the previous picture.

Alex and I in the look out hole

Alex and mommy hanging out on one of the look out decks - it was quite windy on the day we visited as you can tell -

Alex and mommy hanging out and down inside one of the bunkers -

Alex walking through some of the ditches that were made in the ground where the soldiers would take cover.

Last but definitely not least we stopped at the American Cemetary where there are 9,386 American soldiers buried from WW II. The cemetary overlooks Omaha beach and you can walk down to the beach from the cemetary.

I think that will take care of our trips to France while we are over here. Hope everyone is doing well.

France Trip # 2 (Stop 2 of 3 - Bordeaux region)

Our second stop of France trip #2 was a little south of the town of Bordeaux along the West coast of France. It was much warmer here than in Versailles which is near Paris and this was by far Alex's favorite part of the trip - once you see the pics below no explaining is needed. We drove on Carlye's birthday (August 29th). It is tradition for us to go out to dinner to celebrate birthdays. This year is no different.... Best birthday dinner ever!!!



Europeans LOVE to go camping. So we thought we would see what it was all about. In Bordeaux we stayed at a Campsite in a trailer. (This is considered to be the very finest of camping experiances) Definitely different quality of beds etc than the hotels we stayed in during our trips to France. But we had fun grilling outside and you see Alex really enjoyed eating his breakfast outside in the morning as well.

The reason this was Alex's favorite part of the trip (without even mentioning that he did not get dragged through museums) can be seen below in the video. I think we thought it would be a good idea for Oma and Pa to install something like this in the backyard that way Alex, Jaxson and future grandchildren could play all day. Only no short shorts or speedos allowed.

Here are some pics of Alex enjoying the various portions of the kiddy pools - the water was quite cool the first few days and it warmed up the last day we are there so not too many pictures of mom in the pool with him -

As much as Alex enjoyed the kiddy pool his favorite part of the entire park was the big boy slides. I think at one point he and I went up and down these things 25 times in a row. Here are some various pics of us coming down the slide including going into the water - I did my best holding him up out of the water at the end.

There was also a lake near the campsite and the water was a bit warmer so mommy and Alex went looking for shells and other interesting items in the sand -

Awww - isn't that sweet

Next stop - Normandy.