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France: Normandy & Paris
  • Darren Winnie
  • Laura Winnie
  • Lauren Winnie
  • Darren Winnie
  • Laura Winnie
  • Lauren Winnie
  • Jack Winnie

France: Normandy & Paris

Family trip + Matt, Fly to Charles de Gaulle, train>Paris & train>Bayeux, drive>Deauville, tour Normandy, tour Mont Sainte-Michele train>Paris-Arc De Triomphe>tour Giverny & Versailles >tour PSG Stadium > Food tour Montmartre > & Dinner on Seine Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 31, 2023
    France: Normandy & Paris

    And we're off...with a killer sandwich

    September 1, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Off to Paris- De Gaulle, 1 hr to get through passport stamping, took RR to Paris...so far so good. Found the transfer to St. Lazare, then it got dicey to get to the SNCF train to Bayeux...we made it with 5 min to spare 😀. Our train brokedown and we had to de-board at Maisons-Laffitte, waited 1.5 hour for next train.🫤 (all in it cost us 2.5 hours). Eureka! Made it to Bayeux @ 4:10.Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Deauville & Trouville-sur-Mer

    September 2, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Rented a car and drove 1 hr to Deauville, Normandy’s answer to the French Riviera, and the beach resort of choice for weekending Parisians. Golden sands and seafront promenades dot the coast, while further inland you’ll find spacious plazas, terrace cafés, designer boutiques, and striking half-timbered buildings. Cool high-end town.Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    German Cemetery GATT HAT DAS LETZTE WORT

    September 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    In the town of LeCampe
    21,200 are burried, the 5 crosses link to WW1 which had the 4 smaller crosses, 4>7000 Germans still buried on battle grounds. The lack of birth dates on the grave stones are because the Germans didn't want to show the young ages of the dead, the youngest in the Cemetery is 14 (age 9 in Germany). Originally, Americans were in this cementary until moved home or to US Normandy Cemetery. 80,000 Germans are buried in Normandy.

    The 1200 trees in this Peace Garden with stone posts for each german war and the #s lost.

    GATT HAT DAS LETZTE WORT
    "God has the last word"    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Sainte Me`re E`glise. Where it started.

    September 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    The invasion started in this location. The 82nd and 101st Airborne parachuted into Normandy on the night of June 5–6, 1944 in Sainte-Mère-Église. Mission was to capture town and lay out signals for the coming landings.

    Paratrooper, Clifford Maughan, landed in the church garden & John Steele parachute became caught on the church steeple & where he pretended to be dead for two hours before being captured.

    12 were killed in this midnight landing.

    Take special note of the stained glass windows in the church.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Utah Beach

    September 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion, this was a late addition to the Overlord plan.

    Bombers did a great job knocking out enemy positions, and this was easier taken than Omaha.

    Airborn dropped inland into flooded fields, hedge rows made it a battle field by field.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Pointe du Hoc

    September 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    After leaving Utah, we stopped at the Dick Winters memorial, EZ company Major (famous from Band of Brothers)

    Point du Hoc is considered part of Omaha, the area was left untouched after the war, bomb craters all over the place, resting place for many. In the bunker on the cliff, you can see the roof burnt from flame throwers.

    Over 200 landed to climb the wall, they landed a mile down the beach, support had ended from the sea (due to arriving at cliff base late) 90 made it to the top, secured the area and held the postion for over a day by themselves.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Omaha Beach

    September 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Omaha was the tougher landing due to the bombardment missing the area by a 1/2 mile (weather). The high and heavy reinforced German positions made it near impossible. Troops kept coming in, 20 minute wave after wave. They needed a route off the beach to bring in tanks, equipment, and supplies. The navy realized the troops were getting slaughtered and drove two gunner ships to ground to allow for more accuracy to take out enemy positions. Mulberry A was built at this location to bring in more troops and equipment. This was knocked out by a storm 10 days later ( leaving only Mulberry B). Houses were destroyed by the Germans (all but 1 for the officers) near the beach, later rebuilt. You can see the size of Point du Hoc from this position and Utah in the distance. EVER FORWARD.Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Mont Saint Michel

    September 4, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Mont Saint Miché; English:  Saint Michel is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy.
    The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. On top, God, the abbey, and monastery; below this, the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom (outside the walls), fishermen's and farmers' housing. Population 29 people, celibrated 1000 years in 2023.

    350 steps to top (closest to God) where Monks stayed.
    12 Active Monks and Sister (total) on island
    They offer service 3x per day.

    From the small island, the English lobbed cannon fire for 30+ years.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Mont Saint Michel cont.

    September 4, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Too many photos for 1 footprint.

    MSM was a prison for 100 years, till 1866, the prisoners built the pulley wheel and sled. They had to walk in the wheel to pull the sled of supplies up.

    The English during the great War sent cannon balls into MSM for 30 years, never able to conquer the island.Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Bye - Bye Bayeux

    September 5, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    What a great town to stay in, anchored by La Cathedrale de Bayeux. This town was left mostly untouched by the war, and was the first town liberated (by English). Built in 1st century BC, important to the Romans, destroyed by the Vikings in the 9th century, rebuilt in the early 10th century under the reign of Bothon. In the middle of the 10th century Bayeux was controlled by Hagrold, a pagan Viking.
    Cobblestone streets, small rivers flowing through the town with shops and restaurants all-over.
    It is the seat of the Bishop of Bayeux & Lisieux and was probably the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry.
    The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long and 50 centimetres tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William, Duke of Normandy challenging Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. 

    The Tapestry (1000) years old, amazing story told in pictures, originally for the illiterate.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Arc de Triomphe

    September 5, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    The arch, designed by Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin, is 164 feet high and 148 feet wide. Formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the étoile or "star" of the juncture formed by its twelve radiating avenues. Built between 1806 and 1836.

    The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

    284 steps to the top, well worth the trip.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Sainte-Chapelle

    September 6, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    Toured this chapel on the same island as Notre Dame. Commissioned by Louis IX 1242>1248 to house the relics of passion. The stained glass is 70% original and covers a total of 6,889 sq ft., each window is 51 ft x 44ft depicting 1,113 scenes from the Bible read from left to right, bottom to top, in S path (see the Last Supper close up) over the alter in #8 " Christ's Passion" . Get this, all scenes were drawn to scale, glass was made in bulk, cut to size and mounted, not bad for 13th century...easy job🫣. The rose window The Apocalypse of St. John is 29ft in diameter and faces west-and the setting sun, a symbol of the end of time.Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Giverny, Claude Monet Tour

    September 7, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    Toured Monet's home and gardens in Giverny, where he lived since 1883, approximately 1:20 from Paris. Monet was influenced by Japanese art and especially water-lilly ponds, which he created next to his home near the Seine in Giverny.

    Monet's ambition to document the French countryside led to a method of painting the same scene many times so as to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons. Among the best-known examples are his series of haystacks (1890–91), paintings of the Rouen Cathedral (1894), and the paintings of water lilies in his garden in Giverny that occupied him continuously for the last 20 years of his life.

    To keep with the awful Nazi theme, Jewish art collectors of Monet were looted by Nazis and their agents. Several of the stolen artworks have been restituted to their former owners, while others have been the object of court battles. In 2014, during the spectacular discovery of a hidden trove of art in Munich, a Monet that had belonged to a Jewish retail magnate was found in the suitcase of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of one of Hitler's official art dealers of looted art, Hildebrand Gurlitt.

    A painting from his water-lilly series sold for over $80M in 2008.

    He died in 1926 @ 86, very wealthy and the most famous painters
    of his time.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Chateau De Versailles

    September 7, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    Toured the hunting lodge and gardens today. Great guide, and easy on the eyes. Celebrating 400 years in 2023. The photos don't capture the scale of the palace or the gardens. Three kings lived here for over 107 years, built during Louie the 14th, the 15th partied in it, and the 16th got his head lopped off (1793), followed by the cake eater 9 months later. Nepolian declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804. We thank Shorty for that sweatheart deal he gave us in 1803 to buy the Louisiana purchase (828,000 sq miles) for $15M, doubling our size. France had their last revolution in 1848.

    Fun fact, they had no kitchen in the palace because they didn't want the smell, YET had no toilets for 100 years and would just pee and shit in the open, behind a door, over railings...wherever .. with over 2,300 rooms, cleaning could not keep up and every August everyone would move out due to the smell and for cleaning.

    The queens bed saw 19 births and 2 queens deaths (see photo). Fun fact #2, the queens births were semi-public events to prove legacy (no swapping out girls for future heirs)...seems fun.    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Chin Chin on the Seine

    September 8, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌙 86 °F

    Evening river cruise (Bateaux Parisiens) on the Seine was fantastic as our trip winds down. A mellow cruise on the Seine, the french really do sit along the river with wine, too many to count.
    We passed the OG of statue of Liberty. This Pont de Grenelle Statue of Liberty (a quarter-scale replica) was installed some three years after the New York Statue of Liberty, and in fact was originally one of the working models made whilst preparing to construct the “real thing.”

    Chin Chin 🇨🇵 Cheers    Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    A Food Tour we will never Baguette.

    September 9, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    We had a food tour in Montmartre, a cool area on a hill famous for nightclubs, cafés, and as an artist district. Our guide, Louie, gave a nice overview of the area, and the food stops. We sampled along the way, including an award winning crepe, and Louie picked up food for a sampling at the end at this old hotel. With endless baguetts, we sampled 5 meats (goose/ goose patè) and 5 cheeses.... fun time followed by a walk-up to Basilique du Sacrè-Coeur de Montmarte, with a fantastic view of Paris.Read more

  • France: Normandy & Paris

    Au Revoir France

    September 9, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    Ten days came and went in a flash, and we all had a great time. Starting with our French railway adventures getting to Bayeux (travel note…Birkenstocks are not recommended when sprinting through a European Train station). What should have been a 1:30 p.m. arrival turned into a 4:30 p.m. arrival, which was made even more enjoyable due to our lack of sleep but
    we finally arrived at our destination.
    As we meandered through the cobblestoned streets of Bayeux it finally felt like we could breathe. We arrived at our 15th century Airbnb, with a skeleton key and a stone spiral staircase and made ourselves at home for the next 4 days. We put away our suitcases and headed to the center of town. Bonjour Bayeux!
    Our time in the Normandy region was spent exploring the area by foot, car and two tours.

    it was educational, fun, and filled with both laughs and tears from the humbling battlefields of Utah Beach, & (Pointe du Hoc & Omaha) to the overwhelming feeling at both the German and US Cemeteries. We enjoyed the beauty of the countryside, the grandeur of Deauville and the majesty of Mont St. Michel. We did all of this with a lot of smiles and laughs about killing spiders in the shower and morning pastry runs.
    We really enjoyed the French countryside and when we headed back to Paris the following Tuesday, Bayeux had left a lasting impression. The rolling hills, beautiful towns and gorgeous seaside of Normandy were quickly replaced with the hustle and bustle of Paris. As we pulled into Saint Lazare train station, it was in the middle of a European heatwave. Though September, temperatures were in the 90’s (35 degrees Celsius) but we welcomed this over rain.
    After a very crazy taxi ride, we were greeted by Stefan at our Airbnb on the Champs Elysee. Going to the 7th floor and walking into an air-conditioned and very beautiful Airbnb, we felt like we had died and gone to heaven. From our living room we could see the famous Champs Elysee, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe. Our Paris adventure had begun.
    We spent the next few days sweating through the streets of Paris, the Gardens of Monet, the halls of Versailles, the soccer stadium at St. Germaine and cruising along the Seine.
    We discovered the “Wallace Water Fountain,” some of the CLEANEST drinking water in Paris and frequently used it!
    Along the way, laughs were had, memories were made and croissants were enjoyed. When Matt ordered “Guinea” a type of Parisian fowl dish, Jack actually thought that he was eating a Guinea Pig. It was too perfect not to then call Jack “Guinea Pig” for the remainder of the trip. Of course Matt and Lauren had already earned nicknames of their own, Matt was “Tyrone” and Lauren was referred to as “Dusty Peloton.” They say “time flies when you’re having fun!” Time flew.
    Sunday September 10 came and as we boarded Delta Flight 225 to head home we did so with grateful hearts and fond memories. France will always have a piece of our hearts!    Read more

    Trip end
    September 10, 2023
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