Normandy

On another weekend trip organized by GW, I was able to visit the province of Normandy, in the north of France. Yes, the same Normandy where soldiers stormed the beaches in order to retake occupied France on June 6, 1944: D-Day during World War II.

After a long bus ride, we first visited the D-Day museum - or as the French call it 'Jour-J.' The exhibit was very interesting. And I'm not one for military history, so that's saying something. I actually learned a lot more about the history of the war and of course the famous battle.

From there we drove to a cute little town called .......... on the coast. While the beach there was a part of the Normandy Invasion, it was not one of the beaches stormed by the Americans. Still, the town was a great place to explore. We ate lunch there before getting back on the bus.

the main street in town

Our next stop was a group of bunkers that were used in the war. These were cool to look at, but honestly I wasn't much interested by them. Like I said, I'm not much of a military buff. But here are some nice pictures of them:

There was a hill beside one of them, so we were able to climb on top of it.

After that, we visited the cemetery where American soldiers are buried who participated and died during the storming of the beaches of France. The location is directly overlooking Omaha Beach, the beach that the Americans specifically invaded on D-Day. The cemetery reminded me a lot of Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, because of the consistency of headstones throughout:

However, there was the occasional Jew:

Although if there was no record of religion for the soldier, the simple cross was used.

We had a guide while touring the cemetery, who was really enjoyable. She told us many stories about some of the different people who are buried here. Most of them were very sentimental and wonderful. She also showed us a few famous graves:

Robert and Preston Niland: These two brothers are buried next to one another. They were the inspiration for the movie "Saving Private Ryan." Although the original story is slightly different from the movie plot...

 

Teddy's little brother. They died almost on the exact same day - just 26 years apart. While Quentin did not die during the battles of Normandy, he was killed in a plane crash over France. He was re-interred at this cemetery in order to be buried next to his brother.

Our last visit of the day was to the famous Omaha Beach. This was one of the five beaches stormed on D-Day. The taking of this beach was the responsibility of the Americans. While the objective of the invasion was eventually achieved, not everything went as smoothly as planned and there were about 3,000 American casualties.

Today it looks like a normal beach, as would be expected. However, walking along the shore, it is hard to imagine the kind of bloodshed that went on there 68 years ago.

 

There were randomly some horseback riders trotting down the beach.

Once we left the beach, we got back onto the bus one last time, dreading the three hour ride ahead of us. For our itinerary the next day included the intriguing Mont Saint Michel... But I'll get to that in my next post.

A bientot!

Paris vu par Hollywood

There is a special exposition going on at Hotel de Ville this fall called "Paris vu par Hollywood" (Paris seen by Hollywood). It demonstrates the impression of Paris that audiences receive from watching American Hollywood movies which take place in the city.

Although we had to wait in line for over an hour outside in the rain before we could enter (a free exposition in Paris is rare and very popular), it was worth it to see.

They had all sorts of different items from movies that are set in Paris - costumes, scripts, pictures, letters from directors, producers, etc. It was very cool.

In the background of the large room they had a projector continuously showing clips and scenes from some of the most famous Paris movies. I had never realized just how many there are. Audrey Hepburn was a popular theme - she must have loved Paris. There were also many Disney movies and childhood favorites.

Overall it was pretty interesting to see America's Paris. I wonder what the Parisians who visited the exposition thought of it all...

A bientot!

Musee de l'Orangerie

On the southwest side of the Tuileries Gardens, there is a small museum called Musee de l'Orangerie. It is not as famous as some of the other museums of Paris but still fairly well-known, due to the amazing works by Monet that are on display.

These paintings by Monet are again of his lovely water lilies, but special in the fact that they are panorama views. Each painting takes up an entire wall, stretching long and high with continuous garden displays.

The rooms in which these paintings are held are huge, white ovals. According to the museum, they were designed by Monet  "to create a 'decompression space' between the city's agitation and his work." He wanted people to be able to actually fully enjoy the paintings.

And his plan worked. I was blown away by the magnitude and beauty of it all. To paint on that kind of a scale is pretty amazing. It also helped that I had just recently been to Giverny and had seen the garden in real life. So I was able to really appreciate the life in what he painted.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the rooms, but here are a few published by the museum:

The rest of the museum was dedicated to other impressionist painters. There was Renoir, Cezanne, Rousseau, and Picasso - to name a few. Renoir is my other favorite artist, so I was excited to see his works in person. On display was my favorite painting of his: 'Jeunes Filles au Piano' (Young Girls at the Piano).

There was also a special exhibition when I went, of the artist Chaim Soutine, called 'Order out of Chaos.' This was really fascinating. Soutine liked to distort his paintings, no matter if they were portraits, landscapes, still lifes, whatever. I thought it was in interesting idea. The viewer could still understand the paintings, but it added an extra sense of turmoil to them all. I especially liked his landscapes, most of all one called 'La Route folle a Cagnes' (the Crazy Road to Cagnes):

A bientot!

Disneyland Paris

What 20-year-old wouldn't want to spend a fun-filled day at Disneyland? I know I was pretty excited to head out to the European theme park, just outside of Paris. It is modeled after the two Disney parks in America, although a bit smaller. But it was just as magical!

 

The park is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

One of the great things about Disney is how they go all out on holiday decorations. We went in October, so everything was designed for Halloween. It was crazy just how much they put into it. I can't imagine what they do for Christmas!

the entrance plaza

Main Street

Jack Skeleton was there signing autographs and taking pictures.

The castle at this park belongs to Sleeping Beauty (versus Cinderella's at Disney World). So it is themed with things from that movie. It was cute how you could walk the second floor and follow the story along through stained glass windows.

The castle was pretty awesome, it even had the dragon's lair in a cave underneath.

All of the rides were the same as those in Disneyland, CA and Disney World, FL. I've never been to Disney in California, so some of them were new to me. But it was nice to have the same familiar rides that you're used to seeing.

'It's a Small World' - always my favorite since I was little

the Teacups! classic

Some things were still in French, it was a funny combo in such an American atmosphere.

'Alice in Wonderland'

 

There are actually two theme parks in one - the classic Disneyland Park (with its components of Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and Discoveryland) and Walt Disney Studios. The Studios have more thrill rides and areas dedicated to Pixar movie themes:

probably my favorite ride in the park

Toy Story!

 

Finding Nemo

 

These birds actually did talk and say "Mine!"

Cars

Monsters, Inc.

Singin' in the Rain

Of course the best part of any theme park is the gift shops. There are SO MANY of them! We had fun looking at all the ridiculous souvenirs... Maybe we tried out a few too...

Because it is the 20th anniversary celebration of the park, every evening before close, they have a fireworks and light show on the castle. It was a really cool show! Not just fireworks, they had created a whole story with a light show that somehow transformed the entire castle into whatever they wanted - incorporating elements from many Disney classics. Here are a few of the better pictures I was able to capture:

the castle lit up at night

 

Aladdin

 

Hunchback of Notre Dame

Tangled

Princess and the Frog

Suffice it to say, Disneyland is always a magical place, no matter how old you are!

A bientot!