Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Monday, March 9, 2009

Back to Work...and my Normandy Vacation!

Allo everyone! So, ça y est, vacation is over! Back to teaching the darling children which I'm not too excited about but in a way it's a good thing. I'll be occupied again with a normal routine and I'll avoid spending money out of boredom. Last week was the Besançon - Normandy road trip and I had a great time. We ended up cutting Versailles out of the plan because we didn't have enough time and I was out of money. We divided up our week by spending two days in Normandy, and two days in Rennes, Brittany at Christophe's friend's apartment. The remaining two days were used as travel time. Since we had a very limited time to visit the region, we picked a only a handful to sites to visit.

First on the list was Deauville, home of the annual American film festival and the location of the film "Un Homme, Une Femme". It was a very classy city and a little too up-ity for me. We got to walk along the beach and the famous boardwalk.
Next city we visited was Caen. We didn't get to spend too much time in the city itself but we took a brief tour of the center. What we really got to see was the Caen Memorial Museum, a World War II museum dedicated to the memory of the French liberation by the American and British troops.
There was a vast collection of American war equipment and vehicles like the tank in the photo above. I was a little surprised that there was almost absolutely no mention of the Holocaust but since there was a large number of elementary school groups, the museum probably decided to tone down the atrocities of the war for all age groups.

On the way to the Normandy beaches we stopped in Bayeux to see the famous Tapestry. Ok, taking photos wasn't allowed but we did it anyway.This tapestry is over 1000 years old and in several scenes tells the story of how William the Conqueror took power in England in the year 1066. Not only it this thing really old but it's really really long too! It's 70 meters long (229 feet!). Très impressionnant!

Next we visited two of the American landing beaches during D-Day, June 6, 1944. We visited Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. Here are a few photos:
The Pointe du Hoc was really impressive. There were tons of German bunkers that had been abandoned, one was even in pieces. There were also hundreds of craters in the ground from the dropping of the bombs during Operation Overload.
Well voilà, that was all of the highlights of my vacation in Normandy! Hope you enjoyed!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Ski Trip

I went on my first French ski trip yesterday. Today, I'm in a lot of pain. I think I did fairly well (I fell only about 10 times) not bad I think considering that it's been 4 years since I last skied.


You can see the Alps in the Distance and the Mont blanc!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

C'est les vacances!!

These past few weeks have thankfully passed by very quickly. I'm finally on vacation! Woo-hoo! Unfortunately to begin the vacation, I have 6€ which won't go very far. Thankfully February is a short month and I'll hopefully be paid within the next few days. I'll need it to go to Normandy for the following week. Christophe and I and a friend are planning on doing a France road trip from the east to the West coast with a stop over to Versailles. Last year I did a similar trip to Brittany to visit Rennes and the Mont St. Michel, but this year we're driving a few kilometers farther to visit the Beaches of Normandy from WWII and to also visit some museums and well known cities. On the agenda is visiting Caen, Deauville, and maybe Cherbourg. Other than this voyage, a ski trip might be in order this week. The monthly budget will have to be strictly followed during this vacation or I'll quickly find myself with 50€ for all of March.

In other news, Christophe and I bought a mixer/food processor to facilitate our cooking. We also bought electric beaters so I think i'm going to attempt to make a soufflé of some sort. I found a video cooking blog on the NY times website and I've fallen in love. I'm going to attempt some of his recipes. I need to remember to document my attempts so that I can post pictures to the blog.

Lastly, this week, my students celebrated Carnavale, the annual event where people dress up in crazy costumes and faire la fête (party) in order to prepare for Lent. It was so cold but the kids had a blast. I also ate one too many beignets, a traditional Carnavale snack, which I guess is the equivalent to small pieces of sugary fried dough. I had a pretty bad stomache ache at the end of the day...

To those who are en vacances (on vacation), enjoy!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Buon Natale!

Merry Christmas everyone!

We're back from Rome and we had a wonderful time! Beautiful weather, no lines, it was the perfect week to visit Rome. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

The Colosseum at Night


The Pantheon


St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

Trevi Fountain

The Roman Forum


Inside the Colosseum

The Colosseum and The Arc of Constantine

Outside the Colosseum

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

And last but not lest, a giant Christmas Tree!