9/16

Bought a $6.00 bottle of wine at the grocery store..........it's as good as we get in CA on our wine safaris—and for $30.00/bottle. Had our best meal tonight, at the Le Pommier (Apple ) --in Bayou
devine salad with ham, smoked salmon, tomatoes, apple, and a huge chunk of goat cheese, dinner a seafood cassolet in cream sauce with vegs, and dessert, their special apple pie in a philo dough crust. I'm full! Lew has taken photos of each meal........but sometimes remembers only after half is consumed so the pretty presentation is lost. Bayou has historic buildings dating back to the middle ages, made of stone and timber, and a beautifully lit up cathedral in the center of town.
Tomorrow we drive to Gvernee........easier to drive 70 miles in our bread delivery vehicle than getting there by train from Paris............both excited about this venture.
9/16 A great breakfast, and then we walk about the farm and see the cows and corn. We find a church first dated 1027, but up to 1550 in parts. We drive to Juno Beach to see the cliffs they climbed and the round 360 Cinema, which showed pictures of then and now in a good way. The wind picked up as we went to German gun emplacements left in place. Apparently there were about 15,000 all together. We had a huge cup of coffee and the hot milk from her cows, croissant, bread butter waiting for the Americans who also read Rick Steves to arrive today. We found a road kill hedgehog, old stone building, with little new homes as well. Roses and Rhododendrons. Neat winding cobble stone streets and garden paths and a small bridge. The weather was very appropriate for what we saw, it was blustery, strong winds almost strong enough to blow us over, gray overcast, and rain.....the beach where our troops landed, and the 9000 Crosses that were there, as well as some Jewish Stars of David. The Omaha Beach Museum was the best.
Some observations (with a missing contact), and questions, (from a ever curious mind, take it as you may) and some comments (from one who rarely speaks her mind).........
Why are the French known for their fine foods, and all the women are thin? Not fair.
Is there really such a thing as evil? If not, what was Hitler?
These beautiful countrysides are being infused with signs (my pet peeve in America) Holiday Inn, Starbucks, MacDonalds—why can't we keep our bad habits to ourselves?
There is nowhere to get a cafe au lait to go............forces people to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while taking a deep breath............less litter too.
People in Paris walk little dogs, and pick up their poops, most of the time. When they don't Lew is sure to step in it.
Kids ride scooters on the cobble stone streets
Everybody smokes—well dressed women on the streets
Well dressed women ride bikes to work in Paris. Well dressed women, no two alike, cannot identify chicos or Talbots, never saw two pair of shoes alike, except for a left and right.
Parks are neat, crowed, lovers everywhere, pigeons too, It is the city of love, 2 flies were doing it on our windshield.
We feel safe walking in Paris and Normandy even at night........don't see gangs, or thuggy looking people, except the night we took the train home from the un opera.
Women wearing jeans, short skirts showing their fit and tanned legs, no nylons and sandles or heels—even when it is cold. No orthotics. Every female has a scarf around her neck..........now I do too, they are warm and feminine. I wear warm socks and slacks, hiding my not so fit or tanned legs.
After today's outing, I wonder once again, why do we have to have wars? We don't. Politicians and egomanics do...Every single one of those 9,000 crosses represented a son, a father, a lover, a young life cut short, those 9,000 multiplied by numbers too high to count, left grieving .
Our little farm house is charming and cozy. Madaline warm, beautiful, and so welcoming, a most gracious hostess. . Certainly those little calves crying from the dark barn wearing collars and chained to the wall are only waiting to be reunited with their mothers who are being milked—I do hope and pray we are not staying at a veal farm. Lew will not let me ask about the poor little critters, for fear I will go ballistic if I hear what I could not bear to know. So they are just waiting for their mommies.
In desperation after Lew's petanque game, I dashed into the toilet of an empty cafe, and upon leaving said, “merci”...only to get chewed out by the bartenders, scolded to the verge of tears, because it was not a public toilet..........helping international relations I am.
Lew is so smart, he got us all over Paris via au pieds and metro, and through the small windy streets to our destinations.--but then when there was no car until “tomorrow” and no one to meet us at the farm, he realized we left Paris a day early!!
From our bedroom window, I can see the two Americans unloading their car......with their own pillows, and carrying a Rick Steves backpack, just like ours...guess we all read the same guidebook.
Love traveling with Lew......he makes my neck hurt........never before have I looked up at so many buildings, and appreciated the beautiful and intricate structures. He fills me in on history.......bringing life to history, and history to life.......especially today, when the statistics became more than numbers, they were names, and faces, and feelings. He got me thinking of the German soldiers, some just farm kids who were in the gunneries just waiting for the assault by the allies....how in some way they too were victims. (we're not talking about the Natzis and Hitler's planners). I looked at the hedge lined roads differently, because in the war they were barriers for our lines to move forward. I noticed the different nationalities of people, collectively somber, respectful, absorbing the meaning and quiet beauty of the cemetery while the sound of the wind and waves from Omaha beach provided an erie backdrop.