Breathing it all in

This morning Kathy, Dean and I went to the market, but we just got there and I looked around and The Kids were gone.  They are big kids so I thought they would be o.k.  

I gloried in the tangy smells of fresh cheese, the salty odor of the fish, and the flowers piled up for sale.  

I flirted with the sellers, one man giving me a cadeau of an extra figue and another giving me a taste of sweet juicy mango.  Mango, which, i usually hate but was so tender and sweet that i had to go back and buy one for breakfast.  I enjoyed hearing my "Un Euro" man holler out his song and the sound of French all around me.  

The sights are darker, not so spring / summer, but the lovely dark shades of teal, brown and dark rose. I bought grapes, cheese, ham and croissants for breakfast.  When I was ready I had still not ran across The Kids and piddled until i bought some finger puppets for the girls.  Still no Kids, and at last Dean came running up, they had gone back to the apartment and found me not there.  

After a foofey breakfast of fruit, cheese, ham, and bread, we headed for Notre Dame.  One of the themes of this trip feels like "CHANGE".  The service used to be partly in English, French, Italian and Spanish, and while the bulletin is translated for folks can follow, it is all in French now.  I was able to follow MOST of it, not being Catholic makes it a little hard, because I don't know all the ropes.  

After we walked to Le Fleur en Isle for a goodie, but no one really seemed to appreciate it but me.  O had my yummy hot chocolate that comes: milk in a pot, melted chocolate in a pot, and not with a meringue.  It was fabulous!  

Jodi agreed to share a millefeuille with me but after we had ordered I noticed that they had a Apple and Pear Gratin!  

Oh Joy, oh bliss, it was a reincarnation of their old Pear Gratin that was my bliss!  Jodi's millefeuille came with raspberry sauce and I dipped my meringue in it.  with the Cocoa, the meringue and my gratin, I was just in lingual heaven.  

This young couple getting it just right.

Jodi and I went back to the room and messed around a bit, straightened, showered, and so on.

Now we are sitting in Luxembourg Garden, music playing in the background, the song of water playing closer, birds, children and people speaking a plethora of languages all around.  IT is evening, the air is cool and it is very pleasant.  MIght we see this young couple at Notre Dame next time we are here?

For dinner we went to Bistrot d'Henri and I was not disappointed in what was to be one of the best meals of the trip. Jodi had a green bean salad and I had pate de fois gras,  both were excellent, followed by ravioli for Jodi and duck breast in honey sauce for me.  

I am thrilled to be redundant and say that this was excellent too!

Bragging Rights

I am now the possessor of bragging rights!  I drove through downtown Paris, around the Arch d'Triumph, dropped off The Kids at the apartment and returned the car to the Gare Du Lyon.  

The morning started out peacefully with more of the best yogurt I have ever eaten, accompanied by good coffee, a croissant fruit and cheese. 

I really liked the Manior du Quesnay.  This place definitely would be an awesome place to go for a week of R & R!  It was peaceful lovely and the hosts were very kind and attentive without  being intrusive.  

And the drive into town was peaceful, well sort of.  We stopped at an Autoroute for lunch and Kathy decided to do the cafeteria thing. 

The rest of us went to Paul. Quiche for me. Pizza for Dean and a croissant for Jodi.  As we were laying Kathy approached with her tray and the young thing at the register started laughing at Kathy and telling her something.  Kathy did not understand, and I became irritated with the little twit as she just turned into a donkey, braying and talking louder.  I finally said, you can be that way all you wish, but she will not understand, now what it the problem? So she told me that Kathy HAD to eat in the cafeteria dining room.  I pray for the twit that when she is about 56, she gets to go to America and she innocently does something wrong, and some little snot laughs at her.  grrrrr.

I can not begin to describe the utter chaos of driving around the Arc de Triomphe.  But Alex, the owner of the B&B and Siri both indicated I shoud shoot straight through town, so with a very large gulp, We did.  

The apartment is lovely, the steps not overwhelming, and the living room area is large. 

 The layout is odd, sort of loop around a tiny courtyard.  

Also this apartment is definitely to for children, the disabled,or infirm.  

We got stuff put away and The Kids choose to stay close to the apartment.  I was aching to get out in the streets of the city I love!  

So we went for Pizza at Del Arte.  And we strolled some.  

It is funny, I know the Metro so well and there is just enough time I between visits that I have to get my bearings again.  Ahhhh, it is good to be here again.  

Disambiguation

Kathy and I felt like royalty this morning as she, Dean and I had croissants, emmentaler, fresh yogurt and fruit.  

This place is amazing, Our room is on the thirs floor with a spiral stone staircase. 

There is a large stone fireplace across from the bed which has a drop leaf table on Jodi's side of the bed and a night stand on my side.  

There are small windows with tiny places to kneel and look out, or very small people could sit there in the window sill.  

The ceiling is beam and there is a stone carving in one corner of the room as well as faces carved in the fireplace.  

We first went to Port en Bessin where the owner of Le Quesnay, Jacques, made reservations for our dinner this evening at Le Mariner Hotel.  After we scopped that out we headed to the American Cemetary.  I ALWAYS manage to mis the entrance and how after all this time I do not know.  Regardless, in the five years since we have been here it has changed.  There is a new entrance/museum area which is, for once, a good use of our tax dollars!  It made all of those crosses much more personal.  I was in there less than five minutes and I felt a bubble of grief welling up, and carried that feeling through the whole place!  I look at those crosses and think of the loss, not only of the life of that person and what they could have brought to the world, but also of their families and the grief their loss left back home.  It was interesting how we talked about the senselessness of war on the way in and then had a bit different sort of conversation on the way out.  Without the sacrifice of all of those men and women our world today could be very different.  

The beach front area there always feels so serene, it is a holy place now.

We found a cidre place, which was lucky because our usual place was FERME!

But what we found was delicious and we drank it later at the beach!! 

Then we moved on to pont du hoc, to have a better look at some bunkers and craters left by the Americans.  It was one of the highlights of my day as a group of students from Brown, thought I was a French lady!  I had to have some fun with them, so asked where they were from, and they said the states I said in my best Hoosier accent "Yes, I gathered that, but from where", they all laughed.  Pont su hoc amazes me, I can not even begin to imagine climbing up  the cliff even without enemy gunfire, let alone with it coming at you.   

Then we went to St. Mere Eglise via Mc Donald's, I was trying to be nice because we were going to a foofey dinner.  The thing I have noticed in the last five years is the commercialism of the D-Day area.  The first time I was at point du Hoc we drove right up, and each time I have returned it has changed and today there were at least a dozen guides plying their tales as we wandered. St Mere Eglise has a several new museums as well as there is a big "Overlord" museum outside the American Cemetary.  It makes me sad, even though I applaud the new entrance to the American Cemetary.  

We got euros which took a while because the lady in front of me could not figure out how to work the ATM.  

Then we drove to the beach, looked for shells, and generally fooled around.  I found a few lovely shells for the pond!  The tide was WAY out which is something I have not seen before here, It must have something to do with the time of the year, I need some time and tide lessons!

I thought this was a nice use for an old bunker!  It says: "Who changes the children, changes the world."

Dinner at La Marine was yummy, melon soup with ham on the side, a pork, prune and carrot dish followed by a dessert Jodi picked out, which was a good choice.  

Duck Massacre at the Duk.

I am pooped.  When I was 16 i wanted to take multiple languages and be a tour guide.  I got a taste of that today, that and a taste of more getting lost.  After another yummy breakfast at La Rosarie, we headed for Caen today. Tomorrow we will spend the day at various D-Day sites and I wanted The Kids to have a idea of what we were seeing and why.  On the way we stopped at Mc Donald's for Deans BD, he was pleasantly surprised.  

I am not a wrap sort of girl, it irritates me when I am fed them instead of a sandwiches at luncheons, but Mickey D's has a goat cheese wrap that was actually a do over!   Back on the road, we arrived at the war memorial to drop off The Kids and to my surprise there was a new statue of a sailor kissing a nurse, that classic D-day pose.  It was asesome!  

They had it right down to the seams on her white hose!  Jodi and I were on a mission that I thought would be easy, find a store, get some coke, water, and hairspray, and fill up the gas tank.  Easy it was not, we did the whole perifique (the loop) of Caen, and finally Jodi talked me into asking about the diesel we could not find, the girl at the check out at the gas station said she did not know, to ask at the service station, and that man said gazol and diesel were the same.  The consequences of putting the wrong fuel in the car wre pretty enormous so Jodi had the bright idea of looking up gazol in my French dictionary, problem solved, now to fill it up.  We with much ado filled it as full as it would go, then found a store and lastly another Golden Arches trip , the bathroom for me a coke light with EXTRA ice for Deans Birthday!  We picked up The Kids late and went on to Benoville, where Pegasus Bridge is located.  

We dropped them off at the Museum there and headed for a coffee and goodie at the Gondree cafe.  I love this little place, I love the history, but it seems to be rewriting itself.  Jodi really couldn't find any info about the father spying during the war.  Boo Hoo Hoo.  

We did get to the bridge go up and a sail boat sashay down the Orne.  

We picked up The Kids and headed to the beach, just so they could see it.  then Jodi talked me into stopping and it was pretty cool.  I have never seen the tide out so far and you could really see the Mullberrys!  

We stopped at Arromanches too and then made our way to the B&B,  Le Manoir De Quesnay.  It is an amazing place, It has been in the family since the 1500's 

We are on the third floor and getting my suitcase up the tiny spiral stone staircase was a feat! Then room is charming, and I am thrilled.  

We went to dinner at a place in Bayeaux, La Taverne Des Ducs.  It is a pity that a poor duck gave his life to be treated the way this place cooked my duck breast.  There sould be a french law against it.  

The wine they served me at the highest of the three prices available  was probably usable in the car for fuel!  My experience was suckey, but the birthday boy got a steak and he was happy!  So for today that is good enough.  But seriously don't even go to this place unless you are starving!  Bon Nuit.