Fearless
St. Malo, France.
There are far more places visited than what is put below. The trip was a lot of fun and wished that the time wouldn't go by so quickly.
Next set are from Mont St. Michel, France:
During high tide, the entire place is surrounded by water and the place becomes an island. The top of the city is an Abby and sits on a granit mountain. Masonry at its best and made pre-industrial revolution.
Juno Beach Centre, Normandy, France:
Juno Beach:
It is hard to believe what happened here. The city of Caen received approximately 11,000 calls last year for unexploded mines, artillery and bombs found by locals. They also still find fallen soldiers in Caen, France. The most recent find was last year, when they were re-zoning for a new subdivision.
This is the largest of the Canadian cemeteries. There are about 15 others around Normandy. On the monuments and flags, Canadian visitors have been leaving Canadian coins. There are rows of coins that line the front and main monument. A bit of symbolic gesture like the twoonie placed under the rink when the men/women won Hockey Gold two olympics ago. The monies are collected and used to help maintain the Common Weath cemeteries. About 2,000 Canadian soldiers are here. There are entire generations here who lost their lives on or after D-Day as they worked to liberate France, house by house and city by city.
American Cemetery:
Approximately 9,000 soldiers are buried here. The Americans lost about 30,000 men, most of them sent back home by the request of the families. The place is located at Omaha Beach.
The eagles, tombstones and soldiers face towards home, the United States.
A German Pearl Box:
These lined the beaches to take down any ships.
Gold Beach - the artificial harbour is still visible today. It was created by the Allies because they could not breach German defenses to take over an existing harbour and get supplies over to the troops. The artificial harbour was created in 3 weeks at the English channel and towed over to Normandy after the D-Day attacks. This is where they also invented the floating bridge (for trucks/tanks) used by militaries today.
The Pointe Du Hoc:
Carpet bombing by the Allies. The area are full of German underground tunnels you can still visit. See below:
Caen, France - the weekly farmer's market. Covers about 3 city blocks. Wished there was a kitchen at the hotel.
An Abby for nuns - Caen, France.
Bayeux, France - Train Station, heading towards Caen.
London, UK:
Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Flying Pig Hostel in Amsterdam. Great place.
The best part of this trip were the people we met. A lot of fellow Canadians in Paris, Amsterdam and London who now live abroad, many Aussies and a few Americans. Tons of stories from this trip.
The most interesting thing was learning cultural differences:
The Dutch eat dinner at 5pm
North Americans at 6pm
The French at 7:30-8pm (if you go earlier to a real French restaurant -ie: non-tourist restaurant, they will turn you away if you arrive before 7:30).