Sabbatical begins in Normandy

A month off work? Heck yeah! And with that, our whole fam was off to France and then to Switzerland. It was quite a trip, one I will never forget. And with that, I'll share some of our memories. 

We took off for France and arrived at the Paris Airport. That place is HUGE and busy and neat all at the same time. As you can see, the boys were happy to be there.

Getting through customs was a bear! Still, we got to talk to a nice family from Paris who gave us insights into the city. Finally, we were so happy to get our rental car (yes to the VW Touran!) and we were off. This is the part of the blog post where I give a huge shoutout to traveling with a smart phone. Everything is so easy! I remember traveling in Europe when I was a high schooler, and reading the map and getting to places was the most difficult part. I was so glad to have that GPS (and all of the things)!

To stave off any jet lag, we visiting Giverny, Monet's home and gardens. This place was amazing! I loved it. The kids were tired (see Oliver's face below), but they managed. Ha!

We stopped at our airbnb in Giverny. It was an artist's home and so cool with lots of kid toys and books (in French!). We loved relaxing at home after a long day of travel. 

The next day, we visited the Chateau de Guyon, a castle build into limestone caves. This place was awesome! I have 50+ photos on my camera roll from here, but I told myself I could only use two photos of each stop in this summary, so here's one from the front gate.

And here's another photo from the keep at the very top of the castle. The views were magnificent! Of all the things we did in France, this was one of my favorites. I should note, this stop was not on our schedule but Jess found it and we decided to make a day of it. I am so glad we did! Another travel note: make sure to put some flexibility in your traveling. You'll find some gems this way.

The next day, we went to Le Mont Saint Michel, a place I've wanted to see for many years. This is an abbey built on an island off the coast of Normandy. When the tide goes out, you can walk there. When it comes in, it's surrounded by water. This place was busy but it was still amazing. The views. The history. So here's another travel note: try not to go to Europe in July or August. Popular spots are very busy. But really, who are we kidding? If you want to take your kids on a month trip, it's going to have to be in the summer. Amiright?

We went on a tour of the Abbey and it was pretty magnificent. It's pretty crazy to think of all the sweat and toil that went into building such a place. We wanted to go to a famous omelet stop in the little town, but the restaurant was filled and the creperie was full too, so we had baguette sandwiches and sodas. Not too bad. As the vacation went on, I came to love those baguette sandwiches.

The following day we headed up to the beaches of Normandy. Of course, these spots are well known for the D-Day attack on German fortifications in France. It was very surreal to be in a place of past intense fighting on a beautiful sunny day in August. The younger kids wanted to build sand castles. The older kids took it in. Jess really loved these spots. The photo below was at Omaha Beach.

Below is a photo of Jess is at Point du Hoc, the area where army rangers had to climb up the steep cliff wall to attack the strongholds of the German Army. This spot was new to me. I'd never heard of this part of the mission in regards to D-Day. The things these men did were unbelievable.

Another shot on Point du Hoc. At this site, you can still see the craters from dropped bombs and damage from bullets. If you are ever doing a trip to the World War II sites, I would recommend a stop here. From there we went to the American Cemetery in Normandy. A site to behold and worth a visit for sure.

While the kids went to the Overlord Museum, I stayed in the car with Elsie because she was exhausted. Ha! A day full of several stops + jet lag = sleeping in totally awkward positions.

The next day we stopped at Ste. Mere Elise, or the church by the sea. It was at this church that a paratrooper's parachute was caught on the bell tower. He was only able to get down because another soldier spotted him. As such, there is a mannequin of the paratrooper on the church and the Airborne Museum is right across the street. This was a great stop too! A note to the fellow traveler...don't eat at the spots directly by the sites. You may be really hungry, but take a walk down a street or two and go there. Better food, better prices. We figured this out the hard way here. The croquet Monsieur was the worst we had, but the ice cream down the street was the best!

We wrapped up our WWII visits with at stop at Utah Beach. At this stop, Ian lost a tooth (see him pointing to it below)! We came away very grateful for the freedoms we enjoy and the beautiful place the military liberated on the days following the D-Day attack.

Next stop: Honfleur and Etretat...