Hello from Tierra del Fuego!

Day 11: Col du Petit Saint Bernard

Updated: August 6, 2018

So it begins. Today we biked the Col du Petit Saint Bernard, which lies on the border of France and Italy. The saddle of the pass lies at an elevation of 2188 meters (or 7178 feet) and the road is only open from May to October. Apparently, archeologists have found various objects that indicate humans have been using the pass since the Iron Age. Hopefully they won’t find us there someday.

Ready to roll (L to R: Phil, Martha, Jason and Dave)

After breakfast with the group, we loaded up the van with our gear and snacks and secured the bikes to the trailer. We drove about 30 minutes to the base of the Col du Petit Saint Bernard in the municipality of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. From here a portion of the group started up the mountain for the full 26km ride (the portion not named Matt and Jo).

Varsity team hits the road (L to R: Phil, Martha, Jason and Paul)

We stayed with Amy and the van for a bit longer and started our ride at roughly the halfway point of the mountain near the ski resort of La RosiÃƒÂ¨re, which is where stage 11 of the Tour de France concludes on Wednesday.

Ready for the arrival of the Tour

Our ride was about 13km of 5-6% grade incline up to the summit, starting at about 1600m. A couple rest stops along the way to catch our breath in the elevation and we soon reached the top. The scenery was amazing, of course.

Helpful km markers with distance, elevation and grade

Looking back down at Bourg-Saint-Maurice

Heading up toward Italy

About 1-2km from the top

Final switchback

One mountain pass down!

It’s nice up here

At the top, we waited for the rest of the group to catch up. As suggested by Amy, our group proceeded to cross the border into Italy and take a cappuccino break — as one does in Italy. We were treated with beautiful views of Mont Blanc (most of it), the highest mountain in Europe, and the surrounding Alps.

Much better than the French cappuccino place

The hills are alive with drying laundry

The weather started to turn, so rather than descend into Italy (to La Thuile), we determined it would be a better plan to get back down on the French side to about 400 meters above sea level for lunch in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. The ride back down started with rain, but quickly warmed up.

Almost beat the weather off the col

Better weather descending thru La RosiÃƒÂ¨re

Claiming a prime spot for Wednesday’s stage 11

It only took about 30 minutes to descend from the top back to Bourg-Saint-Maurice — despite riding the breaks the whole time. According to the bike-tracking app we downloaded, Matt hit a top speed of 35.8 mph (which can’t be right, can it?!?). After that adrenaline rush, lunch was delicious. Plus, the weather was sunny in the valley, which was perfect for the gathering throng of French soccer fans preparing for tonight’s World Cup Final.

Celebratory lunch Cokes

French soccer hooligans

After lunch, we rode along a 15km bike path (flat) to meet up with the van. The ride was very pleasant and the path followed a rushing river with plenty of kayakers, rafters, etc. We managed to keep up with the group (for the most part) and made it back in one piece, having survived the first day.

All together, Matt and I rode 35 miles on the day, including a gain of over 2,000 feet in elevation. When we got back to the Chalet, everybody ended up watching France beat Croatia in the World Cup Final, 4-2.

Back in Le Praz

Afternoon view from the chalet

Everything coming up Milhouse for France

Dinner again was once again fantastic and we were able to watch a recap of the ninth stage of the Tour de France over dessert. We hung out for a bit before getting to sleep. Another mountain to climb tomorrow, so hopefully we will be functional.

Day 10: Geneva/Courchevel

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

7 Comments

Now we begin France Trip Part 2: Crazy Biking Adventure! We won’t actually start biking until Sunday, but today we meet our tour group in the Geneva Airport, and head deeper into the Alps to our chalet in Courchevel.

We didn’t need to meet our Alpine Chaingang group until mid-afternoon, so we took advantage of the extra time to sleep in. We enjoyed a leisurely hotel breakfast and fixed the fancy espresso maker ourselves when it looked like there was going to be an interruption in the caffeine intake.

World Cup fever in the Ibis lobby

Since we practiced taking the train from the airport to downtown Geneva yesterday during our rental car return operation, we had no problem getting ourselves the opposite direction, back to the Geneva Airport.

That’s the train

Meet your cycling destiny here

At the airport, we found the Montreux Jazz Cub which was our designated meeting point at 2:30pm. We were a bit early and hung out while waiting for the others. Dave Beattie, the owner of Alpine Chaingang (and unmistakably a biker), soon arrived to greet us and help load our bags into his van’s trailer.

Bags (and bike bags if your not a bunch of novices!)

On the tour there are seven people. The five other participants are: Paul and Jason, two friendly gentlemen from Manchester who are seasoned cyclists and members of their local biking group called the “Northern Collective”… Martha, a triathlete and nurse from Cleveland… and Phil and Eileen, a couple from Scotland who are frequent guests on the ski trips Dave’s company runs here in the winter. Phil is a Royal Military engineering corps veteran and will be biking with us. Eileen is not biking, but may potentially be our best friend as she’ll be in the support van riding along. 🙂

No matter how things go from here, we tried a Royal with Cheese

The ride from Geneva to Courchevel was roughly two and a half hours, taking us back into France (our fourth border crossing in the last 24 hours, lol) and south toward Annecy and Albertville. The road became more mountainous and the temperature cooled off a bit. For the fist time on the trip, we saw some rain drops. But do not fear, from what we can gather on the weather apps, there are often rain showers on even the nicest of summer days in the Alps.

Heading to Courchevel

When we arrived at the chalet, Dave set up our bikes and spent about an hour helping us practice with them. Divvy bikes these are not. For starters, they are incredibly light. Also, these suckers use pedal clips. As predicted by literally everybody we talked to, both Matt and I fell over due to the clips on our first attempts (Matt made it until he attempted to turn about 30 yards away, while I made it about an inch).

With requisite impact injuries under our belts, we devised a series of mental rules to hopefully avoid the next ones. Rule 1: Remember to clip out before coming to a complete stop (or to be clear, before you even think about stopping). Rule 2: Failure to clip out is not an option.

For example, you might try to clip out and fail. Your brain will then say, “Hey, so I see that clipping out didn’t work, but that’s ok, let’s just move on to the next task of bringing this bike to a complete stop.” But your brain is an idiot and gravity is persistent. So with these concepts in mind, we managed to stay upright for the rest of our practice session.

Here’s hoping I can tame this beast

And these in particular!

After bike practice, we all met in the chalet common room to go over some general information for the week, and outline the specific plans for tomorrow. The more seasoned riders will start at the bottom of the Col de Petit Saint Bernard, while Matt and I will start a bit higher up. After tomorrow we will have a better idea of all of our levels so we can plan and adapt the rest of the rides.

Plan of attack (L to R: Jo, Martha, Paul, Jason, Phil and Dave)

Alpine Chaingang is a family business and Dave’s daughter Amy will be with us for the first few days as well. She’ll be our support van driver, chalet host, and chef. As far as the chef part is concerned, she already proved amazing, serving up a wonderful three-course dinner. This tour might be worth it for the accommodations and food alone.

Our chalet’s common room area

Very cool light fixtures

After dinner we relaxed in the common room for a while and heard Bastille Day fireworks in the distance. Checking in for the night, we are excited to see how tomorrow plays out on the bikes.

Day 9: Auvergne/Geneva

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

5 Comments

When we planned our epic drive across France to reach the Alps, we decided to forego chateaus and wineries (see yesterday) in exchange for today’s main event — a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Park, which is located in the Chaine des Puys region of Massif Central in central France.

Waking up before dawn, we gathered with our fellow travelers, the pilots, and a very friendly Saint Bernard at 6am. We were happily surprised with cappuccinos and madeleines before lift off. We followed along as best as possible since the pilots didn’t speak much English. However, we did have a few people in our group who kindly translated the key information for us.

Saint Bernard oversees the setup

We lent the pilots a hand during the set up process, including getting the basket off the truck, unrolling and untying the balloon, and filling the envelope with air. Then the pilot fired up the burners to create a 160-degree difference between the air in the envelope and the ambient temperature, which was about 50 degrees. Here’s a video of the balloon prep: Video

Flying with a flamethrower

Now over 200 degrees in the envelope

How you rev the engine in a hot air balloon

Flight attendants prepare for take-off

After the balloon rolled to its upright position, we climbed into the basket and were ready to fly. Turns out hot air balloon rides are surprisingly smooth and don’t give us the same butterflies we might get on ledges, such as a 15-foot city wall in Port Louis. And since you are generally moving with the mild wind, it is quite peaceful and quiet. After rising up over Lac Chambon, we floated by the Chateau de Murol.

Floating peacefully in the morning

Chateau de Murol seems well fortified

From our view above, the area consists of cones and craters from volcanoes that erupted between 7,000 and 100,000 years ago. Over time, the area has eroded, leaving exposed granite and basalt. Volcanic ash acts as a fertilizer, which allows the land to be covered in grass. Today, the area mostly consists of farms.

Lac Chambon and surrounding area

Circular footprint of an old cinder cone

Those cows are thirsty

As the flight descended, our recovery truck was following nearby to retrieve the balloon after the wind and the pilot came to an agreement on the location. We braced for landing as instructed, but the impact wasn’t nearly as bad as they made it sound.

Let’s avoid the trees

Mayday! Mayday! Small thud. Never mind.

We landed in the front yard of a house next to a field. When the the lady who lived there drove up, she just cut around us on the grass because we were in her driveway. Completely unfazed by a giant balloon in her yard. We helped pack up the balloon much like a giant sleeping bag. Is it worth pondering that eight other random people helped pack up our balloon before we rode it? Nah.

World’s biggest sleeping bag

We finished loading up the balloon and were driven back to Lac Chambon. We were treated with a super official flight certificate and fun paper lantern hot air balloons.

Certificate confirms we lived

Having completed our hot-air ballooning mission in Auvergne, we walked back to the hotel to gather our bags and complete the last three hours of our drive to Geneva. We skipped the hotel buffet and the local cafes because we liked the options at the surprisingly nice freeway rest stops here in France. So long Auvergne… which based on our impressions, is pretty much the Wisconsin Dells of France.

Beverage menus don’t usually make the blog, but DAMMMMANNN!

Sorry Doritos, France has won the lady chips race

What have the Romans ever done for us?

By mid-afternoon, we crossed the border into Switzerland and found our hotel in downtown Geneva. Geneva is not the easiest city to drive through — back in the land of idiot motorcyclists and one-way streets that don’t appear to have much rhyme or reason. We finally parked in a nearby garage and checked into the hotel. Upon arrival, we were given free passes to use on public transportation and were told that we probably parked in the wrong place. Not wanting to venture out in the traffic again just to re-park, we decided to avoid the problem altogether and just take the car back to the airport a day early, and use the train passes tomorrow instead.

So, returning the car at the airport is easy, right? Well… about that. Geneva airport is located in Switzerland (mostly), but has a section that is legally in France. When we picked up the car in Paris and they upgraded us to a Mercedes, we agreed to drop it off on the French side to avoid a 400 euro fee.

To do this, we essentially had to cross the border back out of Switzerland and take a very hidden turn onto a road that enters the airport from France. A helpful Europcar agent in Geneva gave us the information we needed to complete this crazy maneuver and it all worked out. In retrospect, we could have probably avoided driving into Switzerland altogether, but hey, it was an adventure. Also, we will miss you, Mercedes.

France looks better defended than Switzerland

We walked through the airport — passing a border checkpoint back into Switzerland — and found the train station with ease. The directions weren’t explicitly clear which line to take because it’s more like Metra than the El, but with help from some friendly passengers, we made it back to the city center and our hotel.

We spent most of the night relaxing and catching up on the blog. We did venture out for some food and to see the Jet d’Eau in Lake Geneva (aka. The Buckingham Fountain of Lake Geneva).

Holy Cow burgers for dinner in the MausolÃƒÂ©e Brunswick park

Southern end of Lake Geneva in the dusk

Tomorrow we can actually sleep in so we are pretty excited about that. Then our crazy biking tour begins. Wish us luck!

Day 8: Drive to Auvergne

by Joanna

Updated: July 26, 2018

2 Comments

If you are behind on blog posts, today is your lucky day! This is clearly the entry you should skip. It documents seven hours of driving halfway across France. Just think… you could browse back to two days of Tour de France photos and videos, but now you are about to get photos of car snacks. 🙂 Still here??? OK! here we go…

Breakfast is served

Afterwards, visit the Antidonterie

On our last morning in Port Louis, we returned to the boulangarie for a baguette traditionale. This time, we also correctly ordered a torsade (chocolate twist pastry). We continued to the Caucutts and ate breakfast with Nate, Alan and Hannah before saying goodbye.

Nate before coffee

Nate after coffee

We ducked inside a small convenience store and stocked up on some car snacks before heading out for our seven-hour drive to Auvergne.

French car snack stamp of approval #1

French car snack stamp of approval #2

We stayed on the tollroads and freeways, but at least our route did take us through parts of the Loire Valley, which were quite picturesque. Our apologies to fans of vineyards, chateaus and Leonardo da Vinci for not spending more time here.

Doesn’t look like anything to me

After traversing the the Loire Valley, we passed Borges and saw the Borges Cathedral in the distance — a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With Gothic and Romanesque architecture — and a period of re-construction in roughly the 12th century — it sounds like it might be very similar to the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel. Again, our apologies to historical European architecture fans for not stopping. It was, however, surprisingly easy to spot at distance because it seems to be the largest thing in Borges by a long shot.

Fun Fact: Next along the drive, we found ourselves seeing signs for what they kept calling the “Center of France”, which honestly sounded like marketing for some new retail operation. But, after passing a funky, pyramid-shaped bridge proclaiming to be “The Center of France”, it occurred to us that they might be speaking geographically. Neat-O.

Cruising onward toward the center of France

Strong contender for today’s blog name was “Mercedes Day”

As the afternoon wore on, we finally reached the volcanic region of Auvergne, and we were treated to views of extinct volcano cinder cones with old towns built on them.

Approaching the Auvergne Volcanic Natural Park region

Entering the Volcanoes of Auvergne park

The Chateau de Murol is very close to our hotel and was build on top of a basalt outcrop in the 12th century to protect itself from attacks. Turns out, building a giant fortress on the top of a huge volcanic rock surrounded by mountains is a good way to keep enemies at bay.

We found our hotel and I took a quick walk to check out the area.

We have arrived

Lac Chambon across from hotel

A Thursday Afternoon on Lac Chambon

“Don’t Forget the Lyrics” French version

Afterwards, we kicked back and relaxed. Evening plans included resting, blogging, working on that case of cidre we bought, and then getting to sleep early for our 6am hot air balloon flight tomorrow.

Day 7: Port Louis/Lorient

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

1 Comment

Tour de France Day, the sequel! Today, the fifth stage of the Tour de France begins across the bay from Port Louis in the city of Lorient. This gives us the chance to watch the start of a stage and compare it with a finish (from yesterday).

2018 Tour de France Stage 5 map

With some help from our local translator/guide (aka. Alan), we picked up a couple of loaves of bread from the Caucutts’ favorite boulongerie and ate breakfast back at their house. The bread lived up to the hype and the homemade jam was delicious.

Breakfast bread advice from Alan

Why did we go with bread, Alan?

We then took the bus, conviently located right across the street, to the ferry dock. The town of Port-Louis — which has only two stop signs (yes, two) — has a surprisingly well-run public transit system.

Despite Port Louis’ impressive transit system, the locals seemed to be a bit thrown off by the the influx of race fans as they were just trying to get to work. The first ferry filled up quickly, but a second arrived shortly thereafter and we grabbed a couple seats on the top section.

Port Louis 72 bus picks up right by the Caucutt’s place

We let the locals get on the first boat

The Caucutts recently signed the lease for an apartment in Lorient that happens to be located about a five minute walk from where the Tour was getting started today. Although they are not yet fully moved in, we stopped by for Nate’s new apartment tour — not to be confused with THE Tour.

After checking out the Caucutt’s new place, we made the short walk to the “Athlete’s Village” and found a festival with a large main stage and an emcee introducing and promoting various things to the crowd. There was music and sponsor booths to get/win free crap, which are always fun. We attempted to enter the official hospitality area, but discovered that area is reserved for the sponsors, team guests, and fancy-pants people who bought tickets.

The same sponsor parade that we saw during yesterday’s race also runs at the starting line. But, as Hannah so wisely put it, “We saw this yesterday. We don’t need more.” Instead, we avoided the throngs of people and walked along the park several blocks south of the starting line to reach a quieter area along the route.

Hannah also mastered DSLR basics in about 30 seconds

When we arrived, we found a bakery and sandwich shop to meet our snacking needs. We ate and relaxed as we awaited the start time. We were positioned near a curve in the road after a bridge so we figured that might look cool.

Lunch time!

ATTENTION! Everybody have your baguette-wiches at the ready!

The start of each stage features a “controlled start” where the riders warm up. They aren’t truly racing until they reach a point later down the road from where we were observing. Even so, they are biking as fast as you’d be driving a car on these same roads, if not faster. Here are the videos from our vantage point(s): Video 1 | Video 2

Yellow jersey sponsor bike with friendly chalkboard messages means the bikers are close

The controlled start rushes by only feet from Jo’s corner

And now… only ~200km from here to the end of today’s stage

When the very exciting minute concluded, we made our way through the fishing district of Lorient to board a different ferry back to Port Louis. This boat didn’t have a top deck, but it still allowed for some pretty good views.

Back in Port Louis, we met at the sailing club and tried our hand at paddle boarding. After a quick lesson, I was up and paddling. Matt not so much, but he gave it a good shot. We paddled around Lorient Harbor for a couple of hours. There is a very nice view, and while difficult, it is quite peaceful as well.

Port Louis Sailing Club has it all!

Sailing Club is just east of the old Citdel Fortress

Preparing to paddle board

One of us was actually good at paddle boarding

We were able to relax a bit before dinner at Le Tan’Pouce, a restaurant specializing in mussels convientiently located right on the water. Alex translated the menu for us and taught us a key trick in how to use one shell to pick the mussles out of the others. She made sure we knew not to eat the closed (dead) mussels so that we don’t get sick.

Delicious moules dinner on the docks

The name of Port Louis was established 400 years ago, but the town has been here for much longer. There are still clear remnants of this history. One is the giant city wall that surrounds the town. After dinner, we walked around (and on top of) the wall as the sun set, enjoying the views of the low tide.

Standing by the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away

Caucutt clan meets the guy who owns the second (I think) oldest house in town

Fun with forced perspective on the Port Louis wall

Sunset behind the Citadel

We will depart Port Louis tomorrow, but plan to have breakfast with Nate and the kids one last time before we hit the road. A big thank you goes out to Nate, Alex, Alan and Hannah, who helped us plan, execute and thoroughly enjoy the last two days!

Day 6: Port Louis/Sarzeau

by Joanna

Updated: July 10, 2022

4 Comments

Tour de France day! We started with a quick early breakfast at the hotel and picked up Nate, Hannah, and Alan with a trunk full with provisions for the day. Today’s fourth stage of the Tour starts in La Baule and ends around 5:45pm in Sarzeau, which is a city on the Gulf of Morbihan about a 70-minute drive south of Port Louis along the Atlantic coast.

2018 Tour de France Stage 4 map

We made good time and successfully achieved our primary goal of beating traffic and road closures before access was blocked in certain directions later in the afternoon. With a few hours to spend in the Sarzeau area before we made our way to the finish line, we dialed up the Nate Caucett travel agency for two great suggestions.

When people think of French beverages of the adult variety, they probably think wine and/or champagne. However, in both the Normandy and Brittany regions “€ where we’ve been traveling the last five days “€ cidre might be king. In the town of Le Hezo, we made our first stop at la Maison du Cidre, a working cidery that showcases both antique and modern cider-making.

Cider apples slightly different from eatin’ apples

Starting with a video explaining the local history and process of cider making, the self-guided tour continued to the outdoor museum displaying the equipment. They keep a colony of bees on site to pollinate the apple trees. We concluded the tour with a tasting in the garden, which naturally led to a purchasing in the shop.

Large antique press for extracting the juice

One of the finished products, Royal Guillevic

Our second stop was ChÃƒÂ¢teau du Suscinio. Without a full afternoon to explore the castle, we opted for the free walking tour on the paths around the moat “€ including a wooded path close to a nearby pond. Built in the middle ages, the castle was home to the Dukes of Brittany and has undergone serious renovations over the years.

My King’s Castle LEGO set, only real

With a working moat

Nicely restored towers

Now, where is that secret knot?

Next up, the main event… the Tour de France! Being inside the restricted area made it easy to find parking in one of the allocated lots, and in case there was any doubt, plenty of official tour vehicles and media cars helped guide the way.

Is there some kind of event we should be airing today?

We loaded up the pull cart with picnic supplies and trekked through the crowd until we found a suitable spot to camp out and watch the stage finish in a couple hours.

Tour wagon ready to go

Our spot 400 meters from the finish line

Like the state fair, along a single road

Jumbotrons to monitor the approaching action

From one of the vendor booths, a spiffy Tour de France hat was procured to satisfy both my souvenir and sun protection needs. Then, to amp up the crowd, about an hour before the riders crossed the finish line, we witnessed a sponsorship parade that took the art of distributing fan samples to epic levels. Among the things our group successfully grabbed in the melee… a shirt, grocery bags, candy, superglue, various hats, more candy, keychains, and a plush rooster.

Missed opportunity not making that an actual Bic pen cannon

Final moments before riders arrive

Finally the race approached, the tension rose and the riders came through! If there was any doubt, they go A LOT faster than it appears on TV “€ roughly 60-70 km/hr. With the crowd noise, the race announcer and the wooooosh created by the riders, it is quite a spectacle. Here are a couple videos we shot as the riders passed us: Video 1 | Video 2

The sprinters approach!

After the race concluded, we shuffled among the rest of the ~50k race fans (and Sarzeau’s ~6k residents) back to the parking lot, packed up the car, and headed back to Port Louis. Considering the scale of the event “€ and the fact the whole apparatus was heading to Lorient for the start of tomorrow’s fifth stage “€ the traffic was not that bad. We only encountered a few traffic “deviations.”

Returning to Port Louis in time to visit the night market, Alex guided us through the shops and led us to a food truck serving traditional galettes from Brittany (savory crÃƒÂªpes made with buck wheat).

Return to Port Louis for Tuesday night market

Galette truck right outside the Caucutt’s house

Since they pair well with cider, we popped open a brut cider from our stash and returned to the Caucett residence to eat, drink, and watch the end of the France-Belgium World Cup game. Spoiler alert: France won, advancing to the finals, and the town went nuts. Apparently this so called “football” thing is a big deal Ã¢â‚¬Ëœround these parts.

French soccer fans celebrate

Night market mixed with World Cup partying

We ended the day back in the room, listening to the sweet sounds of the night market band playing down the street. Highlights included Santana and Hotel California. When they were complete, we dozed off to the singing and chanting of excited soccer fans.

Day 5: Mont Saint-Michel

by Joanna

Updated: September 3, 2022

3 Comments

Waking up early in the shadow of Mont Saint-Michel, our plan for the day was an early guided hike in the bay during low tide (before the high tide at ~4:30pm). We didn’t book one online because it wasn’t entirely clear which guides were bilingual… or working today (we’re looking at you, Homan!). However, the friendly German travelers we spoke to yesterday said you can just go to the information office and they’ll pretty much hook you up.

Bright and early waiting for Office du Tourisme to open!

And hook us up they did, sending us on the next available nature hike with our guide Alexander — who was great. We walked on quicksand, slid through riverbeds of silt (free spa treatment), and climbed over the salted marshlands.

Alexander draws a map of the bay

Speaking of salted marshlands, plenty of hearty vegetation finds a way to survive in the bay. At least two plants we discovered are edible raw… which we sampled (of course!). The samphire plant was especially tasty, with a satisfyingly salty flavor. The plants are so salty, that lamb raised around Mont Saint-Michel is actually saltier than other lamb — a result of their diet featuring the high-saline vegetation.

Salt marshes

You can eat samphire, mmmmm… salty

On our way back, we played with quicksand. Alexander informed us how to get out if you get stuck, and offered the helpful platitude “Quicksand is not a problem. But it is your problem.” Meaning: you can get out, but nobody can really help you.

Quicksand situation

Quicksand is a layer of sand sitting on top of a pocket of water. The depth of the sand determines how fast you sink in. When the sand is thick and undisturbed, you may not even know you are walking over water. If the sand layer is thin, you can fall in very quickly, but only up to your chest (yay buoyancy!). Alexander led us to a safe spot, and as a group, we disturbed the sand (via doing the samba in unison over a focused area). The movement on the sand created waves in the water below, and the sand rippled in a way that felt like we were jumping on a water bed. With the sand now broken up and mixing with the water, it was easy to slowly sink in. We continue to have fun with quicksand for a while before continuing back.

Basically a spa day

Back to Mont Saint-Michel

At the end of the hike, Alexander sold us discounted tickets to the Abbey, allowing us to bypass the ticket line at the church. Despite the warnings about long lines and big crowds, we hiked back up to the top of the Mont and walked right in. After entering the Abbey, we explored the place for a bit and met the guided tour at 2pm.

Climbing to the top of the Abbey

Abbey architecture

Ewe see that faucet?

Our tour guide Anne took us through each of the accesible rooms and areas of the church — originally built in 933. Some sections have been destroyed or changed, and additions have been built built. As it was not fully completed until 1523, there are various styles of architecture throughout.

Abbey tour with Anne

Classical facade rebuilt in 1780

Business in the front (Romanesque), party in the back (Medieval Gothic)

This is how you keep an 10th century Abbey clean

Peaceful Abbey cloister

Guests’ Hall for receiving royalty and nobility, sans fireplace

Upon completing the tour, we watched the tide start to rise and we returned to the hotel to pick up our bags — successfully avoiding buying any crazy souvenirs. To depart the Mont, we once again opted to walk back to the mainland and enjoy the glorious afternoon weather instead of waiting in line for the packed shuttle buses (the ones with two front ends so they don’t have to pull U-Turns for the return trip).

Tide rising

Looking west(ish)

Just before returning to the car, we ducked into a hotel bar for some coffee. And, of course, we watched part of stage 3 of the Tour De France, as we ate our contraband hotel sandwiches and regained some energy.

Cafe latte and sandwiches back on the mainland

Back on the road, we decided to drive the slightly more scenic route to Port-Louis, and got a feel for the natural transition from Normandy to Brittany. After checking into our hotel, we tracked down the Caucutts.

We found a Caucutt!

Over some welcome shots of apple brandy, we caught up and confirmed our plans for Tuesday and Wednesday. Tomorrow should be a fun day of cider, castles, and the Tour de France if we can pull it off.

Day 4: Bayeux/Mont Saint-Michel

by Joanna

Updated: September 3, 2022

4 Comments

Today started with a true local specialty: french toast made from scratch by our wonderful B&B host Sandrine. In chatting with her and our fellow guests about upcoming plans over breakfast, everybody ruefully agreed our next stop this evening at Mont Saint-Michel *might* be a fool’s errand into a crowded tourist trap. Hmmm… But have these people ever been to a Blackhawks Championship Parade?!?

Sandrine dons her Bayeux Festival costume for breakfast

More importantly, today was our last day with the world’s best bathroom bay window. With THIS view of the Cathedral spires and the sounds of medieval festival ambiance floating in the air, it was impossible to not start humming the appropriate tune.

“THERE GOES THE BAKER WITH HIS TRAY, LIKE ALWAYS…”

One item on our Bayeux to-do list we had yet to complete was the Bayeux Tapestry — a UNESCO “Memory of the World” attraction. A quick walk from the house, we arrived at the museum and started with the audio tour that narrates the story depicted in the 224-feet of embroidery.

Haley’s Comet makes a cameo

Harold is not that bad… He saved an opposing soldier from quicksand at Mont Saint-Michel!

Waiting for the post-credit scenes

Thought to be made sometime shortly after the year 1066, the tapestry shows the story of William the Conqueror and his rise to power over Harold the oath-breaker. The rest of the museum features a few exhibits explaining how the tapestry (or really an embroidery) was made, how it has been restored, and more about its storied history.

Hey mom, based on these components, I think your patterns might be drastically under-priced!

Modern day Bayeux Tapestry near our B&B (building on the left)

Tapestry viewed, we departed Bayeux and headed to the CimetiÃ¨re AmÃ©ricain de Colleville-sur-Mer near Omaha Beach in Normandy. This well-known American Cemetery honors the troops who died in Europe during WWII. While technically still French soil, as a symbolic gesture, France has granted the land to the US. Arriving just in time for a guided tour with an American Battle Monuments Commission (AMBC) representative, we walked through the cemetery grounds and learned more about the landing at Omaha, the importance of the cemetery, and a few soldiers who are buried there.

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer

Memorial featuring “Spirit of American Youth” statue

Amid the headstones in the Cemetery

ABMC tour guide highlights a soldier killed 74 years ago to the day

Mosaic ceiling in the Chapel

After the Normandy American Cemetery, we (somewhat purposely) drove the most Normandy-ish back roads we could find in a westerly direction. In part, we were hoping to stumble upon another bar with a TV tuned to the Tour de France. Alas, we could not find anything resembling a “sports bar” or “French restaurant open in the middle of the afternoon.”

However, we did find various public officials informing us our back road choices were part of a local bike race of some sort — which funneled us towards even more obscure back roads through the beautiful Normandy countryside (bonus). Soaking up the scenery, we eventually made our way back to the main roads and toward our next destination: Mont Saint-Michel.

Horsing around on Normandy back roads

As mentioned above, everyone we talked to in France was passing along dismal reviews of their trips to Mont Saint-Michel, mostly due to the touristy nature of the place — large crowds and overpriced food. You know, the Navy Pier of France. So, to be safe, we lowered expectations, pulled into reserved parking lot P3, and packed our overnight bags for the hike to the island.

We are hoping it is more isolated after closing time

Crossing the bridge

We opted for the 1.5 mike walk from the parking lot rather than attempt the shuttle bus because you’ve gotta pilgrimage properly! We managed to find and check into our hotel about 15 minutes before closing time, then we immediately set out to explore the area on and around the Mont. Our plan to arrive after closing seemed to work great, as there were only a few people walking around, making the experience quite pleasant.

One reason Mont Saint-Michel has never been breached

Scouting the Abbey entrance

Mont Saint-Michel at low tide in evening

Sunset casts a glow on Mont Saint Michel

Watch out for the quicksand

Tomorrow we hope to find a guide to take us on a hike in the bay when the tide is out. You have to have a guide to make sure you don’t fall in quick sand or get overtaken when the tide comes back in. So, that should be fun! After that, hopefully we can check out the Abbey when it is open. However, as everybody has warned us… if the tides don’t overtake us, the crowds might. We shall see!

Day 3: Normandy

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

5 Comments

With our friendly B&B in Bayeux as home base, we set out today with the intention of exploring the most interesting D-Day locations along the Normandy beaches that we have read and/or heard about.

But first! French breakfast

Starting furthest west (on the Cotentin Peninsula) and working our way back east, we made our first stop at Sainte-MÃƒÂ©re-Eglise, which is fitting given its history in the war. It was in and around this town where American paratroopers landed during the early morning hours of June 6th, 1944, and became the first to engage the Germans behind enemy lines.

Paratrooper landings near
Sainte-Mère-Église in the Cotentin Peninsula

Church in
Sainte-Mère-Église

To commemorate this event, the church maintains a parachute and a paratrooper figure atop the bell tower to honor the real-life story of the paratrooper who was hung up in the same location on D-Day. Additionally, a couple of the stained glass windows in the church now feature paratroopers and military insignias alongside the Virgin Mary and Saint Michael.

Dummy paratrooper on the church spire (based on John Steele)

Stained glass window dedicated to paratroopers

Making a quick stop in the town visitor center, we received a map and a friendly staffer circled points of interest for a self-guided walking tour. Well… that took us about 10 minutes and was “highlighted” by a company that makes parachute-shaped biscuits. So we were about to depart, but we decided to check out the Airborne Museum as well. What a pleasant surprise!

The museum documents the involvement of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in Operation Neptune. The museum also had this new-fangled technology (ok, it’s a tablet) called the “HistoPad” which was loaded with interactive software (the cool part) that gave us a deep dive into the history of these paratrooper missions and the aircraft that was used.

WACO glider used by 82nd and 101st airborne divisions on D-Day

The HistoPads were great!

Primarily because it was awesome, the Airborne Museum took us longer than expected, and by the time we finished, we were definitely ready to find some lunch. While hunting for a food solution in the land of random French restaurant hours, we stopped by the German bunkers/gun installation at Azeville, but discovered it would involve becoming mole people for the next couple hours and that seemed like a crazy plan on such a nice afternoon.

Continuing on back-country roads heading east towards Utah Beach, we stumbled upon a seaside sandwich shop and bar that was actually open! Even better, we found a bunch of locals watching the first stage of the Tour de France on the TV inside. The place featured the exact menu for what we craved (burgers) and our stop coincided with the last 20km of the race. Perfect timing and perfect lunch!

The Tour is underway!

We continued on to Utah Beah and explored their museum as well as the memorials outside. Some of the museum content was somewhat similar to the Airborne Museum, but it did cover more of the naval and infantry components to the landing on Utah Beach. Plus, the museum featured an original (restored) B26 bomber.

Higgins Boat monument

Good at transporting tanks, not so great at evasion

Restored B26 bomber “Dinah-Might”

Utah Beach, while draped in history and bordered with memorials, is now simply a beach. Complete with swimmers, sun tanners, and kite flyers, there was a drastic difference in tone between the museum side and the beach side, though only a few steps from each other.

Utah Beach Museum photo of D-Day (not sure which beach) on June 6, 1944

Photo of Utah Beach on July 7, 2018

After Utah Beach, we drove south and east off the Cotentin Peninsula, back toward the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument (about 40 minutes). Situated just to the west of Ohmaha Beach, this monument pays homage to the rangers who scaled the cliffs in order to overtake and disable the German guns before they could fire at the troops landing on the beaches. It also makes a wonderful lookout point over the English Channel.

Pointe du Hoc Monument

It’s insane the Rangers scaled these cliffs

Landscape is littered with crater holes atop the cliffs

We took the scenic route back to Bayeux to finish out the night. Once again claiming residence within the blocked off streets, we snagged a parking spot directly in front of our B&B, and even successfully parked halfway on the sidewalk as apparently is the norm.

We are actually facing the right direction here!

We returned to the Medieval Festival for dinner and intelligently purchased the entire bottle of cider this time. After a stroll around the shops and a quick visit inside the Bayeux Cathedral, we made it back to the room to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Extremely local cidre!

Inside the Bayeux Cathedral

If you Catholic well, they retire you to the ceiling, just like pro sports

Our favorite food booth (and cidre-producer) at the festival

Tomorrow we’ll finish up in Bayeux and continue west!

Day 2: Caen/Bayeux

by Joanna

Updated: September 14, 2018

4 Comments

The first lesson of the day was how to eat breakfast like the French. Basically, get some delicious homemade bread, spread some local soft cheeses on it, top that with a bit of fresh jam and — bam! — you’ve got yourself a spectacular culinary wake-up call.

Sea mist coverage was at “split-pea” levels today

After breakfast, we considered taking a quick walk around the cliffs again, but the “sea mist” (warm air mixed with the cold ocean water) created a thick blanket of fog to block any views. Estelle said because the tide was already low, the fog was likely to stick around for a while, so… not a problem, we packed up and got a head start towards Bayeux.

Big bridge on A29 over Seine River delta near Honfleur

Our route to Bayeux took us near the port cities of Le Havre and Honfleur, and then into Caen. As we zipped around the city on the “peripherique route,” it occurred to us that today would be a great time to visit the Caen-Normandie MÃƒÂ©morial, rather than backtrack tomorrow or Sunday. We punched in the new address to the handy GPS and found the museum right away.

Caen-Normandy WWII Memorial Museum

The Caen-Normandie MÃƒÂ©morial is dedicated to the Battle for Normandy and the complete history of WWII. The location has memorial gardens, and is situated above the bunker the 716th German Infantry Division used as the headquarters during the Occupation and the Battle of Normandy. The 70-meter long bunker is still standing as an exhibit, and the museum is literally built on top of it.

The museum features impressive exhibits and audio guides

And an exhaustive level of detail throughout

Poster for the French Liberation movement

Table model of D-Day, aka. Operation Neptune

Rifle on top recovered in 1944… Rifle on bottom found in 2013

After about five informative and occasionally sobering hours, we covered the entire museum, the video presentation, the German bunker, and the extra wing of the museum focusing on how WWII transitioned into the Cold War. We even stopped by the bistro and the book shop.

Delicious D-Day brew for lunch

Bailey Bridge and elevator down to the German bunker

First, this is a terrible idea. Second, all versions of Monopoly should include this warning.

With the Caen Memorial successfully in the books, we continued onward to Bayeux. Keeping with our tradition of coincidentally planning stays in towns with festivals, it turns out our B&B in Bayeux is one block away from the town’s annual Midieval Festival — Les Medievales de Bayeux! Our place is so downtown, we were initially turned away by security guards shutting down the streets for the 8PM parade.

Which brings us to the second lesson of the day… leveraging our printed maps (preparation!) and the French version of our hotel confirmation (bonus preparation!) to convince two friendly security guards to let us past the blockade into the downtown area. After passing that test, we quickly checked in, dropped off our bags, and went out to find the aformentioned parade.

Gothic tower of the Bayeux Cathedral built in 1077

Gathering for the Grand Parade

Prime parade viewing location

Scandinavian music group, Merween… In the chateau!

WON’T SOMEBODY SAVE THE ORPHEONS OF BAYEUX?!? They can sing!!!

The unicorn dog has been hunted to near extinction

After the parade, we walked around the booths a bit and found dinner. We ordered sausage and chicken sandwiches with a couple of cidres (in French!), and although my knowledge of numbers in French is limited to Hamilton lyrics, we eventually managed to pay.

Photo may not do justice to how good this tasted

La Cathedral de Bayeux from the window at our B&B

Enjoying a few more views of the festival and surroundings, we walked back to our room for the night. The festival lasts all weekend, so I’m sure we will find our way back. It is just around the corner, after all.