We are being stalked. By a cat.
No, I am NOT kidding. At all. In fact, I'm underexaggerating, because there isn't a cat, there are two cats. I've named them Prairie- thus called because she has a habit of standing on her hind feet like a prairie dog- and Blue, who is really grey, but just looks like a Blue.
These cats belong to our neighbors, and using their incredibly agility, they manage to weave their way around plants and across bars to the decks of our apartment, where they proceed to push and nudge our windows until A) They open them; B) We open them; or C) No one opens them, and they eventually get bored and decide to go away.
It's usually Prairie who comes. She's quite a social cat; in fact, she's the most talkative I've ever seen. Even the windows can't block out her meowing. Blue, when she comes, uses an entirely different strategy: instead of making noise to get our attention, she pounces at the windows. It's quite hard not to notice this, so her method would be very effective, if we would just let her in as is her objective.
Now, you might be thinking, "They aren't really stalking you, Abby. It's not like they've ever actually come into your house."
Au contraire.
The other night, it was quite hot, and since we don't have air conditioning, the best way to try and make the heat more bearable was by opening the window. So, I was lying in bed, my eyes closed, trying to fall asleep...
When I heard my window creak wide open.
I told myself it was the wind, or that I had imagined it, and continued focusing on my pillow. But then, I heard the pitter patter of tiny feet on my floor. I looked up just as I felt a thump on my bed, and saw a black-and-white cat staring at me with her huge yellow eyes.
Believe it or not, I didn't freak out when I saw Prairie there. I spent the next hour petting her (because she was very eager, and I miss being able to pet my own cat). Everything was just fine- in fact, I would've let her stay in my room, if we could've kept that up- until she decided to go exploring the rest of the apartment.
Well, I knew this just wouldn't do, because my mom hates cats, and my dad isn't very fond of them either. So for twenty minutes, I tried- and failed- to coax Prairie back into my room. Please note that this took place at approximately two o'clock in the morning, and that while Prairie was inside, Blue was pouncing at the windows. So not only was it far too early for my tastes, but that I had loud noise to serenade me through it. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper. Eventually, I got so fed up that I just scooped Prairie up (she wasn't very pleased about that, mind you), put her back outside, and closed the window to the beautiful sound of her hisses.
It was, without a doubt, the most exciting part of France so far.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
American Cemetary
Most pictures are self explanatory. I have included the wall of names of MIAs.
One picture is of Joe by a gun. This is one of the last remaining bunkers with guns remaining from D Day. It's not at the cemetary but closer to Utah beach, I think.
Omaha Beach
These are just a couple of photos of Omaha beach. So serene now with vendors along the road so we can have coca colas. What a difference.
Point du Hoc Photos
These are pictures of Point du Hoc. Notice the boy climbing out of the bunker. Also notice the craters and cliffs.
Normandy
(Mostly by Sydelle)
We took the French train, SNCF, to Bayeux on Tuesday morning August 24. An easy ride to the countryside which is beautiful. The most notable thing for me is that everywhere in France you see beautiful gardens full of blooming flowers mostly roses. On this trip you see a countryside with lots of cows and horses and farmland. It is beautiful with rolling hills. It's not flat till you get to an actual beach and just on the beach itself.
Bayeux is a lovely town that was not damaged during the war. D-Day touristry seems to be a large part of the economy but it has other sights, and is most famous for the Bayeux Tapestry, which is really an extremely long piece of embroidery (about 230 ft) which tells the story of William the Conqueror's conquest of Britain (from the winner's side). It takes about 20 minutes to see, walking along with a guide thing-y telling the story. The horses are very realistic, people not so much though the battle scenes are pretty graphic. After seeing the tapestry we walked around town a bit, got lunch at a nice but not expensive restaurant, and then called for a cab to get us to where we would spend the night, a town on the beach called Courseulles-sur-Mer. There's a bus but it runs about every three hours.
The cab took about half an hour with a detour (and when there are detours in this countryside, that means a few kilometres out of the way). Old country houses on narrow, windy roads; Sydelle was glad that Joe wasn't driving. Joe was not disappointed. The town is draped with flags from many countries. We stayed at a hotel just across from the beach. A two-star French hotel, so not at all luxurious, but the owner-managers were nice. Courseulles sur mer is next to Juno beach where the Canadiens landed. There is a nice museum for the Canadien war efforts and especially the landing at Juno. Sydelle went to the museum while Abby and Joe walked on the beach. She was impressed with how much Canada was able to accomplish for the war effort. They started out with a less dense population and armies but they were instrumental in helping Britain during the blitz and the allied effort in total. They also had one of the most difficult beachfronts to secure. Second only to Omaha which was plagued with mistakes. Courseulles also has a lovely beach albeit pretty cold when we were there. There are fresh seafood/fish markets every day - too bad we couldn't cook. We really enjoyed the sea air and walking along the quai by the beach.
On Wednesday we took a half day tour of the American D Day sites. It would take you days to see everything but i thought this was plenty for my interest. The following information was given to us as we drove around the sites.
We started at Point du Hoc which is on a cliff between the American and British landing sites. The Germans had built bunkers here while they possessed France. We went into one bunker with light in it. There was a large room with bunks 3 high along the walls so it could sleep around 20 soldiers. The allies trained 600 rangers to take this cliff. Before the attack allied planes bombed this site. you can still see the craters the bombs made. Impressive!! Then the rangers were to make their assault on this cliff 10 minutes later. However, the rangers went to the wrong spot so didn't make their assault for 40 minutes after the air assault. OOPS! This gave the Germans time to defend themselves better. Meanwhile, they had actually moved the guns away after one was hit by mistake by a bomb earlier in the year, and were building new emplacements. The troops didn't know that; there is evidence that some generals did. But the rangers did capture the Point and the guns which were further back from the bunkers. Out of 250 rangers, only 80 were unhurt at the end of this battle. Not all died many wounded. Their mistake cost many lives.
Next we drove to Omaha Beach where a bunker still remains. We didn't spend alot of time here because the weather was very rainy during our tour. But we were told that the us coast guard fought in this battle also. The commanders of the coast guard became separated from their troops so this was a problem. It turns out that alot went wrong with this landing. The americans also landed at the wrong beach at the wrong time. It was low tide (planned by the allies to fool the germans) when the boats hit omaha and the allies thought the sandbar was the beach front. This did not work out well for the tanks that drove off the LSTs and onto the sandbar and then... The preceeding air bombardment missed alot of their targets so didn't help the soldiers. Still the beach was captured. Another point about Omaha beach, it is crescent shaped with either end having cliffs.
It is worth noting that all the beaches during the landing are far from each other. Omaha and Juno are like 30 miles, Omaha and Utah are 12 miles apart. Once the soldiers were on land they had to go thru the countryside which used hedges to separate farms and protect crops and livestock from the wind. These hedges are very thick and hard to get through. These were a real obstacle to the allies and their equipment. Equipment was getting stuck getting thru the hedges and also that there were trenches or ditches along many hedges. The hedges also provided lots of hiding places for the Germans to conduct ambushes and use snipers.
We then drove to the American cemetary and memorial. The grounds are beautifully manicured with flowers and trees everywhere. First as you walk into the cemetary is a wall of the MIAs. Then you walk into a structure with a wall depicting the entire european military assault from D Day on. Then there are the gravesites. Families could choose to bury their loved ones in this cemetary or bring them home. 60% brought them home. Soldiers were buried according to when they died with the first rows D day and then soldiers from the european invasion. Crosses and stars of david are interspersed together and not separate. There is also a chapel in the middle of the grounds. The cemetary overlooks Omaha beach. The scenery couldn't be more beautiful and poignant. Each marker has the soldier's name, home city, and date died or buried.
The graves are in perfect lines on the green grass.
When you get to the chapel, you take a right toward the US memorial. This is so well done. The footage of actual battle scenes were amazing. As you walk out there is a hall where the names of the soldiers buried are said. Very moving. No bookstore!!!!!
Great trip. Something for everyone. I was as you can tell really moved by the Dday sites. We will download some pictures for you to see so enjoy.
We took the French train, SNCF, to Bayeux on Tuesday morning August 24. An easy ride to the countryside which is beautiful. The most notable thing for me is that everywhere in France you see beautiful gardens full of blooming flowers mostly roses. On this trip you see a countryside with lots of cows and horses and farmland. It is beautiful with rolling hills. It's not flat till you get to an actual beach and just on the beach itself.
Bayeux is a lovely town that was not damaged during the war. D-Day touristry seems to be a large part of the economy but it has other sights, and is most famous for the Bayeux Tapestry, which is really an extremely long piece of embroidery (about 230 ft) which tells the story of William the Conqueror's conquest of Britain (from the winner's side). It takes about 20 minutes to see, walking along with a guide thing-y telling the story. The horses are very realistic, people not so much though the battle scenes are pretty graphic. After seeing the tapestry we walked around town a bit, got lunch at a nice but not expensive restaurant, and then called for a cab to get us to where we would spend the night, a town on the beach called Courseulles-sur-Mer. There's a bus but it runs about every three hours.
The cab took about half an hour with a detour (and when there are detours in this countryside, that means a few kilometres out of the way). Old country houses on narrow, windy roads; Sydelle was glad that Joe wasn't driving. Joe was not disappointed. The town is draped with flags from many countries. We stayed at a hotel just across from the beach. A two-star French hotel, so not at all luxurious, but the owner-managers were nice. Courseulles sur mer is next to Juno beach where the Canadiens landed. There is a nice museum for the Canadien war efforts and especially the landing at Juno. Sydelle went to the museum while Abby and Joe walked on the beach. She was impressed with how much Canada was able to accomplish for the war effort. They started out with a less dense population and armies but they were instrumental in helping Britain during the blitz and the allied effort in total. They also had one of the most difficult beachfronts to secure. Second only to Omaha which was plagued with mistakes. Courseulles also has a lovely beach albeit pretty cold when we were there. There are fresh seafood/fish markets every day - too bad we couldn't cook. We really enjoyed the sea air and walking along the quai by the beach.
On Wednesday we took a half day tour of the American D Day sites. It would take you days to see everything but i thought this was plenty for my interest. The following information was given to us as we drove around the sites.
We started at Point du Hoc which is on a cliff between the American and British landing sites. The Germans had built bunkers here while they possessed France. We went into one bunker with light in it. There was a large room with bunks 3 high along the walls so it could sleep around 20 soldiers. The allies trained 600 rangers to take this cliff. Before the attack allied planes bombed this site. you can still see the craters the bombs made. Impressive!! Then the rangers were to make their assault on this cliff 10 minutes later. However, the rangers went to the wrong spot so didn't make their assault for 40 minutes after the air assault. OOPS! This gave the Germans time to defend themselves better. Meanwhile, they had actually moved the guns away after one was hit by mistake by a bomb earlier in the year, and were building new emplacements. The troops didn't know that; there is evidence that some generals did. But the rangers did capture the Point and the guns which were further back from the bunkers. Out of 250 rangers, only 80 were unhurt at the end of this battle. Not all died many wounded. Their mistake cost many lives.
Next we drove to Omaha Beach where a bunker still remains. We didn't spend alot of time here because the weather was very rainy during our tour. But we were told that the us coast guard fought in this battle also. The commanders of the coast guard became separated from their troops so this was a problem. It turns out that alot went wrong with this landing. The americans also landed at the wrong beach at the wrong time. It was low tide (planned by the allies to fool the germans) when the boats hit omaha and the allies thought the sandbar was the beach front. This did not work out well for the tanks that drove off the LSTs and onto the sandbar and then... The preceeding air bombardment missed alot of their targets so didn't help the soldiers. Still the beach was captured. Another point about Omaha beach, it is crescent shaped with either end having cliffs.
It is worth noting that all the beaches during the landing are far from each other. Omaha and Juno are like 30 miles, Omaha and Utah are 12 miles apart. Once the soldiers were on land they had to go thru the countryside which used hedges to separate farms and protect crops and livestock from the wind. These hedges are very thick and hard to get through. These were a real obstacle to the allies and their equipment. Equipment was getting stuck getting thru the hedges and also that there were trenches or ditches along many hedges. The hedges also provided lots of hiding places for the Germans to conduct ambushes and use snipers.
We then drove to the American cemetary and memorial. The grounds are beautifully manicured with flowers and trees everywhere. First as you walk into the cemetary is a wall of the MIAs. Then you walk into a structure with a wall depicting the entire european military assault from D Day on. Then there are the gravesites. Families could choose to bury their loved ones in this cemetary or bring them home. 60% brought them home. Soldiers were buried according to when they died with the first rows D day and then soldiers from the european invasion. Crosses and stars of david are interspersed together and not separate. There is also a chapel in the middle of the grounds. The cemetary overlooks Omaha beach. The scenery couldn't be more beautiful and poignant. Each marker has the soldier's name, home city, and date died or buried.
The graves are in perfect lines on the green grass.
When you get to the chapel, you take a right toward the US memorial. This is so well done. The footage of actual battle scenes were amazing. As you walk out there is a hall where the names of the soldiers buried are said. Very moving. No bookstore!!!!!
Great trip. Something for everyone. I was as you can tell really moved by the Dday sites. We will download some pictures for you to see so enjoy.
PS. We have a video we want to upload but cannot do so yet. Hopefully we will figure this out. I decided to show pictures by site so it won't be so confusing.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Chartres
As you can see from the previous post, we went to Chartres on Sunday August 22. We took the train from Gare Montpanasse. In an hour we were in the lovely quaint little town. I think from the pictures you can see a little of the town's narrow curvy streets. The main attraction is this Notre Dame de Chartres. The photos do not do justice to the cathedral and certainly not the stained glass. It is the feeling of Saint Chappell but alot bigger and more stained glass. The cathedral is just beginning to be cleaned up so by 2014 it will look alot nicer. Now you can see centuries of black dirt and algae that has settled on the outside. Inside the stone is really dingy looking. It was a lovely day and a beautiful site to see.
Chartre is also known for mfg of perfume esp. Guerlain. The factory was closed but would be fun to see that too.
Today is MOnday august 23 and I am off on my quest for comfy shoes that will not give me blisters. wish me luck!!!!!
Sydelle
Chartre is also known for mfg of perfume esp. Guerlain. The factory was closed but would be fun to see that too.
Today is MOnday august 23 and I am off on my quest for comfy shoes that will not give me blisters. wish me luck!!!!!
Sydelle
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Paris Plages and the Shoah Memorial
Today I ventured out by myself to tour the Shoah Memorial. Across the street is an area of the Paris Plages (beaches). That is the only reason they are together in this journal.
First the Plages. Every August the city of Paris fills in part of the Seine's banks with sand and picnic tables, lounge chairs, bean bag chairs, cafe's and a pool. All is free to the public except for the cafe's of course. Still a lovely place to hang out and read a book or just people watch. I will try to upload those photos first.
Then I went to the Shoah Memorial. You walk in and have to go thru security. You then walk into a courtyard with a giant cement monument naming all the camps. The museum itself is pretty standard. Their permanent exhibit is all about Jews in France who were victims of the holocaust. Apparently alot of jews and gentiles went underground forming resistance groups. But as we know not enough. The french have acknowledged that they allowed so many french jews to be transported to camps.
This month they have an exhibit about 3 Hollywood film makers: George Stevens, Samuel Fuller, and John Ford. They photographed the camps when they were liberated by US soldiers. Many of these films were used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials. In the museum i couldn't take much in the way of photos of this exhibit. It was extensive with lots of footage of the liberations of the camps. Grissly footage but an interesting exhibit all the same. The museum will be showing films on the Holocaust for the next few months. I would like to see Shindler's List. I believe the movies will be in their original version with French subtitles.
Enjoy the photos and let us hear your comments.
Sydelle
First the Plages. Every August the city of Paris fills in part of the Seine's banks with sand and picnic tables, lounge chairs, bean bag chairs, cafe's and a pool. All is free to the public except for the cafe's of course. Still a lovely place to hang out and read a book or just people watch. I will try to upload those photos first.
Then I went to the Shoah Memorial. You walk in and have to go thru security. You then walk into a courtyard with a giant cement monument naming all the camps. The museum itself is pretty standard. Their permanent exhibit is all about Jews in France who were victims of the holocaust. Apparently alot of jews and gentiles went underground forming resistance groups. But as we know not enough. The french have acknowledged that they allowed so many french jews to be transported to camps.
This month they have an exhibit about 3 Hollywood film makers: George Stevens, Samuel Fuller, and John Ford. They photographed the camps when they were liberated by US soldiers. Many of these films were used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials. In the museum i couldn't take much in the way of photos of this exhibit. It was extensive with lots of footage of the liberations of the camps. Grissly footage but an interesting exhibit all the same. The museum will be showing films on the Holocaust for the next few months. I would like to see Shindler's List. I believe the movies will be in their original version with French subtitles.
Enjoy the photos and let us hear your comments.
Sydelle
Monday, August 16, 2010
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