On our own in Caen, France

Today was the first day that we were able to activate our EUrail pass. We rode from Paris to Caen, the Normandie region in north France. We got to this cute little seaside town and checked into our hotel. The owner was so nice to us. I think it also helped that we told him we were Canadian! He was so cute and sweet and wanted to help us with whatever we needed.

Just ten minutes outside of this town is Liseux. Kristen’s favorite saint of all time (St. Therese) is from here so, of course, we took the train on day one to check out the village. There, we went to the cathedral with relics of St. Therese and a huge crypt church dedicated to her with colorful mosaics that tell her story. We walked through a wax museum telling her story as well. We were able to walk around the town and go to the Carmelite convent where St. Therese once lived. We saw where she is buried and the real journal that she wrote in that was eventually published and sold everywhere called Story of a Soul. It was a great afternoon. What was interesting was inside the Cathedral. The community was getting ready for a big celebration which would start the process of St. Therese’s parents becoming saints themselves. Also, a small altar that locals were praying at that was specifically to pray for Catholics in the United States. This was very moving. Last, in one corner of the cathedral was a spot for people to leave their notes to St. Therese... thank yous for giving them miracles. There were so many plaques and notes and pictures it was amazing.

The next day we went to church at St. Pierre Cathedral which was said in French, of course. Even though we didn’t understand much, it was still Mass and we knew what parts they were at. After this we took a tram to the Normandy museum a little outside the city of Caen.

At this museum, we booked ourselves on a very small group tour of the beaches of Normandy. We were very prepared for this trip since the two nights prior we had stayed up until 1am refreshing every detail about WWI and WWII. We originally thought we could take a bus to one beach and walk around the beaches and cemeteries. However, we quickly learned how huge these beaches are and how far apart we needed to drive to get to each one.

For those who don’t know the significance of Normandy, France: In short, this is the landing spot where the Americans, Canadians, and British troops first came to fight the Germans who had pushed their way into France during WWII.

There are many cemeteries in this region. We went to the American cemetery, of course. It was beautiful. This is also where the soldiers rip who were the inspiration for the characters in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Near this cemetery is Omaha beach. Out of the five beaches Omaha was the bloodiest battle and Americans were the ones who landed here. We went to the second American beach called Utah. On this fifth beach special forces had to scale high walls to reach our enemies. They were delayed in getting to this beach because of the tides so the germans were onto them and this too was another beach where many men died from our country. We walked around the cliffs at Utah beach and we can still see the bomb craters covering it completely. We walked in pill boxes and, for the first time, I wish I had watched one of those war movies that my dad (Bob Laurence) is always watching in his recliner. I guess we’ll watch a WWII documentary soon!

The next morning we delayed getting on an earlier train and went back to the Normandy museum. It was fascinating. We learned so much about WWII and even stayed a while to take in two other special museum exhibitions. We walked along the time line for the Cold War and we were very moved by the tribute the French were paying to the September 11th tragedy. We saw artifacts like clothing, plane parts, pictures, and walked along reliving the timeline. Of course, we all watched on tv the people in other countries celebrating the fact that America was attacked. However, it was very moving to read in an exhibit what people in other countries did positively on this day.

We learned that the Queen of England had the United States national anthem played during the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. In Berlin, 200,000 german troops marched in silence. Ireland declared a national day of mourning. Iran held a candlelight vigil. Wow.

We were able to catch the later train out of the city and to our next destination: Tours, France. As we were leaving our hotel, the owner (who thought we were Canadian) wrote in big capital letters CANADA on our handwritten bill. We smiled and said, “Merci” and he ran to grab some croissants. He put them in our hands and we walked to the station with our packs. Ha.

A Change in Plans

Hey everyone,

We're sitting in Venice right now - in our hotel near the airport. Today is our last day of the trip as we will be heading back to the states bright and EARLY tomorrow. But before we head out to explore a bit more of Venice we wanted to tell you all about our change of plans.

A few days ago while sitting on our cruise ship we were thinking about the next 30 days ahead of us - touring Central and Eastern Europe on another group organized trip. We decided that since traveling on our last trip for 3 weeks was a challenge with the small group (and we're starting to get a bit tired now that we we've been away for almost 3 months) we're going to save Central and Eastern Europe for another trip a couple years from now. However, we also want to go to Southeast Asia on a next trip - so if you're interested let us know :-)

Anyway, we'll be landing at JFK on Sunday afternoon and we're excited to see all our family and friends!

But don't worry - we still have to post about our travels through France to Barcelona, about the Med Cruise, and about the great time we're having in Venizia!

See you all soon,
Matt & Kristen

Paris! (and the end of the Intrepid Trip)

Day one in Paris... we were excited to have our guide Monica show us around. We went on an all day walking tour of the city. We walked up the step steps to Mont Marte where they were preparing for Pope Benedict to come just two days later. We got a great view of Paris from so high up and then we walked down into the red light district to see the famous Moulin Rouge.

We took the Metropolitan (subway) to the center of town to see Notre Dame. Inside is a piece of wood from Jesus’ crown and also a piece of the cross. We heard the organist practicing for the Pope’s Mass.

We stopped for pictures outside the Louvre and then down into the park that leads to Cleopatra’s needle. We then walked all the way up one of the most famous shopping streets in Paris to the Arc de Triumph for some unbelievable views. Walking next under the Eiffel Tower was so cool. We went for dinner in a small french restaurant off the beaten path. What a nice way to end the day!

On day two of Paris, we rode a train out to the beautiful countryside where we enjoyed a full day at the famous Palace of Versailles. When we arrived at the Versailles train station we walked out and saw a beautiful building. As we walked closer Matt was being quiet and then eventually said in a disappointed tone, “Is this it? I thought it would be bigger.” Shortly after that we walked around the corner and realized that we had the wrong building. Thankfully, the palace from was fifty times the size of the first building we saw!

We took a guided tour through the palace. We learned so much and it was neat how the rooms were named after the planets (of course, rotating around the king’s room which was the sun). We saw Marie Antionette’s room with the secret hidden door that she escaped through when people were storming the castle to get her. FYI - they caught her and she was beheaded...

The most beautiful part of the palace, besides the hall of mirrors, was the gardens. These gardens stretched for miles and we walked around in the hedged labyrinths, past roman statues and columns. Ponds stretched forever and kids could sail toy boats in them while older people rented row boats. We ate lunch in a great cafe on the palace grounds. What a grand place!

Later that night we met up for our final dinner with Monica. Scotch and Phil never showed which was interesting...but we had a blast with Monica, ate at a really nice French restaurant, and drank some nice French wine.

On our third day we spent our time in the most famous museums in Paris (and the world really). The Louvre and Musee D’Orsay were well worth it. The Louvre is enormous - and there too much to describe - but we took a lot of pictures and we posted some of the highlights. We had a blast and got to see most of both museums.

We left Paris on the 4th day--on our own now that the Intrepid trip was done. We headed to the train station and hopped onboard our train to Caen!

Rheims, France

Bonjour!

On the way to Rheims, the champagne region, we learned a lesson about Joan of Arc. Surprisingly, this was one saint that Kristen hadn’t researched before so, of course, she was intrigued. In short, young Joan hears three saints telling her to lead an army and defeat several troops so that a king could be coronated in the Notre Dame cathedral in Reims. At first, she didn’t have much luck trying to convince higher authorities of this task but eventually she convinced them that divine authority is telling her to do this..... so she does, but after the king is crowned, she gets greedy and wants to continue fighting. After some time Joan gets caught and is brought to Rouen where she is tricked into signing a document and is later burned at the stake. If you are interested, juicier details can be provided when Kristen gets back.

Aside from Monica teaching us about Rheims and Joan of Arc, we also got to experience our first train with the compartment of 8 seats - 4 each side facing each other. That was pretty neat - all our trains up to this point had been regular train cars with 2 seats, an aisle, and 2 more seats. It’s the little things sometimes that get us excited...moving on:

Salut! We got to clink our champagne glasses several times towards the end of our Veuve Cliquot champagne tour. We were lucky to go underground into the chalk cellars to see the history and making of some of the best champagne in the world... just one step below Dom (or so the French say). We got the skinny on which years were the best and vice versa. 2008, not a good year. 2004, drink it up! Matt’s idea is to buy many bottles when we get back. Since the vintage champagnes age incredibly well we will drink some every five years on our anniversary. Each year will get better and better!

We had fun exploring the downtown area in Reims. We ate the best dessert in France, crepes and creme brule. We also got to see the impressive Saint Remi Cathedral and the part of town where 2 people once lived that inspired Disney to write about Quasimodo and Esmerelda in Hunchback of Notre Dame.

On our last night we heard out our hotel window a bunch of chanting and singing. It sounded like a riot breaking out so, of course, Matt was brave and went out to see what the racket was. He thought it was probably some soccer fans cheering for their team but when he rounded the corner onto the main street he saw a bunch of teenagers with orange cones on their heads climbing up one of the angel statues in the center of town. Weird... Since no one spoke English we still don’t know what the orange cone protest was all about.

We are heading into France’s capital city tomorrow and we are excited to see some of the sites that we have seen on tv and in pictures many times before. Au Revior!

Dijon, France

Today we day-tripped to Beaune, the burgundy wine region in France. This was our first day in a new country so we decided to study some phrases to help us with the basics thanks to Matt’s ITouch applications. We first stopped at a French pastry shop where, of course, we tried cream puffs and eclairs. Yum! Not as many French people know English like the Swiss did so “Bonjour Madame or Misuer” did us well.

We rented bikes and rode through the countryside vineyards. It was picturesque, as the grapes were ripe and ready to be picked two weeks from now. We stopped at Chateaus to taste great wine. Our favorite was Chateau L’Ange Gardien “Guardian Angel”. Pierre, the owner, shook our hands and did the tasting for us himself. We tried fantastic 100% local vine wines plus some sparkling wines that were just as good as champagne. (He’s too far south to be able to call it champagne). We’re bringing home a special liquor (Creme de Cassis) that he makes that has been proven to prevent Parkinson's disease and some cancers - or so says some study done at Chicago University. So, if come visit for pancakes with this goodness drizzled on top you will get to try it! Food update: Matt has yet to try escargot. Kristen loves french bread and blends into the crowd carrying a baguette around the town.

Our next stop: Rheims champagne region! We are really trying to study our french basics because we are quickly learning that we must try to attempt their language before speaking ours so that they are somewhat kind to us. Au Revior!

Bern, Switzerland

On our way to France we made our last stop in Bern, Switzerland. This is the capital city. Bern means bear and got its name because the man who founded it said the city would be named after the first animal he killed.

Today, they have bears you can go feed which we did. It was sad because they’re in this pit but I guess the city is building a very large place for them next year where they can play in the woods and fish. In this city Einstein once lived. We went to an amazing Albert Einstein exhibition. Matt enjoyed reading the similarities between him and Albert. :) We read every sign and learned so much about this genius. Did you know ---- that Einstein had a schizophrenic son? or that he was asked to be president of Israel but turned down the offer because he felt he was too old for the job? or that at one point in his life, he was so tired of being well known that he wished he were a plumber.

We eventually hopped on a train and crossed over into France! Bon Sioux!

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

You know how at Christmas time it’s common to see train sets with cute little trains puffing through mountains in neat little villages... We feel like we are in that scene up in Lauterbrunnen. Seated at the bottom of the valley between soaring mountains with waterfalls cascading down from above us; we are loving our new destination. For three nights we’re in the most beautiful land where the mountains are snow capped and yet it is still about 75 degrees down where we are.. perfect. The waterfalls create rivers and these rivers run all over the place. The water hasn’t had anytime to get dirty since falling from the glacier above so people can fill up their water bottles right in the river. The rivers make Lauterbrunnen seem like the Caribbean waters have come to the mountains. Poland Springs... this is better.

On our first afternoon we walked through the valley to Trummelbach Falls, where ten cascades make up the waterfall; most of which is inside of a mountain. The 20,000 liters of water that it drops every minute comes from a glacier that sits on top of Mount Eiger “The North Face”, Mount Munch, and Mount Jungfrau (the tallest in the Swiss Alps).

We spent several days here and got to cable car our way to the Schilthorn. This is where James Bond shot the skiing scene from his movie Her Majesties Secret Service. We sat where he did and saw the most amazing views. We were eye level with the three large mountains I already mentioned and could see into other countries as well as down below into the gorgeous town of Interlaken. We definitely had some Swiss hot chocolate here since the temp. was significantly lower over ten thousand feet up. As for other Swiss favorites, we tried Rosti which is a potato dish and fondue.

On the way down the mountain from the top of the Schilthorn we stopped in a little town called Murren (which we want to return to during the winter as it looks like it’d be an amazing ski town) for lunch. We ate at this little restaurant in the middle of the village which had views right down the valley and looking up into the mountains. It was amazing. We’ll post a picture to show everyone - but it was by far the best view we’ve had while grabbing an afternoon meal.

As we left this fairy-tale land we cheered out our train window as marathon runners ran past us on their way from Interlaken headed towards Jungfrau. They waved back and then we waved goodbye to such a great place. Au Wiedersehen!