June 28-July 14 2008.
BREZOLLES
My friend Herves house. (To the left of the unfinished roof) This is where we stayed most of our time in France.
Brezolles church and lake.
ST. JULIEN
St. Julien Countryside
St. Julien Middle age church
French WWI memorial for only those who died out of the St. Julien church. These kinds of things are everywhere in France. This creates a persistent level of public awareness and is a reason why French people generally detest war.
ST. MALO
St. Malo is a middle age fortress that was built as a center of comerce for privateers.
St. Malo Church
St. Malo Fortifications..
MONT ST. MICHEL
Construction on this huge structure started 1,300 years ago and continued until the 20th century. It is a monestary and still contains practicing monks.
Amy in front of Mont St. Michel
Mont St. Michel streets..
Supply lift system for the monks...
Steeple
Mont St. Michel gardens
Amy and I at Mont St. Michel
ST. LO
St. Lo castle, Cathedral and monument to French citizens who were killed by US bombing during WWII
OMAHA BEACH
My friend Herve and his family have a connection with someone who owns a house right on Omaha beach so we got to stay there. Below is the view of the beach from this house.
Private D-Day artifact collection in the house that we stayed in.
Omaha beach and Pointe Du Hoc in the background
Amy on Omaha beach
Same for me..
Tied flags on the beach. They are only untied and raised during special memorial events.
The view along the bluffs.
German bunker with a 88mm gun still inside
Me in the same bunker.
Cemetary for American soldiers. The white crosses that are visible are only a small fraction of what is actually there. To visit this place is a very powerful experience especially when you think this as a whole is a very small fraction of all of the dead of both world wars.
Unknown soldiers grave.
A plaque honoring soldiers.
ARROMANCHE D-DAY MUSEUM
In Arromanche, an artificial bay was built along the beach in order for ships to safely deliver war supplies for the liberation of Europe during WWII.
CAEN
Caen Cathedral
The castle of William the Conquerer (or bastard, depending on your point of view).
Caen street scene at night.
Second Caen cathedral. Notice the orientation of the door vs. the orientation of the tower and upper tower. Drunken builders?
VERNEUIL
Castle ruins at Verneuil
Oldest house of Verneuil
Verneuil Cathedral
Amy on the tower of the Verneuil cathedral.
View of the town from the tower.
Top of the tower
PARIS
Ruins of Roman bathouse in Paris
Paris Medieval Museum
Paris Observatory
Notre Dame De Paris
Luvre...
Arc Du Carrousel
Cyril, Me and Herve on a bridge over the Seine river with Neuf Pont in the background. Neuf Pont is the oldest standing bridge in Paris and was built in the 16th century.
Street view from Cyrils house.
Amy on Cyrils Roof. Amy and Marie Luce were too scared to come up the rest of the way.
View from Cyrils roof with Sacre Cour in the background.
With Notre Dame De Paris
A picture of the last Russian royal family from Cyrils house.
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Seine River boat ride at night
An older cathedral in Paris from the 6th century.
Yet another memorial to WWI dead. It is easy to see how the world wars wiped out whole generations.
Arc Du Triomphe
Amy and I in front of the Eiffel Tower
ROUEN
Site of the Joan of Arc execution by the English.
Rouen Buildings
Rouen clock. Near Cavelier De La Salles house.
Rouen Cathedral
Unique building in Rouen.
We attended the Armada tall ships gathering in Rouen. It is a gathering of many tall ships and the event attracts millions of people. The above ship is the Amerigo Vespucci.
Amy and I by the stern of the Christain Radich.
Grand Turk
CHARTRES
Bridge and river scene in Chartres
Chartres Cathedral. This building has a labrynth built underneath it.
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
The hotel we stayed in at Stockholm.
Stockholm Theatre
Af Chapman
Stockholm City Hall. Notice the Tre Kronar symbolism on the tower.
Old Town (Gamla Stan)
Unique churches and obelisk in Old Town.
Stockholm Royal Palace
Nordiska and Vasa Museet on Djurgarden
City center from the water.
STOCKHOLM ARCHAPELAGO TOUR
The boundary waters in Minnesota?
Waxholm Fortress
Waxholm. This is where Vasa was headed after setting sail so that the ship could take on supplies and soldiers.
VASAMUSEET
(Suprisingly, my wife really enjoyed this part of the vacation)
Pictures do not do this ship justice. To see it in person is incredible!
Amy and I near the bow of Vasa
That is it for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures of our travels!
Special thanks to Herve, Marie Luce, Laura, Cyril the rest of the Sasso family, and to Fred and the Vasamuseet staff for such a memorable travel in Europe.