Le Voyage 2011

The 2011 Spring Break Trip to Europe will begin on March 12, 2011. We will travel from OKC to Newark, NJ. Since we have a really long lay-over, we will take a shuttle to New York City for a 4-hour visit of midtown Manhattan. Then we will catch a flight to London where we will spend two and half days before taking a train through the Chunnel to Paris. Once in Paris, we will see all the sights and three days later catch a night train to Madrid.

London to Paris to Madrid.

There will be a lot of new experiences for me, as I have never been to London or England and I have never been through the Chunnel. I have been to Spain and Madrid before, but never as a tourist. Since I will have experienced England and Spain travelers with me, it will be fun to see the sites and let them teach me about the places we will see.

I am excited to be going with a great group of ladies: Lisa and her daughter Alyssa, Jaci, Alexa, and Thaïs. We will have a very memorable time!

Home Sweet Home

We made it safely home on Thursday, June 11th. We were all tired and glad to see our families. Madame has one last request for allthe girls: Please send me pictures from the trip --- or post them online and tell Madame where she can go to see them. Thanks to the girls for being great ambassadors and to their families for trusting them to Madame's care and for making this trip possible!

Our Last Day in the City of Lights

Our morning started off slowly when Jessie, Cate, and Madame overslept! We quickly gathered ourselves together and we all enjoyed walking through the open-air market right outside our hotel. Then, we took the Metro to our first site, the Opera Garnier. As we came up out of the Metro, we found ourselves completely surrounded by a mass demonstration by people who want their work contracts respected. Yikes! It was an interesting experience. They were a pretty tame crowd and the girls got to see a real French display of democracy in action. We quickly made our way through the crowd to the entrance and the girls went on an hour-long exploration of the interior of this beautiful theatre-palace. Jeannie was most impressed at the thought that The Phantom of the Opera is set in this beautiful site. After touring the Opera, the girls had free time to go shopping and eat lunch.



Then, we took a city bus (nicer than the Metro because you actually see the city, but slower getting around) to the Cluny Museum. This is one of Madme's favorite museums, a former Cluny Abbey built on the site of former Roman thermal baths. We made a bee-line to the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and then quickly moved through the rest of the museum because we were pressed for time.

Then we walked past the Sorbonne and up to the Pantheon where France honors its heros, writers, and most accomplished citizens. We saw Foucault's pendulum and wandered through the crypte where we saw the tombs of such famous people as Rousseau, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Pierre and Marie Curie, Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, and Jean Jaures. We also saw commemorative mention for Antoine de Saint-Exupery who wrote Le petit prince and Guillaume Apollinaire whose visual poetry from the WWI era we studied in AP French.

Next, we took another city bus and the Metro to the Louvre where we saw the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Venus de Milo and the Wedding at Cana. The Louvre was huge and impressive with so many works of art to see!



With all the walking we were pooped! But we needed to go to a grocery store to buy goodies to bring home, so we trudged our way through the Metro, bought what we needed, and returned to the hotel around 8:30 pm. We had hoped to take a boat ride on the Seine as our final farewell or to go to the top of the Arc of Triumph, but by the time we ate dinner, it was too late to either thing. So, we returned to the hotel and hung out in Jessie, Cate and Madame's room to watch the Eiffel Tower shimmer from the hotel window. Then we packed our bags....

Napoleon, The Thinker, and Tired Feet

We started the day with hot chocolate and croissants at the bistro near the hotel. Then, we rode a Paris city bus to Les Invalides where we saw Napoleon's tomb. In touring the artistic friezes in the crypte around his tomb, the girls learned a better appreciation of Napoleon's place in history.

Then we took a short walk over to the Musee Rodin where we walked in the gardens and saw some famous works on display: The Thinker and The Gates of Hell. Then we toured the inside of the musuem, which is located in the pre-Revolution manor called Hotel Biron. We saw more version of the The Thinker and the rough drafts made in preparing for The Gates of Hell, as well as other great work by Rodin such as The Kiss and The Man with the Broken Nose. We all greatly appreciated Rodin's work as well as the sculptures by his sometime lover, Camille Claudel.

Then we traveled to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. On our way up the hill, we did some extensive tourist shopping (get ready for the trinkets!) and stopped for a pizza/pasta lunch. We toured the interior of the church and took pictures from the outside, then the girls walked the winding 294 fat-burning steps up to the very top of the dome of the church. Once they reached the top, they were treated to a fabulous view of the city of Paris. While they were doing this, Madame waited in a nearby cafe, sipping Earl Grey tea. Then we spent more time buying random trinkets of Paris and Melissa got her portrait drawn by a street artist. Jessie chose to sit out the shopping portion of the program and she sat with Madame at the cafe and read from Madame's new edition of Petit Nicolas voyage.

We were all exhausted and burdened with purchases, so we headed back to our hotel for a brief rest. Then, we returned to the Left Bank neighborhood called Saint Michel for a traditional French dinner. Jessie ate raclette, while the rest of the group tried a variety of gourmet dishes. Madame argued with the waiter and won (because she was right and he was rude). :-)

After dinner, we went on a walking tour that led us back to Notre Dame, which was illuminated as it always is after dark. Then, we walked around behind Notre Dame to appreciate the Gothic architecture, gargoyles, and the gardens. In crossing back over the Seine to the Left Bank, we stumbled upon an Italian movie set and we got to watch what appeared to be an seriously cheesy heist scene as it was filmed. Finally, we took the metro home and tomorrow will be our final day of touring. We have many ideas, but we know for sure we will go to the Louvre.

Oh, Paris, Paris!

We left Lisieux this morning around 10:30 am after another pain au chocolat breakfast at a cafe. We arrived in Paris just after noon under a light drizzle and grabbed some sandwiches of grilled meat with fries at a Turkish sandwich shop. We ate these standing up in the hall of the St. Lazare train station. While we were there we finally saw our first American Veteran GI. He had on a maroon beret and a uniform loaded with medals, including an Airborne badge. We were so lucky to get to speak to him! Turns out his name is Bill Coleman Jr. and he is from Orlando, FL. He parachuted into Normandy the day before D-Day and he was in Paris to receive the Medal of the Legion d'Honneur from France's President Sarkozy. He got the medal yesterday at Les Invalides (the Military School and the place where Napoleon is buried). They gave him and his buddies a gun salute, a military parade and the President of France pinned the award on him personally. This man is 89 years old and he looked like he was a very fit 70. We got to see the pin he was awarded and we got to hear his personal story first-hand.

After we got settled at our hotel, we made a bee-line for the Eiffel Tower. Everyone went up except Madame and Jessie, who hung out together at the base waiting for the others (in the rain and cold!) We met some nice people from Chiapas Mexico and Madame got to use Jessie as a translator for Spanish! Then we walked up to the Esplanade for Human Rights at the Palais de Chaillot and got some great pictures of the Eiffel Tower. We took the Metro over to the Arc de Triomphe just in time to see a full military parade there, related to the Battle of Normandy.

We walked down the Champs-Elysees under a steady rain and then took the Metro to the Place de la Concorde, which we visited under a torrential downpour. That's okay, because the obelisk and the hieroglyphs are impressive in any weather.

Completely exhausted, we returned to our hotel, had a quick, warm dinner, and settled in to rest and relax.

On Our Own in Normandy - Day 2

As we started our day, the one goal we had in mind was to make it to the Normandy American Cemetery. It would be impossible to exaggerate how many people are in Normandy for the 65th Anniversary of D-Day. We didn't get to see Obama in person yesterday because French security made about a 15 km security band around the American Cemetery where Obama was speaking. To get inside the security zone, you had to have a special pass (which we, of course, did not have). Apparently, everyone and his 15 friends didn't have the pass needed either, so we were all on a quest today to make it to the American Cemetery. [Note: we were at the Memorial de Caen when Obama was speaking and we saw him on a jumbotron inside the musuem, but it was dubbed in French, so we couldn't really appreciate the quality of his oratory.]

So, we headed for the Lisieux train station this morning and prayed that St. Theresa of the Little Flower would bless us on our quest. We ate breakfast at a cafe near the train station. (Pain au chocolat, miam!) Then, we caught a train for Bayeux where we hoped to get on a tour bus to the American Cemetery and other related sites. Along the way, we met several British D-Day veteran soldiers and we took pictures and talked with them a great deal. Once in Bayeux, a place on a tour was impossible to find. We met two people from Kentucky who apparently got the last two tour tickets @ 45 Euros each. Our only option was to get a taxi. Madame was seriously concerned that the cost would be prohibitive! But, with six people in the taxi @ 110 Euro total cost, it looks like St. Theresa was looking out for our wallets as well as our travel plans! We set a rendez-vous point with the taxi service and since we had just under two hours to wait around, we went and visited the Bayeux Tapestry. Then, we ate very typical tourist fare in a restaurant. Jessie and Madame had traditional Normandy omelettes.

The day had announced itself as sunny and pleasant, but a dark cloud arrived at Colleville-sur-mer just as we arrived at the cemetery there! We toured the cemetery under torrential rain, but we each loacted our soldier's grave and the girls all got to see Omaha beach. Jeanne, Melissa, and Cate all got to walk on Omaha Beach! Given all the rain and CRAZY traffic, we didn't get to go to Pointe du Hoc. The girls have all caught on to Madame's philosophy that it is good to leave something undone so you have a reason to return there again in the future --- so the girls will all have to return here someday to see Pointe du Hoc. Our taxi agreed to take us on a driving tour of the area and we got to see many beautiful views, including a cliff-high view over Arromanches where the British built an artificial port to support the Normandy invasion. It was wonderful to see all the WWII re-enactors and the period clothing, jeeps, and other parphernalia.

We caught a train back to Lisieux via Caen and ate dinner at a Chinese/Thai restaurant. The food was excellent but we were wet and tired. On our way back to the hotel, as the sun was beginning to set, we stopped for a photo-shoot at the Lisieux Basilica for St. Theresa.

On Our Own in Normandy - Day 1

We left Montdidier before 8am. There were a lot of tears and hugs all around. The girls have made many new friends and even Madame was sad to leave! Our train stopped in Rouen and we got off there for a 2-hour tour. We left our bags with a train agent and took the Rouen metro to the center of town. We first visited the famous cathedral of Rouen, painted by Monet in various lights and the site of part of Joan of Arc's trial. Then, we walked down the Rue de l'Horloge and we were treated to a parade honoring D-Day. We also saw the beautiful Renaissance clock and many homes that date back to the 15th & 16th centery and the 18th century home of Rouen's deputy to the Estates General in 1789. Finally, we arrived at the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. They've built a modern church at the site.

In a rush back to the train station, we stopped to grab some sandwiches and drinks. We ate and drank these standing in the train station and we made it easily back on the train to Caen. Upon our arrival in Caen about an hour and a half later, we were able to take the tram and a bus to the Memorial de Caen, a musuem that explains about D-Day, WWII, and the causes of the two Great Wars. We met several veterans from Great Britain and the girls were thrilled to ask all kinds of questions about their experiences of the Second World War. By the time we left, it was raining and we missed the 6:15 pm train to Lisieux, so we stopped and had homemade pizza at a restaurant near the train station. We caught the 8:15 train to Lisieux and we made it to the hotel by taxi around 9:15 pm. It is our first night in a hotel and we are all exhausted. We saw all the things Madame had on the list for today, so hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit less stressful.