From Rembrandt to Van Gogh: Going through Amsterdam in two (long) days

 Hey, Dutch Masters,

So this is the last travel narrative (I'm thinking a retrospective blog might be in order -- you know "the 10 stupid things I did on this trip"), but this will be the last detailing of our days because we are out of days!!! 😡  After 27 days away, I will be going home tomorrow (and RR has been with me the whole way)

First, we have broken RR. 😒

You see, though I haven't mentioned it (an example of Sheldon Cooper's suffering in silence 😂) K and I both woke up Friday morning with cold symptoms.  But RR has held out.  Remember the man who climbed the 226 steps Sunday morning?  Today he wasn't up to going out for breakfast!!! The man who eats like a hungry G-man (inside joke? :))  And, after being a trooper and doing the first two items on the day's agenda, he said he was washed and came back to the flat before numero tres. 🙁. And he didn't clean up any of the leftovers from dinner -- which looked like this.

Satay

Spring rolls

Prawn curry (one pepper heat)

Beef curry (no heat)

Chicken pa-naeng (one pepper heat)

It was all very good.  We all like Thai food and Google didn't do us wrong saying this was a good one within walking distance (.5 mile) of the flat. 

The day began with a quick chocolate croissant at a bakery around the corner.  It was an odd chocolate croissant -- no vein of chocolate going through it, but instead chocolate poured on top.  It was very messy, as you might imagine.  But fresh! :)

Then we hustled off to the Anne Frank House (in Dutch "huis") for our 10 o'clock appointment. 

I don't want to say they were Nazis at the Anne Frank House (that might be in poor taste), but there were multiple staff out front making sure you didn't get in line too early.  For ten o'clock she told the 10 o'clocks to line up, and someone was at 10:15 and she told them to go stand back out of the way! 😂. 

Despite the tough steps inside, it was a notable experience.  Our barge driver later said the use of narrow, steep staircases was due to the saving of square footage in a house, and the secret annex showed it. ):  I learned a lot I didn't know (I admittedly didn't know much) about her and the people hiding with her.  I was surprised there were so many, or that they had so many rooms (four?). You can't believe the tight-laced Nazis missed all those square feet. OC, it was heart-rendering, as it seems she was on the last train that left Amsterdam for the transport hub before the Nazis gave up in early '45. 😢

We then Ubered over to a spot in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, where our canal tour could start.  But I went in with the ticket (a ticket I didn't remember buying the night before) and the very nice woman told me it wouldn't scan.  She did all she could, even making a phone call, but I was told to call Viator.  In the end, I bought tickets on the boat, hoping to recoup from someone later. 

The canal tour was interesting.  Some genius ~1610 decided to expand the city they needed a canal system -- it took 50 years to complete.  OC this is all done by hand.  😡  It starts with three parallel canals off the Amstel River (once dammed, the city there became Amsterdam) that run in a semicircle south.  Then they built cross canals, then another semicircle farther out.  By ~1660 they had tripled the square footage of the city.  But still they needed to build all these town homes along the canals -- they were encourage to build up and not horizontally.  They have some lovely homes.  And some palatial places where the directors of the East India Company lived.  It was them who helped generate all the 17th c Dutch wealth on the spice trade (the captain joked that part of it was marijuana 😂) and the great shipping fleet.  Amsterdam was for the better part of the century the richest city in Europe.  

After the canal ride, and RR heading off to rest, we went to the Rijk Museum, which we saw from the boat. 

It is famous for holding the most Rembrandts in the world; it also holds the most Vermeers -- which K likes so much.  She said she'd never seen four in a collection before, and only four together in an exhibition in DC once.  

Then we ubered back to the flat.  Uber rides have been a bit salty (30 euros regularly) and this driver, John, told us why: to Uber here you have to have same certification and insurance as a taxi.  So, they charge more.  Though RR pointed out there was an Uber option here to get an electric vehicle for less, which we'll look to do.  Our ride from the museum was in a Veekj -- which he told us was Chinese.  And rather mocked Americans for not allowing Chinese cars, though he admitted they tariffed it heavily, claiming it cost double what it would in China. 

We napped, got up, with everyone feeling perkier, and went to the Thai place for dinner.  K avoided getting hit by a bike, but to make note of all the near misses now would take multiple blogs. 😀. it's been a zoo out there. 😡

*****

Today was our last day here, as we fly out at 1130 to London, then from London at 4 to Newark.  A long day (I realized that it would be 1:30 Amsterdam time, Friday, when we landed in Newark...and that ain't home yet 😡)

The good news was RR was better, though he admitted this evening that he was broken and would have to spend time at home to get mended. :)

We started the day with a short walk to a place I had scoped out, not very carefully, for breakfast.  They had the full sit-down thing (as opposed to Tuesday's croissants on the fly).  It turned out to be associated with a hotel, so there was this massive buffet, but the cost was more than we wanted.   So, on to plan B.  This was Greenwood's which had atmosphere on a canal (the canals have names, but they are, duh, in Dutch so understanding them all is iffy -- though I get brouwerscanal [brewers canal], which we were told the breweries were all on originally).  Here's the food porn:

We had tickets (we thought) for the Van Gogh museum at 1245, so wondered how to kill the time.  We went looking for a hop on, hop off bus, a la Brussels.  The company didn't make it easy. 😡. After finding the spot on the map where it claimed the one stopped near Anne Franke House, we gave up on that one and RR said the next nearest one was 15 minutes.  You will notice that we have now walked the first X, then another Y to Greenwood's, another Z to the Anne Frank House, and, finally, the "15 minutes" to the last stop.  

We never saw a hop on/hop off bus.  In the end, I said we could try to take the tram that was right in front of us and I saw it went straight to the museum district -- it turns out right in front of the Van Gogh museum.  :) Brilliant move.  I even found out you could pay with a tap.  

A quick drink across the street (ok, I had a lemon muffin -- I didn't eat nearly all my eggs benedict and we'd walked a million miles) and...

Then to the Van Gogh Museum.  Not surprisingly after yesterday, the tickets didn't work.  The ticket taker took my phone, tried a bunch of things, then asked if she could make a phone call on it.  Clearly, she wanted to talk to her grammy in Botswana :). She spoke to someone for a bit in Dutch, gave numbers and my name, which she spelled out in Dutch (it really doesn't sound recognizable) and told me it was a problem with Viator and I had no real ticket.  So, I bought tickets and she let us in, though the sites claimed they didn't have tickets available for most of the day. 

We're in. 

I told RR when we finished that I had had about as much Van Gogh as I could take for about a decade; he kind of agreed, though he was quick to point out the brilliance of some of his work.  True that.  But I know I saw ten different self portraits (and a couple not self ones) of the man, and a lot of his early, not ready for prime time, work.  He had one really good year, and that year he was quite productive, but it wasn't massive.  

The building is huge, with three floors of displays.  I guess I should hit you with this one, one of the highlights (along with the one at the top that I put so it'd be the thumbnail for this blog entry)

Called Almond Blossoms, he painted it for the birth of his nephew, also named Vincent, and it maybe his last finished painting.  

The funny story of the day, maybe of the trip, took place after we were finished.  I went to the "toiletten" and, as I came out, I turned and about bumped into a guy coming around the corner. I took a step back; he took a step back!  I took a step forward; he took a step forward!!!  I looked up and it was me!!!! 🤦  They both thought this was terribly funny.

Home for rest and then out for Dutch food for dinner. It was interesting, though no one claimed it was anywhere near the best meal of the trip. 

This is the local dish called "bitterballen," which seems to be meat and cheese in a deep fried shell. 

This is Dutch stew, which is a chunk of roast on celery puree. It was good.

K had the steak, again on a puree. 

For what he said was maybe the 5th time on the trip, RR had the (Dutch) fish and chips; he said the best was still that from the food truck outside Edinburgh Castle two weeks ago.  

And for dessert -- their version of apple tart, which was excellent.  Yeah, rah. 

We took a walk home not the direct way on purpose :) and came across this graphic example of how Amsterdam got its rep as a place where a lot goes -- and we didn't miss it ALL! :)

K acted all magnamious last night and told us we could go to the red light district without her and RR and I passed. :). Not sure we'd live through it. 😂

And that, my friends, is that.  It's been fun, with lots of great times and lots of good food.  I hope you've enjoyed.  K and I have to get home to rest for the next two trips. :)

Until then, guten nicht. 

Napoleon's Last Stand and the Netherlands

 So, here we are again, this time from beautiful Amsterdam (but more on that later),

I am told I have to start this blog with filler that I missed from the last one: our accommodations.  First, we had a little trouble finding it.  Booking.com called it "Originales Boutiques" which turned out to be the chain name (makes sense if you know it) and then Google maps had it on the wrong side of the street (alley/) that it was on, and then the entry into the courtyard/parking lot through the wall was one car wide.  Barely.  Initially, I pulled over on the wrong side of the road to figure it out, then backed up enough to get through the opening (on the second backup ):) and then there were no parking places.  RR went in and came out with a guy who said "sorry, but some people we weren't expecting to stayed another night and 🤷". We unloaded in the courtyard and I went and found a place two blocks away.  

It was commented that this was the most modern place we stayed.  Our rooms, though, were upstairs, but only "on the first floor" as the desk person told us.  Uh huh.  The stairs, carpeted in a modernesque pattern that I think was a take on leopard skin, were both narrow and twisty.  Lugging our heavy, too large bags up was a serious challenge.  We were all winded when we got to the top. 

Then the room.  New, nice, with some decorative touches, but it was in the attic, aka the roof slanted!!!  As in, there weren't a lot of places where I could stand straight up.  Sunday morning I hit my head 3 times BEFORE breakfast!!! 😡😡😡. We loved the place, it was convenient right in the middle of town, but it was brutal in several different ways.

[Funny side story: when we were trying to find a spot, RR said "look at that Mercedes, they can't get out"; we speculated that the car in front of it must be someone who wasn't staying or someone they knew.  At breakfast Sunday a guy came around showing a picture of the Volvo that was blocking in it -- he was the owner of the Mercedes! 😂😂😂. When we left, having pulled in and packed up, they were still standing in the parking lot trying to figure out what to do.  It's like RR's second bag from Rennes -- we don't know how this story ended but it didn't look good :))

We left Saint Quentin after breakfast and stopped at Waterloo battlefield.  This one I wanted to see. I had no idea there was this huge monument to the Dutch prince who was wounded there.  Here's my pic of it; RR went up, admirably -- he can't let a challenge get him down 😂

226 steps, it said. 

We walked a long way to a place called Hougomoun (sp?), which was the farm that set the western edge of the British line.  It was worth the walk, as there's a burnt out chapel from that day, the buildings, and the gates they fought so desperately for.  Wellington claimed it was the north gate at Hougomoun that assured their victory -- supposedly 10 Scots and English soldiers stopped 60 French who had broken through momentarily.  

20,000 men died at Waterloo (acc to the various pieces on the grounds), yet not a single gravesite!  Having come from the two previous days, we were amazed. 

And then we were off to Brussels, which isn't far away (Wellington was protecting the city by taking a stand at Waterloo, so they say).  

Now the adventure begins.  We got to the Warwick hotel, which is in the center of town, "not far from the train station" and I drop RR and K there with the luggage and I go to take the car back to the train station, where I'm supposed to return it by 2.  It's 1:45ish.  The concierge helps with the luggage and says it's a 15 minute drive but 3 minutes on the train back if you "uh...and...errr...and...uh". kind of like the parental blah blah blah in Charlie Brown cartoons :).  

Yes, Google maps says 15 minutes, with a mean read set of numbers.  I maneuver here, there, and, at one painful point, GM wants me to be in the right lane to make a left, which I can't get to, as three lanes of traffic merge into 3 lanes of traffic WITHOUT a TRAFFIC LIGHT!!!  Insanity.  And everyone is in the wrong lane!!!  Eventually I get through it and end up turning into the road to the train station and...no signs!  Nothing about car rental return.  GM wants me to go left right in front of the station, I can see the desks through the glass, but I don't understand and end up doing a five minute circle around.  The second time through I see that there is a sign for Hertz et al on the wall to the underground parking garage, on the wall going down. I am able to dive left, take a ticket I hope I don't have to use, and end up on -4, where the Hertz sign has directed me.  There are numbered slots with Hertz signs on them.  Not a soul in sight!  I pull into the Sixt area next to it, where a bunch of guys are standing around, seemingly waiting for returns and he tells me to park it and take the keys up to the desk.  I do.  But there's no one at the desk and I end up, reluctantly, leaving them in the off hours dropbox.  

Whew!  

But it gets better (or worse).  I come out looking for a taxi, having been unable on GM to recreate the guy's "just get on a train and 3 minutes to here" 🤷. There are guys standing next to taxis, so I ask for one (shouldn't they be asking me?!?!?) and am told these are airport shuttles and I need to go "50 yards on that side of the road and there'll be some".   I really want to buy property, or time, from these clowns in Brussels. 😡  When I get to the taxi rank, I look back and say that it's a very long par 3, or maybe a short par 4, back to where I was (at least 250 yards)...but anyway.

Then there are no taxis standing there.  There are taxis standing in the two lanes outside the row, not moving in a horrific jam, but nothing where a bunch of people are waiting for cabs.  They didn't know how to queue because when the road cleared enough so that taxis filled the rank, it was the Old West, with one couple arguing over whether they were getting a taxi, and another acting like they didn't know what to do.  I went to get in the one I thought was my turn, to be told that the one ahead wasn't taking anyone and I had to go one back.  I did.  He was a shit show!!!! He first was texting, with both hands!!! and then he got on the phone talking.  We barely moved for 10 minutes, then finally broke out.  It was a 30 euro trip!!!! 😡😡

Meanwhile, I was told RR and K were in the bar, quaffing adult beverages, having stowed out luggage because they couldn't check in till 3 o'clock.  😡 

When we checked in, we were all in love with the room.  The largest on the trip, with no slanted ceiling, and K noted actual light that she could see by.  They also had NFL football on TV, since, for reasons I can't explain, they had London TV stations on the TV. 🤷

We were going to do the hop on/hop off bus, but it was too late by the time I fumbled the directions and we had an ice cream (not my suggestion, though I didn't refuse) and then ended up in the Grand Place, just so RR could see things.  If you've not seen it, it really is Grand.  

We went back to the hotel, cleaned up, and were off to dinner. 

We found an Italian place a block around the corner from the hotel, amongst a lot of other options.  We hadn't had italian yet, so...

RR's seafood risotto (he's discovered risotto on this trip and liked it -- note to his kids :))

K's saltimbucca.  If you like that sort of thing.  

I had this chocolate thing with a vanilla ice cream center (no, you can't get enough ice cream :)

Today. 

We had the buffet breakfast at the Warwick, which was the bomb.  They had pretty much everything.  We left sated. 

Then we drug our luggage (we have too much luggage for a bunch of olds to be doing this much lugging) to the train station that was actually nearby -- the concierge wouldn't let us get a taxi because he said "it is just over there, by the red sign".  I asked RR as we walked away if he saw the aforementioned red sign and he said "no." 😂

It really wasn't far, though the cobblestones made for poor wheeling, and we got there only to stand inside the front door and wonder where the lockers were.  I took us downstairs because I thought that was right, and, after much hunting and deciphering signs, we found it.  Then it turned out you needed to scan a QR and use an app to lock it.  Little did we know that it would tell you which one, not you tell it, and we had our stuff loaded in a XXL already and had to move it.  Finally, all was stowed.  We decided to hit the bathroom and it cost money and took apple pay, or a card.  We got in and...RR wondered at this advance. :)

To the hop on and off bus, which we had no plan on getting off, which was just around the corner, maybe 3 minutes away.  I bought tickets from the driver right after he arrived, and then we sat waiting to move for 10 minutes.  I was about to lose it.  I have travel fatigue, I guess, and my patience for shit is all gone.  I took some deep breaths, wondered how we were still sitting at 1010 on the 955 bus...and then we took off and it was ok.  

Brussels is a beautiful city.  K got this one pic that really captures it --

We got off the bus, went back to the train station, and got on the train to Rotterdam. 

Got off the train to Rotterdam and changed platforms and got on a "sprinter" (misnomer) train to Amsterdam Central.  

We get to the taxi rank there, the airbnb person has said it's an 8 minute walk, and the driver won't take us because it is too close.  He says there's a base 30 euro charge if he moves with us.  We decide to walk.  It took us 10 minutes.  But GM took us the long way, we think, though I also think there are a lot of steps going the short way.  With our luggage 🤦

This place is a "ground floor" -- i.e. in this case, basement -- flat.  It is the weirdest setup ever.  There are two bedrooms and two baths.  You come into the living room off the street (there's an awkward step about two steps inside the door) and then down a corridor to the first bedroom.  On your left in the bedroom is a bath, and then the "kitchen", a kettle, Nespresso (the nth one on the trip), a small fridge (there be no cooking here, not that anybody has cooked on this trip) then the door to the second bedroom!!! Yes, the second bedroom is off the first!  and the second bathroom -- off the first bedroom on the back wall.  So, it has two baths that are "en suite."  I think we'll live for 3 nights, esp as we're now closer than relatives AND we're all tired at the end of the day, but it's seriously awkward. 

While K and I tried to buy a new refrigerator (ours seems to have quit in our absence), RR wondered off for scenery and beverages.  We found him on the nearby canal, loving all the boats.  He said all he needed was boats and beer. :)  

I was hungry so we had these for a snack:

It does seem to be a beautiful city, as we walked a little bit today. 

The downside: lots of bikers.  Lots and lots of bikers.  K is now worried again about the biker bounty on her head 😂 and I had a guy come so close as I went to cross the street for dinner that I smelt his cologne 🤯 

We had dinner.  We stumbled onto another good place, not two blocks from our flat.  It had a limited menu so we agreed to get the rib roast for 2 for dinner and split it 3 ways.  When we told the waitress, she said it was "only 600 grams" of meat.  We said we'd be okay.  You tell me what you think:

We 3 barely got it all down. 

But we had less trouble with dessert -- 

Chocolate mousee, with whipped cream. It was very chocolatey. 

And with that, I call it a day. 

My next one, sadly, will probably be the last of the trip.  🥲Full of Amsterdam stuff.  Hope you've enjoyed. 

Welterusten!

Cemeteries, very, very fragile cars and more food porn

 Hey, all,

It's been quite a last two days, with "3" stops each day and several good meals and some weird stuff (strangers in a strange land and all). 

This is the American Cemetery at Normandy.  If you watch the news regularly, you will have seen ceremonies from here.  It is quite the thing.  Very moving to see all those graves and think of all those young men who died. ):  

But before we went there, we had breakfast in Bayeux (read the last blog) at a place called Selma Alabama's.  It wasn't even a block from our conveniently situated hotel.  Here's the highlight --

Somewhere under there is RR's French toast.  He said he'd never had that much whipped cream in his life. 😂

Then I wanted to see the cathedral there, which used to house the tapestry.  It was built by Odo (that's right,  O-d-o), who was William the Conqueror's half-brother and the bishop of Bayeux.  He commissioned the tapestry.   His cathedral ain't half bad, either. 

It is an amazing example of Romanesque architecture, started in 1076, so it's kinda old.  We struggled to get in (it didn't open till...well, Google said 9, a sign on the door said 10, but people were coming out...🤷

And, then, off to the cemetery.  

It was the first time we dealt with crowds -- there were busses and lots of cars in the car park.  I guess it shows you what being the best known site on the coast will do for you.  And it has one great scenic lookout spot.

You think you know how far it is, then people appeared on the beach who looked more like ants.  It's a loooonnng way up there.  About two long par 5's :)

After some discussion, we decided to head for Giverny, where we were staying last night and the home of Monet's garden.  

On the way, I let RR drive.  Which became a thing. 

First, you should know for the second day in a row, the car showed a low tire in the morning.  We filled the offending tire (right rear) at a rest area and, as RR drove, I looked up the MG ZS to see what one would cost in the states and found out you can't get one there!  And the Reddit that showed up called the car a disgrace to the famous brand, Chinese shite (are they made in China?), and said we were lucky to not have them on our road as they have a reputation for being "very, very fragile."  😗

After I awoke from my nap, the car started making a noise.  A warning ding! and a yellow idiot light came on.  We were the idiots.  Is it oil? Is it low gas? Is it windshield fluid (not that we'd used any)?  Finally, RR says "it looks like a coffee cup" and I look it up and it is a warning of a tired driver!!!  RR said he felt fine.  It says it does it once someone has driven for 2 hours straight.  Which seems lame, but there it was.  We made it to Monet's house and it has not yet reappeared. 

As strangers in a strange land, we parked in what was clearly the parking lot for Monet's house and looked around.  No helpful signs.  I went to the shop "Boutique -- House and Gardens" and got no one's attention so asked a woman outside, who spoke as much English as I do French. :). She pointed "down to the right". 

We did that and eventually got in.  We found the house, which has lots and lots of wonderful paintings -- Cezannes, Pisarros, and Degases, along with some of his own in his studio.  

Oh. I fogot: Renoirs. 

The highlight was the gardens.  We'd never seen such a full garden!  With so many colors.  This picture gives you some sense of it:

RR said he could see how it could be inspiring. 

Then we went through a tunnel (also unmarked) to the lily pond.  It was across the road (probably not as big a deal in his time).  The lily pond was much bigger than we expected, and full of lilies in bloom in several different colors. 

We made it to the shop, where I shopped and K said "It's hot in here, I'm going to wait outside" and made a vague gesture toward the exit door.  Or so I thought. 

I got out of the exit door and there was no K!  🤦 I knew immediately that this was trouble.  RR came out and asked where she was and I said I didn't know.  We waited.  I speculated that she had gone back out the in door and was waiting there.  (that turned out to be true). I thought she'd figure it out and have to come out our way.  I texted, but got no indication that she had gotten on their wifi. ):  RR seemed worried. In the end, I sent him in (though the tickets said explicitly no readmittance), he had the tickets on his phone, to see if she was where I said she'd be and, lo! and behold!  she was!!!  i was told it was my fault. :)

We then went to our hotel, which was only a few hundred yards away.  It was a converted 13th century stable.  Here's the courtyard --

We had trouble finding someone to check us in.  We decided to eat dinner there, which turned out to be a good idea for the food, but they took 2 1/2 hours to serve us.  In the end, they had 7 tables going at once and one wait person. ):

I had the mushroom risotto.

RR had the sea bass, which he said was perfectly grilled.

K had the duck.   

We were all amazed at another great meal. 

Pear with ice cream dessert. 

And then today: we started at 8 o'clock, not finding anyone in the hotel common spaces.  🤷  The place around the corner was supposed to be highly rated, so we tried it.  No one appeared.  We heard people in the kitchen but our calls of "bonjour". got no response. ):  

Then back to our hotel, where finally someone appeared and told us to sit and they'd get to us in a few.  We ended up having a delightful Continental breakfast and it turned out to be with the room -- gratis!!!! joy joy.

Then off to another cemetery. 

But along the way we decided we needed gas.  RR said it was his turn, so he got out and started.  I went looking for bottled water.  It turned out to be a good looking pastry shop, so I was stuck in a line a few minutes and came out expecting RR to drive.  He said "I can't get it to work."  We both tried.  It kept rejecting his card.  Finally, we gave up and went looking for another station.  To get there, I had to do two, yes, two roundabout switchbacks (u-turns) and get on the highway for just a moment.  

This time the machine would take his card but they had  no 95 or 98 octane gasoline.  ):  RR said "let's put 5 gallons of 85 in it till later".  We did.  (shhhhsshhh). This turned out to be almost half a tank!!! (it's a hybrid)  Later, the check engine light came on.  Very, very fragile, remember? :) 

Our destination was the cemetery at Somme, also run by the Americans.  We were literally the only ones there!!!  RR commented on the discrepancy and disparity.  

About 1,800 Americans are buried there, killed in our first action of WW1.  

From there we crossed pretty French farm countryside, and wondered at the piles of root vegetables in the fields and even saw picker with it's wagon full of them.   We speculate that they are turnips, though they may be sugar beets.  K is still not sure they aren't potatoes.  Anyway, an interesting nuance of the local culture. 

Then to the Somme 1916 museum, which purportedly had a trench, which RR wanted to see.  It didn't really; it has a tunnel built later with the museum bits within.  They have lots and lots of artifacts and made the most of the setting in terms of trenches.  We exited into a beautiful garden and found our way back to the car. 

During the museum visit we saw a film on the war in the area and they noted all the cemeteries and memorials within a 5 mile radius of where we were: Albert.  I wanted to see the one.  You'll see why from this pic --

It commemorates the thousands of men from the British Empire who disappeared during the war. It was built by a famous architect, who said it was shaped to point to heaven, as these men would be going that way.  It has a tremendous view north? across the farm landscape.  

It was now after 5 and we were not near Saint Quentin, named after some 3rd century local, where we are staying the night.  

I once again went with the google and found a place for dinner -- most of the other nearby places were fast food types.  RR was ensconsed in the bar with a pint and wondered about eating there, but they specialized in pizza -- lame for our last night in France. 

K and I found the place in mind, which turned out to be Lebanese.  The guy who greeted us asked if we had a reservation and seemed concerned we didn't. There was literally no one in the place!!!! 😂😂😂 We sat and waited.  I had to ask for menus.  RR didn't show up.  I ordered a half bottle of Lebanese red and he brought it fairly quickly.  I still didn't have water.  RR walked by, ignoring our store front.  I had to chase him down. 🤦

In the end, we all had the Lebanese plate, with variations.  RR's was the biggest, so here it is:

From the bottom (as best I can): gherkin, hummus, garlic cream sauce, tabbuleh, green salad, haloumi, that ricey stuff, a fig leaf stuffed with rice, and a salad with peppers and cucumbers. 

And I am caught up. 

I hope we have no more car adventures tomorrow, as we give it up at 2 o'clock.  Until later...bon soir. 

RR's mystery bag and two days in Normandy

 Bonjour, mon amis,

We are in France.  I'm sure there's something clever someone once said about arriving here, but someone else will have to come up with it. :)

I'm told I have to be sure to blog as often as possible because some of the audience is living vicariously through this blog.  That's sad.  But they probably have to work, so that's the beginning of sadness. 😀

Yesterday's journey to France began with me bolting to Avobar, which you may remember was 50 feet from our flat's door, and maybe, just maybe, grabbing a pastry while I waited for coffee.  Just maybe.  

If I did, it would explain how I made it to France without food.  Or real food. 

We got downstairs around 9:05 and I called an Uber.  He came in 4 minutes, but on the other side of the closed road a half block down from us.  He actually circled around and ended up coming right past where we were initially standing. 

Our driver, Osman, was loquacious.  In the hour forty minute trip to Gatwick, he talked cars, bikes (he hates them too), politics and how everything we'd ever heard about Asia was a lie. 

If you are doing the math, it is 1055 for a 1235 flight.  Okay, right?  Even K with her trip anxiety seemed to reassure us that all was well.

We got in the easyjet check bag line and I sent mine off; RR sent his off on a separate line and K tried to do hers and it said she didn't have a checked bag and needed to pay for it.  We got an attendant and she was no help and went and got another attendant.  It was loud and she had an accent, so understanding was tricky.  In the end, she came back with numbers on a slip of paper and said we had already sent 3 bags forward.  She said RR had sent 2!!!!  The one weighed 20k and the other 19k.  We said we didn't have a second bag.  RR hadn't gotten a receipt (I had), and there were no names on the luggage tags. 😡. Finally, now at least 15 minutes into the process, K said "just charge us and we'll file a complaint" and the woman took us to another kiosk and whisked her bag through -- without the extra charge!  😀 She told us to look in Rennes for the other bag and let them know.  I realized as she did the kiosk what happened -- it asks you for another bag and you have to say no and if you don't, the next person up can use your account!  That must be what happened.  Given there are no names on tags, how can one know?  But that person's bag went to Rennes; how they ever were going to identify it and get it back to them, I don't know.  I'm betting it didn't happen.  I also speculated about what was in it -- my companions said they couldn't care less. :)

So that was that adventure. 

We were given an MG ?Z to drive: the desk person called it their "large SUV."  It ain't large.  It holds (barely) our three large suitcases and a small bag, and all of us (and a fourth, if we had it) comfortably, but in the States it would maybe be a medium SUV, leaning to the small side.  It runs nicely though.  It is in "vert" (on the tag)...if you want to work on your French. 

From the airport we shot as quickly as possible (with an almost embarrassing stop at Burger King [it was easy on and off the highway] for K's first food of the day.  I had to join her.  RR was living on his pent up anxiety) to Mont. St. Michel.  K and I had been here in 2002 (pre-blog), but RR had never been close.  If you aren't familiar, it is absolutely spectacular, sticking up on an island for hundreds of feet. 

We parked and got on the shuttle, that takes 20 minutes to the foot of the hill, and RR bolted ahead, hoping to climb to the top before it closed.  He didn't make it. ):  They were just closing the one gate as he got there.  He said he looked for "a secret passage around, but there wasn't one."  He only got up to the level of the first chapel, but still said it was unbelievable, which it is.  The village below is cute, too. 

Then to our hotel, where we stayed in 2002, which is in Ducey, set on a stream in an old mill. We had a view of the falls from our room:

We were running late, we ate dinner at 730, so we ate at the hotel. It turned out to be excellent.  

Pollock in muscat sauce.

Apple, bacon and goat cheese salad (K tried to get chicken on it, which Andrea, the staff person who both checked us in and served dinner, could not understand -- notwithstanding there being no chicken on the menu :))

This was supposedly their butcher cut.  Seems a lot like a burger to me, but I'm not French. :)

This morning we had the hotel breakfast, which was a modified Continental.  It had eggs and pancakes along with the usual Continental stuff. No pics necessary.

And then off the hour and half to the Normandy beaches. 

Oh, but, no!  The MG decided one tire was low!!!  So we pulled into a rest area (I figured out what the sign meant to indicate one -- my French being tres mal) filled up -- it took two persons (don't ask me how a single person does it) and found out that the MG self corrects rather than having a reset button.  Ten minutes down the road, the light went off!!!

Finally we arrived at Utah Beach.  There was only a couple pieces of equipment there, so we moved on to the WW2 museum (you'll find there are a lot of museums around here) . We paid the 9 euros and were done is less than half an hour. 

From there, I took them to St. Marie Eglise, the first town to be liberatored on June 6/7.  It is famous for having a dummy hanging from the church spire from his parachute, as an American did on June 6 and survived that and the war! 

It was a very cute little town and we ended up having a half sandwich there (or, as Sheldon Cooper would call it, "A sandwich.") as RR again checked out every nook and cranny.  There were statues of Eisenhower, memorials to the airborne divisions, another museum (we didn't go in), the whole shebang.  

Then we shebanged off towards Omaha Beach.  If you aren't a WW2 history buff, Utah and Omaha Beaches are the two where the Americans came ashore on June 6.  They cover many miles of Normandy coastland.  

It should be noted that RR, who was assigned as second driver on the MG, drove this leg.  As I slept most of the way, I suspect I missed a lot that would make entertaining blog, but what I did see and hear was fun.  There was a lot of confusion about which spur to take out of roundabout on Google maps (this has been a theme of the trip) and other turns.  That he had to lean toward the console to read the map I found concerning.  I was told I had no right to say anything.  I don't know what that's about....🤷

The museum at Arromanche, part of Omaha beach and where a lot of American equipment was brought to shore, was remarkable.  Called the D-Day Museum (to separate from all the others), it had a building dedicated in 2023 and lots of displays and several films.  

The most amazing thing at Arromanche was this --

 

They decided in 1944 that they weren't going to easily win either of the natural harbors on this coast, Cherbourg or Le Havre, but that they needed to develop the technology to create an artificial harbor.  What you see is the remains of that harbor -- still there 80+ years later.  None of us knew of this, which was a part of the post-D-Day operation.   They moved 3m tons of stuff into France as part of the invasion.  Which included 150,000 men the first day and many times that thereafter. 

I admit to not taking my time in the museum -- I was WW2 saturated.  I sat down and sent RR a message as to where I was.  I got bored at that spot and sent a second message.  I walked around, looking to see if there was another exit they might have come out of.  I was about to go to see if they were standing at the car, parked a blcok away, when RR appeared.  I guess I gave him some body language bc he mocked me. ):  They had stayed and both conceded they listened to EVERY track on the audio guide. 🤷🤷🤷

We had a drink across the street and I drove them to the Engineers Memorial on the hill east of Arromanches --

And then in the other direction to the top of the cliffs and these bunkers. 

It still had the German gun in it!!!

And then we went into Bayeaux -- no, the tapestry is NOT here -- and found that our hotel was in the very center of another cute little town.  

And now for the food porn.  

During one of my several sits, I looked for "best restaurant near the Churchill Hotel Bayeaux" and got all kinds of places within walking distance.  The one was across the street, got 4.9 out of 5 on Google (who the dopes are that didn't give it a five, I don't want to know) and was only 20-30.  They required reservations but I walked up (couldn't get the French phone number to work 😡) and he said they would have a table in half an hour.  We went and had a drink and came back.  

FYI the desk person at the hotel told us it was a couple running the place and the man was the chef and specialized in sauces.  He wasn't wrong. 

This is piquillos -- chilis stuffed with cheese.  The waitperson poured the sauce on in front of us -- too quick for me to get a video. It was very, very good but he told us the entrees would better.

Truffle linguine with pig jowl -- the biggest piece I'd ever seen, it was like a pork chop!

Their beef on flatbread. With a sauce (see small pitcher)

Apple patin with ice cream.

Everything was to die for.  We made MS sounds over and over, and we tasted each other's and wondered if we'd chosen wisely.  The apple dessert was a bit of a disappointment, but everything else more than made up for it. 

And it was only 108 euros, including tip!!!!

That is our first two days in France.  It's been great and we are all tired but having a good time. 

Tomorrow we are hitting the cathedral here, the American WW2 cemetary, then heading inland...

And K made it a point that we had to stay in the hotel where we are staying tomorrow night, so it should be something...

Till then...