Spring Break Part 3 - Outside of Paris

Seeing Paris was just not enough for me, so I crammed some more adventure into our Spring Break trip! So we headed out on the road to northern France. I was surprised to find that the countryside of northern France was quite similar to that of England, rolling hills, very green with yellow fields, and lots of hedge rows.

A beautiful sunset in the countryside.

Great for a road trip and always fun to try new & interesting flavors of chips!

Cameron studied WWI & WWII this year in history so a trip to the Normandy area and the D-Day landing beaches was a great "field trip". First we visited an area above the coastline where Hitler had part of his "Atlantic Wall" or defensive fortifications. We were able to climb around these fortifications and there are real guns still in place.

Cameron was really getting into the war thing!

You can see the pock marks from artillery hitting this fortification.

This is a view right along the cliff/coastline. You can see pieces of the remaining Port Winston Mulberry Harbor out in the ocean. We decided we wanted to drive down to that beach to get a better look.

As we left the "Atlantic Wall" area and headed toward Gold Beach where the Port Winston Mulberry Harbor is located, the GPS took us on this little adventure!

The remains of the Port Winston Mulberry Harbor, crazy reminder from so many years ago!

The next stop along the D-Day landing beaches was the American Cemetary & Memorial at Omaha Beach. Americans really know how to show respect to the veterans of war. It is a beautiful place and the visitor center display was a heart touching experience!


It was so cool to see Cameron take such an interest in history. As we toured the visitor centers he would tell us details about the war and use the maps to explain the strategies. If you remember, I'm not a history buff, so he was certainly teaching me new or forgotten bits of history. Enough about the war though, the kids wanted to get into the ocean at Omaha Beach.

My first time in the Atlantic Ocean, yes it was very cold!

After Normandy, we headed down to Mont St. Michel, the legendary town from the Disney Tangled movie. We arrived late, so we got to see it all lit up at night.
The original plan was to spend a little time exploring the city, but due to my over-planning and the unexpected hike just to get there (they didn't let anyone drive out to it for congestion reasons) we weren't able to see it. I was very disappointed! I guess that gives me a reason to go back though.

Our last stop outside of Paris was to visit Versaille. Somewhere along the way, Jessica's shoe fell out of the car at a rest stop. So she went with one shoe on and one shoe off! Luckily she did have her Sunday sandals back at the apartment so she wasn't shoeless for the rest of the trip!

The Chateau de Versailles was built by Louis XIV and served as the center of political power in France for over a century. The palace is massive and the gardens are even bigger. We arrived after the palace was closed (over-scheduling on my part again and another reason to go back!) but we were able to see the gardens.