europe cont'd

The next few days of our trip consisted of visiting the Rouen Cathedral which had been bombed in WWII and rebuilt and hit by a tornado and rebuilt, it was beautiful. Then we visited one of the German beaches in Normandy and dipped our feet into the English Channel, and then we stayed in a Manor home that was built in the 1200s, it was completely restored and beautiful! the next day we visited Mont St. Michel it was an Abbey and small city built on a remote rock island, in order to protect it from intruders. The views and little alleys on the island were beautiful, we climbed hundreds of stairs and wandered through the narrow streets to explore the scene, it was so perfect it was like a set from a movie.

Our Beauvais hotel


The Beauvais Cathedral, that was built so tall that the nave collapsed and they just closed off the end and used it as is.




The Rouen Cathedral










The Black Plague Burial Grounds it was courtyard where all the bones of the dead were piled and closed off to prevent further spread of the disease.








The German Battery Beach, this a concrete bunker high atop a cliff that was used to shoot unsuspecting enemies.








Another bunker used by the Germans




A view from inside out to the ocean




Imagine being a US Soldier trying to navigate this cliff while artillery was raining down over you. It said that more ammunition was used in 3 hours on D-Day than in all of WWI put together.










Dessert


The second course to a very overpriced meal, but it was delicious.




Our B&B for a night.


Mont St. Michel

our trip to europe

Mike, my parents and I spent 14 fabulous days in Europe, we saw, ate, and photographed far too many things to describe here. We saw so many beautiful things! Hopefully my pics will begin to explain how amazing out trip was! I will try to add some day by day, so I don't get too far behind, but then I can all the good ones in!


On our way!

The Louvre

The Mona Lisa, much smaller than I imagined, much busier than I imagined, and far more B.O. in the vicinity of one painting, than I could have ever imagined.

The most delicious gelato, I tried 6 flavors in two days.

I tried getting a 'creative' shot of mike and I the count is as follows:

2+whistles and hoots from nearby construction workers as I put my butt in the air struggling for the shot

1 knee in bird crap

0 as in zero on the cool shot.... oh well next time we're in Venice I suppose.

From the bridge by our hotel, well I don't know if you could really call it that ;)

Some cute old ladies at the fish market

A true marionette shop, honestly I couldn't quite decipher the prices, but I'm quite sure they were out of my price range.

mmm gnocchi!

Rialto Bridge the largest in Venice

The Doge's Palace

the poste conveniently located in the alley by our hotel, again I use that word lightly

Our first true Italian meal lasagna

Suprise! Hawaiian looking pizza is actually hot dogs and french fries! mmm

Our gondola ride

Our gondaleri