Happy St. George's Day!

I just happened to be looking on the Nottinghamshire website, looking for any last minute festivals, markets, and/or celebrations before we begin these last 7 weeks. Yes, that's right SEVEN! Sidenote, that means only 7 more laundry days of washing for 5+ hours and hang drying everything [End rant].

Anyway---I was looking on the website and came across a parade/celebration that was happening today! The celebration is known as St. George's Day, which isn't an official bank holiday here, but I think many hope it will become one someday.  April 23rd was selected to represent the day of St. George's death in 303 AD.  I went down to the market square and watched the end of the parade that was filled with hundreds of people dressed in red and white, carrying English flags.  The highlight was the two white horses with knights riding them, leading the rest of the parade. At that moment, I could tell whatever the celebration was, it showed the pride in being in English citizen.  Many people, you could tell had a few pints before walking the parade, but most smiled, waving their flags, and enjoying the beautiful day!

Leading the parade

So...the question you and I were both wondering (well, unless you're English): So what is St. George's Day? One website I read said that it was a day to celebrate the wonderful nation of England.  If you don't have time to read through the website, it basically said Scotland has St. Andrew's Day and Ireland has St. Patrick's Day....so they need to honor their own saint (aka George).  The day was recognized in 1222, so they have been celebrating for quite a while.  Many traditions become more modernized over the years, but I read that one wears a rose in his/her lapel and fly the St. George's Flag.  St. George's past is a bit of a legend and myth, as why he is well known is because he stayed true to his Christian faith, even in times of torture.  From then on, St. George has been written about, soldiers represented him on their attire, legends passed down about him defeating a dragon, and has his own chapel named after him at Windsor Castle (see our visit here almost a year ago to date).  This day is represented in varies countries around Europe and the Middle East as well.  Which seems weird to me, given England wanted a day to celebrate their own saint. I think I'm missing something here...

Lots of pride

It was definitely a neat experience, and I was glad I was able to pop down in the middle of the day to see the parade, horses up close, and see all the people representing their country well with their creative red and white outfits. 

On to the next adventure...

Road Trippin' Around Gorgeous Normandy

Of course most of our trip was focused on visiting famous WWII places.  Although, we found a couple places we wanted to visit in between the history places.   Now, I remind you that this post is not in chronological order as it is just about the non-WWII places we visited.  For the WWII post, click here!

On Sunday morning, we headed to Mont Saint-Michel, which is an island in France.  When driving here, you began to see the island when we were still 15 minutes away.  The closer you got, the more of a "Wow" factor you got!  This island is basically built on top of itself...does that make sense?  It is so tall, and everything is just crammed on this small island.  The strangest part about it is that nothing else is around it.  There are just open fields and a few little French houses.  Part of the reason for that is the high tide comes up so far (around the island) that not much else can be around it or it would be ruined. 

On the road to the island.

We had to walk about 2 miles from our car just to get to the island.  There were TONS of people there, as I read online that over 3 million people visit a year.  To put that in perspective, the Eiffel Tower has 6.9 million visitors a year.  Pretty impressive tourist area in such a small amount of space.  Once we got into the city, there were just people everywhere.  We immediately knew we should have came at least an hour, if not two hours earlier.  The island was filled with small shops and restaurants.

 This is the walk to the island.  Just a bit further is where the water comes up to during high tide (or so we thought).

 Gorgeous, right?

The narrow streets filled with people!

In the past, it was able to stay untouched during The Hundred Years War because of the natural high tide defense.  Later it became a prison, but now it is most known for its beautiful abbey located at the very top of the island.  Unfortunately, the lines were super long so we were unable to visit the abbey without staying there for hours waiting in line.  We had too much on the agenda for the day to wait in line for a long amount of time.

 Close up of the abbey

This picture makes me laugh because we took about 6 selfies before this.  A man walked up to us and asked if he could take our picture for us. We must have looked like we were struggling. 

On Monday, we woke up really early to hit the road to head to the city of Eretat.  We were heading about an hour and a half to Normandy's White Cliffs.  We were both secretly crossing our fingers that we don't strike out again with the cliffs like we did just a couple days prior.  To our surprise, we had yet another moment of awe, as this was absolutely stunning!  The tide was fairly low at the time, so we went and walked down by the rocky beach.  Then we started making our way to the arches, stepping over rocks of all shapes and sizes as well as mini-pools of water in between the large stationary rocks.

 The view when we first walked down to the beach upon arrival

 The little pools of water. So pretty. I was surprised to not see any fish or creatures though.

We climbed numerous ladders, went through a mini cave tunnel, and made our way to the arch up close.  It was such an adventure climbing the ladders, guessing where we were going to end up in the end.  The tunnel freaked me out for a bit, as it was dark.  But luckily it was short and just a way to get to the other side of the beach.  There was one spot with a ladder that was resting on the side of the cliffs.  You looked up to see a small path that was basically going vertical up to the Eretat Cliff area where you could walk on top of the cliffs.  It is the only way out if high tide comes...ahhhhh! So scary!

 Small cave area.  The ladder we climbed to reach the tunnel.

 Inside the cave

 The famous arch

Words cannot describe how beautiful this area was, and it made our experience at the Cliffs of Moher run for its money.  It was interesting to see the warning signs around our walk around the beach, as when high tide arrives you could be "stranded" in one of the areas for up to 4 hours.  The tide comes up so far that all the area we walked in would be under water.  By the time we left (about an hour later) the tide was already starting to rise. We wished we could have followed the paths on top of the cliffs (you can get to them in another spot...not the scary ladder above).  I could have spent more time in this adorable city, and on the beach.  The weather was still pretty cold, as you can tell we have our winter jackets on.  But definitely one of the mini-trips I'll remember for a long time.

 One of my favorite pictures

 So much green goo!  We had to be careful walking along the edge (you can see the hand rail behind me) as it was so slippery!

 The ladder leading up to the top of cliffs

 The entrance to the cave tunnel

The safety sign

This pretty much sums up our time in Normandy, France.  We had an amazing time, and I know it was one of our favorites.


On to the next adventure...

Experiencing D-Day

After our mini-trip to the White Cliffs of Dover, we headed back on the road and on the chunnel to get to France.  We had been in the chunnel before over Christmas when heading to Belgium.  Our ride went smoothly, and it was fun riding it for a second time.  I read (Greg, I'm on the last one of those 3 books) while Jeff played on the tablet for the quick 20 minute ride.  After getting off, we were on our way to the region of Normandy, France.  Our ride was fantastic, and we loved the roads of France.  Not only was it nice to be driving on the right side of the road, but the roads were smoother and open like they are in the states.  Although we didn't see much on the ride there because it was dark, the ride home was gorgeous as the French countryside is amazing.

Just a little heads up, normally my blog posts are organized chronologically, but this post is going to be all about our experience with our World War II sites we visited.  

We woke up early on Saturday to head to Omaha Beach, which was one of the five famous beaches of D-Day (June 6, 1944) when the allied troops invaded France to fight the Germans during WWII.  Many say this is the most famous beach, as the most people died here. The other beaches were Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword.  The United States was in charge of coming up with code names for the beaches they were invading.  They named them Omaha and Utah.  The British were in charge of naming the other three: Juno, Sword, and Gold.  Both allies were supposed to follow protocol by randomly naming the beaches from code books.  The British followed that rule, while the United States picked their two names because they like them.  Jeff thought this was comical, as it sums up the personalities of the Americans and British perfectly.

 The high tide.  It was higher in some parts of the beach.

 I think he read every single one of these we came across on the trip.

 A German gun position at Omaha Beach

 So many American Flags up around the area

The tide was high when arriving to Omaha Beach.  We weren't able to walk along it for too long, as the water came up to the rocks that lined the beach.  We walked along on a sidewalk nearby, then made our way through a Natural Reserve area filled with wildlife.  I took a few pictures of a couple cute snails I found...but I'll save the space on this post with just war pictures!

After walking beach side for an hour and a half, we made it to the Normandy American Cemetery.  The land is on French soil (many think it becomes American soil), but the land was given to the Americans for free and is run by Americans as well.  We walked around the area, in silence, as it was so mind boggling to see all of the graves (over 9,000).  The families had the ultimate decision whether they wanted their loved one to be buried in the cemetery or sent home to be buried there.  There was also a special area called the Garden of the Missing, of those that died, but their bodies were never recovered (~1,500).  On the wall, 15 of the names had special markers next to them to symbolize that the body was found at a later date (One in 2009).  It is a closed cemetery, so none of the 15 were not laid to rest on the grounds.  We really enjoyed our time here, and how moving it was to just walk through reading names, ranks, and death date (no birth date).  The youngest person buried there was 17 and the oldest was in his 60's (I can't remember the actual age).  There are 33 pairs of brothers buried next to one another and sets of father/sons as well.  We learned so many facts, especially during our free tour, that I could go on and on.

 The Garden of the Missing

 The Memorial

 There are over 150 unknown soldiers buried here.  Many wonder if some buried match those names in the Garden of the Missing

 1 of 2 American flags that fly high above the graves.  All the graves face west, so they can face "home".

 The pictures do not do the size of this place justice.  There are almost 150 Stars of David scattered amongst the crosses.

 The American Cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach

 This was on the ceiling of the chapel.  I really liked it, as it shows the process of the soldier going to war, and then off to Heaven.

 Two Roosevelt brothers buried next to one another.  Quentin was the only person buried here that did not die in WWII, as he died in WWI but was relocated to be buried next to his brother, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., who is one of three to earn gold lettering as he earned the Medal of Honor .

We headed to Pointe du Huc, which we thought was just a monument, but it was so much more.  On our way to the cliff side, there were tons of posts with information.  After reading the stands, we made our way to an area filled with bomb craters.  The pictures do not do the depth justice, as I needed to be a lot higher to take the picture of Jeff below.  If you're interested more in these, search for Pointe du Huc aerial views...amazing!  There were also German pillboxes, that you could explore.  They were incredible and a few were still in a good shape, but the others were unfinished before the bombing began.  It was hard to imagine the allies climbing up the side of the cliffs to get to the Germans.

 In one of the bomb craters

 Beautiful views from the Pointe du Huc.

This is a little better of a view to show the cliffs that the soldiers had to climb up

 One of the surviving German pillboxes

View from the pillbox.  The cliff is where the grass starts. So scary!

We went back to Omaha beach afterwards, and we were in awe of how far the tide went back (500-700 yards). It was incredible to see the difference in the time of day.  We were actually able to walk the beach for a while and think about the arrival of the troops. 

The tide was low at this point.  It was freezing out, but Jeff didn't want his shoes to get wet.

The next day we continued our D-Day Experience by visiting Utah Beach.  This was one of the riskier invasions as it was only planned 2 months ahead of the attack.  There were only 4 outlets for troops to get through, but they successfully did through bombing, paratroopers, and soldiers on boats.  It proved to be one of the most successful invasions, and helped the troops get to Cherbourg which was a deep water port.  Overcoming this area would make it easier for the allied troops to bring in supplies.  After walking the beach for a bit, we made it to the Utah Beach Museum.  It was nicely done, as there was a movie about D-Day at Utah Beach, loads of information, and many of the vehicles and artifacts used during the war.

 Beautiful beach

So many artifacts to read through. My favorite was reading the letters to/from soldiers and their loved ones.  They were both comical and sweet.

I, for one, am not really a war or history buff...but this was an incredible trip.  I learned a lot, and I know Jeff enjoyed his time as well.  We could have easily spent another two days in the Normandy area finding more history and war spots, as there were so many.  

On to the next adventure...

The Invisible White Cliffs of Dover

First of all, Happy Belated Easter to all of our family and friends around the globe!

We had such a great plan for our long holiday weekend as Jeff had off Friday, the weekend (obviously), Monday, AND Tuesday off.  So, we were able to plan a pretty amazing road trip.  Although, this post is just about our trip to The White Cliffs of Dover. 

We left on schedule, and headed south from Nottingham to the coast of England.  We were making great time, until hitting a large amount of traffic who were waiting to board the ferry (another option to get to France).  Most of the traffic was large lorries (trucks) waiting in a very long line to get to France.  That didn't seem to be in the real issue for this trip, as we were driving the fog was getting progressively worse.  Not a big deal when we were driving, but we knew that we were not going to be able to see a single thing at our destination.  Now, mind you, we have a very skewed vision of cliffs as our trip to Ireland to see the Cliffs of Moher was one of our most beautiful experiences abroad. 

Once arriving, we decided to throw on our my wellies and take a quick stroll on the trails to see if we could see anything.   Well, we didn't see much of anything.  Supposedly you can even see France which is 22 miles away on a clear and sunny day.  I'd suggest taking a look at the link above if you want to see what the cliffs look like on a non-normal English day (aka a clear & sunny). 

 This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful spots....not so much. #sillyfog

We walked along the muddy paths, while avoiding horse poop.  We just enjoyed the quick walk and the stretch of our legs, since we had been in the car for 3.5 hours and still had another 3.5 to go.  We honestly, didn't see any of the cliffs since the fog was so bad.  It was kind of funny, and we definitely wished we could have seen something or a little bit of the cliffs.  Oh well.  It makes for an interesting story, and attempt!  We won't be traveling back to see the cliffs again, so we will enjoy our hilarious pictures of fog and look online to see the beautiful views. 

 Another beautiful view of the cliffs fog

 Thank goodness for wellies!

 These pictures make me laugh.  Not sure why we even took any. I'm guessing just to document the attempt.

Quick post, as there wasn't much to write about.  We couldn't stay long, as the traffic slowed us down and we had to get to the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) for our next destination. 

 This is the traffic we were stuck in on the way to the cliffs

On to (a more exciting) adventure...