Saturday - May 16, 2009
It is Saturday morning and we are so excited to go to France, to visit the Bromages in Maisons, that we wake up before the alarm and are ready in record time.
It takes several trips to get the suitcases to the lobby in the small elevator. Fortunately luggage carts were parked in front of the CitizenM. I was able to pile all of my things into a cart including our bouquet of flowers for Gigi and head for the airport train station. Janet preferred to pull her suitcases - practice for the connections ahead.
We had booked the high speed train to Paris arriving in Gare du Nord station. Our train to Bayeux leaves from St. Lazare. We have a little over an hour to get between stations in Paris with our luggage and find the right train for Normandy. John has told us about the stairs at the Bayeux station - we have no idea how we are going to get everything moved.
AMSTERDAM AIRPORT: Our track to Paris was an escalator ride down from the main level - DOWN thank goodness, since the luggage cart had to stay upstairs. After looking at the yellow departure board several times and staring at the signs overhead, we eventually figured out which side of the platform was ours. We even saw numbers painted on the subway posts and knew they marked the car number for our reserved seats. We knew exactly where to stand.
This picture is deceptive - there is a whole layer of luggage not shown behind the bags you see. The flowers are still safe, on top.
Luckily we boarded at Schiphol airport ahead of Amsterdam Centraal, so there was still space in the luggage racks before the hordes boarded at city center. The high speed train stopped in Brussels and Bruges on its way to Paris. It was a restful trip.
Janet and I had packed food for the day. A grocery at the airport had a great assortment of drinks, fruits, breads and sandwich fixings. We had purchased a small gouda cheese in Amsterdam on Wednesday and it had been ripening in our room. We ate our breakfast and saved food for the afternoon trip to Bayeaux.
PARIS - GARE DU NORD: I thought I was going to die when we got off the train in Paris. Our car was way at the end of the train and we had to drag everything into the station and find transportation to St. Lazare. My suitcases used to buckle together, but the tonnage inside was too much for the strap and it wouldn't hold. Now I had two rolling bags, two carry-ons and one beautiful bunch of flowers. Janet took pity on me and carried the flowers along with all her things while I attempted to get the two rolling bags going the same direction along the rough, pitted concrete train station platform.
Now normally, I travel pretty light when flying, but I had never been away for 18 days. We were told that it would be cold and rainy in the Netherlands, Normandy and Brittany. It would be hot in the south. I had canoeing shoes, a hat, a dry bag, and a special fanny pack for the canoe trip. I had a collapsable walking stick for Rocamadour.
This was the message on the door of our room in CitizenM. Where was this advice BEFORE we left home?
Oh yes, after doing the France Custom Tours website, I decided to become self-appointed tech-support for the Bromages. This had been a terrible year for them. Their AOL internet service was at war with France Telecom and they had been without a land telephone line and internet for six weeks.
Their computer was ready to die. I have a great boss, Dale Kubler, who is up on all the latest gadgets and discounts, so I asked him for help in locating a new computer. We found a great deal on the latest HP at Staples.com and I bought software and loaded it on the new widescreen laptop. That was in the bags. Memory sticks for transferring data, the software disks and system backup disks and handbooks were packed. Also, since the internet service was still out, I had packed a modem/hub and a bunch of cables so we could find internet somewhere and activate all the software and get the latest antivirus database. And the flowers - when you are already doing something foolhardy or impossible - why not do it with style? And so we did.
PARIS - ST. LAZARE: Now there is connecting Metro service between the two train stations in Paris, but in our current state, we wisely decided to take a cab and pay whatever they asked to get us to St. Lazare. We found a cab stand and a nice driver (and his able volunteer gypsy assistant) who helped us load up the luggage. Tips to the assistant and we were off. The trip only cost 11€ including tip and baggage charges. We were dropped at a convenient spot and went inside to find the train to Bayeux. The station was packed. We each went to the washroom while the other guarded the bags. We kept looking at the boards but could not find a train to Bayeux.
On this trip, I came up with a new rule: "If you are looking for something and can't find it within five minutes, you are in the wrong place. Go ask someone for help." This is a good rule.
We WERE in the wrong place. After asking a conductor, we found that the correct departure board and tracks were at the end of the station - the board was too big - we hadn't seen it before.
We moved our things to the RIGHT place and waited for our departure to post. Finally it did and the sea of travelers swept ahead to the track and onto the train. Once again we were in second class and our car was far down the platform. This platform was in good repair and I managed to get everthing in hand and rolling well. Janet was talking to a group of travellers about Eurail Passes and unreserved seats as we walked.
The car numbers were hard to see. Sometimes the number signs were INSIDE the train opposite the car door opening. I counted and looked and looked and counted and finally found what had to be car 13. I looked up and Janet was gone. I felt awful. I should have paid attention to where Janet was instead of the bags. I had to find her.
I threw my bags onboard, stacking them in a bicycle storage area and went back to find Janet. She wasn't there. By this time the platform had cleared off and hardly anyone was left. No Janet. What to do? Should I stay on the train and assume she was on somewhere? There was no one on the platform. Should I get off and change my ticket? I left my bags on and got off by the door. No Janet.
Suddenly from car 12, Janet burst through the door connecting the cars - with all of her luggage. I have no idea how she got through the narrow aisles on the train. She had lost track of the car numbers, couldn't see me and got on the train a ways back. I jumped back on the train. We stacked her big bags in bicycle storage and found our seat. We were still in Paris and people were milling around from car to car. I went back and sat on the bags - at least until we got rolling and people found their seats. Two young men, on Eurail passes came in the bicycle area from car 12 looking for empty seats. One is from Arkansas - he had been tracing the path of his grandfather during the Second World War and is headed to Caen. His friend was from Canada and is going on the Cherbourg. We talk about Normandy and the landing beaches and our September tour to Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. They find seats together.
The train starts up and I sit down next to Janet. Both of us had been really frightened. We had been so busy looking for the right car in the crowd, that we had lost track of each other. We calmed down and ate our lunch. The car was filled with families and they were fun to watch. This is a rare shot where there aren't happy little children in the aisle.
I tried to call John on my cell phone to confirm that we had made the train. First there was no service on France Telecom. In Paris? I tried putting in the country code and calling and taking it out and calling. Nothing worked. Sometimes I got a recording in French - it was too fast to understand.
I waited to try again. What were we going to do if the cell phone didn't work - use a pay phone in Bayeux? [I found out later that pay phones don't take cash - you must have a prepaid card - great.]
After a while I try and fail again, but a second try and: Ring. "Hello, Rozanne." It is John. We are saved! I read off the arrival time and tell him we are in car 13. "I think I rember what you look like", he said. "No! Our luggage! You have to be at car 13 to help us get off - we have too much luggage." I gasp. It had been a crazy and stressful last hour - I had no idea how we would get off by ourselves on a quick stop at a little town like Bayeux - let alone navigate the stairs to get from the platform. But we had made contact. Surely help would be at the door of car 13 in Bayeux.
BAYEUX: INDEED IT WAS! We were wedged in the doorway with all of our things as we rolled into the Bayeux station(pointed to the wrong side of the train, of course, the platform was on the other side). Several families were getting off. There was John at the door, and he had brought reinforcements.
We met Benjamin, John's longtime friend from London and now, brother-in-law-once-removed. He was visiting his parents in Normandy for the weekend and came with John to rescue us from the train. The four of us dragged all the luggage off the platform and down the stairs to the parking lot to John's seven-passenger Mercedes van. We could keep all of our luggage for the rest of the trip. Hurray!
MAISONS: John drove us home.
After doing the website and looking at countless pictures of their house, their two rental gites and their family, we finally got to see them all.
Now we were so enchanted with our visit to the Bromages, that we hardly took any pictures. Gigi sent us these pictures of she and John, their house and their English garden.
To understand where our friends live, and how they have become involved in the remembrance of the wars in France, we are including these pictures from Gigi taken the week after we returned home:
Gigi attended the 65th Reunion of the D-Day Invasion at Omaha Beach with her friend Elizabeth (on the left - the flower photographer above). It is the last celebration of the formal Reunion ceremony with the Allied Heads of State, since the soldiers are now in their late 80s.
This picture above is taken after the ceremony: Gigi and Liz are sitting on the stage, in the seat occupied by President Obama. Patrick Thomines, mayor of Colleville-sur-Mer is with them. Elizabeth's husband James is a director of the American Battle Monuments Commission and Liz and James are good friends of John and Gigi. Gigi was their guest at the ceremony. Liz and Gigi's pictures rival CNN. John was at the ceremony too, with six clients.
Janet and I and the rest of our friends from our first trip with John last September, watched the D-Day ceremonies together on CNN as we planned our next trip to France in 2010. We looked for Gigi and John, but couldn't pick them out of the crowd.
Gigi and the kids are darling. We were so glad to finally meet them after hearing about them our previous trip. We handed over the flowers - still in great shape - to Gigi. They coordinated with her yellow and blue French kitchen and living room. There were bright yellow calla lilies, alstroemeria and other yellow and white flowers. She had the perfect vase.
John and Benjamin carried our things into the gite. John drove Benjamin home while we unpacked.
Now the Bromages offered to give us each a gite, but I don't like making beds and I knew there were many guests arriving when we left, so Janet and I took the twin bed room in the main gite.
We did, however take over the gite master bedroom and spread the luggage out all over the floor, careful not to muss the bed. We looked in the bathroom - a tub AND AMERICAN WASHCLOTHS!
We got out our gifts for our hosts and took them downstairs. Janet had brought two books and sat down with the children to read with them. That was pretty much where she stayed the entire visit unless we were eating or touring Normandy.
I sat with the new computer - I was on a mission to get it set up before we left with John on our trip.
When John returned, we had strawberries and cream and champagne on the patio to celebrate our arrival at last.
It was a beautiful day and we wanted to sit outside in the garden. We visited a long time.
John was going to make dinner for us that night: Boeuf Bourgogne, Sauteed Leeks, Proscioutto & Melon, Wine, and Assorted Cheeses. John and Gigi went to finish the preparations.
Janet returned to the children and books. I to the new computer. Gigi loves to take pictures. She had many archives on the old laptop. John's business records needed to be moved, too. I wanted everything carefully stored on the new machine before we left.
Dinner was delicious. The Beef Bourgogne was served with rice. The Leeks were sauteed in a balsamic reduction. The proscioutto and melon were beautifully presented. Gigi calls John the chef. John has a diploma from Leith's in London in cooking and wine. She is right.
That night, the city of Bayeux was celebrating the Festival des Jeux de Bayeux and all the museums were open, and were free. After dinner, we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry again. Musicians played outside the museum. Volunteers gave demonstrations of the medieval, dress, weapons and the outdoor life of hunters and soldiers. One woman was recreating a section of the Bayeux tapestry.
We then went to the Bayeux Military Museum (Musée Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie). Set up as a bunker, the museum describes the Battle of Normandy, from June 6th to August 22, 1944 in detail.
An M10 Tank Destroyer (pictured), and a Crocodile Flamethrower Tank are outside the museum.
John's son liked this the best.
We drove home. It had been a wild day; we were so glad to be with friends.
We turned in and fell right to sleep.
GOOD NIGHT WORLD.
Love from Rozanne and Janet
in Maisons, France
It is Saturday morning and we are so excited to go to France, to visit the Bromages in Maisons, that we wake up before the alarm and are ready in record time.
It takes several trips to get the suitcases to the lobby in the small elevator. Fortunately luggage carts were parked in front of the CitizenM. I was able to pile all of my things into a cart including our bouquet of flowers for Gigi and head for the airport train station. Janet preferred to pull her suitcases - practice for the connections ahead.
We had booked the high speed train to Paris arriving in Gare du Nord station. Our train to Bayeux leaves from St. Lazare. We have a little over an hour to get between stations in Paris with our luggage and find the right train for Normandy. John has told us about the stairs at the Bayeux station - we have no idea how we are going to get everything moved.
AMSTERDAM AIRPORT: Our track to Paris was an escalator ride down from the main level - DOWN thank goodness, since the luggage cart had to stay upstairs. After looking at the yellow departure board several times and staring at the signs overhead, we eventually figured out which side of the platform was ours. We even saw numbers painted on the subway posts and knew they marked the car number for our reserved seats. We knew exactly where to stand.This picture is deceptive - there is a whole layer of luggage not shown behind the bags you see. The flowers are still safe, on top.
Luckily we boarded at Schiphol airport ahead of Amsterdam Centraal, so there was still space in the luggage racks before the hordes boarded at city center. The high speed train stopped in Brussels and Bruges on its way to Paris. It was a restful trip.Janet and I had packed food for the day. A grocery at the airport had a great assortment of drinks, fruits, breads and sandwich fixings. We had purchased a small gouda cheese in Amsterdam on Wednesday and it had been ripening in our room. We ate our breakfast and saved food for the afternoon trip to Bayeaux.
PARIS - GARE DU NORD: I thought I was going to die when we got off the train in Paris. Our car was way at the end of the train and we had to drag everything into the station and find transportation to St. Lazare. My suitcases used to buckle together, but the tonnage inside was too much for the strap and it wouldn't hold. Now I had two rolling bags, two carry-ons and one beautiful bunch of flowers. Janet took pity on me and carried the flowers along with all her things while I attempted to get the two rolling bags going the same direction along the rough, pitted concrete train station platform.
Now normally, I travel pretty light when flying, but I had never been away for 18 days. We were told that it would be cold and rainy in the Netherlands, Normandy and Brittany. It would be hot in the south. I had canoeing shoes, a hat, a dry bag, and a special fanny pack for the canoe trip. I had a collapsable walking stick for Rocamadour.
This was the message on the door of our room in CitizenM. Where was this advice BEFORE we left home?
Oh yes, after doing the France Custom Tours website, I decided to become self-appointed tech-support for the Bromages. This had been a terrible year for them. Their AOL internet service was at war with France Telecom and they had been without a land telephone line and internet for six weeks. Their computer was ready to die. I have a great boss, Dale Kubler, who is up on all the latest gadgets and discounts, so I asked him for help in locating a new computer. We found a great deal on the latest HP at Staples.com and I bought software and loaded it on the new widescreen laptop. That was in the bags. Memory sticks for transferring data, the software disks and system backup disks and handbooks were packed. Also, since the internet service was still out, I had packed a modem/hub and a bunch of cables so we could find internet somewhere and activate all the software and get the latest antivirus database. And the flowers - when you are already doing something foolhardy or impossible - why not do it with style? And so we did.
PARIS - ST. LAZARE: Now there is connecting Metro service between the two train stations in Paris, but in our current state, we wisely decided to take a cab and pay whatever they asked to get us to St. Lazare. We found a cab stand and a nice driver (and his able volunteer gypsy assistant) who helped us load up the luggage. Tips to the assistant and we were off. The trip only cost 11€ including tip and baggage charges. We were dropped at a convenient spot and went inside to find the train to Bayeux. The station was packed. We each went to the washroom while the other guarded the bags. We kept looking at the boards but could not find a train to Bayeux.
On this trip, I came up with a new rule: "If you are looking for something and can't find it within five minutes, you are in the wrong place. Go ask someone for help." This is a good rule.
We WERE in the wrong place. After asking a conductor, we found that the correct departure board and tracks were at the end of the station - the board was too big - we hadn't seen it before.
We moved our things to the RIGHT place and waited for our departure to post. Finally it did and the sea of travelers swept ahead to the track and onto the train. Once again we were in second class and our car was far down the platform. This platform was in good repair and I managed to get everthing in hand and rolling well. Janet was talking to a group of travellers about Eurail Passes and unreserved seats as we walked.
The car numbers were hard to see. Sometimes the number signs were INSIDE the train opposite the car door opening. I counted and looked and looked and counted and finally found what had to be car 13. I looked up and Janet was gone. I felt awful. I should have paid attention to where Janet was instead of the bags. I had to find her.
I threw my bags onboard, stacking them in a bicycle storage area and went back to find Janet. She wasn't there. By this time the platform had cleared off and hardly anyone was left. No Janet. What to do? Should I stay on the train and assume she was on somewhere? There was no one on the platform. Should I get off and change my ticket? I left my bags on and got off by the door. No Janet.Suddenly from car 12, Janet burst through the door connecting the cars - with all of her luggage. I have no idea how she got through the narrow aisles on the train. She had lost track of the car numbers, couldn't see me and got on the train a ways back. I jumped back on the train. We stacked her big bags in bicycle storage and found our seat. We were still in Paris and people were milling around from car to car. I went back and sat on the bags - at least until we got rolling and people found their seats. Two young men, on Eurail passes came in the bicycle area from car 12 looking for empty seats. One is from Arkansas - he had been tracing the path of his grandfather during the Second World War and is headed to Caen. His friend was from Canada and is going on the Cherbourg. We talk about Normandy and the landing beaches and our September tour to Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. They find seats together.
The train starts up and I sit down next to Janet. Both of us had been really frightened. We had been so busy looking for the right car in the crowd, that we had lost track of each other. We calmed down and ate our lunch. The car was filled with families and they were fun to watch. This is a rare shot where there aren't happy little children in the aisle.
I tried to call John on my cell phone to confirm that we had made the train. First there was no service on France Telecom. In Paris? I tried putting in the country code and calling and taking it out and calling. Nothing worked. Sometimes I got a recording in French - it was too fast to understand.
I waited to try again. What were we going to do if the cell phone didn't work - use a pay phone in Bayeux? [I found out later that pay phones don't take cash - you must have a prepaid card - great.]
After a while I try and fail again, but a second try and: Ring. "Hello, Rozanne." It is John. We are saved! I read off the arrival time and tell him we are in car 13. "I think I rember what you look like", he said. "No! Our luggage! You have to be at car 13 to help us get off - we have too much luggage." I gasp. It had been a crazy and stressful last hour - I had no idea how we would get off by ourselves on a quick stop at a little town like Bayeux - let alone navigate the stairs to get from the platform. But we had made contact. Surely help would be at the door of car 13 in Bayeux.
BAYEUX: INDEED IT WAS! We were wedged in the doorway with all of our things as we rolled into the Bayeux station(pointed to the wrong side of the train, of course, the platform was on the other side). Several families were getting off. There was John at the door, and he had brought reinforcements.
We met Benjamin, John's longtime friend from London and now, brother-in-law-once-removed. He was visiting his parents in Normandy for the weekend and came with John to rescue us from the train. The four of us dragged all the luggage off the platform and down the stairs to the parking lot to John's seven-passenger Mercedes van. We could keep all of our luggage for the rest of the trip. Hurray!
MAISONS: John drove us home.
After doing the website and looking at countless pictures of their house, their two rental gites and their family, we finally got to see them all.
Now we were so enchanted with our visit to the Bromages, that we hardly took any pictures. Gigi sent us these pictures of she and John, their house and their English garden.
To understand where our friends live, and how they have become involved in the remembrance of the wars in France, we are including these pictures from Gigi taken the week after we returned home: Gigi attended the 65th Reunion of the D-Day Invasion at Omaha Beach with her friend Elizabeth (on the left - the flower photographer above). It is the last celebration of the formal Reunion ceremony with the Allied Heads of State, since the soldiers are now in their late 80s.
This picture above is taken after the ceremony: Gigi and Liz are sitting on the stage, in the seat occupied by President Obama. Patrick Thomines, mayor of Colleville-sur-Mer is with them. Elizabeth's husband James is a director of the American Battle Monuments Commission and Liz and James are good friends of John and Gigi. Gigi was their guest at the ceremony. Liz and Gigi's pictures rival CNN. John was at the ceremony too, with six clients.
Janet and I and the rest of our friends from our first trip with John last September, watched the D-Day ceremonies together on CNN as we planned our next trip to France in 2010. We looked for Gigi and John, but couldn't pick them out of the crowd.Gigi and the kids are darling. We were so glad to finally meet them after hearing about them our previous trip. We handed over the flowers - still in great shape - to Gigi. They coordinated with her yellow and blue French kitchen and living room. There were bright yellow calla lilies, alstroemeria and other yellow and white flowers. She had the perfect vase.
John and Benjamin carried our things into the gite. John drove Benjamin home while we unpacked.
Now the Bromages offered to give us each a gite, but I don't like making beds and I knew there were many guests arriving when we left, so Janet and I took the twin bed room in the main gite.
We did, however take over the gite master bedroom and spread the luggage out all over the floor, careful not to muss the bed. We looked in the bathroom - a tub AND AMERICAN WASHCLOTHS!
We got out our gifts for our hosts and took them downstairs. Janet had brought two books and sat down with the children to read with them. That was pretty much where she stayed the entire visit unless we were eating or touring Normandy.
I sat with the new computer - I was on a mission to get it set up before we left with John on our trip.
When John returned, we had strawberries and cream and champagne on the patio to celebrate our arrival at last.It was a beautiful day and we wanted to sit outside in the garden. We visited a long time.
John was going to make dinner for us that night: Boeuf Bourgogne, Sauteed Leeks, Proscioutto & Melon, Wine, and Assorted Cheeses. John and Gigi went to finish the preparations.
Janet returned to the children and books. I to the new computer. Gigi loves to take pictures. She had many archives on the old laptop. John's business records needed to be moved, too. I wanted everything carefully stored on the new machine before we left.
Dinner was delicious. The Beef Bourgogne was served with rice. The Leeks were sauteed in a balsamic reduction. The proscioutto and melon were beautifully presented. Gigi calls John the chef. John has a diploma from Leith's in London in cooking and wine. She is right.
That night, the city of Bayeux was celebrating the Festival des Jeux de Bayeux and all the museums were open, and were free. After dinner, we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry again. Musicians played outside the museum. Volunteers gave demonstrations of the medieval, dress, weapons and the outdoor life of hunters and soldiers. One woman was recreating a section of the Bayeux tapestry.
We then went to the Bayeux Military Museum (Musée Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie). Set up as a bunker, the museum describes the Battle of Normandy, from June 6th to August 22, 1944 in detail.
An M10 Tank Destroyer (pictured), and a Crocodile Flamethrower Tank are outside the museum.John's son liked this the best.
We drove home. It had been a wild day; we were so glad to be with friends.
We turned in and fell right to sleep.
GOOD NIGHT WORLD.
Love from Rozanne and Janet
in Maisons, France
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