Farnsworths: 7/1/15

The first of June we headed to the Normandy Coast on the last leg of our trip.

We took a bit of a roundabout to see Mont St. Michel but so worth the extra drive.

The road leading up to the monastery is only accessible during low tide.

When the tide rolls in at night, there is a 50 foot difference.
Seriously how mysterious is this.

There is a village of shops, restaurants and little hotels

as you wind your way up the path leading to the monastery.

View from one of the turrets

(I had to borrow this pic from the web

so you can appreciate how it sits upon the coast)

Now let's talk French food.
It was nice to be among fellow foodies.

One of the best things that I had was a buckwheat crepe with salmon and caviar.

I wouldn't normally order caviar but the server suggested it and I am glad he did.

délicieux!

Another recommendation from a server were the Normandy mussels.
This region is known for them so I had try them.
They looked like they were going to start moving and clicking open and shut on me but
I stared them down and nothing moved so I proceeded.

Being a rookie to mussels, the server had to show me the correct way to eat them.
One uses the mussel shells as tweezers to pull out the meat. Brilliant and much easier.
The slight grimace on my face went away after I tasted them.
They were very good.

We loved the French hot chocolate. It is a

dark chocolate and they always provided an extra cube of sugar if you wanted it a little sweeter.

Here are some of our favorites.

We ordered a few

Croque Monsieurs

(grilled cheese with cheese in the middle and outside the sandwich)

and

Croque Madames

(added fried egg on top)
These are offered on almost every cafe menu.

I can never turn down a dish that boasts their famous homemade pesto sauce.

It was a good thing that we did a lot of walking

The D-Day Museum was a very sobering visit

These are the brothers that were the inspiration for the movie

Saving Private Ryan.

This is at the American gardens located in the back of the museum.

Our next stop was June beach and I loved seeing some of the locals
that dress up as American soldiers as a way to honor their memory.

Visiting the D-Day museum helped prepare us for our visit to Omaha Beach

and the American cemetery.

Looking down on Omaha Beach

Pathway leading to beach landing

Now that I have a son that is the age of many of these young soldiers, I have such a
deep respect for the sacrifice made. My mother heart was so full as I walked past cross after cross.

It made me feel peace to know that they are honored and buried in such a beautiful place.

I also appreciated how many of the Normandy homes post the American and British flags.

The next day we made a few stops as we traveled back to Paris.

Our first stop was Honfluer, a beautiful little fishing village.

Our last stop was Rouen.

The cathedral was magnificent.

Rouen is the place where Joan of Arc was martyred - burned at the stake.

This is where it took place in the town square

We then climbed aboard our bus and headed back to Paris where we had dinner in the city and then flew home the next morning.

It was a busy 10 days but so much fun traveling and spending time with my girls.

About a week after I got home, I got a call that my nephew Luke was in a car accident

and had a serious head injury and fractures. I flew up to Boise.

Prayers were answered and nothing short of a miracle occurred for the Sampson family.

The doctor had told Nate and Aryn that Luke would have some degree of brain damage,

they just couldn't tell how severe it would be.

Luke had surgery to repair his fracture but he recovered fully.
Here he is hugging his Nana.

We sure love our sweet Luke.

Meg got her drivers permit and the first thing I did was sign her up with driving lessons.
I learned the hard way with Summer that I am not a great or patient instructor.
I just wanted to give her a positive kick start.