Hawaii

The last week of May we went to Hawaii with Larry, Jenny, Steve, and Christine. We had a blast.

A Few Pictures

Michelle put a bunch of pictures on her blog, so I have only chosen a few.

New York

I haven't posted for a long time, but we have had two more great trips. Obviously one involved New York. It involved the city, The Mac, The Bruce Moose, and the two most adorable red-headed boys in the world. My apologies to Michelle who I left off the list.

April 23rd

Finally a new post. Monday we went to Normandy on the train and got back late. We saw the American Cemetery and the Bayeux Tapestry. We also went to Omaha beach and some German gun emplacements. What a beautiful and sobering place. Obama blew it when he didn't go because he didn't want to make the Germans feel bad. They should feel bad for a long long time.

On Tuesday, we went to Chartres and saw the cathedral. What a beautiful place. Way nicer than Notre Dame in Paris. The stained class is amazing. The building dates from the 1100's. We were going to climb the tower to the top, but a woman was bawling the guide out in French for coming back late from lunch. So he closed up shop and left. "We are closed today!" And he left. So we got on the train and came back to Paris. We climbed the Arc d'Triomphe instead.

Today, we took the TVG train over to Riems (Rance). It took 45 minutes to 100 miles. We saw another Notre Dame--the one where all of the French kings dating back to before Charlegmagne were crowned. It is even older than Chartres. It was heavily damaged in WWI, but rebuilt. Unfortunately, much of the original stained glass was lost. One nice surprise is that Marc Chagall designed and exected 3 replacement panels. They are beautiful. We then went to a very old basilica and to the place where the Germans surrendered to the Allies in on VE day in 1945. Then a Roman arch from 300 AD. Wow! Then back to Paris in 45 minutes. It took us 45 minutes to come from Riems to Paris and 45 minutes to get to the hotel on the metro!

Tomorrow, we come home. Just a few cool pictures today.

Part of the harbor the British built at Gold Beach.

Omaha Beach

German gun and bunker

9,000 fallen Americans in this cemetery alone!

Chartres Cathedral

From the top of L'Arc de Triomphe

Notre Dames de Riems

The place where the Germans surrendered to the Allies WWII

A Roman arch in Riems

One Last from Death March Day

More from Death March Day

Le Tour Eiffel au Nuit--It was windy and rainy but we toughed

it out and went to the top. Sorry about the sideways picture, but I

can't seem to delete it.

Les Jardins du Luxembourg

The Pantheon

A mime at Notre Dame, just for you, Rachel!

One man band

This guy sets up just outside of the tunnel that leads from the Sienne into the Tuilleries Gardens.

He plays a trombone or trumpet with one hand at the same time he plays an accordian with the other hand and a bass drum with cymbals with his feet. He also sings. Today, it was "Crying in the Chapel" en anglais. All of this, he amplifies with one of those portable amplifiers. What a trip. I now know what Larry can do in his retirement.