Bowes Updates

The weather wasn’t great, but the sites were impressive.

Mont St Michel is an impressive 8th century monastery that (prior to the causeway and parking lot for tourists) was accessible only at low tide. Nearby was the only German WWII cemetary we saw – it was a totally different, somber, style from the Allied versions.

St Malo WAS a fortified island, now permanently on the mainland, it’s a facinating walled port city. Jacques Cartier was from here, before leaving to explore Canada.

After touring here, we took the ferry to Portsmouth to catch a flight home to Toronto.  Big, safe boat…which was good, beacuse the weather in the Channel was terrible.  The ship pitched and tossed, racks in the cafe broke loose, and people lost their lunch. It was very nice to stand on dry land again…but quite a travel experience to get home.

Photos here.

Mostly war, again.  The beaches from the WWII Normandy invasion are facinating to see: the innovation of the Mulberry harbors, horror of the cemetaries, and scale of the assault are just a few examples.  Bayeux is a lovely town, and the tapestry is a must-see.

We stayed at the Hotel de la Plage in Ouistreham (just north of Caen where the ferry to Portsmouth departs), and would highly recommend it.  The food is a little heavy, but the cider and calvados are awesome.

Photos here.

Onto WWII: Dieppe was an early morning stop.  Between shoddy intelligence and easily defended cliffs, it didn’t go particularly well for the landing party.  Rouen has several facinating sights, including the main cathedral (quel surprise, it’s named Notre Dame and, though badly beat up by bombing, is beautiful), the tudor-looking streets of the old town, and Joan of Arc church which is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

From Rouen, we drove along the Seine (scenic) to Le Havre (so ugly, it’s picture-worthy), to beautiful Honfleur (from which Champlain set off to Quebec), past Deauville, and ultimately to Caen.  We stayed just north of Caen in Ouistreham at at perfectly charming little hotel called Hotel De la Plage.   Photos here.

Then back to WWI.  Beaumont-Hamel was a real “highlight” – it a moving memorial to the battle at which the Newfoundlanders were all but wiped-out in the Somme offensive.  If you can’t imagine a gloomier destination, then visit Thiepval …where the names of more than 72,000 missing British and South African soldiers (that’s just from the Somme offensive, and only those whose remains were never recovered). Notre Dame Cathedral in Amiens was more inspirational.  Photos here.

On to cheerier sights!  The cathedrals (both named Notre Dame, of course) at Reims and Laon were spectacular (though Laon isn’t a particularly easy town for driving around) and Champagne was as beautiful as it was tasty.  Des took dozens of pictures of the peculiar (mostly wrought-iron) signs mounted to the fronts of most houses in Hautvilliers (just near Champagne).

Also interesting was seeing the rail yards at Laon over which Grandpa’s bomber was shot down, then the field at Vic Sur Aine where he landed before being taken in by the resistance.  Photos here.

First stop in France was Flanders.  The beer in Lille is tough to beat…but the rest of the highlights weren’t so cheerful (though they were powerfully moving).

The WWI memorials at Vimy (to the 11,285 missing Canadian soldiers) and the Menin Gate (to 54,000, which is just a subset, of the unidentified commonwealth soldiers lost in the area) were just the start of the memorials in the region to the horrors of the first world war.

We stayed at Le Cottage in Bruay-la-Buissière…which was OK. Photos here.

Before meeting up with Mom and Grandma, Des and I flew into London and caught up with the crew.  Some of the old favourites haven’t changed:  The pubs are as good as ever and the Thai at the Churchill Arms may even be better.  On the other hand, gorging on kebabs and chips just isn’t the same as it used to be.  Plus they closed my pasty shop.  Jerks. Photos here.

Another classic Canada Day: The weather was fine and the company great.

We joined Chris, Marie, Mike & Genevieve for some camping in the park, just a few sites down from the Boivins. Photos here.