Said our last goodbyes to Paris as we headed north east to the Normandy region.
settled on a destination of a town called Caen.. close to Omaha beach and the area we wanted to get to, and set off...took us a few hours to get there, after having to almost drive completely through Paris to get out of the city itself!
our sat nav was pretty helpful in the fact that it got us to caen...
now despite being parked near a nice park type of place, the thought of moving the possessed "chilli bin" outside was deamed too hard, so we had lunch out of the back of the boot...
this was where the fun began
not sure about you guys... but i'm used to doing silly things, and eating in weird places...but by the looks of horror and disbelief of those driving past... it mustn't be a normal occurance in france!
i mean what's unusual about seeing people holding a huge sausage, trying to make sandwiches, and dripping coleslaw all over the ground!
hahahaha it was just amusing, and we made such a mess on the ground!
lol got the love the reactions though... they'd come around the corner in their cars and see us and almost crash!
funny
eventually decided we'd been enough of a side show, and headed onwards to check out the D-Day Beaches
now not really being much of a history buff at all, i didn't really know much of what we were going to be visiting, or much of the history behind it all..
our first stop was at Mulbulberry harbour at Arromanches, a section of the D-day beaches that saw the successful landingsof over 250 000 men, and 500 000 militart vechicles during June 1944.. code name Gold beach...
Walked down along the beach, to where they still have bits of the harbour itself, or as Katie would like to all it, buggered ships (lol like i wasn't going to mention that! :Op)
despite it's history, it was a pleasent seaside town... walked along the little cobble-stone streets, had an encounter with a shop owner that kept repeating "merci", "Au Revoir", "merci" "Au Revoir", constantly!
hahaha rather amusing..
had dinner at one of the stalls, mmmmm nutella crepes!
before heading on to our next destination...
(buggered ships in the distance!)after giving up on the sat nav and just going where ever... we found ourselves at the site known for the Batterie du Longues sur Mer called the Longues, which had lots of bunkers, and cannons, scattered all over...
walked around and ran into this random group of british people... that decided to climb onto one of the cannons...lol and there was this one guy in particular that just couldn't stay on... that ended up completely covered in dirt when he fell off for the second time! it was funny...
so of course we had to have our token pic on the cannon too,... though it's on Katies camera... so you'll have to make do with alex on the cannon instead!
continued walking around there and came across this huge bunker right on the edge, which you could go underneath and on top...scary to think that only 60 years ago this was a war zone...
headed along and had a look at Omaha beach.
headed on from there along to see the US cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer... which unfortunantley was already closed for the day...
after getting out of the car to see if we could see anything, you could see hundreds of cameras all over...alex decides he wants to see it...so we head off down the side, following along the hedged fences... until we realise the road goes on a fair bit...
decide to go back and get the car...
so that's how we find ourselves driving down this private access dirt road at 530pm... eventually come to a dead end..where alex decides that jumping the fence is the only way in...
i couldn't be Persuaded so alex went it alone!!! hahahaha
best bit was his running escape that had us thinking something was chasing him!
hahaha but he got to see it and hehas pictures to prove it... and that's all that matters!
from there we headed along to Pointe du Hoc, where the cliffs are still deeply pitted with German bunkers and shell holes, for miles...definitely brings history back to mind...
some of the craters are just so deep.... you just stop and think wow....
the sun came out here too, which made the whole area appear so peaceful, yet with such a turbulant history...
had a good look around, and after a quick toliet break for some....
we headed back to the car...
by now it was 7pm, and we still had not decided on what we were doing for the night..then Katie comes up with the most unexpected call of the night...
"why don't we go to luxenbourg...."
(katie i still can't believe you said it! lol)
Alex and i quickly aggreed before she changed her mind :oP
lol
now i'll put in perspective, for those that weren't there...
at 7pm... after a day of driving... Katie decides that instead of finding somewhere nice and comfy to sleep, she wants to sit in a car, and drive for another 625kms straight!....
lol
(still thinking about it makes me laugh!)
so we set off from pointe du Hoc...
and drove .... and drove.... and drove....
stopped about 10pm at the buffalo grill.... where we had buffalo wings and french fries (or Pommes Frites as they call them!)and alex and Katie sampled some french wine...
alex ordered a fanta.... and got a red wine instead!... that's some fanta!
headed off and drove and drove..
decided about midnight that we might need to get some fuel, just so we didn't get stuck in the middle of nowhere... hahahand after trying a few gas stations, and finding them all closed... we came across one... that was a help yourself one...but do you think any of our cards would work in it.... nope...
after thinking about giving up our mission to luxenbourg and sticking put so we didn't become stranded... we came across this one little shop in the middle of some town..but as we drove through, all the pumps were covered in signs, that looked like out of order signs...so we started to leave... but noticed this guy in the shop...stopped and played charades... ended up you had to pay first, then fill up, then get change...phewwwwwwwwww trip was still on!
filled up and were off again...
came across many random signs... this one being the funniest one (i'm talking funny at 2am ok!)
i mean where's the body!hahaha(small things!)
stopped at one point for a sleep on the side of the road.....
sleeping in the back seat of a car... isn't the most comfy place to be, especially when you get squished from all directions... hahaha
dozed on and off a bit, before being flashed by some random that decided to stop for a wiz lol nothing like opening your eyes and there you go!
hahaha got the giggles at some stage and couldn't stop... ended up waking up poor alex, and we headed off again...hahaha don't think he was quite so impressed! (sorry about that!)
drove a bit more, and the sun started to come up.... pulled over for a little more of a sleep...
mmm it was funny, we'd be falling asleep and then as soon as we pulled over, we'd be wide awake again!
7am had us driving across the boarder of Belgium into Luxenbourg...
stopped at a service station, and had chocolate crossaints and ham and cheese bagetts for breakie... (best crossaint ever!)and katie and i made the best find of the day... orange flavoured diet coke... mmmmmmm yum!
after consulting the guide book, we headed out to check out, Esch-sur-Sure (europe's balcony....) and what a breath-takingview to be seen... with its steep cliffs, ruined castle, and picturesque views it was amazing, and definitely not what i was expecting to see... just like from a fairy tale.
from there we headed into town to get a keyring... where we witnessed old man peeing... strange guy came out of the station and felt the need to take a wiz just outside the exit... got a charming view... as we tried to work out what he was doing! hahahaha
(remember we'd had hardley any sleep by this stage!)
from there we headed to Brugges, Belgium, arriving there around 2pm...
it was like going back in time when we got there... suddenly we were surrounded by coblestone walkways and roads... quaint little houses...all the guide books say that it's Belguim's most visited town... and that it's known as the "Venice of the North,"... the main sections of the town are all encased with canals, and winding streets that will get you totally lost (as katie and i found out!)
but i think we picked the wrong time to visit...
they were having a running event, which had all the streets blocked off, and many crazed runners all about, and spectators. after navigating down the street and over some canals... we realised the only way back was through the thong of runners, bearing down on us...
lost alex as he darted across in front of some, and got yelled at for his troubles! Katie and i waited until it was some-what safer to cross, and in turn got totally lost in the process of trying to find the car!
though in the process did find this cool bridge that lifted up... but went in totall the opposite direction to the car... onlyto send a message to alex to come find us, and his response, head towards the windmills...
lol ummmm yeah,... which way! lol
even after showing pictures and playing charades know one could point us the right way! hahaha lucky alex got bored of waiting and decided to come find us!
headed onwards and out of Belgium and onto our last stop Amsterdam..
now after trying to find the street our camp ground was on with the sat nav and having no luck, we decided to stop at the first internet cafe we found...after showing our passports, just to use the net for a few mins... we were let in... and it was one of the famous coffee shops, amsterdam's known for..tey weren't smoking cigaretts!
after checking the address of our accomodation we headed off in search of it...
after driving an driving and driving... we finally found a bus, that at some stage was going to stop at the camp ground... so follow we did until we came to one of those bus only lanes... that normally wouldn't stop us... but here in holland... they have these massive concrete things in the way that make it near impossible for a car to drive over! lol so there we are stopped at the end of the bus lane... thinking shit... what now! anyways we see the bus driver get out at the bottom of the street and wave... so we head down the padestrian lane, and pull up...he must have realised we were totally lost...anyways he totally went out of his way and let us follow him to the camp ground... so nice and totally unexpected...
so we arrived, just in time to check in...
got given the keys to our cabin and set off to investigate...
cute little wodden cabins...
it wasn't until Katie goes, anyone notice anything missing... that we realise that there's no sheets... hahahaha
then we read the sign on the wall... if you want heating you have to pay, as for sleeping bags... and showers!!! hahaha and it was a bring your own toilet paper too...lucky katie was on the ball and had swiped what was left of the roll from the hotel a few nights earlier... (remember to read all information when booking accomodation!)
decided we'll just wear everything and brave it.. after all we managed to sleep in the car...!!!
head back to the car, and think about heading out to get some supplies... but after realising today's sunday and we're in holland and nothing's open on sundays, we buy some snacks from the little shop at the front andsome wine! and head back to our home for the night with all our stuff...
nothing like a few drinks to brighten the mood!
lol
sat out on our balcony and scared away the neighbours!
decided early on that there was a good chance we'd lose Katie! (you've got a great sense of direction!)but she surprised us all! :OP
i think we crashed rather early...
though i remember getting up at some stage in the rain needing to go to the loo, and ended up missing the step out the front of the cabin, and ending up covered in mud! hahahaha
anyways it was an entertaining night to be had..
morning dawned and it was time to say goodbye...
katie and alex were kind enough to drive me to to airport before heading into the city to check it all out... sad to say goodbye, as i know it'll be ages and ages till we meet up again... (they're probably on a plane home as i write this)
where i caught my plane back to edinburgh.. and finally the bus back to Glasgow... where i have the flat to myself!
No comments:
Post a Comment