Normandy, France
Monday, July 16
We run into Joxe on the seawall overlooking the Atlantic as we eat our breakfast of baguettes, cheese, sausage and cucumbers. This is his first day of vacation, and he takes us to the end of the seawall to see Paqito - a dolphin who has made the waters off San Sebastian his home now for about three years. We then climb the castle mountain and finish the day updating the Web site. Before we head off to the train station for the overnight ride to Paris - in first class!! - we share a paella for lunch (That's Spanish rice with - in this case - sausage and it is DELICIOUS!!!).

Tuesday, July 17
We arrive in Paris about 7AM and switch trains to go Northwest to Caen, a city in Normandy. We arrive in Caen around 12:30 to a moderate rainfall, and find the Tourism Office to gather all the info on the Battle of Normandy and D-Day tours. We find a hotel - the fourth one we tried - and have the best salad ever -- Caennaise - at a brasserie across the street. The salad consists of lettuce, tomatoes, warm boiled buttery potatoes and bacon. We spend the evening studying WWII's Battles of Normandy.

Wednesday, July 18 - Thursday, July 19
We tour "Le Memorial de Caen" - a museum dedicated to remembering World War II. We later tour the battlefields as well as several cemeteries. The museum is powerful in the way it describes WWII and why it happened. The gardens are beautiful. Some of the beaches are preserved to continue to look like the battlefield so many years ago. The cemeteries are hushed and well-preserved. Hours after the museum tour, Joe goes out to the pub and gets locked out of the hotel room for 2 hours (He had the key but didn't know the code to get in the front door of the hotel! Jenni was sleeping and there was no phone in the room). The nice Irish bartender named Jillian calls the angry hotel manager who finally gives up the secret code and Joe sleeps in a warm room. Thanks to Jillian who got yelled at ("oooh-la-la!") but bravely gets Joe home. Jillian and her friend Caroline are students from Ireland who are learning French in Caen. We hope they survive the cold summer and get home to their partying friends. Jenni visits the castle in the center of town - it's one of the oldest enclosed castles in Europe, and is fortified by a "dry moat."

Friday, July 20
We catch the 7:30 a.m. train to Pontorson in the Western France region of Brittany. Two-and-a-half hours later we arrive and then catch a bus to Mont St. Michel. We spend 3 hours touring this legendary and scenic site. After mingling with a herd of sheep who would not stand still for their pictures, we decide to walk the 7 kilometers back to the train station. Because we're American, we vastly underestimate just how far we have to walk. We think it's 3 miles, but it turns out 7 kilometers is about 5 miles, but it's a lovely stroll in the countryside of France so who's complaining? We stop to buy a bottle of cider from a roadside vendor. Along the way, we are hit by a major allergy attack which kicks our butts. Once back in Pontorson (which Jenni has nicknamed "Ponderosa") we go grocery shopping for bread, cheese, cucumbers, grapes, yellow cherry tomatoes and what we hope is peanut butter. It says "walnut" on the label, but it turns out to taste more like chocolate. We arrive back in Caen to some Benadryl, two glasses of cider and then sleepy bye-bye land.

Saturday, July 21
We delay our travels and decide to stay in Caen one extra day to recuperate from our allergy attack. We sleep virtually the entire day away, then, around 8 pm, while taking a walk, we stumble on to a quaint country dance at an outdoor wooden dance floor right along the Marne River. The three accordionists play everything from French folk songs to tango to jitterbug as well as other hit songs from the 1920's to the 1950's while mostly elderly couples dance the night away. Then it's off to the Irish pub one last time where we meet a guy from Mississippi, another from the Dallas area (near Sherman) and say goodbye to Jillian and Caroline.

Sunday, July 22
Today we decide to make an unscheduled stop. Since we looked at the map and discovered the Champagne region of France is on the way to Germany, we decide to stop and get us a bottle or two. Jenni loves her some champagne. The train will take us through Paris and about 50 miles northeast to the town of Reims, in the heart of the champagne region of France. We pass rows and rows of grapevines along the train ride. We eat baguettes and peaches for breakfast. By the time we reach Reims, the allergy attack is back. We get a hotel, take some more Benadryls and pass out for several hours. We wake up at 7:30 and have a nice dinner at a Brasserie. Joe orders a salad with potatoes and bacon and Jenni has chicken with rice and mushroom gravy. (We share each other's meal.) We also share a glass of champagne!!! Dinner is good and we're under budget.