Mega Post #3

Normandy

This is the Sullivan Clan in our B&B in Normandy. It was a cold and wet November Thanksgiving weekend but it was a fantastic trip.


Omaha Beach. One of the main landing beaches for the for the American Forces in WWII. Just an awsome site.

Looking down on the beach. Think about thousands of American Men swimming out of landing vehicles...looking up.....at bullets flying at them. Most didn't have a chance.

The D-Day Museum.

An old Armored Vehicle.

Andrew next to an american gun.

One of out tanks

This is an old German gun turret. See all the shell hits this took.

Chris inside the D-Day museum.

THE AMERICAN CEMETARY....JUST SO MOVING..........

The main memorial deep in the Cemetary

Below is a 22 foot tall bronze statue "The Spirit of the American Youth Rising From The Waves"

Ther eare 9,387 American Soldiers buried at this cemetary. There are 33 pair of brothers budied side by side.

Churches....Many of the Churches in Normandy survived. Neither side was interested in bombing the churches. This is an old church we found on some random road.

This is the Church at St. Mere Eglise. The 101 Airborne landed here. Below you can see the Paratrooper effigy representing a Trooper who had the misfortune of getting caught on the Church as he decended. He was shot by the enemy.

Stainbed Glass in the Church at St. Mere Eglise.

We had a great trip to Normandy.....November 2008

Mega Post #2 Chateau St. Michelle

Mont St. Michelle

Mont St. Michelle is an ancient 8th century Monastary. It is located on a small islet on the North West of France. Its about an hour south of the Normandy beaches. Its hard to describe the feeling when you first see this. You are a couple of KM away and when you tuen the corner its just breathtaking.


Look at the picture above.......at the very top you see the Abbey. Now look below....

This is a chappel that is at the very top of the Islet. Thats Chris and Andrew on the lower right of the picture.

This was a cool statue in the Chapel

This is a giant water wheel. It was used to help lift provisions from the bottom of the structure up to the top.


Below are some great views from on the top of the Abbey.

Here is a picture looking at up at the Abbey from below.

2009 Mega Update #1

OK Folks, Its been quite some tome since i was on the Dutch Blog. Lots has been happenning. I went back through my photos for the past year and will post a huge amount in the next couple of days.

In November 2008 we went to Normandy for Thanksgiving. We stayed in a a small town that had been virtually destroyed during the war. We were at a farm outside of the town and it survived the fighting. The farm was from the 1700's.

This was the cow that met us each morning.

The farm was about 200 acres and was mainly an apple farm. They made their own Cider (Hard Cider I have to admit) as well as Calvedos.

We ate breakfast every morning in the kitchen. Odielle came in every morning at 6am with a huge french country breakfast. If you asked she would make the most fantastic eggs.

This was the main part of the house. Odielle and her family stayed in this part of the house.

This is the part of the house the guests stayed in.

Christopher Receiving His Diploma

This is a video of Chris receiving his diploma at graduation.

We are so proud of him.

CHRISTOPHER'S GRADUATION DAY

Christopher graduated from ASH yesterday. He is off to Drew University next year. Here are a few pictures from the graduation celebration.




ASH was a great expereince and a great school.




Christopher and his friend Byrak.


Chris and his gang.

With Mom and Dad.

Chris receiving his diploma.

Its Official.

Summer Trip 2008 Post - Final Post

This is our final post from our Summer 2008 Trip.


Trip To Poland

We left Estonia on our way to Gdansk Poland. The Captain came on the PA and told us things were going to get rough. We were heading into a Force 8 Gale storm. We would hit the storm over night but be in port in the morning.

Around 3am we all woke up rocking like I have never felt on any boat.....and I have been in some pretty good storms on small sail boats.

The boat pitched, rolled, rocked and rolled again. There were a few times I almost fell out of bed.

In the morning we were told we wern't going to Poland. The storm had strengthned to Force 12 Gale, basically Hurricane Strength, and it was so unsafe we turned around.

We then found out we had a 2 day slow boat ride to Oslo Norway. We couldn't arrive early because we wouldn't have a bearth, so 12 knots was our speed....compared to 26 nornally.

Here are some photos of the waves.......after it got a lot better.

Here is a link to a Youtube Video I took. I can not upload the video here due to size.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwJdauE6Au0

Oslo Norway

After our 2 day fun fest on the boat we arrived in Oslo. We were walking distance to town and while we only had a few hours in town it was very interesting.

Our first site was just outside where we docked the boat. It was an old castle in Oslo. Very pretty place. Park like setting.

A model of the entire grounds of the castle we saw inside.

Below are several shots of the Oslo Harbor. Enjoy.

The Royal Palace In Oslo.

Below is a beautiful flower we saw at the Royal Palace Grounds. Could be a water colour.

Below is The Parliment Building in Oslo

A Cool Statue.

Oslo was destroyed. This statue represents the Exact Point where the King said "I will rebuild my city here".

Last Picture.

Last Picture. As we were leaving Oslo lots of boats came out to see the ship as we passed the thru the Fjords. This one began surfing our wake. This wasnt the highest he jumped, but it was the best shot I got.

Hope you enjoyed the posts of Summer 2008.

See you soon.

Random Pictures Of The Family

Post 4 The Baltics Trip

Here are some random shots of us from the trip.

On the deck of the boat

Christopher.

Before the first formal dinner.

Andrew.

Joan on the deck.

Joans First Moment on Russian Soil.

Andrew Ready For Dinner

Chris at Dinner

Chris again.

At one of the the Ship's many Bars.