Croatia Trip in July 2009

We spent a week in Split, Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. The views from our resort were spectacular.

This was the view from our hotel balcony.

Another view from the hotel room.

Looking the other direction.

On a walk down the beach towards town.

A nice day for a sail.

This is Christopher walking through Old Town.

Joan and Andrew down by the water.

The boys in Croatia.

Rob and Joan by the water in town.

Sunset from the balcony.

A statue outside the Old Castle in town.

The Tower at the Old Castle in town

More from the Castle.

Every town has a church.

Another tower at the Old Castle in Split.

Paris Art

We spent some time at Musee D'Orsay in Paris last January. There is some unbelievable art in that old train station. Below are some of my favorites.

Enjoy.

Paris For New Years 2008

New Years Eve in Paris 2008

A few shots from our New Years trip to paris with friends.


This was the scene around the Place de la Concorde. A great view of the Eiffel Tower at midnight. It was a bit of chaos but fun.

The Christmas tree outside of Notre Dame.

We had dinner with friends at oner of our "favourite" restaurants in Paris. It's on the Isle St/ Louis and its called Seargants. Its a total tourist trap but fun. THis is a picture of the 5 kids at dinner.

This is a shot of DJ, Andrew and Chris.

This is a shot of Abby and Sylvie.

This is a shot of Nanette and Joan.

Rob under the Eiffel Tower.

A great shot of Momartre

We went to the Catacombs in Paris. There are the bones of thousands, tens of thousands of dead buried under the streets of Paris. Very bizzare place.

More catacombs

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.