european chronicles- france 2.0 normandy

In addition to life in Paris, we also got to experience different parts of Normandy on a little road-trip. 

{road-trip scenery}

We rented the car at some place right near the Arc de Triomphe. We didn’t think much of it, but as soon as we exited the lot and were still trying to figure out the car, map, and GPS navigation system, we were in one of the most harrowing turnarounds I have ever seen. Thank God Monica was driving cause I would have cried.

So we finally got on the road and spent day 1 touring some of the port towns of Normandy.  We decided that most Disney movies come from here. Belle definitely sang and read while wandering the streets of Rouen, Prince Eric has got to be from Honfleur, and Rapunzel’s castle IS Mont Saint Michel.   

Honfleur was probably my favorite of the port towns, mostly because I didn’t have any expectations. It had such an enchanting, old charm to it; and we saw an amazing sunset over the harbor. There was a boat for sale, and for a moment I really was tempted to sell everything I own and just live and travel around on a boat. I’m sure it would get old pretty fast, but let me just have this fantasy. Thanks.

{rouen was our first stop... i love timbered houses!}

{pretty church details- bayeux and rouen cathedrals}

{honfleur}

{gorgeous town}

{i could live on a boat here, right?!}

On Saturday, we did a day trip out to Mont Saint Michel, which was simply stunning.  It is an island… sort of. It is connected to the mainland via a walkway at low tide, but is completely surrounded by water at high tide. Apparently the tides used to change very quickly, hence the term “galloping tides” and pilgrims would be swept out to sea or stuck in quicksand, but there is a dam now that slows it down.  <I wish I could insert some damn/dam joke here, but I’m not clever enough> Also, we like to live on the edge, and so even though the tides were on their way “galloping” in and walking tours were closed, we walked around the sandy island. I almost didn’t make the trek because we had to crawl around some fortress-looking structure through a muddy, slippery mess and I was concerned for my boots. #Firstworldproblems. I’m so glad I got over myself, because the whole experience and view was worth every pair of boots in my closet. We walked quite a bit and got to see the most magnificent sunset ever. EVER. I will not try to describe it, so here are some pics:

{top: view from the "parking lot"- where you have to park
so your car doesn't get swept away in high tide;
bottom: view from the walkway}

{views of the shore from within the city walls}

{debating the slip 'n slide journey to the other side}

{worth it}

{sunset explorations}

{night time view}

Also, sheep and cattle graze at low tide in the salty meadows, creating the most amazingly flavored meat. Sorry to my vegetarian friends, but it was really incredible. Our lunch in Avranches of local lamb and steak was my favorite meal of the whole trip. (Even including Italy!) We almost didn’t even stop in Avranches. It wasn’t on our list and we had no idea what to expect, but we were driving to Mont Saint Michele and were getting hungry, and saw this town that looked like a castle on the top of a hill and were curious, so we decided to check it out. I believe the exact conversation was: "Is that a castle over there?! Should we go there for lunch??" The answer to that question should always be "yes".  I felt like we time traveled the second we got out of the car. It felt like a little village, delightfully untouched by time. Like Brigadoon. 

{sadly i have no pictures from here. i honestly think it could have been a dream}

Sunday was the last day of our road trip, so we toured around the landing beaches in Normandy and saw the WW2 Memorials along the coast.  This whole trip ended up being a very good history lesson on WW2, and this was another enlightening perspective.  We went to the German battery of Longues-Sur-Mer, the American War Cemetery, Omaha, and Pointe du Hoc. Those were all so beautiful, but eerie. You could actually walk into the artillery bunkers, some with the original guns in place, rusted but covered in bullet holes.  When we walked along Omaha, it was a similar sensation to Dachau- where you could admire the beautiful surroundings, despite its tragic and painful past.  It was also incredible to actually see how the earth is still scarred from warfare.  Pointe du Hoc is a 100 foot cliff with a stunning view of the other landing beaches, but the landscape is still covered with deep bomb craters.

{german battery- with the artillery still standing}

{american war cemetery}

{deeply scarred, but beautiful landscape at pointe du hoc}

{omaha beach}

On a lighter note, we wanted to get one last, great meal of moules-frites on our coastal trip, but were running so late to return our rental car, that we drove through McDonalds! It felt very anticlimactic. And I’m ashamed. Or maybe we were just being subconsciously patriotic? No, that is probably not it. A quarter-pounder is no match for some fresh mussels and cider. Ironically, we were too late anyways and had to sneak the car into the creepy, deserted rental car lot, trying to understand the key drop directions in French, and make our way back to our apartment in Paris (OMG I just love saying that… our apartment in Paris!! I still can’t believe we made that happen).

european chronicles- ireland

SWOON!!! I am madly in love with this country.

We landed in Dublin and immediately went out to Temple Bar, a neighborhood full of pubs. The area felt a little fratty, but people-watching (and listening) was super entertaining.  The first bar we went to was pretty packed, and had a man playing a fiddle. People were dancing and singing along and I was already in heaven. Then the second bar had a band with a banjo player. I mean, my heart could not contain its own giddiness.  We basically just went pub hopping listening to music and talking to people till 6 AM when we made it back to our hostel with McDonalds and coconut water. Maybe Dublin is a lot like home?  Sidenote- Dublin boys are for.ward. That was a little bit shocking, but we felt very popular so it was all fun and games. And Guinness.  We also got some more amazing audio clips.

{banjo. enough said.}

Remember in the Munich post how I said we made some great new friends? Well, one was Callan from Galway. He was on our day tour, went to the English Garden with us, and the Schnapps tour, etc so we were BFFs by this point. We had already booked our flight to Dublin when we were in Munich, so he gave us some suggestions, but really encouraged us to visit the west side (I don’t think he called it that, it’s just the LA in me coming back out). So we took Callan’s advice, and I am SO happy we did.

Since Friday was our first full day, we took a morning train out to Galway… Funny story- we were running late for the train, naturally, so we had to grab breakfast to-go at a restaurant in town and then took a taxi to the train station and sprinted down the train platform to barely make it. Picture Darjeeling Limited… That was us. So we ate our breakfast on the train but didn’t have any silverware so Monica used coffee stir sticks as chopsticks to eat her scrambled eggs. We were struggling. The older Irish gentleman sharing our booth was entertained by our shenanigans as he worked on his crossword puzzles.

So after the most beautiful train ride through the countryside, we made it to Galway…  My favorite place in the whole world.  I know this sounds a bit dramatic, especially considering that in the grand scheme of the world, I haven’t been to THAT many places. But I stand by it. There are no words to properly describe how charming this town is… but I will try. It’s so damn charming. I’m pretty sure I looked like a fool because I could not stop grinning. Literally grinning like a giddy child. 

{streets of galway}

We checked into our hostel (woot woot!) and the people at the front desk suggested we walk around Claddagh Park/Galway Bay, but told us it would be freezing and even showed us where we could buy 50 euro cent mittens. So off we went to a store that seemed like an Irish Forever21 for our mittens and then around town and down to the Bay, which is breathtaking. Even with my snowboarding jacket, scarf, mittens, jeans, tights, and boots, I was absolutely freezing. Regardless, we still walked around for like 2 hours because we just couldn’t bear to leave. There were kayakers in the Bay, which I think is absolutely crazy. If a drop of that cold water hit me, I would have probably cried. But the view was so beautiful and we saw another stunning sunset.

{gorgeous walk}

{it was way too cold to take off our mittens...
so we used our noses to take pics with the touchscreen phones. #macgruber}

{i actually think this is what heaven will look like}

{the sunset on the bay and the cutest row of houses i ever did see}

That night we met up with our friend, Callan, and went out for the night.  It was so much fun- so many hilarious conversations, sing-a-longs, and dance moves. Also, I discovered my new favorite drink (Jameson and white lemonade) and term (fiddle dee dee and diddle lee aye). We also have a few priceless audio clips from these conversations.  It was Halloween the following weekend, so one of Callan’s friends told us he is going as “The Credible Hulk. When I get angry, I back up my arguments with facts”. HAHA.  Then we had an epic sing-and-stomp-along to Tenacious D “Tribute”.

Later that night, we went to a farmhouse just outside of Galway, where the guys promised us they had a horse named “meow meow”. You’re probably wondering how they came up with that name, cause we definitely were curious. “He just seemed to respond to it” was the only explanation we could get. So we decided they probably just yelled animal sounds at a horse until it responded. We went searching for the horse in this creepy field, but never found it. We just walked around yelling “meow meow”, and then joking that this whole story was a trap to lure us into some shady situation. Don’t worry, mom… We never actually felt unsafe.  They had potential Halloween costumes strewn about (mostly just funny wigs), a separate fridge for beer and cider, a lava lamp, and an entire room with just a table and printer. Funniest house tour ever.

{being a passenger in what felt like the drivers' seat, a dancing storm trooper,
 and yelling "MEOW MEOW" into a dark, empty field}

The next day we took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher.  I don’t understand how something this beautiful exists. I took probably 200 pictures of it, and none of them do it justice.  Along the way, we made a few stops at castles and farms in the Burren (picture the landscape from Leap Year with Amy Adams), and a 5,000 year old tomb made of 12 foot long/1.5 ton rock.  We also stopped at a national monument that is a fairy tree. No joke. I love this country.

{going clockwise from the top-left: rock wall in the Burren;
Poulnabrone Dolmen (the ancient tomb); the "defensive ring" around the
fairy tree monument- which is the little shrub-looking thing in the middle;
a castle NBD; more Burren scenery}

{cliffs of moher looking one way}

{cliffs of moher looking the other way}

{standing on the edge of a 210 m cliff over the Atlantic}

 That evening we made our way back to Dublin for another night out where we found a new band we love- Land of the Giants, who were recording their show and now we’re totally in the background of their music video. While we were there, we met some more entertaining characters. A guy who, once he found out we were from California, really wanted to take tequila shots with us. I’m not sure the connection but we obliged. 

We spent our last day in Dublin walking around and exploring. We got a traditional Irish breakfast (yes, we tried blood pudding), walked Grafton St and saw places from the movie “Once”, went to St Patrick’s Cathedral but it was closed, so we went to the Jameson Distillery for a tour. I also finally took advantage of being in an English-speaking country and went to a pharmacy for that cough that kept creeping back (I started feeling sick during week 1 in Italy and Ireland was 4 weeks later. Oops!)  

{full irish breakfast and a bloody mary}

{lady at the entrance: "I'm sorry, the Cathedral is closed to visitors for mass right now.
us: "oh, that's okay, which direction is the jameson distillery?}

{jameson!!}

{screenshot of cnn.com a few weeks later... doesn't that row of houses look familiar?}

If I could move to Ireland tomorrow, I would. 

european chronicles- munich 2.0

I didn’t want to include this side trip with the prior Munich post because I think it deserves to stand on its own. While we were in Munich, we took the train out to visit Dachau, the memorial site at the first concentration camp built in 1933. We weren’t sure if we were going to go at all. I knew it was important to include educational outings, even if they were difficult or somber. But I have to confess that I didn’t want to spend time at the site and then just head back to town to drink, shop, dance, etc... I knew it would require time to settle.  So we debated whether we would have time, and ultimately decided to make the trip out the last day.

Oz, the tour guide from our first day in Munich, had shared with us a little bit of Munich’s perspective on World War 2. I am a big nerd and love history, so it was really interesting to hear the “other side of the story” if you will. I thought it was really interesting that he didn’t avoid the topic or make any excuses for what happened in Munich’s history.  It was really helpful to have this new perspective before heading out to the memorial.

The memorial site is actually on the grounds of the former concentration camp, so when you enter the memorial, you walk along the path and through the gate where the “prisoners” entered, and directly into the roll call area. It was incredibly eerie. And it was such a beautiful day, so the dichotomy between the beautiful, sunny sky and somber environment was incredibly poignant and haunting.  

{gate at the entrance: "work sets you free"}

There is a museum that clearly laid out the history of the Nazi party, World War 2, and Dachau itself.  It had articles, artifacts, pictures, and testimonies from prisoners, and a short documentary about the concentration camp with some of the most graphic footage I’ve seen… definitely not what we saw in our suburban high school history classes. Outside of the museum, there were restored barracks to show the living conditions, part of the original fencing, and a chilling memorial statue. You could even walk through the crematorium, which had been turned into a gas chamber. The chambers at Dachau were fortunately never put into operation, but they are still standing. It was so haunting, and the sense of atrocity still lingers.

{chilling memorial built in 1968}

{"may the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men"}

{the camp fencing with an SS watch tower}

I think it is really incredible that they restored the actual site into a memorial. The site was funded by the government, but planned by a committee of surviving prisoners. I really appreciate how open and honest the memorial, and even our tour guide, was about what happened in Munich leading up to and during the war. It seemed like the people really embraced their history in order to move forward and not suffer the same fate again. And even though it was incredibly somber, it was a truly beautiful tribute.  

We left Munich very quietly and pensively, but I’m so glad we went. I’m so grateful that I got to experience so much of the fun Bavarian culture, but also got the chance to educate myself on a very real (and still pretty recent) part of history.