D-Day Beaches, Part 1 - Saturday 5/5/2007

Just an amazingly character-laden wall in the port city of Coursuelles-sur-Mer, where Hydra and I may have been ruined forever for mussels served in any other way. Oh my gosh.

We went to a little restaurant and for 7 Euros each feasted on a huge bowl of the smallest, most tender mussels either of us have ever seen in our lives. In a bacon cream sauce, no less. With fabulous bread to soak up the sauce, and a big bowl of frites (French fries) on the side. Wow.


A man looking out over Gold Beach, somewhere south of Coursuelles-sur-Mer, where we stopped to look at the "temporary" landing platforms off the coast. That's a bunker he's standing next to. English troops landed here on June 6, 1944.

Hit the Ground Running - Friday, 5/4/2007

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 8:30 a.m. local time. Amazing to see the Concorde up on stilts as a display. I clipped articles about the coming of the Concorde when I was in high school and they were writing about it coming to the States. I remember being very upset about the potential environmental impact of all the sonic booms it was supposed to generate going in and out. I was against it. I think I even wrote a letter about it.

Turned out it didn't rip a hole in the fabric of the universe. Lucky us.



Dresses on Laweeez's daughter's bedroom wall. What a great decoration!

I met Laweeez online, and she turned out to be just as funny and smart in person. Can you believe she invited us to stay with her? And fed us fabulous raclette, and conversation, and music, and even gave us parting gifts?



The view from Laweeez's kitchen window. Loverly.

What Day Is It, Anyway? - Thursday 5/4/2007

I'm pretty sure that this is O'Hare Airport in Chicago. I think I liked the curving architecture.


My first view of France. It's 7:00 a.m. Friday on the ground, but in my body, it's still 10:00 p.m. Thursday, Pacific Time.

Ready, Set... Wednesday 5/2/2007

A thoroughly uninspired photograph of my luggage.

I think that going away for three weeks with one carry-on and a backpack (okay, and a small camera bag) is travelling light. At this stage of the game I do not understand that I will meet people in France who will be astounded that a) I am carrying so much and b) that there is not a laptop in there somewhere.

Brave friends, brace yourselves. I'm going to start updating. This may take a while, since I shot 1752 photos since I last posted. Picking the right ones to share's going to be fun!