Since Francis had told me that we were going to leave at 6:30 this morning, I got up at 5:30, but at 6:30 nobody else was even awake. It turned out that he thought he had said 8:30, which is when the day began.

Monday, April 30th, we headed for the western coast of France. Our first stop was at Cap Blanc Nez, which means white nose. It juts out into the English Channel. During the first World War 2000 fishermen died working to keep the area cleared of floating German mines.During World War II the Germans built concrete bunkers up and down the coast of France in order to prevent an attack by England and/or the USA.

The bunkers are everywhere! Though they proliferate along the coastline, they can be seen inland as well. They suddenly just pop up in the middle of fields. There's irony in the fact that some farmers have managed to make use of them in a variety of peaceful ways.

British planes took enough pictures to show just how well the Germans were dug into this area, which is why the invasion took place in Normandy rather than here.

Can you imagine what it would have been like to be dropped off on this beach to invade France? This is beautiful today, but you can be sure that bunkers are also in the cliff.

The area around here is a patchwork of greens, brown and bright yellow. The houses are probably cement block because they have stucco exteriors. I only saw a little brick, unlike further inland in the north and certainly not the stone of the south.


We could see England from here, but my better pictures of the white cliffs of Dover were taken at our next stop...Cap Gris Nez, or grey nose.

Fortunately, this was a clear day and even my little camera was able to pick up the coast of England.

 

A lot f the land is disturbed in ways that are obviously man-made. Watching the sheep and lambs was comic relief. It was a large herd (I'm not sure of the correct word for a group of sheep) and suddenly a farmer appeared at the far end of the field. He called out "Allez, allez" and all but 2 lambs went running for him. I don't know what they were expecting, but it had to be comparable to brownies and ice cream because I've never seen sheep move that fast! But there were those two lambs all alone at the opposite end of the field. The farmer walked toward the lambs, still calling, "Allez." Finally the two figured out that they should join the other sheep. As they got near to the herd, their mother ran out to meet them, gave them a milk break and then all three followed the farmer.

The picture above is of Cap Blanc Nez taken at Cap Gris Nez.

There are several bunkers looking out from the hill to the left, but the sandy beach has been replaced by rocks.

For some reason, Cap Gris Nez was inundated with stupid black flies! After realizing that some people were upset because they had accidentally swallowed a fly, I kept my mouth shut and didn't breathe strongly through my nose either! The flies didn't bite. It was just that there were so many of them!

We also saw a bride and groom with their photographer.They were having their picture taken with great scenery as the back- ground. We also saw them later being photographed in one of those yellow fields!

Our next stop was in a nearby fishing village...only there aren't a lot of fishermen left. These small houses are now rented out to vacationers. Blue seems to be a favorite trim color and I even saw one house where the stucco was blue...




We ate at a lunch stand because it was cheaper. Everyone else loaded up on French fries. I had lettuce and tomato in my ham sandwich...and that's the closest I came to a vegetable today. (Dinner this evening was good, but it was chicken in a sauce served with rice and bread...no salad, no veggie.)

 Then we headed for the aquarium. This picture is actually looking across the main street. There is one road behind this first row of buildings, but then there's the gentle cliff loaded with bunkers. There was no getting away from them!

Below is the other side of the main street, a wide beach right next to the aquarium. The aquarium itself was crowded and noisy. It had a few interesting exhibits, but it couldn't compete with Boston. For this I have been spoiled, though I did learn some things about the Mediterranean! 

 Sunday, April 29th, has been a quiet day at home, really the home of Jean-Ives and Chantelle. The sun has been out all day and it was even warm enough to sit outside for awhile.




This is the front of this home that I have been staying at...but from the street its privacy is protected by a tall hedge. Most French homes seem to have gated entrances for their cars.

Looking down the road, the use of brick is typical for the north of France. So is the trimming of trees every few years to provide for shade while controlling size. 

This is a view of the backyard from the large terrace. No, that's not one of my dogs. Scotty, pronounced as scooty, is actually smaller than either my William or Annie. Here he is delighted to have grabbed an empty water bottle and is happily making crunching sounds. 

Some forests are natural, but other smaller areas are man-made. For these areas the trees are planted in rows.

Today we are on our way to the home of another of Marie-Annick's brothers.



We pass several of the small cemeteries. This one is filled with British soldiers. 

 Andre and Bridgette have invited us for lunch. It begins with wine, nuts and crackers in the living room which is where I'm standing to take this picture. Right outside the dining room door is a huge jade plant. Yellow pansies fill the window box.

We moved to the table for the first course which could have been an entire meal...each of our plates had 5 kinds of sausisson, garnished with a miniature pickle and 3 tiny onions, and served with bread and butter. Then came the second course...beef cooked in beer and frites (French fries). Then the third course came...cheeses and more bread. Then the fourth course came... rhubarb tart served with ice cream. A different wine was served with each course. The meal ended with coffee. It had taken all afternoon, but the food was really secondary to the conversation. I can catch a word here and there and sometimes I even figure out what is being discussed.  

The last time I was in France I wouldn't understand any word in a conversation, so my French is improving ever so slowly. But a willingness to laugh at oneself is always helpful...

Everyone else was willing to brave the rain to visit the cemetery. They left me home to take a nap or write. I chose the latter. My dentures were a bit uncomfortable so after rinsing them off, I dropped them into my empty glass. I intended to pop them back in my mouth when the others returned, but I forgot. Everyone came back to the table.

I noticed in what direction Andre was gazing, realized what I had done, grabbed the glass and leaped, laughing, for the kitchen. Marie-Annick figured it out first and pretty soon everyone was laughing.

This is a view from the back yard just before the rain came down. We were heading "home" around 6 PM. Shortly after we arrived, Jean-Ives and his family returned from their vacation. Suddenly the house was jumping...and a music teacher arrived and stayed for dinner.  

 My dulcimer was mentioned. Then I was asked to get it from my bedroom. I played a couple of songs and set it aside. Julian, who plays the guitar, began to pluck a melody on the dulcimer. We tried to find a tune that both of us knew, but that didn't work out. Still, it was fun. Then I was asked to keep playing while dinner was being prepared. The music teacher came over to watch. I haven't had time to practice...but at this rate stage fright is eventually going to be a thing of the past.

After a spaghetti dinner (without wine) it was time for more music...the teacher is playing the trumpet. They would find a song on the computer to which they also had the sheet music, so it was super to listen to!



Here's my dulcimer and Julian with his guitar in the living room. Music is definitely a universal language!

Tomorrow we are not traveling...it'll be family time.

Friday we headed for Arras. Years ago when Spain invaded France, this was a town in which they settled. The Spanish influence can still be seen in the architecture. It is the first time I've seen a covered sidewalk with arches surrounding the central town square. We found a parking spot and headed for the tourist office in the smaller square a few blocks away.We passed by this little car. Anyone in France can call for a free ride to their polling place to vote and this would be the kind of car that would give them their free ride.
We just heard on the radio that when Sarkozy first ran for president it was the dictator Khadafi who gave him a lot of money to win. This may become the scandal that will make sure he loses this election. In France voting always takes place on Sundays. For president the first vote narrows the field to the two people who get the most votes. Two weeks later there is a second vote between those two people.

This town is known for its giants. Just in case you can't tell how tall they are, that's Francis standing in front of them.
During the war this building was almost completely destroyed. It was rebuilt with the same stones on the outside, but mostly concrete inside. Below the building is a maze of tunnels which were created when it was first built as a church. The excavation provided the stone for the building. During the last world war, apparently some of the Allies used these tunnels to work their way beneath the German army and then dig to the surface as a surprise.

It is no longer a church, but is the tourist office. We purchased tickets to climb the tower. Fortunately, there was an elevator for most of the way up. Once again the wind was wild at the top of the tower. This is a picture of the small town square which gives an idea of how high we were.


We had also purchased tickets for the Versailles in Arras, a museum housing many of the carriages used by royalty in the past. As we were walking toward the museum we heard music.

Suddenly this group appeared around the corner. The fellow in the middle is playing bagpipes. They were led by two people handing out flyers about an upcoming concert.

This is one of the carriages. It is covered in gold and was pulled by 8 horses. One of the lead horses had a rider. There was an interesting movie that showed how carriages work and how they have changed over the years, but it didn't explain why a team of eight horses would need a rider. It showed a carriage riding through the gardens of Versailles pulled by 4 horses. It takes a set of reins for each team of horses. The ability to turn sharp corners and to brake going downhill, as well as the springs are things that have  improved over the years.

I took this picture to show another example of a  tree being espaliered. 

This was Pierre's birthday and we were expected at the home of Serge and Joscelyn to celebrate with cake. Pierre will soon be studying physics for 3 months in Romania.

Serge showed us his bee hives.

The house next door had a pond in the back yard with a pair of nesting geese.

Serge and Joscelyn also had geese and chickens in a back section of their yard as well as a large rabbit hutch and place for carrier pigeons. Their were several cats in the yard, but they were wary of people.

This room is both living room and dining area with a couch facing the raised fireplace and a long farmers table at the nearer end.

Pierre played an instrument that sounded a bit like bagpipes. He has to crank it with his right hand while playing notes with his left hand. This is a viele a roue...but there should be an accent mark over the first e and the a. I'm not using a French keyboard and I can't make accent marks with this little netbook.

This evening Francis and Marie-Annick went off to have dinner with Francis' godfather and his wife. I stayed home with Julian. He played the film Avatar for me in English.

 Yesterday, Thursday April 26th, began in Eperlecques at the site of a Nazi blockhouse. We were first greeted by two of the box cars that once would have been crammed with people and nailed shut while the people were transported to detention camps. There was no fresh air or sanitation so many didn't make it to their destination. Some of these chosen people ended up being forced to build the blockhouse below.

This mass of concrete is probably the ugliest thing I have ever seen. It is massive but, like an iceberg, there is even more underground. It was built to protect and launch the V2 rocket, an unstoppable bomb that would cause earthquake-type damage, at England. We saw smaller blockhouses in farmers fields as we drove through the countryside, but none as huge as this. The backside has more damage. Once England realized the danger this represented, it became a target and there's a bomb hole that can be seen on the other side.  

Apparently a train track ran into the blockhouse as well and, yup, that's a car on the upper level. War is a lousy business and hate doesn't even make the victors happy...

Serge, Joscelyn, and their daughter Celine had joined us to tour the blockhouse and after this we headed to a restaurant in Salperwick. I agreed to eat the local specialty, Potch Weltch, which is cild meat in a gelatin. (I'll skip it the next time I'm in this neck of the woods.) But the restaurant was impor- tant because it was as far as a car could go.

This area is a huge marsh. People have created canals through the marsh. In fact, they traveled to Holland to find out how to control the water level so they would be able to build homes and live in the marsh. Children travel by boat to reach the edge of the marsh in order to go to school in the village.

There is only one mailman in all of France who travels his route by boat and he's the fellow who delivers the mail to those who live in this marsh.There are no roads and no vehicles other than boats.

At 3 PM we got to see a portion of the marsh in a tour boat. The guide explained that willow trees were very important. They cut off the branches so more branches grow. The people use the straight ones as posts to hold smaller branches that in turn are holding up the banks. In this next picture you can see the willow stump as well as how it is being used. Some people wove the smaller branches in and out around the willow posts which made a much prettier edge to the bank, but I missed that picture. When a canal is dredged it is 3 meters deep, but after 20-30 years the canals fill in and have to be dredged again. (There are 160 kilometers of canals. I don't know how many miles that would be.) The original canal boats were oak. 

We saw several blue herons. They fish in the canals, but they live in the nearby forest. Swans aren't really welcome because somehow they cause damage to the canals. The people don't kill the swans...they just steal some of their eggs to keep the population under control. Apparently the marsh is neither overly humid, nor overly buggy and the mosquitoes that live there seldom bite people.

Our tour boat passed one home where a small dog lived. Just like dogs who live in regular towns, he thought he should chase us away...only he wasn't about to jump into the canal so we were perfectly safe, and so was he.



People raise livestock like these geese...

...and these sheep.

And then the tour was over and we were back at the restaurant. Now it is aat least 5 PM, but since it doesn't get dark until after 9, there is still plenty of time to see more sights!







Joscelyn knew of a monastery nearby...

On the left are some of the monastery buildings.






 Further up the hill (see the picture below)was the convent...seemed to me the nuns had a more beautiful church, a more beautiful location, and an interesting sideline...

On the convent grounds is a delightful house where anyone who wants a quiet place can come and stay. Celine had been there a few weeks ago studying for school entrance exams. We met a gal from Hong Kong who spoke perfect English. My French families heard her speaking and assumed she was American until I asked where she was from.

 The view from the front of this house shows the typical roof tops and a field of yellow colza (rape seed). There was no coal in this area known as Flanders. It is far more lush than the coal area.

Flanders has 3 mountains which Vermonters would call bumps. Cassel is one of the "bumps." I was busy taking pictures of the tulips and the way they were working to create espaliered trees (the picture below the tulips) when my camera said the battery was exhausted (its very words!) and closed. When I bought the camera at Sears, the clerk talked me out of buying a second battery. He obviously has never traveled much.

There was also a gracious statue and a beautiful windmill along with other gardens, though many of the tulip petals were being blown away by the wind. It was a great place to view most of Flanders.

After leaving Cassel we traveled up Mont des Cats to see the abbey I couldn't take any pictures of...and then on to Mont Noir. This "bump" is so close to the Belgium border that it is a tax free area which entices people from both countries to shop there. Traveling home through Flanders we spotted a number of windmills. There are also small military cemeteries, each dedicated to a different country so that the men who died in the wars could be buried with their own countrymen. Sad that such a beautiful area should have witnessed such devastation.

 Wednesday was cold and rainy so today we didn't begin our sightseeing until after lunch. On our way one rotary had this glass structure in the middle. We joked that we had found the Louvre! We stopped to see relatives of Francis and Marie-Annick. Their home is more cottage-style...I'm hoping to get pictures of it tomorrow. Joscelyn loaned me a warmer coat, a wonderful winter scarf and wooly gloves so I wouldn't freeze at the Coal Mining Museum. The gals were going shopping. I was going with the fellows to the mine.

 Here we are with our hard hats on, ready to see how the coal was brought to the surface and women worked at separating it in a building with no heat in the winter and no breeze in the summer before we descend into the reproduction of a mine that sure felt real.

 Okay, this isn't a real horse, but real horses spent their lives underground pulling about twelve wagons of coal all hitched together. Their stable was right near the main shaft. The best horses for this job were small, calm, easy-going, and powerful. Talk about nice guys finishing last...this is a perfect example.

 We were the last people to leave the museum. I was in the middle of a video when it suddenly turned off! I had been watching it as a way of giving Francis time to catch up because he gets engrossed in reading every placard. His god-son, Pierre, and I headed for the entrance. There wasn't a soul around, but the car was still in the parking lot so we relaxed. Francis and Serge finally reached us. Francis' phone was ringing...Marie-Annick was wondering where we were since the gals had already made it to Tournai, Belgium. As we approached the Belgium border, Francis asked if I had my passport. I did, which ruined the joke since no one is watching the border. Belgium looked just like France except that the language on signs changed.

 This is one view of the main square in Tournai. I loved the fountains. The water would disappear and then suddenly sprout from the cobblestones, get higher and higher and then be gone again. We walked around some of the streets to get a better look at a large Episcopalian church and passed this scene along the way. I was mostly interested in the planters! They are the same as those Margery Salmon and I saw in Holland, low cement bowls that create gardens in the middle of city landscapes.

It was after 9 PM when we found a place for dinner...best steak I've had in years! It was served with a bowl of mushroom sauce, a few lettuce leaves and French fries, none of which I consider to be vegetables. I may have to wait until I return to Blanot to get my fill of veggies. It's not worth worrying about for this week!