Final Stop: London!

Our last stop on our long Europe Excursion was jolly 'ole London. We were there until May 3rd, when we flew back home to the USA. We decided that even though they speak English in London, England is way more foreign than France and even Austria because they drive on the "wrong" side of the road! The little flat that we stayed in was tiny and cute, with an oven and a stove and a little table. We loved going to Marks and Spencer food store at the Green Park Underground stop because they had great ready-made food that we took home and heated up in our flat's little oven. On our first night in the flat, we got there after the office closed, and we spent a whole dark night without electricity because they failed to turn it on before we got there!



Jeff at King's Cross Station trying to catch the Hogwarts Express. They actually made a Platform 9 3/4 at the station with that trolley halfway through it! Awesome



Shaina at the Tower Bridge near the Tower of London. Those clouds look forboding... this was taken during a short break in the relentless rain that we endured nearly the whole week we were in London.



In London, they put up round plaques on former homes of famous people, like Charles Dickens. Sherlock Holmes got his own plaque at 221b Baker Street, even though he is only a fictional character. We loved how they did not say on the plaque that he wasn't a real guy!



St. Paul's under some very thunderous clouds-- it started storming ferociously soon after this picture was taken.



This is an airplane in the clouds above St. Paul's Cathedral. I'm glad we weren't in that plane!



Shaina next to the London Eye-- the world's largest observation wheel. It went SO high! ps--Luckily we went up in the Eye on the only sunny day of the week!



Jeff's masterpiece "postcard picture" with 3 of London's finest: Big Ben, the London Eye, and a red double decker bus.



Us in front of Buckingham Palace. Nice flowers, Queen Elizabeth!



We found an Argyle street!




The "tube" or the Underground was a whole lot smaller than Shaina remembered it. But then again, she was about a foot taller this time than on her last visit to London 10 years ago!



Jeff blended right in on the underground on our way to the airport, reading one of the many free newspapers that they pass out twice a day on the streets. He would have blended in better if it wasn't for that large bright orange backpack propped against the wall!

Robbed and Redeemed

You may have been wondering why on earth there has been SUCH a tragic durth of pictures on this once-colorful blog. Let me tell you.

Monday, April 21st, we took a train to Geneva from Cholet, France (via Paris), arriving aroung 9:30pm in Switzerland. No sooner had we glanced at the bus map outside the train station than a random fellow asked us a question in French. As Jeff was answering, another sneaker crept up behind us and snatched one of our small backpacks that we have to carry our mobile library (keeping our big orange backpacks to a lighter weight). Alas, it was not just books in that poor backpack (we named him Cruiser). Our beloved, precious camera was inside too!!!!!

OHHHH the agony! We spent half the night at the police station filing a report, and the other half mourning the loss of Don Jr, (our camera's name--we named it after the unique photographer at our wedding). We thought all of our memory cards were gone too, until, after an all night vigil, Jeff burst into the room and informed Shaina that he had the memory cards after all!!! That news eased Don Jr's parting considerably, but we were still without a camera! What now?

We still had 2 weeks left in Europe! We took the next available train out of Geneva on Tuesday, to a small town called Troyes (1 hr from Paris) where Jeff served some mission time. It was there that we hunted and pondered and agonized for 2 whole days over the camera issue. To digital camera or to disposable camera, we asked ourselves over and over. Finally, we bought some disposables. OH the PAIN!!!! Every time we wound that little clicky winder after a picture, our hearts ached within our wounded bosoms.

But AHA! A light appeared at the end of our dark tunnel of clicky woes. A forgotten fund appeared on our horizon of sadness, allowing us to hope for a better camera. We entered the French Best Buy. They call it Darty there. We noticed a small halo around a certain display case, and angels sang as we approached it. There it was, black and shiny: The Canon S5!!!!!!!! Soon, we were opening the box of our very own new, camera. Since it is the updated version of Don Jr, we christened him Mighty Don, or D3. Mighty Don does things Don Jr. only DREAMED of doing!!


One last tribute to Don Jr:

Don Jr's last waltz--This is the last picture that we had from Don Jr. It is Mt. Saint Michel in France, a sweet huge old monastary on the coast. The rest of our pictures from this visit were on the card inside Don Jr. when he was stolen. They were even better than this.

The Beach!

D-Day Beaches: We rented a car in Caen and drove an hour north to the coast in Normandy. It was a beautiful day, and the ocean was so invigorating! Being on the D-Day beaches and seeing the memorials really made that amazing historical event more real .



We went for a run on Omaha beach. Jeff ran barefoot in the sand!



After the run, Jeff convinced his wife to at least go knee deep in the water, because that's how far he went. One word describes the ocean in Normandy in early April: burrrrr!



Jeff throwing a sand grenade in the hills by Omaha Beach.



The beach is fun!!!



Jeff in a bomb hole at Le Hoc, where Americans bombed the Germans like crazy- the whole area is still covered in huge bomb marks!



An old underground German bunker still standing at Le Hoc. It was really creepy inside there!



A view over Le Hoc onto the sea-the beach is over the cliff. Soldiers actually climbed these cliffs on rope ladders under German fire!



Rubble from a bombed bunker



The American Cemetary, overlooking Omaha Beach. What a powerful, reverent memorial to so many brave men!

Paris

April 5-11: Oh, Paris!!! It is glamorous and pretty and enormous! There is so much to do and see! We had 5 full days to enjoy it, and we could have easily spent another week there. We crammed as many sights and adventures into each day as we could, and even went to museums at night time-every minute was busy. As a result of climbing up the Eiffel Tower and up to Notre Dame's bell tower both on our first day (over 1100 steps UP, and of course we also walked back down!), along with long days of walking, we had sore tired legs the whole week! 100% worth it.



Hi Mona! She has a whole, huge blank wall to herself plus a bulletproof case! I don't think any woman has ever had as many pictures taken of her as Mona Lisa. A celebrity and she may not have been a real person!



Victor Hugo, on the other hand, was a very real person. In fact, this is Jeff in his house standing next to the desk that the master wrote Les Miserables-a stand up desk with no stool. Who writes a nearly 1500 page book standing up? Good ole Victor. His house inspired Shaina to embark on a long journey and read Les Miserables. Jeff has already read it in its original unabridged French. Shaina decided that unabridged English version would be enough. Jeff steals the book when Shaina is busy-one reading wasn't enough!



Shaina admiring our favorite art museum, the Musee d'Orsay, which is an old fancy train station full of impressionism and real art like that. None of that modern stuff for us!



At the Eiffel tower at night-this was a tough picture to take and get our faces visible and the tower too! Did you know that every hour, for 10 minutes, the E.T. has extra lights turned on that make it sparkle? It was So beautiful! We missed the sparkles in this picture, unfortunately



Harry Potter moment: fans, did anyone know that Nicholas Flamel was a real guy??? He actually was an alchemist back in the 1300s! Look at that street sign! We were so surprised to see it!



Shaina and the huge Arc de Triomph, built by Napoleon to celebrate all his victories. Our poor legs couldn't have managed the climb, so we enjoyed it from the ground... one reason to revisit Paris in the future!



Jeff on the stairs in the Eiffel Tower. There were 700 stairs to the 2nd level, and then an hour long line to the required elevator to the top! It was a freeeeezing, cloudy day, and up that high, the wind was Arctic! we were Chilly Willies up there in that line!



Us at the tip top of the E.T. BURRRR!!!



More E.T. time!



One of Notre Dame's famous gargoyles up top near the bell. That's the next Victor Hugo book to read: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Le Massif Centrale

April 4th: We took another excursion into the wild, and climbed Le Puy de Dome, an extinct volcano in Le Massif Centrale, which is in between France's Pyrenees and the Alps. We rented a car and enjoyed the beautiful scenic drive in the mountainous region. Remembering our last warm hike on Greece's Peleponesse, we dressed in our new neon mesh shirts and shorts, which worked for the valley, but the temperature dropped sreadily the higher up we drove! With the wind, the sun had a hard time doing its job of keeping us warm!


While driving to le Dome, we saw a viewpoint and pulled over. There were a few trails there, and they led to two huge rocks! What does a Jeff do when he sees a rock? He climbs it! Do note that the angle of this picture does suggest that Shaina is standing at the top already! Actually, Jeff climbed both rocks, but Shaina stayed behind on his second venture for solidarity reasons... she was solidly frozen!



There's that handsome fellow aftr his successful scaling of the more difficult of the two rocks. Nice view!



We quickly stripped off our jackets for this buff shot on top of the bigger rock. Like our shirts? Shaina has beenmourning the loss of her well-muscled arms, courtesy of 3 afternoons a week in the SVU weight room. Yes, she IS flexing...



Where's Waldo? I mean, where's Shaina? This was a huge bowl we found on our way up to the top of Le Puy de Dome. See tthat neon blur? that's Shaina running down into the bowl!



Stairs. We have a runnung joke about stairs. They are everywhere. We've decided that our day isn't fulfilled if we don'tget to climb at least a couple flights. Well, erosion control on the trail up did not dissappoint us!



Conqerors of the "massif" staircase!!!!



Jeff on the stairs... good thing this avalanche or snowstorm or both came before we did!



Burrrrrrrr! I need my underarmor and my long johns annd my hat, scarf, and gloves for this!!!

Once we were at the top, the wind got too piercing cold for us to linger, so we turned and ran down the mountain. That's our tradition when we climb every mountain, following rainbows (pardon that Sound of Music moment): we hike up nice and fast, and run back down! It's quite fun and invigorating, and we get back in half the time! weeehawww!

Les Chateaux

April!!!! While staying in Tours, where Jeff spent 4 months of his mission, we visited 8 chateaux of the Loire river valley in a few short days (we rented a car to accomplish this feat). They were just like fairy tales in real life! Thank you for having all these castles built, Francois I!



Le religieuse, or however it's spelled, from Jeff's all time favorite bakery in Tours. Shaina has the top piece, and Jeff has the bottom one.


Aftermath of a huge relegiouse (or however you spell it)




At Leonardo da Vinci's house in Amboise.


Le chateau d'Amboise


The little church where Leonardo is buried, right in the chateau's courtyard in Amboise


Le chateau de Villandry: we missed the flowers blooming by a few weeks!

Us in Villandry's gardens, minus the famous fleurs


Shaina in front of le chateau de Chaumont


Jeff up in the balcony of Chambord

Us at Azay-le-Rideau

At the chateau d'Usse, which inspired the story of Sleeping Beauty! They even had mannicans depicting scenes from the story inside, including the witch's tower!


Us at le chateau de Chenonceau-yes, it crosses the whole river!!