Palace of Versailles

Cathédrale de Bayeux this was in Bayeux just a small town outside of Normandy they had a great farmers market that we stopped at in the morning and got meat, cheese and bread to snack on on our way to Paris. Oh and the best Chocolatier. I bought some  fresh made dark chocolate  coconut bars, yum! 

 Dinner, Blake was the only brave on that ate different foods, see the shrimp above yes eyes still there!

 Ah France food so yummy! This was dessert that Melinda and I shared. 

 First crepes of the trip for Marissa. 

 Entrance to Palace of Versailes - Gold everywhere.

 One of the ceilings in Versailles.

 Hallway of Mirrors

 Some of the gardens

 Yes it was getting COLD! Simply beautiful the gardens sure have a full time job here.

B&B

Just outside Normandy and 5 min from Bayeux is this amazing B&B called Moulin De Hard. It was gorgeous, relaxing and a great way to start out our trip to France. We all said we could stay there for a week and be happy. It is an old Mill from 300yrs ago converted into a 5 bedroom house. Here are some views of the outside and the mill inside. We could not get enough of the views they were from every window. In the morning after breakfast we walked around and took tons of pictures. The picture below is the kitchen the long window had an amazing view outside of the water and meadow I could so dishes all day with that view.Sorry the picture editing has been acting up so I could not leave comments under the pics or put them where I wanted so just enjoy the view!

Farwell England, Hello France

Late Monday night we found out that Blake's grandmother passed away so we all pretty much did not sleep trying to figure out if we needed to change flights to get them home for the funeral. After talking and researching we decided it was better to just stay due to all the additional fees it would cost. It was bitter sweet to leave mom and dad especially knowing it would be another year before we saw them again. We should have planned things a little better and stayed with them longer. There was still so much to see and it was great have some one on one time to just spend time with them. Thank you mom and dad for letting us take over your flat and showing us the ropes of your new town. We are all so proud of you and all the hard work and dedication you have for your mission. Keep up the good work, can't wait to see you again. I Love you and miss you.

At 3am Tuesday morning we took a 2 hr drive that we thought would be shorter to the airport to catch a 6am flight yes we barely made it! We landed in Paris and got the rental car and off we went on another adventure.

 Marissa sat 3 wide the whole trip with her parents, it was so cute how much she wanted to just be near them.

Heading out of Paris there was a ton of traffic so it took us a while to find other routes.

These yellow fields are everywhere, we never figured out what they were but everyone had them so they must be used for something in the farming industry. Whatever they were they were beautiful to see. Loved it

First stop Normandy to see D-day history. This was right off the highway entering into Normandy.

This was at the exit of one of the museums and on the wall was this quote - "If ever proof were needed that we fought for a cause and not for conquest it could be found in these cemeteries. Here was our only conquest all we asked... was enough soil in which to bury our gallant dead." General Mark Clark

Omaha Beach

US Memorial

Imagine men of all ages scaling down these cliffs to get to the beach with bullets coming at them and in these waters are men that never even made it to the beach and drowned from the weight of there packs.

All the craters made from the bombs, I stood in the middle of one and it was a least 10-12ft deep. An amazing reminder of what sacrifice our troops do to give us the freedom that we have today.

Some of the German barracks blown apart from the bombs.
We did not spend as much time as we could have here but what we saw was just amazing and hard to believe what these men went through to take over the German/ Hitler reign.