Wednesday Randoms before we finish the Beaches tour…

We have two days of the adventure left. We can finish up tomorrow and Friday, so for today I decided to just pick some photos and share randomly.

The photo above was a candy display in one of the shoppes we visited in Normandy. The display was so pretty, I could only imagine our grandchildren as we held their hands back from sampling. So what better way to kick off randoms than all of us pondering how this would fly post-Covid in the U. S.

Let’s go…

Random #1

I tried to get some photos of these famous hedgerows that we read and hear about. Here is one example. They are impenetrable natural barriers around houses and fields, made up of a variety of intertwined plant life. I found them fascinating.

I would also imagine how the soldiers would be trying to pass along them without being seen and there is absolutely no way to duck into them for cover. They are beautiful and effective barriers for sure!

Random #2

I took this photo as we drove through Caen. The modern buildings and wide roads stood in contrast to the narrow passages we had navigated through old homes and villages in the rest of Normandy.

It dawned on me as we passed through it the last time the reason it is so different.

Caen was one of the areas of most intense fighting as the Allied troops drove the Germans back. 73% of the city was destroyed and an estimated 3,000 citizens including women and children were killed. Remember many of the men had been taken to work in labor camps.

The rebuilding of the city was mostly completed by the 1960’s. The reason Caen was held so strongly by the Germans was because it is a major hub for connecting roads. It was a somber realization of the cost of the war on many civilians as well as soldiers.

Random #3

This couple were part of our group. They were funny and we enjoyed their company. They found out I had not purchased a special jar for Omaha Beach sand and were so cute the last morning as they gifted me one of the extras they had bought to take home.

This trip was special to them as her mother is a survivor of one of the concentration camps in Germany. She was a little girl who was eventually freed by those troops that fought their way from the Beaches right into the German strongholds and camps. They are Jewish and these battles and sacrifices we learned about meant freedom for more than just the people of France.

We have to take seriously the cost of evil and the fight against it.

Random #4

One of the things we did to make travel easy was to pack light on clothes and not worry about Lola’s hair.

It was a good plan and since everyone else was focused on more important issues, it really didn’t matter that curling irons don’t work on European outlets.

Kind of freeing, though I don’t think I will carry the drowned rat look over into life back here in the U.S.

Random #5

I don’t know what it is about salads over there, but the chefs consistently add an extra flair to vegetables that make them way more appealing than what I am used to. The greens were so fresh. This one had some shredded beets, carrots and lentils displayed in such an appealing way.

They even use salads under or beside their charcuterie boards. It is such a great idea.

And THAT is something I am importing for the future. I am definitely rethinking salad presentations and ingredients and ways to add them in where they have not gone before <3