Final thoughts

These past two years living abroad and especially the last five weeks camping have been a unifying experience for our family. We have learned, discovered, grown and had a lot of fun together. Life has been simpler for us during these last two years, and certainly for the last five weeks, than ever before. We have gained a new and different perspective of our country, of the world, and of ourselves. I asked Meade what he think he has gained and he answered, "some weight!" Yea, right, maybe one pound, not true for his wife----all those chocolate croissants and baguettes come with a price for some of us! :))

We are sad for our time in Europe to end and will dearly miss our friends here, but we are also very happy for all that we have to look forward to upon our return to the United States. Throughout the last five weeks, though they have enjoyed themselves immensely, Aaron and Linnea have continually asked, “When are we going to Seattle? When we will we see KK?” Though they do not even really know or remember their home in Seattle, they know that it is home, and there is no place like it....

Thank you for reading our blog, we hope that you have enjoyed it. Can’t wait to SEE you!

Love from Linnea, Aaron, Laurie and Meade

Above is a photo of all the stuff we fit into our lovely Rover and packed and unpacked ten times.

Normandy

Our last stop on this 5 week journey was Normandy, known for cows, cider and Camembert. We camped on the beautiful, peaceful grounds of a grand chateau, about 15 km from Omaha Beach. Roosters, chickens and baby chicks cruised around the campsite and, again, the kind and respectful Dutch (and a few Brits) were our neighbors.

The first day, we visited the D-day beaches. First we went to Bayeux and visited the Musee Memorial de La Bataillede Normandie, which was, for us, a great introduction to WW II in Normandy. We then visited Omaha Beach, where the most brutal of the fighting took place on D-Day (known as “Bloody Omaha” to U.S. Veterans). Today it is a peaceful and beautiful beach of golden sand and children playing. It is difficult to imagine the violence and tragedy that took place there just 67 years ago. At the time of our visit, there was a ceremony going on for some visiting American high school students, during which the students raised the flag of each country from which soldiers died on that beach as each country's national anthem played. It was quite moving.

We then visited the huge Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, which is on a bluff above the beach. It is the largest American cemetery in Europe and contains the graves of nearly 10,000 American soldiers. White marble crosses and Stars of David stretch in seemingly endless rows across the pristine lawn. It made us pause and really appreciate the bravery and sacrifice of these soldiers and their families.

The cemetery also had an associated excellent visitor center, in which everything was very well presented and very, well…American. The bathrooms were especially nice (for me, five weeks into camping, this is noteworthy), with toilet paper and soap, and even well functioning hand dryers!

You may think that it would be difficult to explain World War II and the Battle of Normandy to five year old kids, and…it was! Aaron took a real interest in it, especially the tanks and airplanes and the “baddie” called Hitler. I think that they both gained a bit of understanding of what took place on those beaches on that terrible day and the role that the United States played in it- something to build on at least……

We spent the last (34^th) day of our trip at our campsite in Normandy. It was a warm and sunny day. We swam, played at the playground, and read. That evening, we enjoyed one last French meal at the campsite’s restaurant finished with Camembert, baguette and a bit of Calvados, which is apple brandy named after this department of France.

We are now on the ferry from Calais to Dover, and so ends our 3,000 mile road trip around Europe. This also essentially marks the end of our two year stint living in England. Once we return to England, we will spend three days in Windsor at a friend’s flat, say a few more goodbyes and then fly to the States (via three days in Madrid, because....... why not go back to Spain, where we just came from?)

Brittany

Our next stop was Brittany, France, which is the northwestern corner of France. We had no real expectations of this area and absolutely loved it. It felt down to earth and was very green and not crowded. It is known for cider, Breton beer, Muscadet wine, oysters and lobster, farming, and excellent cycling. Our campsite was near Nantes on the Atlantic coast on a grain farm. It also had an enclosed area with two goats, a small pig, chickens, and several guinea pigs that the kids were allowed to feed, which was all Linnea and Aaron wanted to do for the three days we were there. There was also a very large playground with a bouncy house and trampoline- they were happy campers!

We spent one day walking along the beach exploring the tide pools and the other on a long bicycle ride (with the kids in a trailer). All of Brittany is extremely bicycle friendly, with bike paths everywhere. We biked to a chateau that had a moat filled with water, which was quite fun for the kids to see. We also visited a local market and enjoyed fancy cheeses (got ripped off and bought a bit of cheese for 10 euro, but man was it good), fresh seafood and excellent produce. Meade made one of the best dinners we have had on our entire trip- fried oysters and cracked crab appetizer followed by a local cod-like fish with shallots, garlic and onion- scrumptious. The campsite also had a different taco -truck- like van come in each night, serving very good crepes, pizza, etc., so we made use of that for sure.

The Dordogne

Driving north through France from Spain, we stopped in Carcassonne, which is a very well preserved, fortified medieval city. It has two outer walls with towers and a castle with draw bridges. Within the walls are narrow, cobbled lanes and loads of tourist shops and restaurants. It was very busy but interesting place and worth the stop.

Our next campsite was in the Dordogne, which is a river valley full of rich history and rolling countryside. The region is sometimes known as the land of 1,000 châteaux because of the abundance of historic castles. The Dordogne is also celebrated for its plethora of historic sites and caves. We visited Grotte de Grand Roc, a cave full of other-worldly crystals (stalactites and stalagmites for you Meade-like people) and a rock shelter originally occupied by the Cro-Magnon people. We were unable to visit the famous cave paintings at Frotte de Lascaux and others due to long waits, but knowing that they were there was pretty cool.

We also visited the town of Sarlat-la-Caneda, which is a picturesque tangle of honey-colored buildings, alleyways and secret squares. The town also boasts some of the best preserved architecture we have seen—very beautiful. As we were walking through the cobblestone, narrow alleyways, I explained to Linnea how there is nothing like this in the United States, and she asked why not? I began to explain how Europe began building cities much earlier than in the US, etc. and she looked at me and said, “that is because they were all still sleeping in America!” (Just like you guys are always sleeping when we try to call!).

Our campsite was near the village of La Roque Gageac, a jumble of amber colored buildings crammed into the cliff above a curve in the river Dordogne. It is one of France’s official Beaux villages (beautiful villages). We spent a day canoeing down the River Dordogne, passing this village and others, which was a highlight of our entire trip for sure. Linnea and Aaron loved to help paddle (which was sometimes not counter-productive) and watch the dragonflies flit across the water. We meandered past numerous perfectly preserved medieval castles, some perched on green hilltops and others looming over quanit villages tucked into the cliff sides. We were fortunate in that it only rained a few drops, and we happened upon some excellent camembert cheese and warm baguette at a pit stop.

The Dordogne region is also known for its Foie Gras, which is goose liver. Nearly every restaurant, fancy shop and road side stop sells it. We bought some, (just one liver instead of a mixture which is supposedly better) and it was quite tasty on a little baguette. Linnea and Aaron (amazingly) loved it!

La Costa Brava

We headed west to Spain and next camped along the Costa Brava (the “rugged” or “wild” coast), which is the northeastern coast of Spain just south of Barcelona. We camped at a site called La Gaviota near the village of San Pere Pescador on a wide expanse of beach which is part of a national park and a huge kite and wind surfing area. This was probably our favorite campsite, both for its location and its amenities. It was much like a small resort except, well... everyone sleeps in tents or motorhomes/trailers and shares a public bathroom and showers, ok, not that much like a resort..... But anyway, there was a quite nice pool complex, a good restaurant and bar, and they even offered spa treatments such as massages and pedicures. There was also nighttime entertainment- a DJ/disco on Friday night and a band playing American oldies on another night, which, of course began at 10pm and rocked (very loudly) until midnight. Luckily, we were able to get Linnea and Aaron to sleep by about 9:30pm so they slept through all of it. Loads of kids were up through it all, and we wondered how they could handle it until we figured out…the siesta!

During our week there, we spent four of our days at the beach and pool and two exploring the area. The weather was variable; it rained a bit and temperatures were quite a bit cooler. One day, we drove up to Barcelona and met up with our friends from England, Tammy and Chris Collins and their four boys, who were there for a day prior to departing on a cruise. It was quite hot (as it always seems to be when we go to a city), which makes the drive and walking around with Aaron and Linnea not quite as nice but we managed. We visited some sites had a nice lunch of various tapas in a plaza, following which the two sets of twins tried to earn some money by singing and dancing in the plaza with a cup for tips (they did not do so well). We headed out toward our car on the metro and, as we were getting on a man grabbed Linnea’s arm and seemed to be rushing us onto the train, saying something about getting her to a seat in Spanish. Meade had her other arm and we were both a bit confused about what the hell he was doing. Sure enough, Meade was pick pocketed while we were focusing our attention on Linnea, and, as the doors closed at the next stop, the man hurled Meade’s wallet at him (he caught it), minus the 150 euros (200 dollars) that had been in it. We then went to an ATM to try to get money and it ate our debit card. Needless to say, we ate a croissant at the train station for dinner and got the hell outta there.

We also visited Cadaques, a picturesque, whitewashed village with cobblestone streets where Salvador Dali lived much of his life. In Cadaques, we wandered through the meandering, narrow alleyways and snacked on calamari and sangria while trying to avoid the intermittent downpours.

Aaron and Linna had their 5^th birthday while in Spain. At their request, we stayed at the campsite all day and played games, swam in the pool, and went to the beach. It poured rain and then cleared (as it tends to do) and we had a nice dinner at the campsite restaurant including many of Aaron and Linnea’s favorite foods- mussels, clams, calamari, French fries, pizza, and birthday cake made just for them by the local bakery.

On our last night at La Gaviota, we had a fabulous evening with a British/Kiwi couple and their 6 year old girl twins that we had met a couple of days earlier. They live in France, and have lived all over the world, very cool and interesting people. They were the first English-speaking people (well, as a first language) we had met in a while and the kids were thrilled to have new friends. The (2 sets of) twins stayed up until 11:30pm and had a great time running around the playgrounds and eating ice cream in the dark (a novel thing for them!). We were finally on the Spanish schedule, just as we were about to leave……..You can imagine how the next morning went when we all had to pack up and depart early for a 5+ hour drive to France....

You may think that the campsite was full of Spanish families but no, in fact, like everywhere else we have been, it was full of Dutch people. Nearly every car and motor caravan has a Dutch license plate, the staff all speak Dutch and when there is a kids club, it is full of blond Dutch children with Dutch teenagers as the leaders. I think that Holland must be completely empty, aside from the tourists. As far as a culture of people to spend a lot of time with, I think that we could do no better than the Dutch, so we are not complaining, just kind of amazed.

Cannes and Nice

Yesterday, we drove to Cannes and Nice for the day. Anyway, Cannes was OK- very hot and busy. We walked around the streets and the promenade, had lunch and headed to Nice. Nice was fabulous. I loved wandering through the labyrinthine alleyways in the old town and strolling along the shimmering seafront. We explored, swam in the sea and the enjoyed a nice French meal (i.e. more pizza margarita for Linnea and Aaron).

Tomorrow we leave France and head to the Costa Brava in Spain, a five hour drive or so. We have found the key to prevent whining and fighting from the two in the backseat of the car--- keep the car at about 95 degrees and roll down all the windows. If they were to say anything, we could not hear them for the wind storm in the car, but they are practically catatonic from the heat…The just kind of stare. it works.

South of France

In the South of France, we camped in Les Issambres, which is about an hour west of Nice. Our campsite is about 200 yards from the beach and is tucked into a shady (most important!) corner with a palm and plum tree. The sea is about 78 degrees, turquoise blue and very clear, and the air about 85 degrees every day. The kids and Meade have pretty much abandoned shirts unless they are entering a store or restaurant and Linnea has moved to a bikini and Aaron to a Speedo to be a bit cooler (and man are they cute!).

We spent our first couple days at the beach and today took a boat to Saint Tropez, a terracotta fishing village of about 5000 people, which, as you probably know, increases in population ten fold in the summer with the likes of celebrities such as George Michael, Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, etc. It was actually an interesting place. Beyond the glitz and fancy retail shops, the old town is quaint and colorful. We enjoyed a swim, gelato, and a boat tour of the surrounding beaches, extravagant villas, mega-yachts moored in the bay, and great views of the old-town.