The Beginning of the End

Well, today is our last day in France..... (*sigh*).... so it's now or never for posting photos from our last intra-european jaunt!

First up, a quick photo tour of our 40-hr trip to the Normandy coast:


When we arrived in Rouen, our (not-so)trusty GPS tried to take us across this bridge. Needless to say, the bridge is currently closed while an Arne Quinze sculpture is installed. We arrived just a bit too early, as the installation was completed just a couple days after our visit. It will be up until mid-August.


We stopped in Giverny to see Monet's garden. I became a little too captivated by the flowers...


We stayed the night at Mont Saint Michel, a spectacular abbey on a quasi-island located on the border between Normandy and Brittany. There is a causeway connecting the abbey to the mainland, and vast mudflats surround the area so it seems to be high and dry during low tide. But the tide rises 50 ft (!!) here, and the mudflats are so flat that the water rolls across certain areas at 8 miles/hr! Woe be it to those tourists who wander the mudflats without checking the tide schedule.... Also, I woke up extra early with the idea to take sunrise photos, but the fog had other ideas.


On our way back to Paris, we stopped in Bayeaux to see the famed tapestry that tells the story of how William, Duke of Normandy, battled the English in 1066 and became William the Conquerer. The real tapestry is about 1m high and 140m long (it's quite an involved story, what with political machinations, secret military missions, attempts at reconciliation, and bloody battles, so it needs a lot of space to be told in pictures). Unfortunately, photography of the actual tapestry was not allowed, so the photo above is of a cheap imitation of a segment that was for sale in the gift shop.


The monument at the US Military Cemetery near Omaha Beach. Very stirring, very powerful.


We stopped ever so briefly in Honfleur (about 30mins total) before heading straight back to paris. It's an adorable little town; kinda felt like Door County :). Interesting bit of trivia about the row houses pictured here: they were taxed by their width, not height, so the owners did the fiscally prudent thing and built up instead of out (our suburban McMansion culture could learn a thing or two from this....)

Now for some snippets of Budapest:


The Chain Bridge, the first bridge connecting the city of Buda on the West bank of the Danube with the city of Pest on the East. 'Twas completed in 1849, then the cities were officially united in 1873 to create the current city of Budapest. Our tour guide said it could have been Pestbuda, but the combination of "st" and "b" next to each other was difficult to pronounce in Hungarian, so they put the names together the other way.


Parliament. Pretty cool, eh?


The sunset on the first night was spectacular!