Mont-Saint-Michel

We stayed at a great little hotel in Saint-Malo, the town from which Jacques Cartier sailed from France when he discovered Canada. The town is fortified (meaning it has a wall all the way around it) to protect it from invaders.

I love eating lots of French bread with my Paw!

Here is a photo of the entire family before we summit Mont-Saint-Michel, an ancient place of pilgrimage and home to an extremely old abbey.

There were many steps to conquer with the stroller. Good thing I am a princess and I just got to ride all cozy with my blanket while Mamaw, Mommy and Paw did all of the lifting.

Omaha Beach

Note from Mommy: what an amazing moment to see my daughter run and play on this beach with her grandparents! If it weren't for guys like my grandfathers (Vi's great-grandfathers) this moment may not have been possible. Not to mention that this is one of the widest and most beautiful sandy beaches that I have laid eyes on. The people in this area of France have truly preserved some of our history (and their history, too) in making these sites hospitable and easy to visit.... happy travel moment here.

Normandy Days 1-2

The first order of business when we arrived at our hotel in Bayeux was for me to take a bath. I smelled like a mixture of spilled milk and circulated airplane air. I've never been to France before, but Mommy says this is the biggest French bathroom that she has ever seen! Mme Florence (the B&B owner) was a great host and even had a pack-n-play and changing pad ready for me. You can see more of the hotel here on her website.

We first visited the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise which hosts the museum dedicated to the paratroopers that landed in the Normandy region before the D-Day invasions. One paratrooper did make a famous landing on the top of this church, but now a dummy has taken his place. The monument of the cross in front of the church is an ancient Roman landmark, and the church dates to the 11th century.

Our next stop was in the town of Grandcamp-Maisy where we visited the Ranger Museum. It tells the story of the American Rangers who had to conquer the Pointe-Du-Hoc on June 6, 1944. It is a quaint beachfront town and we enjoyed stopping here.

Next, we drove to the actual site of Pointe-Du-Hoc. After seeing this place in person, it is hard to imagine the job that the Rangers on this mission had to complete. They had to land their boats in rough waters, scale the cliffs, and then destory the German arms located at the top. Some of these weapons were massive and could travel over 20,000 meters out into the sea! This picture is not from Mommy's camera, but the aerial view shows all of the craters that developed from continued bombing by the allied forces.

Posing in front of one of the German guns that was strategically built partially in the ground; this one was never completed before it was destroyed by American forces.

Bienvenue en France

Bonjour tout le monde! Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that I am safe and sound in France. We are driving all over Normandy right now so I will post some more pictures later.... I have so much to blog about!

Ciao!

Olensky-Langmandel Wedding

This wedding was amazing. I saw a beautiful bride.....

..... a happy couple celebrate and dance .....

..... I made a friend .....

...... and hung out with my family!

Thank you Becky and Stefan for a great wedding weekend! Congratulations!

Dauphin Island

As part of our Mobile weekend, we decided to head down to Dauphin Island for a visit. Part of the island was closed due to the oil spill clean-up efforts by the National Guard. We visited historic Fort Gaines, which was originally built by the French and altered during the Civil War. We were very impressed by this Fort because it IS NOT a reconstruction.... this is the real thing! You can see the beautiful brick work behind me in this tunnel, and Mommy enjoyed the little French touches like the ironwork below and the space that they had just for making bread.

We were really impressed by this 10-seater latrine. It was flushed once daily when the tide came in..... stinky, yet economical.

Mommy and me were enjoying some shade in the 90 degree Alabama humidity.

Many of the enclosed buildings at Fort Gaines were once two-story or three-story like this one, but the top floors were blown off during battles.

USS Alabama

We are in Mobile, Alabama, this weekend for Miss Becky (soon to be Mrs.) and Mr. Stefan's wedding. Our very first stop was the World War II Battleship, the USS Alabama. The battleship does not receive any government funding for its upkeep and maintenance, so it's important for you to go visit there so that more people can see it in the future!

My favorite airplane that we saw at the park was this CIA Spy Plane, the A-12. It can fly at an altitude of over 90,000 feet. I have been having lots of "oohhh" "ahhhh" and "wow" moments lately which Mommy and Daddy think are really funny. This airplane really "wowed" me!

Strollers are not cool on battleships; I preferred to push mine around most of the time instead of riding in it.

Daddy had a machismo moment with all of the machine guns around. Mommy and I joined in on the fun, too!