Sainte-Mère-Église and the journey home

After breakfast Mum and I visited the lively market in Port en Bessin. We then left for Cherbourg, stopping at St-Mère-Église to see the church where the paratrooper John Steele hung for two hours pretending to be dead when his parachute caught on the spire. St-Mère-Église was the site of another daring nighttime operation, as the town needed to be held on D-Day to prevent a German counterattack. The town was held but many paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne and U.S. 101st Airborne divisions lost their lives.
Dad and I visited the Airborne Museum which had an excellent multi-sensory simulation of events.
After lunch we travelled to Cherbourg and had a walk and then took the ferry back to Poole in the evening.
It was an excellent holiday. I loved seeing everyone, staying in a chateau and seeing a few of  the many interesting places in Normandy. Thank you, Mum and Dad! 

The Pegasus Bridge and Port en Bessin - Day 7

On the way to Port en Bessin we stopped to visit the Pegasus Memorial in the village of Bénouville. It commemorates a daring night raid by men in gliders from the British 6th Airborne  Division to capture and hold two key bridges between Caen and Ouistreham. These bridges are now called the Pegasus and Horsa bridges. After capturing the bridge, the men liberated a nearby café where we also stopped for lunch.

Then we drove on to the hotel and in the evening we had a lovely meal at l'Ecailler and enjoyed oysters on the balcony overlooking the port. 

Kira the puppy

Kira the puppy is a Rhodesian ridgeback which were bred to hunt lions. She is a pure breed and lives a life of luxury. She eats goats milk, organic buffalo chunks and steak, though once she did manage to eat a chocolate brownie off the floor. She spends her time at the doggy day spa or in her own private paddling pool. She gets her teeth brushed and her nails done. She is well trained and the French vet said she was the healthiest dog she had ever seen. Darby and Nicholas were her biggest fans at the chateau. Her owners are David and Kim. When she's older, it's probably best not to make her angry.

Leaving the chateau Day 7

In the morning we tidied up and I took some last photos. It was lovely to have had the experience of living in a chateau for a week; a ghost in the bathroom, pineapples and swans on the bedposts, lots of drawing rooms and dining rooms and three kitchens, as well as all the beautiful grounds. It made me think of the luxury that space is, and I remembered the crush of people travelling home for New Year in China. Then we all said our goodbyes and set off on the next part of our journeys. Mum, Dad and I went to Port-en-Bessin and visited the Pegasus Bridge on the way.

Three snakes and a lost station. Day 6

In the morning Mum and I went with Daniel on a walk along the railway track to the lost station of St Maclou. Daniel climbed the fence and could see the whole building. Mum and Daniel saw another snake at the willow and Daniel saw a third one on the track. Later we had a last supper of roast chicken.

Day 5 walks and BBQ

I saw deer and the adder on my railway walks today. We took family photos on the steps in a brief downpour. In the evening we had a BBQ by the pool. I baked a bublanina cake. I also had a read in the posh drawing room.

Day 4 pt 4 The evening meal

Fi and Pete did a lovely beef stew. I managed to take pictures this time.

Day 4 pt 3 The history of Le Havre

We also found a small exhibition about the history of Le Havre - impressionists painted it, dignitaries developed it and there was once a really stinky street known as 'the street of the flying excrements'. Even today the town struggles to control the toilet activities of the inhabitants. This is the kind of interesting info that feeds the children's hunger for knowledge.

Day 4 pt 2 Le Havre

We ate in the arts centre which looked like a big white volcano. Then we popped in the library. We went back to the car and some groups returned to the house but Ed, Nonie, the girls and I stayed at the Natural History museum to have a proper look round.