The changing light

One of the prime aspects of the Impressionists' paintings is the capturing of light. What is it doing now to the scene I'm looking at, right now? That is why they painted so quickly, to capture the moment.

I followed Joan in looking at the water lily pond by 15 minutes and found myself in a different moment of light. Clouds had covered the sun and I got a more muted view of the pond and its reflections.


Enjoy the moment.

Monet at Giverny

The gardens at Giverny were amazing. It gave me a new appreciation of the beauty and the diversity of flowers. It's hard not to spend the entire day trying to absorb it all in.

Field trips and oral reports

In California, students learn about the early Spanish missions. They take field trips and write reports. In Rouen, students do the same type of thing—except they write about and visit the magnificent Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Rouen.

There were lots of school-aged children in Rouen today, but the most fun to watch were those that were presenting their oral reports on the cathedral.

There's so much to see and report on—I wonder how they divide up this awesome task. There's the history, the architecture, the organist (who we got to meet and talk with yesterday) and his music—the list goes on and on!

To list just a few of the tidbits about the cathedral:

• Construction began on the current cathedral in the 12th century. 
• Richard the Lionhearted's heart is buried here. 
• Claude Monet painted a series of paintings of the cathedral—the same scenes at different times of the day and in different weather conditions.
• The cathedral was nearly destroyed in the bombing that led up to the D-Day invasion in 1944 and has been undergoing restoration ever since.

The changing light of Honfleur

There's something about the light. Painters, especially in the 19th century, have flocked to Honfleur because of the irresistible quality of the light reflected from the Seine estuary. This light has inspired painters such as Courbet, Monet, and Boudin. So in honor of Monet, here is the Honfleur port, Monet-style.

However, I think these artists had an advantage. Unlike us, they could wait for the light. Judging by the postcards in town, I'd guess that the weather in this area is often rainy and overcast (and cold!) like today. This postcard says "Normandy seen by Google Earth."

In addition to its artistic appeal, Honfleur is the home of the Sainte-Catherine church, which is the largest church made out of wood in France. We walked by this beautiful old church just as mass was ending. As the priest greeted his parishioners, it felt like Sunday-after-church anywhere.

We will never forget

Visiting the Normandy American Cemetery was a sobering experience. Approaching the cemetery, all you see is row upon row of white marble crosses. The American Cemetery is the final resting place for 9,387 of our military dead.

Walking through the never-ending crosses, I noticed a ceremony at the flagpoles. I recognized the same baseball caps I had seen in Memorial Day celebrations on the heads of the old soldiers in Downey. The caps identify them as soldiers and where they fought and served.

This was a gathering of some of the D-Day soldiers who had survived and came back to honor their fallen comrades.

"Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifice."
~ Harry S. Truman, President of the United States

Omaha Beach

"The battle belonged that morning to the thin, wet line of khaki that dragged itself ashore on the Channel coast of France."
~ General Omar N. Bradley, U. S. First Army Commander

Almost 70 years ago, on June 6, 1944, over 5,000 vessels—the largest invasion force in history—stood out to sea just off the shore of Normandy, awaiting the signal to land in Europe and start the long task of beating back Hitler's army.

Two American infantry divisions and nine companies of U.S. Army Rangers were tasked with taking the 6-mile stretch of beach code-named Omaha, above. Between them and some semblance of safety lay 200-300 yards of beach that offered no protection from the German snipers.

Very little went according to plan. Landing craft were swamped by the rough seas before they reached the beach. Seasickness was prevalent among the troops waiting offshore. Smoke and mist obscured the landmarks they were to use in guiding themselves in, while a heavy current pushed them continually eastward. The pre-landing bombardment was ineffective, so as the boats approached within a few hundred yards of the shore, they came under increasingly heavy fire from automatic weapons and artillery. (Wikipedia)

American casualties were estimated at 2,400. Many of these are buried at the American Military Cemetery that overlooks Omaha Beach. In the words of Rene Coty, President of the French Republic, "We do not forget, we shall never forget, the infinite debt of gratitude that we owe to those who have given all for our freedom."

French countryside

Yesterday we took a drive to see the English side of France. Brittany, located on the northwest corner of France, was inhabited by peoples of the English isles for centuries. What I loved about our drive was seeing the miles and miles of vegetation and the endless variety. It was fun to guess the name of the plant we were looking at even if we were usually wrong.

This path took us to "the valley of no return" and "mirror lake of the fairies," both a part of the whole Merlin legend.

Horses on the street

On Sunday, we visited the town of Chartres, France, because we wanted to see the cathedral there named Notre Dame. We also visited the town on foot.

One thing that impressed me about the town was the narrow streets. In the 1400s these buildings were built this close together to conserve space within the city walls. There was still plenty of room for the horses used for transportation.



We found out, they still do.