New at Prague Zoo

A new exhibit at the zoo allows the lemur to run around an enclosure and sit on the same seats as visitors. N seemed more concerned than the lemur, but thought it was great.

Also running was the chair lift which saved a lot of walking.

And finally....Amiens and home..well nearly

Amiens
Detail of John the Baptist holding his head, doorway Amiens Cathedral.

The unique Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Amiens holds one of John the Baptists heads - Ross investigated this phenomena and found he had at least 3 heads! It is the tallest complete cathedral in France. Amongst its other treasures is a John the Baptist bone fragment, a brilliant labyrinth maze tiled on its floor and two high relief diorama's showing the death of a martyr on one side and John the Baptists beheading and presentation on platter to Salome on the other. A definite theme, wouldn't you say!


We would have liked to stay longer in Amiens as it seemed like an interesting place. Unfortunately the next morning we had to Eurotunnel it back to England. We found out the next day that our credit card had been skimmed at a teller machine in Amien - 620Euros before the bank stopped the card! The Czech bank was great, very quick to pick it up and willing to courier a new card to us the next day.

Normandy - France

From Cambridge we travelled via Eurotunnel to Lille (the channel is crossed in 20 minutes). Miraculously the seven of us(Adams and Portmans) plus luggage fit quite comfortably in a Renault 2.2 TDi seven seater people mover.

We stayed just outside the town centre at a new hotel called--------. It was very kid/parent friendly with rooms positioned around an atrium courtyard, complete with pool tables, bar and comfy, if not over the top, 'Safari' lounges (all this nestled amongst olive trees planted directly into the ground).




Next morning set off to the Australian War Memorial Villers Bretonneux , Somme. Situated with an idyllic vantage point, overlooking extensive fields of freshly harvested hay and the picturesque town of Fouilloy visible in the distance, it was a very fitting tribute to the men that fought for the peace that ensues there today.

We now have first hand knowledge why people say not to travel in France on long weekends. The traffic to the gite near Villers Bocage was atrocious, particularly getting over the bridge across the Seine near Honfleur, which added a couple of hours to the trip(thank goodness for Gameboys!).

The gite
The closest village was Montchalvet (a 20 minute walk along a blackberry laden road) . Main shopping in Viller Bocage.
Kids spent many hours playing in the pool, while parents spent many hours playing cards, lazing in the sun or picking wild blackberries to go with the meringue dessert.

Day Trips:
Bayeux.
It's main treasure is the 70 metres long Bayeux tapestry which we all enjoyed seeing with audio commentary retelling (the French version) of William the Conquerors ascension to the English throne in 1066. Afterwards we wondered through town and poked our head into Bayeux's gothic Notre Dame Cathedral during the Assumption day service.
Centre Guillaume-le-Conquerant-Tapisserie de Bayeux

Arromanches/Gold Beach:

Perfect afternoon was then spent at Arromanches, just north of Bayeux. Remains of Mulberry Harbour jut out of the ocean and the sandy beach. Gold Beach was the main assault beach of the British forces during D-Day landings, and proved to be the most important of the entire invasion because they were able to establish a harbour and port/unloading dock for the invasion.


Mont St Michel:

Next major attraction visited was Mont St Michel on Mont-Tombe (Tomb on a Hill). The Benedictine Abbey and church sit atop the hill surrounded by high walls. Below this is a small town full of restaurants, souvenir shops, a post office, small B&B's and museums. Until a courseway was built, comings and goings from the hill were determined by the fast moving, very strong tides. The lower carpark (cars to left in picture) still goes under water with each high tide. Quicksand is another of the dangers the intrepid tourist is warned of if planning a walk on the flats. But you must also be intrepid to enter inside the walls with the other thousands of tourists fighting their way up the narrow streets! We survived...just!

Granville

Luckily for us we couldn't find any parking in lower Granville. Instead we ended up in the upper town of Granville. Lucky because we stumbled across private little beaches at the base of the ramparts (where the locals go!). We all had a swim and the kids played in the rockpools.

Omaha Beach
The most horrible, rainy day we had was the day we went to Omaha Beach. Needless to say "no pictures!" We did visit one of the D-Day museums while M&M Adams enjoyed a bowl of 'Normandie mussels'.

William the Conqueror's Castle, Falaise

Falaise is famous for its medieval fortress(Château Guillaume-le-Conquérant), where William was born in 1027. Nikita bought a sword and shield (because she really liked J.Adams swords), but once she got it she didn't want to use it(in case it broke) much to the disappointment of J.Adams.

Honfleurs
On the trip back to Lille we stopped in to the pretty, little seaside port of Honfleurs. As we approached Honfleurs the sun decided to shine, for the first time all day, so we decided to stop. We were all glad we did. Very picturesque, even when it started to rain again.

We're Back, almost.........

Back in Cambridge. Heading home to Prague on Tuesday.................

Hope I can remember the trip.



M

Back in Cambridge

Well we arrived at Mardi & Ross's after spending some of the afternoon at a local pub in Cambridge corrupting our daughter in the finer art of playing pool & drinking beer. The first pub wouldn't let N in but the 2nd couldn't care less. We're too used to Czech pub etiquette. Anything goes !

Quick pint, Thai curry & pool we trolleyed down to Mardi & Ross's place. We've just finished off a couple of CZ bottles of chardonnay, listening to Pink Floyd & planning our next adventure after France. Dolomites !!!!!

Tootles, M

Gone To Our French Villa.........

Back soon..................ou-la-la.

Lapidarium National Museum

This museum holds mostly original stone sculpture from Bohemia of the C11th to C19th.
Lapidarium

The collection displays over 400 items including: decorative columns from the crypt of the former basilica of St Vitus; intricately carved capitals with columns; Tombstones, one of Wencesles II's 10th daughter(Guta II);


the original Equestrian statue of St.Wenceslas from Wenceslas Square;

original statues from Charles Bridge(the following were torn down from Charles Bridge during the floods in 1784);



the preserved sections of the Krocin Fountain,(originally erected in Old Town Square in 1591-1596, demolished in 1862) made in brown-red marble, takes up a whole room.

Luna Park Prague style

Half an hour from home is Prague's version of Luna Park(Vystaviste, Prague 7) . For $1-$2AUD a ride. It's open Tuesday-Friday 2-10 p.m.; weekends, national holidays and school holidays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m(from St Matthews Day, April 12th). We went on a Tuesday in school holidays around 2pm and had the place nearly to ourselves. Each ride we went on had the maximum of two other people on the ride with us. I think we had longer on the rides than normal, which was great for the Ferris Wheel, but I(J) wanted to get off the 'Twister' sooner than later (I was green for the rest of the afternoon) .

Ferris Wheel


Dodgems for two!!


Jumping Slide

Fairy Floss