Normandy with Neil and Christine

The weekend after we went to Istanbul we joined Neil and Christine again but this time in Normandy. We were supposed to be meeting up with Neil's brother Owen and his wife Helen who'd been holidaying in France, but unfortunately Owen and Helen had both ended up in hospital very sick. Initially Owen was in hospital with pneumonia and Helen had managed to get Legionnaires Disease! They were in hospital for several weeks, and unfortunately the doctors found a tumor in Owen's lung, so it was then a focus for them to get home and for Owen to get treatment. Neil and Christine did manage to get to see them for one night in Paris before they flew home.

We decided to continue to Normandy and started our trip in Dinan, a beautiful medieval town on the river. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the river and a walk along the old wall. When walking past a beautiful cathedral we heard singing and there was a local choir performing which was lovely to sit and watch.

The next day we headed East for the 3 hour drive to Rouen to visit Ben's Great-Grandfather Jones' grave. He had been injured on the Somme and then transferred to a hospital in Rouen where he ended up dying at the age of 33. It was quite emotional for Ben and Neil to visit the grave, and well worth the trip.

We then drove back West to Caen where we visited the Memorial to Peace which is an amazing exhibition documenting the events from the end of WWI that lead up to and influenced the beginning of WWII. It was a very detailed exhibition and we spent about 3 hours going through the building. We then drove to Bayeaux, another beautiful medieval town where we stopped to see the Bayeaux Tapestry. I'd insisted on going there as I'd learnt about it in Year 8 history, and it's a testament to my history teacher that it had fixed in my mind for so long. And I was really pleased that we did. They had a wonderful audio guide which spoke in length about each panel and the detail that went into it as well as the story. It was quite amazing to see.

It was still light by this stage, so we decided to start driving along the D-Day beaches. The first few have quite resorty towns on them, but as we progressed further you could start to see the remnants of what happened. Specifically the Mulberry Harbours which were towed across from England to allow the landings to happen. We ended up finding accommodation in an apartment on one of the beaches as all of the hotels were fully booked. It was quite a find actually as it provided a beautiful vista over the beach.

The beaches and the remnants of the Mulberry Harbours

Some of the equipment the used - this is a bridge that made up part of the Mulberry Harbours

The beautiful sunrise - one can only imagine the suspense the troops felt on D-Day

Our last day we got up early to head to the American War Cemetery, and this was absolutely amazing. Firstly it was an immaculately kept cemetery and the percision lines that the graves where in was spectacular. Secondly, the 'visitor' centre was the most amazing and moving multi-media exhibition. They had movies, pictures, audio files of veterans recalling their experiences, stories of survival and escape, as well a memorials to the heroes that lost their lives. We spent 3 hours at the cemetery, and 2 of those were in the visitor centre. It is a must for everyone going there.

We then did a speedy drive back to Dinard to fly back to the UK. On the way we stopped at Mont St Michel, which was amazing to see. When we went it was better to see it from a distance as there were so many tourists there, once you were on Mont St Michel, because the streets are so narrow, it was hard to see anything. We only had half an hour, so we did a quick walk on the outside wall and then it was back in the car to head to the airport.

I really enjoyed this weekend because of the history ranging from 1066 to 1944. It was one of the most wonderful places I have visited.

Istanbul with Neil and Christine - Day 3&4

Day 3 started out promisingly with blue skies and warm weather. We decided to head to the Dolmabache Palace which was built between 1843-1856 and housed the final 6 sultans from 1856 up until the abolishment of the Caliphate in 1924. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding leader of the modern Turkish republic, used the palace as a presidential house in summers and died there on 10 November 1938.

Outside the Palace and the changing of the guard

Ataturk's bedroom (the Turkish flag bedspread was added later!) & an ingenious way of hiding the bar!

The amazing chandeliers & Ben with the slippers that we had to wear throughout the palace!

A very ornate bathroom and state room

It was very different to the Topkapi Palace as it was designed in western style with elements of Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classical style. This palace would easily have fit in in France or England and was very much a mix of French design furniture and English Victorian period door-knobs and chandeliers. It was quite revolting at times! We visited the state apartments where official business was held and the Harem. It certainly wasn't as interesting as the Topkapi Palace and has we had to do a guided tour was a lot quicker. The best thing about the palace was the location with wonderful views of the Bosphorous.

By the time we came out and were ready for lunch there was a large black cloud over us. Thankfully despite the wind picking up, thunder and lightning, and a few spots of rain the storm blew over very quickly. We then walked to the Golden Horn and did a ferry cruise up the Bosphorous which was interesting to see the palace from the river and all the residential houses on the European and Asian sides of Turkey.



The bridge linking the European and Asian continents

We were all then exhausted so it was time to head back to the hotel for a rest before dinner.

Day 4 saw Neil and Christine head off for Paris while we occupied ourselves before our late afternoon flight by going to Taksim Square then walking down the long shopping street to Galata Tower which has lovely views over Istanbul. From here you can look over the Golden Horn to the Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque and also over the Bosphorous to the Asian side.