This stuff looks like way too much physical activity. We thought we'd be at the pool with wine and food...
The RAD Stanleys celebrate Marc and Barbara's 35th Anniversary
We leave tomorrow. We're all packed. All we have to do is hop into this folder and drive to the party. We're not sure how we'll look at the end. But we're pretty sure that wine will be involved.
Chez nous, January 2009
16 Rue Elzevir, Paris 70003
Suzanne and I have rented an apartment in the Marais District in Paris for a week. It will be our base for exploring Paris. And we hope - even in a such a short time - it will feel like our neighborhood.
We hope to find a cafe right around the corner and make it "our" cafe. There's a wine store across the street where we hope to pick up a bottle something just right to go with the produce and cheese we find that day at the marche. And who could resist ducking in every day to "our" patisserie for croissants, baguettes or eclairs?
And since every neighborhood (voisinagae) has neighbors, maybe we'll find a "voisin" or two.
Remains of the day
It was a perfect day on Cape Cod. Sunny. Crisp. But there's a little more at this time of year.
There's an energy of enthusiasm for the upcoming "season". Everyone's letting down their winter guard, letting their summer hopes out. It's Cape Cod's version of spring cleaning. It's great to be around that kind of buzz.
The house we wanted for September is available. And it's perfect. After looking at six other houses, I was convinced about the first one. Bruce didn't need convincing. He had been ready 4 hours earlier.
I found my way to a favorite Italian restaurant - Abbicci - ordered a glass of wine and called Bruce to share my findings. We agreed on house #1 immediately.
We sealed the deal then started talking about being on the Cape in September - who we'd invite... what we'd do. We allowed ourselves to get out our Cape Cod sprintime hopefullness for another great season.
Beachfront coffee break
I arrived at the Beach Cottage in Cape Cod late last night - too late to really see anything. I went to sleep anxious for the light of day so I could get a lay of the land.Got up bout 645 to make coffee and walk on the beach. It's cold! So I bundled up and went onto the deck - 200 feet from the waters edge - to drink my coffee and watch the morning.
A few folks walking their dogs passed but otherwise, I have the whole beach to myself.
There's an early morning haze over the distant water that is burning off to make for a spectacular April day. I'm on the lookout for whales. The newspaper says there have been many sitings just off of Spring Hill Beach - my personal beach for the weekend.
I can't wait to finish my house looking today and come back to my beach cottage. I have a longtime fantasy of spending January on Nantucket - reading, taking long walks on the beach, bundling up by the fire in the evening. This gets pretty close and, luckily, I have an excellent imagination....
Wish you were here,
L.
The Louvre - a work of art
We dedicated Thursday to visiting the Louvre. We were anticipating crowds, so we dedicated the entire day for the visit. We had only a vague idea what we wanted to see - the top 10 hits, some of the Egyptian collection and...whatever...
Our only "edge" was knowing about an alternative entrance - at the Porte des Lions, on the river side. Interestingly neither the concierge nor the cab driver knew about it. We steeled ourselves as we walked in, not knowing what to expect.
Turns out, no one uses that entrance, so we breezed in. But the real bonus was that it deposited us right at the entrance to the Louvre's Primitive arts collection. Or at least what is left of it since the collection has moved to the new Primitive Arts museum - the Musee du Quai Branley. The pieces that we saw were spectacular.
Our first interaction with the Louvre? No waiting, an art collection we weren't expecting and we had the collection to ourselves. Who knew?
After our idyllic first hour, we did see the top 10, some of the Greek collection, some of the Egyptian collection and some of...whatever... Two hours later, we staggered out of the Sully Wing, bouncing off of the walls, drunk on art. We needed a glass of wine to sober up.
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
The cemetery is located on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach. It contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II.
Our guide in Normandy, Frederic Guerin, patiently answered our many questions of "...how many...?". At the same time, he was always careful to caution us that the statistics about D-Day vary due to the scope of the operation, limited record keeping abilities and lack of uniform reporting standards.
The information about what was deployed is more accurate. (from the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, England.)
Some 195,700 personnel were assigned to Operation Neptune - the assault and all operations required to establish a beachhead in France.
On D-Day, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy. Operation Neptune involved huge forces beyond the landing troop figures:
- 1213 naval combat ships,
- 4126 landing ships and landing craft,
- 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels.
- Six parachute regiments -- over 13,000 men.
- More than 300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal Normandy immediately in advance of the invasion.
- 11,590 aircraft were available to support the landings. 127 were lost.
- In the airborne landings on both flanks of the beaches, 2395 aircraft and 867 gliders of the RAF and USAAF were used on D-Day.
That was on D-Day. Victory in Europe (VE Day) was May 8, 1945. Eleven months later.
As ever,
L.
Hedgerows
In the WWII movie, Patton, General Omar Bradley asked General George Patton to take on the job of breaking out the US Army from the Normandy beaches. "We're having a hell of a time getting through hedgerow country", Bradley says. "We need you."
Why would you have trouble going through hedgerows? Just point those Sherman tanks and plow!
It all made sense when I saw a hedgerow just south of Omaha Beach. Click on photo below.
A hedgerow - aka brocage - is:
- a 3 - 5' ditch
- with 10 -15' dirt mound next to it
- with hedges on top of the 10' dirt mounds.
Now, that sounds like a task for Patton.
As ever,
L.
PS. I just heard on this trip that a friend's aunt, an army nurse, landed in Normandy a few days after D Day. She was assigned to Patton's army and was with him for the entire hedgerow country campaign - Campaign Cobra - the breakout from Normandy. Thank you.
From a short report about overcoming the hedgerows in Operation Cobra, the breakout from Normandy campaign:
A significant tactical dilemma facing the US Army in Normandy was the local terrain, called bocage in French.... These hedgerows are denser, thicker, and higher in Normandy than elsewhere along the French coast. From a military perspective, they were ideal for defence, since they broke up the local terrain into small fields edged by natural earthen obstacles...The bocage undermined the US Army's advantages in armour and firepower, and the hedgerows gave the German defenders natural shelter from attack. This type of terrain most adversely affected the US sector of the Normandy beach-head. ...the area south of Caen where most of the British offensives took place was a more conventional form of terrain with, relatively open, rolling fields.
Blogged down but not out
Well, my first venture of reporting from the road didn't work as well as I had hoped. But I certainly learned a lot about the process. You have to make time to do it. And you have to have Internet connection. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and Internet midway. But the project still had an impact on me.
A good example of this happened at the D Day landing beaches.
When we were there, one of my responses was one of overwhelming admiration - and gratitude - for the soldiers who jumped out of the landing crafts to storm the beaches (click on photo). I have trouble diving into a cool pool in summer. They jumped into the cold Atlantic, weighed down with many pounds of gear, under enemy fire, with soldiers piling up in front and plowing over from the rear. Not to mention that they had just spent many cold hours bobbing in swelling seas a small jam packed landing craft. Duty bound? Honor bound? That just doesn't even begin to explain it for me. I was overwhelmed with the scope of their contribution to the war efforts.
A little later I started to think about how I could express the impact of this visit on a blog entry. It forced me to think through what I was feeling to understand my response. It deepened the experience for me.
So I'd like to continue this process. I'll continue to "blog" some of the trip. It won't be in real time. It'll be more like the postcards you send when you get home.
As ever,
L.
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