Places in Normandy

There are some famous places in Normandy and Gabe and I have done our best to get to them. Probably the two most famous are the D-Day Beaches and Mont Saint Michel. Both were striking in there own ways.

Below is Mont Saint Michel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_saint_michel), an abbey that is about 15 miles from the cheese farm. It's been around for a long time, making the tour quite fascinating.

This is a picture of some of the nearly 10,000 graves at the American Military Cemetary near Omaha Beach. The visit was rather sobering and raised some challenging questions...

Cheese Farm

Well my days at the cheese farm are numbered and it's been well worth my while to be here. It turns out that cheese farms (at least this one) don't smell bad and produce (at least this one) very tasty cheese.

The operation is very simple, with 30 goats and 3 cows for producing milk, 10 pigs for consuming the leftovers from the cheese production, and 2 very affectionate cats for killing mice. There is a special place in my heart for each kind of animal, as turns out they are all hilarious in their own ways.

We haven't been sleeping in a house, we've been sleeping in a Yurt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt). It feels like a really big tent and turns out to be great for sleeping. The cat in the bottom right loves to clean my fingers.

The farmhouse is down a hill and across a creek from the Yurt. The cheese room, the milking room, the shower/laundry room, and the goat's sleeping quarters are all under one roof.

This is Emeric, our host, driving the tractor. You can see the caravan, also known as the kitchen, in the background. Emeric is blocking the dry/composting toilet. Simply add woodshavings to your bowel movements and you have an outhouse that not only produces compost, but also has that natural pine scent.

The cows get to graze with a view of Mont Saint Michel. If there is any question about the quality of life for these cows, this picture should go a long way in alleviating that concern.

The pigs truly behave like pigs. They squeal every time they see you in the hopes of getting food. The best way to get them to pose for a picture is to tempt them with apples.

Goats are the fan favorite of almost every visitor and understandably so. They are cute, curious, and friendly.

Weekend in Paris

The cheese farm is about 3 hours from Paris, which is manageable if you have a long weekend. Gabe and I worked it out so we could take a Thursday and Friday off and met up with Gabe's brother-in-law's sister, who was kind enough to take us to as many spots in Paris as we could go in four days.

While we visited many other places besides the ones shown in the pictures below, hopefully this gives a reasonable summary.

The Eiffel Tower is big, and some would say ugly (at least during the day), but it is also rather impressive and a required visit for tourists like ourselves. Gabe and I waited in line to go the top; and while the day was a little hazy, it was perfect weather for flying paper airplanes.

Gabe and I had heard about the Champs-Elysees, which is reputedly the most beautiful street in the world, with exclusive retail spots and incredibly high real estate values. Before we made it to the actually beautiful tree-lined promenading part, we found the McDonald's, which we agreed (and many Parisians with us) was the perfect break between browsing the latest from Louis Vuitton and picking out a new Mercedes-Benz.

The obligatory picture proving I saw the Mona Lisa.

Gabe and I trying to look cool with a wonderful view of Paris behind us.

It just so happened we were in Paris for a big semi-final match between France and England in the Rugby World Cup. They installed some massive screens on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and ten of thousands showed up to watch. I recall a particularly subdued ride back home on the Metro that night.
On our last day, we drove out to Versailles. The weather was outstanding, so we didn't go inside at all and spent our time strolling through the unending gardens. It was the perfect place for a picnic.