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January 9, 2001
Travel Day Woke up around 9:30 a.m. and went over my last minute prep stuff. I made sure I had everything. I needed more boxers so I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way to the airport. I got what I needed and headed for the funeral home in East Syracuse. We stopped at the calling hours for Angela's Dad. May he Rest in Peace. Eliza looked very sweet. She held my hand the entire time I was there. I will miss her and Kathy most of all.
I arrived at the airport at 3:45 and was the first one there. Gary showed up around 4:10 and we waited for Phil, Pete, and Mike. Lisa, Kelly, and Mike's mom came with them to see us off. WSTM News sent a crew to the airport to film us getting on the plane.


We left Syracuse approximately twenty minutes late and the take off was somewhat bumpy. Pete was nervous as we boarded the twin-engine, sixteen-seat plane. He seemed ok after we were in the air. Soon we were above the clouds and it was smooth flying. I loaded Hank Williams into my CD player, sat back, and relaxed. Half an hour later we were in Toronto, were we would switch from the little vomit comet to a Boeing 767. Due to our late departure from Syracuse we were, of course, late for our connecting flight.
As we passed through customs, I got the scare of my life. They agents asked us the usual questions and afterwards, sent Pete, Phil, Mike, and Gary down a corridor to the right but told me to go down the one to the left. I guess that I didn't look right and they were going to give me the old "rubber-glove" treatment. I indicated that I was with the rest of my group and I asked the customs officer why they were sending me one way, and all my friends the other. He seemed surprised that I was with four "normal" looking guys. He asked me "Oh, you're with them?" I said that I was and the rest of the guys backed me up. He looked at us for a few seconds and told me to never mind and go to the right with my friends. My heart didn't stop racing for quite a while after that bout of excitement.
Phil's Ass & First Class

We went outside to have a smoke and wait for the shuttle to take us to the correct terminal to catch our plane. The shuttle bus was running late and compounded our time problem. It finally arrived and took us to the terminal entrance. As we were walking towards our departure gate (at the other end of the huge building) we heard the "last call" for passengers on our flight and had to run for gate EE. Phil was not wearing a belt and as we ran, his pants kept falling down. He ended up showing half of Toronto his ass. I don't care what the weathermen or astronomers say, there was a full moon in Toronto that night!
We got to the gate in the nick of time and the flight attendants yelled at us for being late. We explained our situation, they apologized, and all was well. We hurried to our seats.
We were the last ones on the plane and had to sit all the way in the rear of first class. They served us pretzels and drinks. I ordered a Scotch and Coke. When my glass got empty the flight attendant asked me if I would like another. It was free, so I said; "What the Hell!" and I got another. When my glass got empty the flight attendant asked me if I would like another. It was free, so I said; "What the Hell!" and I got another. This went on for a several hours. They kept asking and I kept drinking. And they just kept bringing me more…
A few hours later they served us our meal. You always hear comedians talk about how terrible airline cuisine tastes. It must only be on the US airlines and not Air Canada. The food they served was delicious.
Dinner consisted of orange-glazed chicken with oriental veggies and rice, rolls, cheese & crackers, a cheesecake-like dessert, and a small bottle of wine. Pete didn't like the wine and gave me his. I finished the wine and ordered a coffee.
Lots of Scotch & Culture Shock
After dinner was two movies: The Replacements and the twentieth anniversary re-release of Jaws. I watched The Replacements and it was very funny. I chose not to watch Jaws again and started chatting with another passenger named Steve.
Steve was from Ireland and owns a record label. He was also drinking Scotch and got me started on another one with him. It just kind of snowballed from there. We drank lots of Scotch, talked, told jokes, and we laughed a lot. He wants to meet up with us in Paris and go drinking and I hope that he does.
He is a cool guy and very friendly. He gave me a cell phone number to reach him at in Paris and we returned to our seats.

I sat down and talked with Pete for a while. Being that it was both of our first times on a jumbo jet, Pete and I both kept saying how we couldn't even tell we were on airplane. The ride was so smooth. Only small amounts of turbulence every once in a while made you aware that you were moving. We talked for a little while longer, and then I dozed off for about an hour. I woke up to sunshine, blue skies,and breakfast. I ate fruit, banana bread, yogurt, and had two coffees.

About an hour later, we landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport, outside of Paris. The landing was perfect and we all applauded. Through the plane's window, we watched our bags being unloaded. We exited the plane and entered the airport. Talk about culture shock!
Charles De Gaulle International Airport
is like any average, large city's airport in many aspects. There are people running to make flights, skycaps helping with bags, rental car agencies, and airline ticket counters just the way you would find them anywhere else.
What made it so different was the fact that everywhere you looked there were black-uniformed French soldiers with automatic weapons! Some were standing at entry doors while others were just walking through the crowd. It was freaky. This was something that was VERY different to me.
At first I was alarmed and thought that something had happened. Phil and Gary reassured me that this was normal for a European airport and I relaxed.
We went to the baggage carousel, retrieved our gear, and then we all went outside to smoke. After about 10 hours, we all needed one. We chain-smoked about three cigarettes each to quell our nicotine addiction and then it was off to the rental car counter to pick up our vehicles. We had arrived in France.

FRANCE - GENERAL INFORMATION
Official Name: République Française
Population: 58,804,944 (1998 estimate)
Capital:
Paris (Pop. 2,152,467)
Official Language: French
Currency: Franc
Anthem: "La Marseillaise" ("The Song of Marseille")
Flag:
Red, white, and blue tricolor flag adopted in 1794

BC 51 Julius Caesar completes Roman conquest of Gaul.
AD 800 Charlemagne crowned emperor of the Romans.
1453 France defeats England in the Hundred Years' War.
1643-1715 Louis XIV consolidates absolute royal authority during his reign.
1789-1799 The French Revolution overthrows monarchy.
1804 Napoleon I, who took power in 1799, declared the First Empire in Paris.
1814 Napoleon is defeated and the monarchy is restored.
1815 Napoleon returns to power, but is ultimately defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.
1848
Revolution leads to the declaration of the Second Republic.
1852
Napoleon III declares the Second Empire.
1870-71 Loss of Franco-Prussian War, ends Second Empire. Third Republic founded.

1914-18 France joins Allies during WWI.
1940 Germany invades France, occupying two-thirds of the country during WWII (1939-45)
1946 After WWII, France adopts new constitution. Fourth Republic founded.
1957 France was a founding member of the European Economic Community.
1958 Charles de Gaulle elected President. New constitution establishes Fifth Republic.
1968 Unrest by students sets off a general strike throughout France.
1969 Charles de Gaulle resigns.
1981 Socialist François Mitterrand elected.
1988 Mitterrand re-elected to a second seven-year term as president.
1994 Tunnel under English Channel is completed, linking France and Great Britain.
1995 Jacques Chirac is elected president.

January 10, 2001
Travel Day Problems at the rental car desk started our day off on a somewhat aggravating note. It seemed (from what I got of the conversation) that our reservations went through for only one car and not for two. After Phil and Gary went through about an hour of hassle, we finally got the keys to both of our vehicles.

We had coffee and baguette sandwiches in the airport coffee shop and went over our plans for the day. After lunch, we located our vehicles, loaded our gear, jumped on the highway, and were on our way. Destination: the city of Bayeux, in the Normandy Region.
Along the way, we passed through many picturesque French villages. We saw beautiful churches, old castles, and ancient farms that had not changed for nearly a thousand years. We stopped for dinner at the equivalent of a French truck stop.

I had sausages and fries. The "sausages" were like French hotdogs. They were not very spicy or sausage-like in the way that we think of sausage, but the mustard was great! We ate and laughed. We stuck out like a sore thumb. We finished our meal, got coffees, and were back on the road.Finally in the evening, we arrived in Bayeux.

Bayeux (pop. 15,000) is the capital of the Bessin. It is a quiet town in the heart of an agricultural region dotted with farms. The fact that Bayeux was the first town that the Allied troops liberated from the Nazis made it an ideal base for our exploration of the nearby D-Day Invasion Beaches.
Due to the twenty centuries of its history, Bayeux has a lot of exceptional architecture that has been incredibly well preserved.

The busy streets were lined with old houses, stylish boutiques, taverns, and brasseries.
We drove around town, checking out the sights and looking for the Motel Amazone on Saint Vigar le Grand. We drove right past it and had to turn around to get back to the parking lot. We checked in, got our keys and went to our rooms.

The rooms were tiny. They had only enough room for two single beds with about six inches of space between them, a small table (at which I sat to write this), a nightstand, and the wooden chair I was sitting on.

I shared a room with Mike; Pete with Gary, and Phil had a room to himself.
The bathrooms made the rooms look absolutely huge! They were about the size of airplane bathrooms with a small shower. At six feet, four inches tall, I am not a small person by any means. I had to crouch down to almost a squatting position to fit under the head of the shower! Even Mike, who is of average height, had to bend down in that shower.
A small TV mounted on the wall showed a total of seven channels: all in French (-duh. We're in France!).
I flipped through the channels until I came across an episode of the show "The Nanny" in French.
It still wasn't funny.


Size aside, the rooms were very clean, comfortable, and most importantly: inexpensive.
Lady Luck, Lottery Tickets & Liquor
We all unpacked and then headed to the bar's motel for cocktails. Gary got started playing French scratch-off lottery tickets. Soon, we were all playing. When the scratching frenzy finished, I was up a whopping total of ten francs (about $1.25 US) to the good side, and called it a night. I left the guys at the bar and made my way back to the room to write in my journal. On the way to the room, I stopped at the desk and let the manager know that all five of us would be having breakfast in the morning. Half an hour later, Mike came to the room and told me that he was going with Gary to scope out some food. I was not hungry, so I said that I would wait until the morning to get croissants, cheese, etc. from the local shops. I could hardly wait. I finished writing and went to bed. Mike came in about an hour or so later. They informed me that they had found a marche (market) where we could get supplies.

January 11, 2001
Port-En-Bessin

We got up at 7 a.m. to begin our first day of sightseeing. Everyone got dressed and headed for the motel restaurant. For breakfast we had fruit, baguettes, cereal, croissants, and coffee. It was all very nice and we ate well.

After breakfast, we returned to our rooms. We grabbed cameras, maps, day bags, and our Let's Go books. We loaded the cars and left.
Mike, our trusty navigator, set us on a course for the Normandy Coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Our destination: a small fishing village called Port-En-Bessin. When we arrived the sun had not yet come up, so it was still dark. We parked the cars near the harbor's breakwater wall and walked down to the sand.

The guys and I walked along the beach as the huge waves crashed onto the shore. By the glow of a flashlight, we searched for shells. The tide was coming in quickly so we left the beach and took the short walk into town. We came to a canal that had a bridge that turned in a circle to allow boats to come through. It was cool.
My companions and I crossed the bridge to a street that ran along the canal. Here were docked many of the local fishing boats. There were men on the boats preparing nets and other equipment for the coming day's work. We stopped to watch them, (and they watched us), for a few minutes, and then we continued on our way.
As the sun came up we went to a little café for coffee. The little shop was full of fishermen discussing the sizes of their catches. It seemed that the number of fish was low and they were not catching as many as they had in previous years.

We ordered our coffees and found a table. We listened to the fishermen for a while and drank our café au crème. We finished our drinks and looked at the vast array of French candies and post cards. I picked out a postcard of the town and a few chocolates. Our shopping completed, we left the café and walked up the street towards a small pastry shop. (The pastry shop is the lit up building to the far left.)
We got to the patisserie and went inside. It smelled wonderful. The cake, tarts, cookies, croissants, etc., all looked like works of art. We ordered various pastries and breads.
We ordered various pastries and breads. I got a warmed "croissant du jambon" (a ham croissant with cheese) and it was AWESOME! The ham was inside and there was shredded cheese all over the outside, which melted and turned gooey after it was heated. It was like nothing I had ever eaten.

I couldn't believe how delicious it was. I also got a small tart type pastry with cream cheese and chocolate which was PHENOMENAL. It was the type of food that made your taste buds stand up, dance, and sing, "Thank You!" Everyone tried everyone else's pastries and breads. They were all incredible.

Water, Water Everywhere and How My Pride Did Shrink
We walked through some of the streets of Port-En-Bessin, eating and taking pictures. As we walked, we came across a post office and we all converted money. We got a good exchange: 6.78 francs to a dollar.
We walked around for a while longer and then headed back to the cars. By this time, (only about an hour and a half later) the tide was in and the huge waves slammed rhythmically against the sides of the breakwater. (It reminded me of my bedroom on any given Saturday night.)

As I was taking pictures of the waves and a lookout tower, I turned backwards to face the car. Just as I did, a huge wave crashed over the rails and soaked me. We all laughed and so did two French guys who saw it. I wrung out as much of the water as I could, gathered up the little bit of pride I had left, and climbed into the car. Next stop: the D-Day Invasion Beaches.