Pardon My French...: Normany, Amsterdam, and Christmas Windows!

We have had a busy few days!!!! Literally non-stop since Wednesday!!

On Wednesday our family friend, Olivier, called us and said he wanted to take us to see Normandy in Northern France. It was supposed to be very cold but Courtney and I really wanted to go, so we all agreed that Olivier would pick us up at 7 am, and we would drive to have breakfast in Normandy at 9! Well, the weather was BEAUTIFUL, and the trip was even more fascinating than either of us expected!

In Normandy we ate at THE GRAND HOTEL which is right on the beautiful Normandy coast. This hotel is located several miles to the east of the D-Day landing beaches. When we started the day Olivier wasn't sure if we would have time to go and see Omaha beach. But after breakfast we decided to go for it and we drove almost 2 hours along the Normandy Coast. We went past Sword Beach, Juno Beach, and ended up at Omaha Beach!

Seeing Omaha beach puts so much perspective to battle that took place there. First, there is the cemetery where THOUSANDS of headstones represent the thousands of men killed that day. Then you walk to the beach and it is SO SMALL. You stand there and on your right is grass and 30 feet to the left is water and you think, "Wow.. THERE is where the Nazis were, and THERE is where Americans were..." It is very humbling. All over Normandy are WW2 relics on the streets, on the hillsides. It really puts perspective to the fact that all of this only happened about 60 years ago.

After our day at the Normandy Coast, we stopped in the town of RUENE, where Olivier had some business to take care of. There is a beautiful cathedral there.. In fact it is the star of a Monet painting.

On Thursday, we got up and hit the train to Amsterdam! Amsterdam was amazing. I was envisioning sort of a "Las Vegas for Hippies" atmosphere, but it was really NOTHING like that!

It was a clean, classy, young city! It manages to maintain its quaintness but is really quite modern! Also, everyone speaks English... which was nice!

On Thursday, we got off the train and into a cab.. 15 minutes later the cab driver dropped us off at the wrong hotel and took off. The cab drivers there are the WORST I have ever seen. Total and complete idiots. If I ever incur a severe brain trauma, and am deemed by the state of California as 'nearly retarded,' I could still make a living by being a cab driver in Amsterdam.

Once we found and walked to the right hotel, we dropped off our bags and headed out. Amsterdam is actually pretty small, totally walkable. The hostess at our WRONG hotel was nice and gave us a map and told us that on Thursday their, "Shopping district" was open late, and that its a fun place to walk. So after lunch we headed to that area.. I was sort of expecting a touristy, "Niketown, Hot Topic, Crabtree and Evalyn" type of street... (Much like the Champs Elysee is becoming) but it turned out it was almost all little boutique stores.. and HUNDREDS of them! Very cool.. C was in Heaven. And, since it gets dark at 4 pm there, all of the Christmas lights over the street lit up out path in a festive way!

After the shopping, I looked at the map and we were RIGHT next to the RED LIGHT DISTRICT. We HAD to see this... Again, I was expecting "Seedy" and dirty... But it was not like that at all! There were actually TOUR GROUPS of people walking around!!

The Red Light district is HILARIOUS. It's a bunch of sex shops, marijuana bars, and a scattering of pubs and restaurants. The RED LIGHTS themselves are a sight. Its a window, and behind the window is a woman, usually dressed in something skimpy and white (they use black lights inside so their white clothes glow), and men literally open the door a bit, ask "HOW MUCH?" and if they aren't interested, walk away, and if they are, walk inside and the girl closes the blinds! The red lights themselves are literally red lights above the windows of these little spots. We saw a bunch of guys asking, and a few going in, just randomly. The thing C and I both noticed too was that a few of the women were actually really pretty! We were shocked. Keep in mind, this was only a small percentage.. But still...

After that, we found an Argentinian steakhouse and ate a great dinner! C got serenaded by the guitar player.

After dinner, idiot cab driver #2 tried to take us home, got lost, and I had to use my blackberry GPS to get (and GIVE HIM) turn by turn instructions to get there. We still got dropped off 3 blocks away.

On Friday, we got up for our MUSEUM DAY! First thing we did was rent bikes! Bikes are a great way to get around there, and everyone rides them. Lots of big wide bike lanes. Our first stop of the day was the ANNE FRANK HOUSE. The actual house where her family hid. This place had a very powerful feeling, and a lot of people started crying while going through it. It really chokes you up to actually see and feel what it much have been like. A special treat there was actually seeing little Anne Frank's Diary which concluded the tour.

After the Museum, we went to lunch at a place that is known for their apple pie and recommended by the friendly bike rental store. While we were sitting there, it started HAILING HARD! It was cool to see... It was supposed to storm rain the whole time we were there, and by some fluke we lucked out, and we were usually inside eating or at a museum when the rain hit.. We stayed mostly dry!

After that, we tried to go to the Rembrandt museum and on the way stopped off at the, "Pier 39-ish" Torture Museum. It was gross.. I don't know why C dragged me there!

The Rembrandt museum ended up being closed, and by this point it was 5:30 and really, really cold so we decided to return the bikes and go to the VAN GOGH museum. This museum was like a club. Open until 10pm on Friday's and with a DJ spinning records in the main hall. Over 200 Van Gogh paintings were here on display, as well as an exhibit of 125 of the best masterpieces in Amsterdam. (A lot of the museums are being renovated so their best stuff was there.. cool bonus!)

After that, idiot cab driver #3, tried to take us to a restaurant we wanted to try and again I had to give him turn by turn from my blackberry. Then once we got there, the restaurant was closed, and C has the name of another.. So we give it to him, and he pulls out HIS GPS and types the address in!!! Where was this 5 minutes ago??

Anyhow.. We got to the second choice restaurant and it was fantastic. C got fish, I had pheasant, and we were both very happy. Afterwards, it was 11 and I was tired, but C was persistent to find a whiskey bar we had heard about the previous night from a friendly Irish bartender.. My objections aside, we ended up there and had a blast. We ended up staying until 2 am with a group of Australians we met! (This bar was amazing... over 300 whiskies!)

On our walk home it snowed and we got snowed on.. It was really fun!

On Sat, we got up and packed our bags. We had a small breakfast and tried to go to the Rjieks museum, but the line was LONG, not moving, and it was snowing again, so instead we took a boat ride up the canal, and when were got near the train station, got off and did some shopping. C was trying to find a charm, but unfortunately we never did. So after that, we hopped on the train and 4 hours later were back in Paris!

Then TODAY, Olivier called us and asked if we wanted to go see the Christmas themed windows at Gallerie Lafayette. Olivier and his wife, Ellen, have a 5 year old daughter, Marie, and 3 year old twin boys. ALL adorable! We were excited to see the family again, so we went to check them out! The windows were really, REALLY amazing. All animatronic, but with marionette style controls. Bears scuba diving, space dolls dancing, Alice and Wonderland theme windows.. We were really blown away!! They obviously put a lot of time into this!!!

Below are pics from today with the windows, Amsterdam, and Normandy. Not in chronological order, but they are grouped together by event!

CHRISTMAS WINDOWS!

Olivier's daughter posing for me. I didn't ask her to do this... She was actually trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, and when she saw the camera did this!

One of the Alice in Wonderland theme windows.. All the rabbits were animated.

Underwater Scuba bears... Look at the crowd!

Underwater bear close up!

Me on "3 year old seeing above the crowd" duty.. This is one of Olivier's twins!

AMSTERDAM

C at the whiskey bar, right at home with a whiskey and beer...

C being woo'd by the guitar player. This guy was awesome, and we may fly him to California for the wedding.

C and I at 2:30 am, betting snowed on!

COURTNEY IS AMSTERDAM

Courtney and some red light girls.. You cant directly take a picture of them, or a big guy will run out and break your camera (seriously).. so if you want one, you have to do it under the guise of taking a pic of something else.. Even still, the second the girls see a camera, they all move and hide their faces... Note that you cant see any of the 3 girls faces behind Courtney..