To Dizy, St Mère Eglise Cherbourg and home.

This morning, we set out for Dizy 

near Reims in the Champagne region.  I believe there is a place called Boozy situated in the region also. We arrived in the evening at our Logis, had dinner and retired after a long day of driving. Next day, prior to our departure, we visited a Champagne House. I’m not a great lover of champagne but I did learn that the fewer the bubbles the better the champagne quality. We purchased. 

We travelled to St Mère Eglise, within 30 minutes of Cherbourg. 

We missed the Paris bypass  (use your phone for navigation rather than the car sat nav) and rounded the Bastille twice as the Sat Nav gave up and scooters dangerously wiggled between the traffic!! Eventually, we quitted Paris and made our way north west. 

We have learned from bitter experience that instead of rushing for the ship on the day of departure, it is better to stay nearby the night before. 

We stayed in a quaint hotel in the town square. 

The area is famous for the dropping of parachutists into the town during the Normandy landings 

- a pilot error as they were supposed to land in the countryside and a random fire in the town exposed the parachutists to the Nazis. One of the parachutist’s parachute was caught in the church steeple, which was the Nazis watch tower.

He was there for a number of hours until the Nazis cut him down. He escaped soon afterwards and returned to his regiment. On the 50th anniversary of D Day, he returned to join the celebrations. 

In the church is a stained glass window commemorating the event 

There is an excellent, informative museum in the town which would be of interest to anyone who is a student of WW11. 

From there, we made our way to Cherbourg 

and home.   

 

Strasbourg

Last evening, we arrived at the K hotel on the outskirts of Strasbourg, an ideal location if one is driving. There is a tram, a 10 minute walk away which brings one to the city centre. Across the street was a very good restaurant, where we dined that evening. 

Next day we set out to for Strasbourg. Crossing the vast Keber Square, we arrived at Strasbourg cathedral - so large it was difficult to photograph. 

It is more impressive than Nôtre Dame in Paris 

The interior is magnificent 

In the cathedral is  the famous clock, built by a group of scientists and mathematicians. This is the third clock on site - first built in 14th century, followed by another in the 16th and the present clock  constructed in 1843, when Strasbourg was a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. At solar noon, Christ and his apostles appear and a cock cries thrice. Unfortunately, though I was in the cathedral just prior to noon, we are all evacuated to make way for the queue outside who had booked to see the event!! 

We continued to the river and had a very pleasant  walk along its banks of the Ill. Here too one could take a boat trip

and wait at the locks 

for the water to level off. 

We arrived at Petit France once the centre of the tanning industry because of its location by the river. 

We lunched by the river, idyllic in the warm afternoon sunshine. 

We visited the nearby 

We took a tram to Neustadt, an area recreated after WW11’s destruction of the area. It now exhibits fine buildings built around a park 

We ate a traditional dinner at a street off  the cathedral platz, 

in the shadow of the cathedral bathed in evening light 

Tomorrow....

Mulhouse - Colmar - Strasbourg

Today, we set out for Mulhouse, home to the National Train Museum. CC having had his fill of trains, 

we returned north to visit picturesque Colmar, reputed to be the Venice of France. We lunched on 

I’ve become a great fan of the above - they are similar to pizza but lighter. The German influence is very much evident here as the Alsace area was at one time under German rule at another French. 

We walked the city. It was indeed beautiful. 

Plenty of transport graced the streets. 

The Dominican church dominated the city. 

From there we took a short walk to the other side of town to visit 

We  departed the town and drove to Strasbourg.