American economic dominance

[falafel]

That really is beautiful. We should annex Canada.

[Moliere]

I messaged him, but Moli can post his tips here for all if he wants. Both my wife and I served our missions in south western France and we have been back multiple times, we just haven't spent a lot of time in Normandy. We are staying in an AirBnB between the D-day Normandy beaches and Mt. Saint Michel:

In Moli's opinion:

1. What is the best D-day beach(s) and memorial cemetery(s) to visit?
2. What is the best time to get to Mt. Saint Michel, and what else is there to do in that region that you recommend?

... anyone else can chime is also!

to answer BFM: I am a three days maximum in Paris kinda person. I suggest taking a day to visit the Louvre and know that it is closed on Tuesdays. If you don't want to visit the Louvre, you really should visit a museum and the best for the dollar is the Musee D'Orsay. Musee D'Orsay is an impressionists heaven, but also head up to the cafe and out onto the balcony for a great view of the Seine and the city.

Best D-day beaches and memorials: I sent you the file I keep updated but I'll post a brief summary here. It depends on the time you have, but if you only have half a day, I'd recommend Omaha Beach, American cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer, Point du hoc and maybe the Longues-sur-mer battery...but that would be a full half day and you'd have to spend very little time at each. If you have more time (a full day) you need to visit Saint-mere-eglise and the Airborne museum that is right next to the Sainte-mere-eglise church. Go into the church and look at the stained glass windows. Utah beach isn't as 'touristy' but it's close to Sainte-mere-eglise. However, my real recommendation is to plan for 2-3 days because there is so much to see and you'll pass places you'll want to stop and visit. We are going to Normandy next May and are planning on visiting a lot of places we've never been (Dead mans' corner, Arronmanches, Saint Lo, Caen Museum, etc.) since we've always just hit the highlights.

The Mont Saint Michel is a crazy zoo anytime in the summer. If you want it to be less crowded, I'd get there right as it opens up or get there later in the afternoon. The tour buses start dumping people off around lunch time and it clears out pretty well by 4pm ish. The best thing to do is to stay in a hotel on the island because after 6pm or so the crowds are all gone and you feel like you have the ramparts to yourself. There are a lot of hotels on the mainland (about 1.5 miles away) and you could also stay there but then you'll have to leave the island at night. Keep in mind the place is an absolute tourist trap but it's still cool to visit. There isn't much else to visit that is close except for St. Malo. I've never been there but plan to visit it when I do a Brittany trip. St. Malo is an old medieval town with ramparts around the old city. Rennes is the closest large city and might be worth a half day visit. I'd probably wrap both of those towns into a Brittany visit though since there is a lot else to see on the coast (Quimper, Lorient, Brest, etc.). The nice thing about Rennes is you can take a TGV to Paris from there and I think it only takes 1.5 hours if you get a direct train.

[Pelado]

Best D-day beaches and memorials: I sent you the file I keep updated but I'll post a brief summary here. It depends on the time you have, but if you only have half a day, I'd recommend Omaha Beach, American cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer, Point du hoc and maybe the Longues-sur-mer battery...but that would be a full half day and you'd have to spend very little time at each. If you have more time (a full day) you need to visit Saint-mere-eglise and the Airborne museum that is right next to the Sainte-mere-eglise church. Go into the church and look at the stained glass windows. Utah beach isn't as 'touristy' but it's close to Sainte-mere-eglise. However, my real recommendation is to plan for 2-3 days because there is so much to see and you'll pass places you'll want to stop and visit. We are going to Normandy next May and are planning on visiting a lot of places we've never been (Dead mans' corner, Arronmanches, Saint Lo, Caen Museum, etc.) since we've always just hit the highlights.

The Mont Saint Michel is a crazy zoo anytime in the summer. If you want it to be less crowded, I'd get there right as it opens up or get there later in the afternoon. The tour buses start dumping people off around lunch time and it clears out pretty well by 4pm ish. The best thing to do is to stay in a hotel on the island because after 6pm or so the crowds are all gone and you feel like you have the ramparts to yourself. There are a lot of hotels on the mainland (about 1.5 miles away) and you could also stay there but then you'll have to leave the island at night. Keep in mind the place is an absolute tourist trap but it's still cool to visit. There isn't much else to visit that is close except for St. Malo. I've never been there but plan to visit it when I do a Brittany trip. St. Malo is an old medieval town with ramparts around the old city. Rennes is the closest large city and might be worth a half day visit. I'd probably wrap both of those towns into a Brittany visit though since there is a lot else to see on the coast (Quimper, Lorient, Brest, etc.). The nice thing about Rennes is you can take a TGV to Paris from there and I think it only takes 1.5 hours if you get a direct train.

Is St. Malo the town featured in All the Light We Cannot See?

[Moliere]

Is St. Malo the town featured in All the Light We Cannot See?

I’ve never seen the movie and if I did try to watch it it sounds like a movie I’d sleep through.

[tooblue]

Best D-day beaches and memorials: I sent you the file I keep updated but I'll post a brief summary here. It depends on the time you have, but if you only have half a day, I'd recommend Omaha Beach, American cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer, Point du hoc and maybe the Longues-sur-mer battery...but that would be a full half day and you'd have to spend very little time at each. If you have more time (a full day) you need to visit Saint-mere-eglise and the Airborne museum that is right next to the Sainte-mere-eglise church. Go into the church and look at the stained glass windows. Utah beach isn't as 'touristy' but it's close to Sainte-mere-eglise. However, my real recommendation is to plan for 2-3 days because there is so much to see and you'll pass places you'll want to stop and visit. We are going to Normandy next May and are planning on visiting a lot of places we've never been (Dead mans' corner, Arronmanches, Saint Lo, Caen Museum, etc.) since we've always just hit the highlights.

The Mont Saint Michel is a crazy zoo anytime in the summer. If you want it to be less crowded, I'd get there right as it opens up or get there later in the afternoon. The tour buses start dumping people off around lunch time and it clears out pretty well by 4pm ish. The best thing to do is to stay in a hotel on the island because after 6pm or so the crowds are all gone and you feel like you have the ramparts to yourself. There are a lot of hotels on the mainland (about 1.5 miles away) and you could also stay there but then you'll have to leave the island at night. Keep in mind the place is an absolute tourist trap but it's still cool to visit. There isn't much else to visit that is close except for St. Malo. I've never been there but plan to visit it when I do a Brittany trip. St. Malo is an old medieval town with ramparts around the old city. Rennes is the closest large city and might be worth a half day visit. I'd probably wrap both of those towns into a Brittany visit though since there is a lot else to see on the coast (Quimper, Lorient, Brest, etc.). The nice thing about Rennes is you can take a TGV to Paris from there and I think it only takes 1.5 hours if you get a direct train.

That will pretty much be our itinerary. Thank you—great advice.

[tooblue]

#canadapoor

This unfortunate Loon fills the night air with its looney song and comes to the same bay most mornings to fish and feed its chicks. If only it knew how poor it is. Sad.

loon1.jpg
loon2.jpg

[LVAllen]

#canadapoor

This unfortunate Loon fills the night air with its looney song and comes to the same bay most mornings to fish and feed its chicks. If only it knew how poor it is. Sad.

It is sad that the poor Loon has only a single CAD to its name.

[tooblue]

#canadapoor

Naive grandchild who's Mom is Guatemalan 2nd generation Canadian and father is seventh generation Utah LDS + seventh generation pasty white Canadian heritage just doesn't understand how poor he is. Sad. Happy Canada Day nonetheless.

CanadaDay.JPEG

[dabrockster]

It seems little brother up north feels some kinda way about a thread title “American Economic Dominance”..

[tooblue]

#canadapoor

Imagine a rural municipality being so poor it can only afford a 20 minute fireworks display and not a 25 minute one. Sad.

fireworks.jpg

[Moliere]

Do you not have enough money to buy a house? All these pictures are from outside and it makes you look homeless.

[Omaha 680]

#canadapoor

This unfortunate Loon fills the night air with its looney song and comes to the same bay most mornings to fish and feed its chicks. If only it knew how poor it is. Sad.

loon1.jpg
loon2.jpg

Shot loons flutter.

[tooblue]

Do you not have enough money to buy a house? All these pictures are from outside and it makes you look homeless.

Winter can feel like it is 9 months of the year. The heat dome finally arrived this week. We are glamping and when the weather is nice, hot and humid, you stay outside in the water and play and then catch turtles and frogs. It is glorious.

#canadapoor

But here you go—the aftermath of our Canada Day. We only had fifteen people up from the city (usually 20 -30). Today we will just lounge around and bake in the sun and cool off in the lake periodically:

exterior.jpg

interior.jpg

[tooblue]

Shot loons flutter.

And frogs croak, and turtles turtle?

frogs.jpg

paintedturtle.jpg

#canadapoor

[Jeff Lebowski]

Shot loons flutter.