Belguim and France

We got an early start to beat all the traffic in Belgium and we made really good time. Our first stop was in Brugges, Belgium. It is a medieval city and is beautiful. We were all amazed when we stepped out of the car but especially Garth. It was early and there weren't many people around yet. The day was perfect and we had a great time roaming around this town. They call Brugges the Venice of the north because of all the canals that run through it. Jip is so excited to be here can't you tell. At one time Brugges was one of Belgiums most important cities for trade and shipping.

More beautiful pictures of this city.
Preston is trying to Garth's picture stance here.
Here they are together doing the stance.
We had a wonderful time wandering and being surprised at the view we found around each corner.
In one of the many churches in Brugges, is the only statue of Michelangelo's that left Italy during his life time. It isn't his best work, but it is pretty darn good, and would fool me.

More great buildings.
Another one of the churches.
We took a break from the city and went to the History of Chocolate museum. It was interesting and I didn't know that chocolate was introduced to Europe from Cortez when he conquered the Aztecs. Seeing how much Preston and I love chocolate, it is a stretch to think that Preston is really taking a bite out of this chocolate egg. The museum was narrow and we didn't like the rude Dutch kids that pushed their way around. Even Jip and Anita were annoyed at them.

We took our leave of Belgium and headed to France and the Normandy coast. We stopped at a rest area and Anita said that we had to be close to the ocean and when we climbed over the hill - there it was! It was such a clear day that we could we across the English Channel and see the white cliffs of Dover. I'm pointing to them and even though they aren't visible in the picture, believe me they are there.
We had to cross the Port de Normandie bridge to get to Caen where we would spend the night. The bridge is fairly new and was amazing but it was hard to get a picture of because we couldn't just stop and get out for photos.

After checking into our hotel rooms we wanted needed to feed our ever hungry boys and decided to head to the coast. We ended up driving to Coruseulles sur Mer for dinner. This is the spot where the Canadians landed on D-Day. The tank greeted us right by our parking space.
The tide was out so we were able to walk way out on to the beach. This beach is named Juno Beach and there were monuments all over to the Canadians. The Canadians were the first of the Allied forces to make it a shore that morning.
The beach is so beautiful that it is hard to imagine that men fought and died here.
After our walk on the beach we found a little place for dinner and then walked through this beautiful little town.