June 21, 2017. Saint Lo, France. It’s 11:49 pm on the longest day of the year, and live music is blasting outside my window. We’re in the cute little city of Saint-Lo, France, tonight, in a really nice 3rd floor flat overlooking the main town square — all of which would be great if it weren’t for the fact that there is a once-per-year music festival taking place right outside our windows until 1 am. Coincidentally, we will also be going to bed at 1 am tonight. They have blocked off the entire downtown to cars, which made getting to our flat a bit of a challenge. Still, a fun and unique experience.

The day started early with Harrison and I picking up our ridiculous van in the Louvre parking lot. He brought his little Syrian refugee care package along, but it was too early for them to be out in the metro stations. We had a few complications getting to the van (it was too early for the Louvre or the mall to be open), but soon we were very carefully driving through the streets of Paris.

After picking up Jo, the other kids, and our luggage, we headed to Versailles. Traffic circles are confusing enough in Paris, but our route took us through the mother of them all: the roundabout circling the Arc de Triomphe, which is only the world’s largest roundabout and reportedly Europe’s craziest. And we hit it at peak morning rush hour, in a new van with an uber-sensitive clutch. Entering the circle was like drifting into a driving no-person’s land, with no painted lines, seemingly no rules, and mopeds, motorcycles, trucks, cars, and vans, all vying for space and trying to enter and turn off the twelve roads that come together. It was truly something to experience. We soon realized, having entered, that it was actually hard to know where to get off, even with a GPS. Somehow we avoided approximately half a dozen near hits and side-swipes and were soon on our way. Eden recorded it–in part just to record Jo and I talking to each other, navigating it. Too funny.

And then: that ginormous chateau of Louis XXIV — Versailles. It was as over the top and as gaudy as I had remembered it. The kids have been to the Newport Mansions in RI, which are of course also nuts. But they pale in comparison to the sheer size of Versailles. We followed the masses through the various rooms and halls, including the famous Hall of Mirrors, and then headed out back for a quick viewing of the humungous gardens.

After a long stop a Monoprix for groceries (customer service and adequate staffing are not strengths of the French…), we hit the road headed to Normandy in northern France. The highways here are nice and well maintained, although toll booths seem to come up far too quickly. At least they take credit cards!

The first stop in Normandy was the American Cemetery (officially US soil, I believe), which never fails to inspire. 9,000 American soldiers are buried there, many of whom died during the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. The cemetery is located at the wide and stunning Omaha Beach on the English Channel. I think the kids especially had a hard time wrapping their heads around it all. If you’ve seen Saving Private Ryan, you have a sense of the horror of that day on that very spot.

A short drive later, and we were at Point du Hoc, where several hundred American Rangers scaled the impressive 100 foot cliffs to control a key German gun station. The grounds are impressive and moving, in part because the large holes from the Allied shells are still there (although now kids run up and down them, as ours did). Still, a beautiful, moving place.

The drive to Saint-Lo was not bad — a combination of cute little back roads and highways. The music festival in Saint-Lo created an extra hour or so of difficulty — trying to find parking and our Air BnB flat. But in the end, all was well, and we headed out for a yummy crepe dinner at 9 pm.

For the record, it is now 12:50, and the music hasn’t abated around the city (although the stage outside our flat is closing down). Kids seem to be out in their quieter but stuffy rooms.

Peace to all.