Our day was mostly spent in the car driving to the Bordeaux region. It was a 6 hour road trip. The kids passed the time by playing cards, listening to their iPods, playing games on their iPods, sleeping and checking out the scenery. The landscape was different than we expected; very flat with large pine forests. The pines were bare for the bottom three quarters with a puffy pine top. The ground cover was thick with ferns. It reminded us of a place that dino...

After breakfast and packing our lunch we left to find Mont Saint-Michel. Only a half hour drive and we could see the impressive outline in the distance. I noticed online that we would enter for free because of a strike in progress. Apparently there is disagreement about removing the nearby parking lot, which means people now pay a steep parking fee, and take a free shuttle service to reach the mont. From what we could see, it seemed attractive to return the a...

We packed up and moved out by 10:30. By noon we reached Juno beach, where Canada has a museum, "Juno Beach Centre". This is the only Canadian museum in Normandy, and the guides are Canadians as well. The founder, who has since passed on, was a D-Day veteran. Our visit began with a short film in a a simulated landing craft; to get the feeling of being in the ocean, and landing on Juno beach. After the film we entered interactive rooms that gave us insight into...