Normandy Area of France

HI!

One of the things we like to do is sit in the sun at an outdoor cafe, sipping a drink, and watching the people go by. Deb's enjoying the sun in Bayeux, France, a small town west of Caen.

When we got to Caen, France on the Normandy Coast (not Cannes, France) we were about 10 days into the trip and we wanted to explore the D-Day monuments and the American Cemetery. 

My Dad's brother, Uncle Bob, was an Army Ranger Assault Group member. He and his comrades scaled the 100 meter cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc to disable the German gun batteries overlooking both Utah and Omaha beaches. 

We did tour the battlements overlooking the D-Day beaches and the Overlord Museum, but were disappointed to learn that the American Cemetery was closed due to a downed electrical transformer.
















We did get a chance to use the French Laundry in Bayeux ....... quite a challenge to read the instructions without really knowing French. Deb worked it all out and got the clothes washed and dried about the time two women from the US came in to try their luck. With Deb's translation services, they sailed right through their tasks. 

Love Locks

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We're in Paris, and we've taking the pedestrian bridge, Pont des Arts, from Quai Voltaire where our apartment is located to the other side of the River Seine and the entrance to the Louvre. We noticed a whole side of the bridge covered from the top of the railing to the treads of the bridge covered by "love locks."

This isn't the first time we've seen these locks; we saw them in Salzburg on one of the foot bridges over the River Salzach.














While in Paris, we met a nice young American couple who stopped us and asked us to take their picture; they had just gotten married and were on the bridge to cement their live together by attaching a love lock and throwing the key into the River Seine.

Nice tradition!

At least from the lovers' view point. The City officials all over Europe have a different view. From Wikipedia .......

A love lock or love padlock is a padlock which sweethearts lock to a bridge, fence, gate, or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. Typically the sweethearts' names or initials are inscribed on the padlock, and its key is thrown away to symbolize unbreakable love.

In May 2010 the city of Paris expressed concern over the growing number of love-locks on the .. bridges, stating: "they raise problems for the preservation of our architectural heritage".

In Florence, Italy, 5,500 love padlocks affixed to the Ponte Vecchio bridge were removed by the city council ... because they both pose an aesthetic problem as well as scratch and dent the metal of the bridge.

In Dublin, Ireland, padlocks on the Ha'penny Bridge, River Liffey were taken down by Dublin City Council in early 2012. The padlocks could damage the protected structure .... The padlocks have been criticised for being an eyesore on public structures. They can also cause further damage when they have to be removed ...

In Las Vegas, a 1/2 scale model of the Eiffel Tower located at the Paris Hotel the famed Vegas Strip has inspired visitors to place lovers' locks on the walkway out to the elevators to the top of the tower. Visitors are told not to throw the key from the tower and locks sold in the lobby are opened and provided for a fee without a key to prevent this practice.

It looks to me like Love Locks will live on and prosper. So far, no city has banned the sale of Love Locks in stores throughout the city and if they did, lovers would just bring their own. Stay tuned for a list of bridges that fall down due to the weight of the locks!

Cheers!

Sham Castle, Bath, Somerset, England

HI!

Sitting having a quiet lunch at the Cowshead Restaurant in Bath, England and I look out across the valley to a hill on the other side of the river Avon and spy a castle on the hill top (look just to the right of the top of the umbrella in the picture on the left). I asked the waiter the name of the castle, and he says "It's the Sham Castle." Being busy with other patrons, he moves away without explaining the history of the Sham Castle.

I learned one thing on this trip to Europe that I intend to continue now that we're back in the USA - there are an layers upon layers of information that we'd miss if we didn't use a tool like the internet to peek at each layer. The peeks yields a wealth of new knowledge and an understanding of people and their circumstances that one would miss using only guide books and listening to conversations.

So, being inquisitive, I check the internet, and find that it's not the "Sham Castle" - a proper name, but a noun, sham castle.

This "castle" is merely a screen wall with a central pointed arch flanked by two 3-storey turrets, which extend sideways to a 2-story square tower at each end of the wall. The castle was probably designed around 1755 and built in 1762 for Ralph Allen "to improve the prospect" (view) from Allen's townhouse in Bath. 

The Sham Castle is a fake. Officially, the English use the term "folly" to describe a structure that was built in the 18th century to mimic a Medieval structure. It's smaller in scope, but appears to be the real thing from a distance. It seems that 18th and 19th Europeans, who had a lot of money, were so obsessed with castles they hired someone to build a fake one in their own backyards!