Tina & Rob’s excellent adventure

We visited the “Eagles Nest” the 50th B-day present for Hitler from the Nazi party, however he seldom visited there. He mostly used it to entertain dignitaries. It is located on top of a mountain in the Alps. The road that leads to the top is 4 miles long and an engineering feat, and is one of a kind in the world. The tunnel leading into it is 406 ft. straight into the side of the mountain. From there you walk into a brass elevator that takes you 406 ft. up through the heart of the mountain and into the building above. The project took only 13 months to complete. After the war it was spared from demolition, and is now a historical monument. All profits are used for charitable purposes. The British tried to bomb it many times during the war but were unable to hit the target. The view from the top looks over the town of Berchtesgaden, which is a charming village which has somehow managed to maintain its charm in spite of all the tourists. Typical German houses with flower boxes line the hillsides.

A few sights from the town of Bayeux… the first town to be liberated after the D-Day landing. The Bayeux Tapestry, a 70 meter long embroidered tapestry from the Middle Ages is on display there. We found this town to be the perfect size, with plenty to do..shops, restaurants, and historical sights. Would highly recommend staying here while visiting the Normandy area. The beautiful cathedral is worth a visit.

Visiting the Normandy area is a lesson in WW2 history. We were there during the D-Day period and everywhere you looked there were US, English, French & Canadian flags flying, while old army jeeps with soldiers drove the country roads into the towns of liberation. It is quite a moving experience to visit the memorials to the allied soldiers who died. We visited Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Ste-Mere-Eglise, Arromanches-les-Bains, and Pointe-du-Hoc. It is such a nice area of France with its beautiful landscape and picturesque villages.

Note: Check out the church tower, there is a replica of a paratrooper hanging. The guy that landed on the tower actually survived the war. The third picture is Pointe Du Hoc. It is a cliff situated between Omaha and Utah beach and was heavily fortified by the Germans. A battalion of Rangers climbed the 250ft cliff and managed to hold it till reinforcements arrived.

The impressive abbey was built in the 8th Cent. after a visitation from Michael the Archangel to the Bishop Of Avranches. It has been a place of pilgrimage ever since. It is built on tidal sand flats which made the abbey inaccessible during periods of high tide and with a tide differential of 40 feet many a zealous pilgrim met their fate. A road now connects it to the mainland, lucky for us tourists! The photo cannot do justice to the architectural splendor one can see from miles away.

We visited Omaha Beach on the 64th Anniversary of D-Day. It must have been an amazing sight to have almost 5000 ships approach the coast of Normandy in preparation of the invasion of France.

Here are some scenes from the beach village of Wijk aan Zee:

We are staying at our friend Ed’s beautiful home, that’s his kitty in the kitchen window.

The ice cream wagon (from the local italian restaurant) looks good on Rob, maybe that will be his new career!

For those of you who have visited here it is pretty much the same, except for the Hotel Noordzee..it was sold after Willem’s death and is used for housing out of town factory workers. His once tidy little hotel now looks really run down. I’m glad he’s not alive to see it.

In the next few days we will be taking off again: Normandy, but will be returning in time to get together for a soccer party with friends to watch Holland vs France.

The pictures below are from Corus, the largest steel factory in Europe and located in the dunes around Wijk aan Zee. Apparently the cancer rate in this area is twice the national average. Could it be the factory?
One person on television actually said that it was possible that more people in this area smoke!