Let's rewind a little to the Colter and Holly of a few months ago, booking our flight from Iceland to Paris... We had been using Hopper to monitor flights, waiting for that ever anticipacted "lowest price predicted, book now" message, and we finally got it. The 3 hour flight left Iceland at 12:40am and arrived in Paris at 6:30am. Perfect we thought - we will get to take full advantage of our final day in Iceland, avoid paying for an extra night of accommodations, and we get to take full advantage of our first day in France. Book it!

Oh how optimistic we were... Fast foward to the morning we land in Paris - running on about 1-2 hours of airplane sleep and the advantages of the red-eye flight weren't quite as clear. Somehow in the grogginess of walking from the plane toward our bags, we had come up with the same idea - let's rent a car. With our Airbnb 2.5 hours away in Rouen, it seemed like a great plan, and in hind sight (letting go of the fact then it cost us more than the internet led us to believe - typical), it was. Having a rental car gave us the freedom to explore amazing places, which otherwise would have been left out or just simply a pain to get to.

So with our rental car in tow, a new European SIM card, and a regained positive attitude, we set our sites on Vimy Ridge - an "easy" 2.5 hour drive away. No problem, right? Let's start with the fact that Paris traffic is crazy: cars everywhere, motorcyles weaving their way between two lanes of trafic, and multi-lane roundabouts! All of which Colter handled like a champ 🥊. By the time we left France, we were both totally sold on the liberal use of roundabouts...keep that traffic flowing.

After we made our way out of the chaos of the city, I could feel myself starting to nod off in the passengers seat, and I knew I couldn't do that to Colt. I needed to stay awake - and he did too. So I did what any reasonable co-pilot would do. I found some good tunes and played them loud. We soon found ourselves yell-singing our way to Vimy. I have to say, I think our renditions of Little by Little, Free Fallin', and Friends in Low Places was some of our best work. Between the singing and the sugar rush (courtesy of a Snickers and a Mars bar), we found ourselves safely at Vimy Ridge.

Vimy Ridge

As soon as we got out of the car at Vimy Ride, the gravity of what we were about to see hit me. This was a place of great sorrow, sacrifce, and victory.

As we walked the grounds, there was a stillness and a silence - cut only by the sound of the electric fence blocking off areas that were unsafe to walk - that seemed so juxtaposed to what would have been the reality on the same ground over 100 years ago. Since then, the grass has covered the artillery craters, the trenches have been restored, and trees are growing, but the significance of what happened there has not been lost.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a site to behold. Bearing whitness to the massive limestone structure, beautiful statues, and thousands of hand carved names was a sobering experience. One that, like the sacrafices made in that place, will not soon be forgotten.

Finding our way to Rouen

From Vimy Ridge, we headed to Rouen, in search of our Airbnb. Shortly into our drive, it became apparent the yell-singing and car games were not going to cut it. Two hours of sleep was not enough - we needed a powernap! Luckily, rests stops were pretty easy to come by on the highway, so we pulled over and enjoyed a much need 20 minute powernap under the shade of a tree. Let's not kid ourselever here; 20 minutes was not nearly enough sleep, we could have slept there all day, but we were anxious to get to our first Airbnb.

After weaving our way through the seemingly ruleless, narrow, cobblestone streets of Rouen, we found our place. We checked and double checked the address and check-in instructions before we tentatively pushed open the green door. Feeling somewhat like we were breaking and entering, we walked inside, found our way up a comically narrow (like us plus our backpacks barely fit, can't turn around) staircase, fiddled with the door lock, and we were in. Moments later, Colter was passed out on the bed - too much driving, too little sleep.

The next morning, we were excited to start exploring Rouen. We left our Airbnb feeling so fresh and so clean, but were soon hit with the heatwave (37℃) that was France - let's just say we didn't return quite as fresh and clean... But we did return having retraced some of the steps of Joan of Arc (she was a badass chick) and visited the Notre Dame de Rouen.

That afternoon, we took some reprieve from the heat in our Airbnb. I honestly don't know how much cooler our appartment actually was, but there was no sun shinning on us and I could have a seista, so I'll call that a win.

We ended our day with a picnic in the Botancial Gardens. As we arrived there and were getting out of the car, we both looked at each other oddly - "was that a rain drop?". Thinking little of it, after the amazingly hot day, we ventured into the gardens. Soon there was no question. It was rain. And thunder. At that point, the rain was welcome not only by Rouen, but by us - it felt so refreshing as the big, cool raindrops hit our warm skin.

Eventually, after hiding out under a tree for a while, we made a run for the car and headed back to our place to gear up for the next day's trip to Juno Beach.

Juno Beach

Feeling greatful for our car, knowing it wouldn't have been nearly as easy to get there without it, we packed up and headed for Juno Beach. Having been to Vimy Ridge only a couple of days before, I knew this, again, would be a surreal experience. We first found our way to the Juno Beach Centre, which was a wonderful museum and culture centre meant to honour and memorialize not only the Canadians that fought on D-Day, but also those who fought in the Battle of Normandy and throughout World War II. The museum also recognized the number of other countries that helped in the D-Day landings.

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Making our way from the museum to the beach, we walked amongst and through some of the German defense system. A few steps later, and we were on the beach. The beach, where 75 years ago, thousands of Canadian troops landed and so many lost their lives.

Standing there, I couldn't help but think of my dad. He has talked for many years of visiting Juno Beach, and I wished that he could have been there with me. Thinking of my dad led to me thinking of all of the strong men and women in my life, who would have fought honorably that day, but that I am so grateful don't have to.

I felt humbled, honoured, proud, and fortunate to be able to stand freely on Juno Beach.

Our last night in Rouen

With a long day of driving behind us, we decided to cook dinner in our Airbnb that night. A salad (or any vegetables really) were much needed... I have been enjoying, maybe a little too much, being able to eat gluten here! Bread is the best.

Sidenote - need to figure out why bread products in Canada destroy my stomach, but I can eat bread products in Europe...

So, we ate our much needed salad, paried with some university-style pasta (noodles with some form of canned sauce) - not our best work, but it hit the spot - and prepared for our next day's flight to Porto. Time to rearrange the packing cubes and shove the warm clothes to the bottom of the bag... won't be needing thous until Nepal!