Last Day of WEG & France

Last Day of WEG

Sunday was the last day of competition for WEG, which is both a bit of a relief but also bittersweet.  The final four of jumping didn’t start until the afternoon but we had to do a lot of packing and cleaning of the apartment in the morning.  We ate some delicious pastries for our last breakfast in France though.  Another kugelhopf, along with some of the fancy pastries I pictured a day or two ago.  Surprisingly the red one was nasty, but all the rest were fantastic. 

The final four of jumping was exciting to watch since each rider does a round on their own horse, before riding a round on each of the other three horses.  Unfortunately, the American rider Beezie Madden had a rail each round except with her own horse.  Luckily the Swedish rider had more faults than her so she still ended up with the bronze medal.  The Frenchman Patrice Devaleau ended up with silver, and the Dutch Jeroen Dubbledam won gold.  He was so funny to watch when he won, because he was so happy (rightfully so).  Shortly after his round ended he got on his cell phone and we joked that he was like “hallo mother, I won today.”  Beezie’s horse, Cortes C, was the only one to not knock down a rail through the four rounds, which was very impressive. 

The arena for the final four

Beezie & Cortes C

From the venue we jumped on a shuttle back to the apartment to gather our things before taking the train to Paris.  We did have one last moment with champagne and chocolate truffles at the kitchen table to enjoy our last bit of time there.

You know how sometimes you get really angry at someone, and then go back an hour or a day later to say you overreacted and are sorry? No?  Well, I have a tendency to do that a lot because I get caught up in the moment and I am a very emotional person (as opposed to being rational).  I felt that way on the train to Paris.  I ranted and raved about how irritated I was with the French people in Normandy, and how I’d never come back to Normandy because of the, but the countryside is really so stunning that I feel like I overreacted and might go back one day.  Even though I slept for the first hour of the trip (#dramamine) I saw some pretty spectacular sights:

• ·      A stag watching the train as we sped by, his ladies hanging out nearby
• ·      Leggy mares and foals grazing in emerald green fields
• ·      Charolaise cows running in their pastures
• ·      The moon rising over a creek
• ·      A sheep rising on its hind legs to eat leaves off a tree

So now Normandy, I am not as mad at you as I was yesterday. 

In Paris we had a great dinner at La Poule au Pot, which has been in business for 79 years and was super old school French and traditional.  I got bone marrow, steak tartare, and profiteroles.  The portions were HUGE! I was starving and only at half of each thing.  Their wine was to die for too.  I would definitely go back there!  At the hotel, we got upgraded to a killer suite, which was cool, except we were in there for all of 4 hours while we were asleep.  It had its own private garden, stationary bike, free minifridge, Nespresso coffee, and a backlit wall with Parisien landmarks silhouetted.  It would’ve been nice to see it in the daylight!

La Poule au Pot

In Heathrow now – about to board the plane to fly home.  Á bientot Europe!

Tired Tourist

I'm really struggling to stay awake right now [EDIT: I later fell asleep and did not finish this].  Today is Sunday, and we went all day Friday and Saturday.  Going to try to keep this brief(ish).

Friday:

Friday we slept in just a little before packing some and getting ready.  We are really slow in the morning because the days are long.  We ate a nommy lunch of bread, meats, cheese, and fruit before going to tour WW2 & DDay sites in the afternoon.  In short, I'd seen 3/5 sites we went to before, but that did not diminish the importance, weight, and emotions the slightest.  Particularly in the American Cemetery, which overlooks Omaha beach (where the majority of the deaths occurred), it was hard to keep it together, to be honest.  Its impossible to think about those THOUSANDS super young kids who were killed within minutes of landing on the beaches and not become incredibly sad.  The cemetery really is a wonderful place though.  It overlooks the beaches, has lots of trees and flowers, they tried to bury brothers and friends together - everything a soldier could want for his final resting place.  Its all very peaceful, but just so sad.

Mother and Utah beach

A crater from a bomb and a pillbox to house German guns

Overlooking the English Channel

I have a disclaimer for my next comment.  I love the French people, I think they are wonderfully proud and bring a lot of greatness to the world, but I do not like the Norman people.  I love the people in the south.  I've encountered more rude people here in 2 weeks, than 8 months in the south or other parts of the country.  For example - we visited the cemetery, where Americans died, helping liberate the French in particular, as well as the rest of Europe.  It is very easy to tell without hearing them speak, who is French.  They treat the cemetery like a PARK.  They bring the babies, they put their feet in the fountain, they have a picnic.  It is all very offensive to me, and I imagine to others as well.

Moving on, there were lots of tourists, but I think this is the one place I don't mind all the people.  I think it really shows the dead how much their sacrifice was appreciated, if they can see it, I suppose.  I don't really want to get into an afterlife thing on here, but I'd like to think they can tell how much people care about the sixth of June, 1944.  70 year anniversary this year, btw, which I think is pretty cool.

After a day on the beaches (sidenote - our Russian guide was fantastic!) we made another nommy dinner with my favorite pasta sauce and then quickly went to bed.

***

Saturday was a super long day because I walked A LOT.  More so than usual in Europe.  We got tickets to the marathon driving event, because we heard it was kinda cool, like cross country, and an American has a really good chance of winning gold or at least getting to the podium.  It was boring as hell.  When they came through and actually did the obstacles it was interesting, but there was literally one every 7 minutes.  7 minutes is a long time to sit there and do nothing!!!! Especially for 5 hours.  Let me backtrack and complain about the French organization of this event some more... The coordination has improved slightly.  They added more portapotties and food trucks so there is a place for you to go to the bathroom and you can eat without walking a mile (who would've thought we'd be glad to use a portapotty!!).   They added more shuttles so you no longer have to wait forever only to be crammed in like a sardine (although were on one yesterday that didn't have any air on and it was probably 90 degrees).  But they still can't get some stuff right!!  For example, yesterday the driving was on a racetrack that was probably about 3/4 of mile in length (maybe it was a kilometer).  We entered right in the middle on one side, the obstacle we wanted to watch was maybe 50 yards away.  They made us walk alllllll the way to the other side of the track and then back the direction we'd come just to get there.  It was infuriating.

I also got mad at the Frenchies yesterday morning for a different reason,  The American and British flags are very popular to wear on clothing as a design in France - I saw it before and I've seen it a lot on this trip.  Not a big deal in general, but they will wear the American flag on their clothing, while carrying a real French flag, and that sends me right over the edge.  In normal situations, I don't care, but at an INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENT why do they think it is appropriate to wear another country's flag while carrying their own?  Its really bothered me all week because I've seen at least 20 people wearing the American flag, but this woman had on an American flag scarf yesterday and stood in front of me for maybe and hour and I just sat there and stewed the whole time.  It's like you have an ENTIRE wardrobe of clothes I'm sure don't have the American flag on it, why did you choose to wear that today??  It is just backwards and offensive to me.  The other reason I was really irritated with the French was we waited in line for a bit yesterday to get on a nearly full shuttle and just as we were about to board, three younger French girls literally barged in front of us and got the last three seats on the bus!  They just have no regard for a line or people who have been there for longer than them - they just look out completely for themselves.  Basically I was irate half the day yesterday.  Which makes me upset on the other hand because I know I'm making sweeping generalizations, and we really did meet a LOT of nice people here in Normandy, but I have no desire to come back to the north because of them.  I will travel everywhere else in the country but to Normandy.

Example:  His shirt says England, but he has French flags

Back to walking a lot.  So I was reallllly bored at driving, and Mother left me earlier in the day to go watch the stadium jumping because as she put it, "driving is like watching grass grow," so after 2 of the 3 Americans went I had 2 hours until the next one.  I decided to go watch the stadium jumping for a while and then come back to watch the last American, who was in first place at that time (he's now in second).  I ran to catch the shuttle (after walking halfway around the track to get out again), and then had to hoof it from the bus stop which is probably a 7 minute power walk from the stadium.  I watched some of the showjumping  - I caught the top 15 go in their first round, before going back to the driving.  I had to run to catch that shuttle (because another wouldn't come for a while), then from the shuttle stop at the Games Village it was probably a 10-15 minute walk to get in the other side of the racetrack, and then a 5 minute walk across a field to get to the obstacles.  I told you everything is really spread out here.  Kyle can attest that I am a very fast walker, and these times are at my speed.  So I got there in time to watch the top 6 or so horses drive by.  This time it was a little cooler because I was right next to the entrance of one, and while the  people trot most of the course, they canter into the obstacles, so they all came thundering by, which was neat.  I saw Chester Weber go.  I don't know enough about driving to be like "that man is a genius!" but it was pretty cool.  I really hope he wins gold!

Lisa Stout (USA) 

Chester Weber (USA)

Chester Weber (USA)

Rodrigo Pessoa (Brazil), first round today, before the jumps got even more monstrous

So then, I still had maybe an hour left of show jumping,  and I missed this shuttle, so I decided to walk to the stadium.  We've walked from the stadium to the Games Village a lot, and it was never that bad, but on my way back, I realized the reason its not bad is because it's downhill.  I had a 30 minute (mind you - speed walk) back to the stadium with just enough time to see the top 3 horses go.  The fences in the second round were positively colossal.  Just enormous it was incredible.   I did make a quick detour to the pastry shop because I was starving and I'd only had bread and cheese at 11 am (it was 4:30 when I was walking back to the stadium).  I did get the best pastry of my life, a kugelhopf - it is sort of like brioche, but had granulated suger on the outside, big raisins inside that seemed like they were marinated in fleur d'oranger (which I love) and the whole pastry was moist on the inside and just incredible.  I then, of course, shoved it in my mouth all at once.  I'm such a lady.  So, as I mentioned I got back just in time for the stadium jumping to end.  Then what did we do?  We walked back to the Games Village (another 20 minutes).  It impossible to catch a shuttle and not be smushed like a sardine after the event, so we've just been walking to the village, getting a beer or two, and then getting a shuttle home.  By this point I was very haggard.  The beer at the Kentucky Ale bar made me feel a bit more perky, and I made it home.  I started writing this blog before dinner, but was too tired afterwards to finish.

We went to a restaurant called ArchiDona in our first week here that was good, so we went back last night and it was amazing.  We got their 5 course menu, which was pretty reasonably priced and it came with 2 kinds of foie gras (OMG), then langoustines in a little fried pouch that had an asian flair, then mandarine sorbet with liquor as a palate cleanser, filet with a pistachio/hazelnut crust that was amazing, and finally a little cake filled with hot caramel sauce!  SO good!  A great last dinner in Caen!

foie gras 2 ways 

Langoustine nomminess

They got it right!! Just the way I like it!

Caramel ftw

WEG Show Jumping Team Final

Today we were a bit lazy in the morning before going out and doing a teeny bit of shopping in Caen, bought pastries and chocolates, and took pictures of all the  horsey window displays.  We went over to the stadium for the finals for the team show jumping competition – getting crammed like sardines is getting a bit old.  I did have a conversation with a nice French man while on the bus who really didn’t care one bit that my French was very limited.  I’m convinced even if I hadn’t spoken a word of French he would’ve told me his life story nonetheless. 

The stadium jumping today was very exciting, as it was the finals for the teams, so every round counted, and there were a good number of rails falling.  The USA did a good job, as did many of the other teams, so I am glad we ended up on the podium with bronze.  Here’s to hoping Beezie will win the individual competition!  I was a bit disappointed with the team during the medal ceremony though.  First of all, they seemed very unexcited to be there – like I know bronze isn’t gold but at least you got something!!!!  They did not acknowledge the fans at all, and we had a pretty good section of Americana for them, they got up on the podium, got their medal, BARELY turned around to wave at us, and then went on their way.  They also sent all the horses back to the barn except Cortes C.  Voyeur was having a shit fit with the crowds, and Barron was a little worried, but Rothchild was fine.  So basically the Netherlands team, the French team, and Beezie did the lap of honor, while the rest of the US team stood awkwardly in the middle of the arena.  It was pretty sad. 

sassy Moroccan horse 

ONLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HORSE EVER 

McLain & Rothchild

Kent & Voyeur

Lucy & Barron

Beezie & Cortes C

meep

After the medal ceremony we went to the Games Village, I did the “Land Rover Experience” – super lame!  They don’t let you drive and you don’t get to go fast.  You just sit there in a Land Rover.  #notimpressed.  And then we had a super fun happy hours meeting up with a girl I met through Instagram!!  We met her and her husband at the Kentucky bar in the Games Village – they were so nice!  She owns a clothing company called Little War Horse, lives in Hawaii, and is half Finnish.  Basically just a super cool person.  We ate a late dinner that was a little rough because we were super tired and I got Mother sick so now she feels bad too