Normandy August 2005

Mary: History, nature and food. 1,000 year-old buildings, colorful floral creations and sweet, chocolate-y crepes. 4 days in the Normandy region only made us want to return another time to see and do more.

A very choppy ferry ride across the English Channel brought us to the western region of Normandy. We visited several sites related to William the Conqueror, first King of Modern England, and other sites related to the D-Day events of 1945 and the liberation of France.

We lounged on beaches and relaxed in our French gite. (gite: [zheet] a holiday house in France; 18 th c fr ‘stopping place'). Our very poor French was tolerated by all we encountered.

European Grand Tour Summer 2005

Hello Family & Friends! How is it already August and we are just updating you on our summer travels! Our plans to SEE Europe began with a visit to Rome and Herculaneum, Italy .

(see the movie Roman Holiday to see how we could have scootered around Rome if we weren't terrified of the driving there.) For more photos, click here.

Send notes to the family to: williamshickey@aol.com .

Places we've visited to find on your atlas: London, England; Rome, Italy; Herculaneum, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark, Stockholm, Sweden, Archipelago, Helsinki, Finland, Tallinn, Estonia.

Upcoming plans include: Oxford, England; Normandy, France; Adare, Ireland.

Next Chapter: World Travellers

I made a visit to London last month to get a reality check about our move to England for 2 years! Flying over takes a long time. London is a BIG city. And the dollar is way too weak to the pound. That's a lot of reality. Our neighborhood is lovely and the people I met were very friendly. Grant and Brianna each receive high marks for locating a lovely flat and interesting neighborhood schools. Of course the students were on spring break, so all I saw was the buildings, but hey, they look smart! Grant also took me to his favorite local spot. The Old Packing Horse is owned by Irish girls and houses a Thai restaurant along with good draught beer and a nice fireplace. He found a 'Sears catalogue-like' place where the cost was almost reasonable for basic household goods in a very 'interesting' and 'lively' part of town. We found time to visit Westminister Abbey and The Globe Theater.

I traveled very easily to many parts by tube and bus, includ! ing beautiful Kew Gardens. After several lessons from Brianna, I can handle the digital camera pretty well and was able to take a few photos. In just over 2 months, we'll be moving over! (Click here for Mary's Trip to London Photo Album.)