Au revoir, Paris and thanks for the memories...

As you can probably tell, we are now away from the lovely city of Paris. Whew, I kinda miss it and kinda don't. We had a whirlwind last day and a half since our last update. The night of our trip to the Marais, we were fortunate enough to meet up with a mutual friend's friend, Sylvain, who happens to be an art history lecturer/PhD candidate living in Paris! Yeah, I know, we are so freakin' lucky. He gave us an amazing walk through the Louvre, explaining the hidden meanings behind so many paintings and objects d'art that we'd normally just breeze on by without thinking about. He was amazingly gracious, and answered all of our questions (mainly around restoring oil paintings-not sure why we fixated on that topic...). Sylvain is an expert in 19th century French furniture, particularly a family of cabinet makers who designed pieces for Versailles and the White House. Not too shabby! We shared a lovely Japanese dinner with him and then headed home.
The following day started with a temperature of mid-80s and a walk through the Tulieries garden to the Orangerie, which is a gorgeous museum filled with oodles of Impressionist works. And it's nice and small, so you don't get overwhelmed (I'm talkin' to you, POMPIDOU!). After the Orangerie, we headed back to the Louvre to explore some more areas. And that's when I got sick. Blech... Anyway, after about an hour in the hot, sweaty, crowded Louvre, I returned to the apartment to sleep off my stomach bug, and Mark went on his merry way. He walked back to the old town and visited the Conciergerie, Archaelogical Crypt, Pantheon, Ile. St. Louis, and took the futuristic Metro #14--it has NO DRIVER! See how much sightseeing Mark can get done without dragging my sorry butt around? By the evening, I was feeling slightly better, so why not climb the first 2 stories of the Eiffel Tower??? We did, and I'll never regret it. The lines, the stairs, the sweating, the crowds, the stink, but it was all worthwhile. Such a fun way to see Paris on our last night in town.
An early start this morning to get our car and get outta town. Driving through Paris was a constant near death experience, for us and others, but we made it out alive. We headed to Giverny to visit Monet's gardens. Absolutely gorgeous, and filled to the brim with British tourists. Man, they love their gardens. His waterlily ponds were stunning, with weeping willows brushing down to the water. After our visit, we headed deeper into Normandy to Honfleur, a sweet little coastal town (think a medieval Seaside). Lunch at a cider and galette bar and restaurant, as Normandy is famous for its apple ciders and buckwheat crepes (galettes). So delicious!
After lunch, we hopped back in the car and made a long trek to the D Day Beaches and American Cemetary. Words cannot describe this place, so I don't even want to try. We were lucky enough to be at the cemetary during closing time, and to hear "Taps" play while they lowered the flag. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, you'd be crazy not to go.
After that somber visit we were ready to head to our b&b near Mont St. Michel. What--I was supposed to reconfirm the reservation last week and I forgot? Oops! Lucky for us the hostess, Danielle, was about the sweetest lady on the planet (or at least in France) and welcomed us with open arms (seriously, I thought she was going to hug us). We dropped off our stuff, and went to town for dinner (more galettes and cider, of course!). Then we drove up to Mont St. Michel. It's essentially an oasis in a salt flat, an abbey built onto a hill. We took the night walking tour through the abbey, and there were musicians playing throughout, which was a beautiful touch. We'll post pictures as soon as we get some much needed rest. Till the next time!