Category: France/Belgium, Summer 2022

Once we decided we were going to spend some time in Belgium before we attended the upcoming wedding in Reims, I noted that Dunkirk was somewhat along the way.  If not for the movie “Dunkirk” by Christopher Nolan, I would have known nothing about the history of this location.  It’s an added bonus that he actually filmed the movie on site, and most parts of the event are depicted accurately, according to our local guide.  If you’ve not seen the movie, I highly suggest you do (as well as anything else Christopher Nolan creates).

We stayed two nights in the 4-star Hotel Merveilleux, which is located right on the beach.  We had an ocean view, but if you decide to stay here I suggest you pick the 1st or 2nd floor versus the 3rd floor, as the windows overlooking the ocean on those floors are MUCH larger.  The view of the North Sea is excellent regardless.

One interesting aspect of the beach is that the tide change is up to 18 feet, so low tide is WAY far out from the high tide mark.  There is an great well-constructed path that runs the length of the beach, and will take you past numerous restaurants and ice cream shops.  If you head west you end up at the Dunkirk Memorial.

Our guide advised us that the memorial was kept small on purpose by the French, as this episode in history is not viewed as favorably by the French as it is the British.

Here is the background.  Early in the Second World War, in late May 1940, the Allied forces of British, French and Belgian troops were trapped by the invading German army on the coast of France and Belgium, in the area around Dunkirk. The desperate and near-miraculous rescue that followed – controlled from Dover Castle – saved the Allied cause in Europe from total collapse, and was the biggest evacuation in military history.  Nearly 340,000 troops were rescued from being either killed or captured by the Germans.

Here is a view of the mole that was used in the rescue of the bulk of the British soldiers.

A view looking back towards the beach from the mole.

This is a historical image showing the troops lined up on the beach.

These historical markers are spread all throughout town.  This one is near the mole pictured previously.

Here is a shot of our guide Onno showing us a filming location for “Dunkirk”.  This street was filled with sandbags being defended by the French.

This is a shot from the scene.

This is another filming site with a gate that the main character jumps over to escape the Germans.

The scene below.  They destroyed the original gate with fake machine gun explosives, so the owner got a new gate for his troubles.  Not sure what happened to all of the greenery.

This street is shown in the opening scene of the movie.

From the movie.

There is a very cool museum in the city that covers all the details of Operation Dynamo, and it’s a “must do”!

Lot’s of interesting information and remnants from the time period.  This one vehicle was just recently discovered buried in the sand with two tires intact.

This diorama depicted how downtown Dunkirk looked after the Nazi bombardment.  Nearly all of downtown was destroyed.

If you are into WWII history do yourself a favor and visit this place.  We thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly after watching the movie.  The beach itself is pretty cool all on it’s own.

Next up is Brugge in Belgium, a spot we have wanted to visit ever since we watched “In Bruges” back in around 2009.  Visiting cities where films were made…I sense a trend?

 

We arrived in Paris around noon and we were lucky enough to check into our hotel, Hotel Malte, on arrival.  This hotel is well located, just a few blocks from the Louvre and other popular attractions.

We had reservations to visit the Musee de l’Orangerie in the afternoon, so we walked over via the Jardin des Tuileries, a very popular spot for a Saturday afternoon.  This beautiful spot really stood out.

The Musee de l’Orangerie was not orange in any way, so I’m not entirely sure where it got the name.  Maybe Trump visited in the past?

Hmm…checks guide…ah yes, it was named after it was built in 1852, by order of Emperor Napoleon III, to house the orange trees of the Tuileries Palace so they wouldn’t die during the winter cold.  The roof is made of glass so it was originally just a huge greenhouse.  The orange trees were destroyed, no reason given (maybe they were taller than a Napoleon?), and 75 years later the building was converted to become home to some of Claude Monet’s water lillies paintings.

These huge mural paintings are depicted in the round in two rooms, with the overall room layout mimicking the infinity logo, which is how Monet envisioned these paintings to be viewed.  Very cool, but also very crowded.

There were seats to sit and contemplate the art, but with how crowded it was you spent most of your time contemplating the backside of the crowd.  Occasionally the crowd would thin.

The museum also has some of his other artwork, as he was quite prolific before the water lillies took over.  There are plenty of other Impressionist artists works here as well.  I had no idea Monet liked Turkeys.

Still more water lillies.

Personally I’d get bored painting the same thing over and over, but then I’m no artist!

Unfortunately for Monet, he died on December 6, 1926, just 5 months before the museum opened.  This is worth a visit for sure, but if you could get here when they first open that would be much better.

The next morning we took the Metro to an area of Paris we have not been to previously on the western edge of the city.  This was to visit another museum based on Claude Monet’s work.

The Musee Marmottan Monet houses the worlds largest collection of Monet’s works.  In 1966 the museum inherited the bulk of their collection from the painters last surviving son, Michel.  There are several landscape paintings as well as numerous water lillies paintings.

There were likely 30 water lilly paintings alone.  I liked this museum as it was off the beaten path and therefore not crowded at all.  The area around the museum is a huge park and was a very pleasant area to take a walk.

From there we walked to an area we remember visiting about 17 years ago on a group tour that gives an excellent overview of the Eiffel Tower called Trocadero.  The area turns out to be under reconstruction, was absolutely filled with tourists, and it was overrun with  people selling crap.  Picture trying to cross the border from Tijuana….something like that (without the Chiclets no less!).  Here is the best shot I could get from this area.

This is a better shot.

We had dinner that night at an excellent spot called Shiro, that our old friend Harley Davis picked out.  I know Harley from an old Oakland Raiders email list, and he moved to Paris at least 22 years ago.  We connect with him whenever we make it to Paris….so like 3 times in 22 years?  Need to make that more frequent!  He’s better at selfies than I am….this is a shot with Harley and his partner Ghanima.

Our final day in Paris we went to the 3-Star Michelin restaurant, Arpege, currently ranked as the #23 restaurant in the world.  Interestingly enough, we ate here 5 years ago to the day!  They have recently upgraded the decor.  Here is what the walls used to look like.

Here is the updated embroidered wall coverings.  Viva la difference!

Here are two dishes from 5 years ago.  The first one is mustard ice cream (which is WAY better than it sounds).

The second one is tomato and cucumber gazpacho (also excellent).

Here is what we got today.

A perfect combination!  The rest of the meal was pretty good, but not as good as it was 5 years ago.  The saving grace was we met this very cool couple at the next table, Mike and Amelia, from Memphis, Tennessee!  Now we have an excellent reason to head to Memphis!

One final shot looking up the Seine River from Pont Neuf.  We really lucked out as the temperature was a perfect 74 degrees.

Tomorrow we take a train to Dunkirk.  It will be nice to escape the crowds.