The Rasmusens in Oxford

Since the older girls’ May Day Dancing was rained out earlier, their classes did it later.

Amelia Dancing

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Elizabeth Dancing

Here are some things from the TO DO list not done:

7. Go to Imperial War Museum
22. Go on the Dorchester Catle Hill walk.
32. Go to Stourhead Garden in Wiltshire.
41. Go to Chipping Camden.
51. Go to the Oxford castle.
35 go to Portrait Galery in London
37 Go to Henley boat museum
38 Go to St. Margaret’s well.
Visit St. John’s College gardens

Here are still more photos.

The Cloisters, High Up

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Eating at a Creperie

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Mount-Saint-Michel

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A Windmill

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A Tower in Dinan

Being Goofy

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Hand Sanitizer

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Church near Dinan

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Corseul’s Temple of Mars

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A Cafe in Dinan

Eiffel Tower I

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From the Eiffel Tower

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Looking Up

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In Front

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Eggs

Eggs

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Paris

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Bastille Day

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Fireworks

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View from the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower

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The Girls Resting

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At Macdonald’s

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At a Mall–2 Euroes

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A Typical Pose

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59 Frenchay

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Next to the Bodleian

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Packing

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The cottage in Brittany was just what we needed. It was ancient, built of stone with a dark wood spircal staircase in what might have been a stone tower, in a line of stone houses with a line of barns across the road.

The Gite Kitchen

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A Room

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Lunch Outside

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Food and drink were good in France, for the most part. The Breton wine was as bad as we should have expected. Muscadet from Nantes is good, though– a fresh, dry, white wine. Pommeau is good too. It’s a combination of sweet cider and calvados apple brandy, a style similar to port but lighter.

Some Bad Breton Gamay Rose and Some Good Pommeau

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Good Loire Gamay

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We were near Cancal, famous for oyster farming. We baked the oysters, a good way to cook them.

Cancal Oysters

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One supermarket had an impressive machine for labelling the fresh produce you were buying.

Weighing Your Own Vegetables

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The first beach we went to was at St. Lunaire, near Dinard.

All Five on the Beach

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L and l in L’Eau

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Buried

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Collecting shellfish was prohibited, and apparently immigrants were unpopular there too.

Arabes and Negres?

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We visited St. Malo, at one time the great Atlantic port of France, and a center for pirates. It has an old walled city with a castle, 80% destroyed during WW II but then rebuilt in the old style. The cathedral was boring, the souvenir shops fascinating, the beach satisfactory, the views excellent.

Faith Spots Something

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Rock Pools

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The Skyline

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Firemen with medievally brilliant helmets were up to something.

Firemen in St. Malo

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We had a hard time finding toilets. One reason was that the two signs pointed at each other over a distance of 50 yards. Another was that the toilet door itself was unmarked, revealed only by the slots and instructions for payment on the side of the tax building.

Toilettes–Go Left

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Toilettes– Go Right

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We didn’t go into the castle, but we ate hot dogs and mussels and frites at a cafe below it.

St. Malo Castle

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Another day we went to Dinan (not to be confused with Dinard, just as St. Brieux is not to be confused with St. Briac).

A View from Dinan Castle

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Dinan’s Clock Tower

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A Dinan Street

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On Sunday, Dad, Faith, and Lillie went to church while the rest finished packing. Grace Lee and her kids said prayers for us, not expecting us to actually be there. Dad said goodbye to the Huangs, Tucks, Chens, Lees, and others.

Dover Cliffs

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We drove to Dover very quickly, eating Sainsbury sandwiches in the car.

Faith on the Ferry

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The ferry was comfortable.

A Pedestrian Walkway

We ate at a good roadside stop. …

A Prepared Todder Chair at a Highway Facilities Area

The hostel at Eu was not as nice as Melrose or Hawkshead, but was OK. It was in the kitchens of the Eu castle.

The Beds at the Eu Hostel

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The Fountain at the Eu Fontaine Hostel

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We stopped at Caen the next day. The kids liked climbing on the cannon.

Caen Cannon I

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Caen Cannon II

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From Caen Castle

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The Normandy Museum first floor was very good. Gaul in the Bronze Age seems very civilized, if illiterate, even before the Gauls came with iron around 500 B.C. . The Gauls had their own coinage.

Bronze Age Helmets at the Normandy Museum

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The Caen Castle Playground