Sunday in The Hague

We didn't want to go too far today since I have end-of-the-year things to do for school. We went downtown since yesterday was the start of The Hague Festivals. We wanted to see the sandcastles. We remembered them from last year, but by the end of July there were big chunks that has fallen off due to the frequent rain here. Don't know what the theme was this year, but they reminded me of the park in Oslo, Norway, where one artist has tons of statues of naked people of all ages. There were some really cool sculptures in the park too, but the material was like that of hardened liquid plastic. We will be back in the states a week from today! Looking forward to a nice, safe flight and seeing friends again.

A weekend in Calais

Today is "White Monday", and it's a holiday, so Saturday we decided to get away for a short trip. In just a few hours, we were able to drive to the northern coast of France. Calais is where the chunnel connects France to England, a trip of less than a half hour. In fact, while we stood on the beach in Calais, both of our cell phones rang text messages welcoming us to the UK! We should've known better to go without reservations on a holiday weekend, but we didn't, so we spent some time searching for accomodations. Still, walking the beaches with German bunkers all around knowing much of WWII took place on that ground was disturbing. There were WWI markers in the area too.
There were two areas that jut out into the Channel: Cap Blanc and Cap Gris, which means "White Nose" and "Gray Nose". Both gave magnificent views, and many of the observation areas are atop German bunkers. The tide comes FAR inland, and in the daytime there are huge areas of damp sand.
We also walked the streets of Boulogne au Mer, who was having some sort of celebration. There were black & red balloons everywhere. The special dish of the region was mussels, and Fred ate them at least three times in two days!
School ends in only three weeks, so this will probably be my last entry until August.