Upon arriving to the UK in July 2007 we encountered a great many odd things, including a curious advertisement for something entitled "The Battle Proms". Initially we assumed that "Battle Proms" must include two high school beauty queens in pink taffeta dresses fighting a bloody battle to the death for the honor of being crowned "Prom Queen". Seemed a little extreme to be advertising it with fireworks and cannons - but at this point we had already surmised that pretty much anything odd is possible in England... After a few inquires we eventually learned that "The Battle Proms" are a series of outdoor concert events combining orchestral performances of classical music with cannons, cavalry displays and fireworks that are geared towards rousing the patriotic spirit of the the British people. Curious to see what all the hoopla was about, we packed up a picnic and took the senior Raccio team off to our first "Prom" held on the beautiful grounds of Blenheim Palace. The evening started off with a Napoleonic Cavalry and Infantry Display followed by an evening gun salute: 
Although the concert was held in mid-July it really wasn't your typical outdoor-summer-picnic-day. We were a bit skeptical that the weather would hold and it was bloody cold! Fortunately the skies cleared a bit, just in time for the opening Spitfire display choreographed to "Jupiter" from The Planets by Gustav Holst: 
The orchestra did a great job covering a varied repertoire -- from Verdi Operas to Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance (did you know that had words?!?!) -- despite the occasional piece of sheet music flying away: 
It's hard to exactly describe the audience of the Battle Proms... Clearly everyone was there to have a good time, and picnics ranged from little camper baskets on blanket (go us!) to huge gazebos with candelabras. Audience dress varied from jeans and jumpers (a prize goes out to the first non-British person to post a response explaining what a "jumper" is) to tuxedos and ballroom gowns. Despite the variety, as we said before, UK National Pride oozed out of the pore of everyone there: 
And being an American certainly didn't stop us from getting in on the action (although we did have a little trouble singing the correct words to "God Save the Queen" - how'd they mange to usurp that tune from us?!?) especially with a little help from our new favorite British summer drink, Pimms: 
(Why Kim felt she needed an entire pitcher of that beverage, we'll never know...) And, as promised, there were the cannons - all 193 of them to be exact. They played a key role in the 1812 Overture and The Battle of Vittoria, The Battle Symphony (Op. 91 Beethoven): 
Overall, a good time to be had by all - a great time to be British!
After intensive negotiations, we finally manged to free the senior Mr. Raccio from the clutches of the British Transit Police. Figuring we best not press our luck, we hopped the nearest high-speed ferry and quickly fled the country. 4 hours later we arrived in Normandy: 
(You can even get good French wine on the Ferry!)
Alright, enough of that. So the damn de-dazzlers are on the car, but like hell we're going to drive at night. Clearly we're harboring angst against our de-dazzlers. We'll try to let it go... Moving Along - as we were saying, we arrived on the French coast of Normandy and made our way to the medieval town of Bayeux, lying just inland of the D-Day beaches. 
Staying at the lovely Hotel Tardiff, we set off to explore the village: 
Before departing for some GREAT French food, our host, Antoinie, informed us that the following day would be a "Bank Holiday". That evening we were treated to traditional bank holiday fireworks, which were particularly lovely above the old medieval streets. Of course, in our ignorance, we never realized that it was Bastille Day. 
Our explorations around the city included the 70-m long Bayeux Tapestry depicting the 1066 Battle of Hastings (a tapestry that the British are whinging about - since the battle took place on their soil they feel they should get the fabric...) and the Bayeux Cathedral, which was one of the few remaining intact cathedrals in the region that survived the war (actually all of Bayeux was spared from the bombings): 
Of course, the highlight (if you can call it that) of our tour was to have the opportunity to set foot upon the infamous D-Day beaches from WWII. 
Many artifacts remain from the war, including the bunkers at Pointe du Hoc (above) and the remnants of the gargantuan floating harbor (below) built by the Allied forces at Arromanches, between Gold and Juno Beaches: 
A memorial at the American Cemetery at Utah Beach: 
The Graves of American Soldiers who perished in one of the most difficult, and pivotal, series of battles of WWII:
Unfortunately our time in Bayeux was very limited, so we only had the opportunity to see a fraction of the beaches and memorials. Ah well, being 6 hours away, we know we'll be back... Moving southwest through the French countryside, with Raccios packed in the front and back seats we headed to the next stop on the tour: 
Having seen covered many of the lovely tourist traps on our first venture into Paris, we armed the senior Raccio team with a metro map and a few choice French phrases and abandoned them for some sites that could only interest biologists or the twisted macabre-artist sorts: 
You might be thinking, "those dead things look awfully familiar" - and they should! The first image is probably just the most famous Australopithecus you're ever bound to meet - none other than Ms. Lucy herself! (well, they said she was the original... but we think the real skeleton is in Ethiopia) Image #2 is the Inca Mummy that inspired Edvard Munch's painting, The Scream. These stealthily taken pics represent only two of THOUSANDS of really cool things (Rene Descartes skull, one of those wacky crystal skulls now made famous thanks to a little help from Indy Jones, and so on) that can be found in the Musée de l'Homme (translated: "Museum of Man") in Paris. If you're ever in the area we'd highly recommend visiting this spot for a fantastic break for the "tourist circuit" but DO NOT try to use the bathroom on the ground floor. E-mail Kim for more details on horrific experience of being locked into a French W.C. and SCREAMED AT by the washroom attendant (in French) as she desperately attempted to unlock the bathroom door and escape to freedom.
We suppose this might be a good point in the blog to insert some sterotypical jokes about small French people and their Napoleon complexes, but we won't. We did however find some time to visit Les Invalides, originally constructed as a retirement home for war veterans and now home to one of the most brilliant general-gone-crazy-megalomaniacs of all time, Napoleon:
Napoleon's Tomb: 
Before adding an extra stone thanks to the French breads and cheeses (well, not Jesse, huh?) we returned to the soggy mother land and back to London (actually, we hadn't been to London with the Raccios yet, it's just the way the blog postings worked out). We stayed a lovely hotel near Trafalgar Square with one of the most convoluted showers we've ever seen: 
They didn't leave a manual so we had to call for tech support after flooding the bathroom... London is becoming so "old hat" for us, so even though we went to some fun new places like Camden Market and bumped across the Dark Knight premier in Leicester Square, we generally didn't lug the camera around with us (sorry!). We did snap a few picks of the very cool British Museum "lobby" and the precursor to BabbleFish, the Rosetta Stone: 
Leaving the Tony and Jackie safely on their way to Heathrow we headed home to our little Cotswold Cottage for a few days of "down time" before the start of our next great European Adventure. More Details Coming Soon!
Although the concert was held in mid-July it really wasn't your typical outdoor-summer-picnic-day. We were a bit skeptical that the weather would hold and it was bloody cold! Fortunately the skies cleared a bit, just in time for the opening Spitfire display choreographed to "Jupiter" from The Planets by Gustav Holst: 
The orchestra did a great job covering a varied repertoire -- from Verdi Operas to Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance (did you know that had words?!?!) -- despite the occasional piece of sheet music flying away: 
It's hard to exactly describe the audience of the Battle Proms... Clearly everyone was there to have a good time, and picnics ranged from little camper baskets on blanket (go us!) to huge gazebos with candelabras. Audience dress varied from jeans and jumpers (a prize goes out to the first non-British person to post a response explaining what a "jumper" is) to tuxedos and ballroom gowns. Despite the variety, as we said before, UK National Pride oozed out of the pore of everyone there: 
And being an American certainly didn't stop us from getting in on the action (although we did have a little trouble singing the correct words to "God Save the Queen" - how'd they mange to usurp that tune from us?!?) especially with a little help from our new favorite British summer drink, Pimms: 
(Why Kim felt she needed an entire pitcher of that beverage, we'll never know...) And, as promised, there were the cannons - all 193 of them to be exact. They played a key role in the 1812 Overture and The Battle of Vittoria, The Battle Symphony (Op. 91 Beethoven): 
Overall, a good time to be had by all - a great time to be British!
