Tag: Travel

Remnants of Life

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

And now that they were long gone, these intriguing remnants of the lives they’d led were all the proof that remained that they had ever been here.

Mike Gayle, The Museum of Ordinary People

I came across the quote above while reading Mike Gayle’s wonderful novel and it struck me once again when I started to think about this long-overdue chapter of my France travelogue.

It seems a lot of the novels I’ve been reading lately have been focused in some way on what we leave behind when we exit this plane. I guess it’s something I myself have been thinking about a lot since I had children. It’s both nice and heartbreaking to think that my two beautiful daughters will be the majority of my legacy. Discussions about instinctual procreation aside, I love the idea that once (many, many, many years from now) I’ve moved on from this life, a part of me will live on in them.

Cue “He Lives in You” from The Lion King.

That miracle being acknowledged, I hate the thought of ever leaving them. Even if they too have already lived long and full lives once my time comes.

Wow. That got dark. Moving on.

Something else I thought about in preparation for this post is that even people as famous as Richard the First of England and Joan of Arc of France did not leave significantly more stuff behind when their time on earth ended. Sure, the Lionheart has left castles and jewels and progeny but…as far as material evidence of who he really was at his core? Not much.

The ultimate equalizer, death.

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A Knowledgeable Imagination

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Albert Einstein

Now, I’ll admit, this is where things get a little dicey in terms of this particular travelogue. It appears that at this point in the trip I abandoned my travel journal – unsurprisingly perhaps since the next and final chapter took place in the Somme and I am still processing my emotions from that part of the visit (stay tuned).

What does that mean, you ask? Well, it means my tale will continue on with the huge caveat that from here on out I am working from memory sparked by a skeletal itinerary and phone photos alone so…bear with me. From here on out, I know not what bits of my tale come from knowledge and which from imagination.

Regardless, I can say for certain that the emotions I impart will be real as I’ll be reliving them right along with you.

So…with that rather imposing disclaimer out of the way…let’s get to it, shall we?

Continue reading “A Knowledgeable Imagination” →

To Make a Ghost

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Murderers were human, and the root of each murder was an emotion. Warped, no doubt. Twisted and ugly. But an emotion. And one so powerful it had driven a man to make a ghost.

Louise Penny, Dead Cold

I’ll admit I was tempted to leave the publishing of this post to next month in the spirit of Halloween. I mean, the title alone suits the spooky season. However, I’m on such a roll lately with my blog posts, and this was the next one chronologically in my travelogue of France, I decided injecting a little ghoulishness into an overly hot September was perhaps not a bad thing.

So, get yourself something delicious to drink and settle in for a tale filled with at least one deliberate murder and another, well, mystery.

Setting the scene: Bayeux Cathedral, 2015 (Photo: Erin of the Hills)
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The Realm of Spirit

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Chief Druids were those who, from childhood, had demonstrated an intimate awareness of the Otherworld. Its mysteries were not mysteries to them; its patterns were carved into their bones. They could move in and out of the realm of spirit, seeing that to which others were blind.

Morgan Llywelyn, Brendan

If there’s anything I love as much as graveyards, it’s cathedrals. Or any site of worship really. The two are almost always inextricably entwined and the older the better. Though regardless of their age, they are always filled with stories.

These places seem to inhabit the veil between this world and another. As if…if you just listened hard enough, stayed still enough, you could hear and see a glimpse of the other side.

Though I could wax poetically on this forever, I thought that today I would return to my France travelogue with the tale of one cathedral in particular: Bayeux.

I know it has been a while since my last entry from my travels. So, grab a hot (or cold) drink of your choice and come away with me, just for a few moments, to Bayeux, France.

Continue reading “The Realm of Spirit” →

Returning to the Unfinished

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun.”

Christina Rossetti

Way back in September of 2021, I wrapped up my recollections of visiting the Beaches of Normandy with an emotional post, stating that I would be giving myself some time away from these harder travel stories for a little while. I have a ritual about writing these types of posts which often means sitting with those dredged up feelings of overwhelming sadness at the incomprehensible loss of life all those years ago. After spending so much time back at the beaches, remembering all the mental anguish I had experienced walking freely and unhindered where so many fell, I needed to focus on the lighter sides of life for a while. Little did I know this would translate into almost an entire year off from blogging.

Well, it’s now been 16 months now since my Beaches blog went live so…I’d say it’s OK to finally return to that unfinished travelogue. That said, I will be easing into it with a little human interest story to start things off.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

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The Beaches: Part Four

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Stephen felt, as he had done before at moments of extreme tension, a dislocation in his sense of time. It seemed to stutter, then freeze.

Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong

The mind truly is a fascinating bit of machinery – I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before.

When the mind is at peace, bathing in a sense of calm, moments somehow fly by and before we know it, the peace is gone and we have encountered a new problem to solve or responsibility to take care of.

I know this from the little meditation I have done in my life. When I am truly able to calm my mind and focus on my breath, 5-10-15 minutes go by in a snap and suddenly the meditation is over and it’s time to get going on my To-Do list again.

And yet, in moments of stress or tension, time seems to slow down or even freeze completely. It’s almost as if our mind wants us to savour every single second of intense anguish so as to ensure that we keep ourselves as far away as possible from similar situations in the future.

Wouldn’t it make more sense for the opposite to be true? For happiness and peace to drag on forever while sadness and strife are over in the blink of an eye?

If you know a trick to make the mind’s mechanics flip like this, please let me know. Because in today’s blog, I’m going to talk about a painful experience which seemed to last for ages. An experience which cemented my firm belief that all life is immensely precious – a belief I hold sacred especially in today’s day and age with the Covid-19 pandemic still ravaging the world and mass graves of Indigenous children being found throughout the country.

But, I digress….

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The Beaches: Part Three

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

He wrapped himself in the cloak of his remembered world, hoping he would be safe in it where no shells or bullets could reach him.

Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong

Memory is a funny thing, isn’t it?

Sometimes it can be a safe place, somewhere to escape to when happiness and comfort seem unavailable in the present and the past instead offers a chance to relive a familiar feeling of peace.

At other times, what is meant to be a stroll down memory lane can turn into a desperate effort to get out of the swirling, churning undertow of past pain and back into the serene hindsight of the present.

Reading through my memories of our trip to Juno Beach in November of 2015 was an example of the latter.

Fair warning, this is a long one.

Continue reading “The Beaches: Part Three” →

The Beaches: Part Two

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

I felt pleasantly detached from reality, as though I were walking a foot or so off the ground.”

Diana Gabaldon, Drums of Autumn

And here we are again, a month or so after the last post returning to the beaches of Normandy. Now that I am re-reading my travel diary from this trip, I think this might be a four-part as opposed to three-part post. I want to devote all of Part Three to Juno beach, being Canadian.

But, for now, Part Two!

Continue reading “The Beaches: Part Two” →

The Beaches: Part One

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

With a sigh that seemed to come up from the soles of the feet, he rose…”

P.G. Wodehouse, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves

I’ve made the executive decision to divide my rather long and emotional tale of my trip to the beaches of Normandy into several different posts. I do this not only in consideration of your time, dear reader, but also your mental health – especially as we are still in the midst of a global pandemic. I have a feeling this series will run to 3 or 4 posts and I hope you will join me for all of them.

Continue reading “The Beaches: Part One” →

Love Instead of Loss

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

They settled, just for one blessed instant, on a place that held love, not loss.

Louise Penny, A Still Life

I promise this entry will be much lighter than the last few chapters of my travelogue have been – finally focusing on a sense of peace and awe instead of destruction! Savour it well because the next one will tell of our visit to the beaches of WWII fame. And that one is a doozy.

After taking in as much as possible of the information about Caen’s experience of the Second World War, we turned away from this beautifully tragic city towards our next destination: Bayeux.

Continue reading “Love Instead of Loss” →