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  After Sainte-Chapelle, we took a hop-on hop-off bus tour to see other sights, including the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower. We were exhausted by that point (after getting a few hours of sleep on the flight over) but our group managed to stay awake for most of it. 😂 #travel #Paris

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  Yesterday, we started with a guided tour of the Louvre, with our cousins Dan and Pat joining Mom, Aunt Kay, Aunt Colette, and me. We actually missed our tour group, but we managed to catch up and enjoy the tour. #travel #Paris

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  The Louvre. #travel #Paris

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  Views outside the Louvre. #travel #Paris

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  Drink and ice cream break! #travel #Paris

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  We also toured Musee d’Orsay, which houses more modern art pieces than the Louvre, including an amazing collection of Impressionists. #travel #Paris

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  Sisters!

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  We ended the day by joining Adan and Pat on an evening cruise of the Seine. #travel #Paris

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  This morning we are picking up a rental car and driving to Bernay in Normandy to start the genealogy portion of the trip. Bernay is where my great-aunt Sister Margaret is buried, and we hope to find her grave.

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  Yesterday we made the drive from Paris to Bernay, where my great-aunt is buried. Mary Doyle left her parent’s farm in North Dakota to become a nun in France right after World War I, after which she took the religious name Sister Margaret. She never returned home or saw her family again, but we have a large body of letters that she wrote to home describing her time in France. #travel #France #genealogy

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  Because of the sacrifice she made leaving her family at such a young age, my great-aunt Sister Margaret was always a bit of a spiritual/inspirational figure for my family. But it was also a source of sadness, especially for her parents and her siblings (such as my grandmother). #travel #France #genealogy

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  In 1985, my grandmother and aunt were able to finally make the trip to Bernay to visit their sister’s grave, 50 years after her death. This journey has a big impact, and helped lift a huge emotional weight from their shoulders. My grandmother documented her trip in a journal which her children still have to this day. #travel #France #genealogy

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  When my grandmother and aunt found Sister Margaret’s grave in 1985, they found it overgrown and in disrepair. The simple wooden cross that marked Sister Margaret (and two of her fellow religious sisters that are buried with her, three to a grave) was splintering, and the name plaque was difficult to read. So my grandmother, aunt, and my aunt’s son (who accompanied them) undertook to clean the grave site, and arranged for a new stone cross and name plaques. #travel #France #genealogy

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  Yesterday, 40 years after my grandmother’s trip, my mother and her sister, along with two cousins who are also the children of Sister Margaret’s siblings, again visited Sister Margaret’s grave site to pay our respects and say a few prayers for the repose of her soul. And after a bit of a search we found her grave! (GPS coordinates: 49.08235° 0.59707°) #travel #France #genealogy

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  Although it is clear that the cemetery is being tended, Sister Margaret’s grave wasn’t as much. Her grave was full of weeds, and the name plaques were covered in lichen and moss. #travel #France #genealogy

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  After saying a few prayers, it was decided that we should take inspiration from my grandmother’s visit 40 years ago and clean up the grave site. So we pulled the weeds and made a trip to a local garden store from supplies. After a few hours of weeding, raking, scrubbing, and tidying, I think it cleaned up nicely! #travel #France #genealogy

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  After tidying Sister Margaret’s grave, we collected our tools and trash and headed back to the car. Now keep in mind this is an old cemetery surrounded by six foot walls. We got to the cemetery gate to discover that the caretaker had already come by and locked up for the night. We were locked inside! #travel #France

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  So there I was, trapped in a walled cemetery with a bunch of 70 and 80 year-olds. Luckily my Cousin Pat is a spry 69 years-old and a Navy man. He found a place where he could climb the wall, but obviously my mom and aunts couldn’t do that. So he took the keys and headed to the police station. After he left, I flagged down a dog walker who promised to call someone as soon as she got home. Between the two, one of them managed to reach Sister Catherine who had ... https://dazeend.org/2026/07/6011/

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  Yesterday was mostly a repositioning day. We visited Sister Margaret’s grave once more before heading to Beauvais. Along the way, we stopped in Rouen where I managed to get our rental car trapped in a pedestrian zone. (It was a whole thing.) But after dodging all the people and escaping with the car, we continued to our hotel in Beauvais. Today we fly to Cork! #travel #France #Ireland

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  So “May Day” is like “Labor Day”, only in metric, right?

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  The medical billing department that keeps contacting me won’t release any patient information (including even identifying the the name of the patient or the hospital in question) until I’m verified, and I’m sure as hell not giving personal information to random unknown people that text me or call my phone. So we’re at a standoff. I’m pretty sure the calls are legit, but they need to create a process that doesn’t feel like a phishing attempt, so screw ‘em.

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  RE: https://mstdn.social/@DazeEnd/116534938840356389 I mean, I have an account on their ugly-as-sin patient portal, so why are they even trying to call me at all? Just send me a message through that portal that they keep insisting is secure.

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  Last night we caught a flamenco show! 💃💃💃 Coming in (and knowing almost nothing about flamenco), my impression was that it was a Spanish folk dance with a lot of stomping. Now, after one whole hour of experience, I realize that it’s more of an aggressive tap dance (rather than stomping). It also seems much more of a “classical” art than a “folk” art, where the men sing and the women dance. Heather compared it to opera, which seems apt. It was a lot of fun. #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  After the flamenco show, we stopped at Casa Román for a dinner of tapas y vino. I get the impression that this place is a bit of an institution. And the amount of jamón Ibérico de Bellota (acorn-fed Iberico ham) they were slicing behind the bar was impressive—they had one staff member whose entire job seemed to be slicing jamón to keep up with orders. #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  I have a little catching up to do. After our flamenco show and dinner two nights ago, we walked past the Sevilla cathedral on our way back to the hotel. The cathedral was lovely at night. The church was lit up so you could see the architecture, and the crowds had all gone home (although there were still lots of people out for dinner and drinks). #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  Yesterday we visited the inside of the Sevilla Cathedral. They claim to be the second largest church in Europe (behind St. Peter’s in the Vatican), although I’m pretty sure a few other churches claim the same title. No matter its official ranking, Sevilla Cathedral is enormous! It’s also pretty neat to see such a large church built in the gothic style. (Most of the others I’ve seen date from the Renaissance.) #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  Fist stop on our tour of the Sevilla Cathedral was the top of the Giralda bell tower (340 feet high), which is the only part that remains of the Moorish mosque that was torn down after the Reconquista. The Catholic cathedral was built (from 1402 to 1519) on the foundations of the demolished mosque, with the Giralda retained as the new church’s bell tower. #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  After climbing the Giralda, we toured the inside of the cathedral. It’s enormous, but the gothic architecture makes it feel smaller than it is. The central area is dominated by the nave and choir, but those are cut off from the rest of the church with giant pillars and supporting walls. Surrounding the nave and choir are dozens of side chapels with their own altars, artworks, and graves. (Notably, the grave of Christopher Columbus can be found in the cathedral.) #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  More views from inside Sevilla Cathedral. #travel #Spain #Sevilla

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  The grave of Christopher Columbus, inside Sevilla Cathedral. #travel #Spain #Sevilla