Impressive Normandy Festivals To See This Year

by Chris Owen on

The Normandy region of France is host to a number of festivals and events, some of which attract travelers from around the world. For many Americans, Normandy brings to mind D-Day landings, World War II and the Normandy beaches, but there is a whole lot more to know about.

The Armada– June 6-16, 2013
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2013, “L’Armada de la liberté” – “The Sails of Freedom” brings millions of visitors to the Port of Rouen for concerts, gigantic fireworks and plenty of other entertainment.

But the stars of the show are more than 50 of the largest sailing ships in the world. Also featured are modern warships, all of which have sailed up the 120 kilometers of the River Seine through the beautiful landscapes of Normandy.

Cirque Theater
One of the last surviving permanent circus rings in France, the theater in d’Elbeuf is the only one to have a 13-meter-wide ring, exactly like the ring under a big top in a traveling circus, plus a proscenium stage.

Normandy Impressionist Festival– April 27 through September 23, 2013
All over Normandy, called “the birthplace of Impressionism,” preparations for the second Festival Normandie Impressionniste are under way.

With water as its central theme, the festival brings to the fore an eclectic program across the arts with exhibitions, concerts, films, modern art, literature and picnics like Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass.”


To find out more about Impressionism in Normandy, watch this short video:


[Photo Credit- Rouen and Seine Valley District Tourist Office/JFLange]

African-American Military Aviators On Hand To Tell Their Story

by Chris Owen on

They were our nation’s first African-American military aviators. The Tuskegee Airmen peaked at 1,000 pilots and 15,000 ground crew during World War II. Now, only 40 pilots and 200 ground crew are alive today. Florida’s Fantasy of Flight aircraft collection continues to honor the airmen with a series of symposiums coming up in 2013 as well as their annual student essay contest.

“Reading the student essays last year, it was clear how much the participants were influenced by the Tuskegee Airmen, both by the men they met in person at the ‘They Dared to Fly’ symposium, as well as through the research they conducted on their own,” said Kim Long, General Manager, Fantasy of Flight in a statement.

Dedicated to preserving historic moments in aviation history and inspiring future generations to greatness, Fantasy of Flight is inviting students to help with this mission by sharing their impressions of the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII in essay form.Themed “They Dared To Fly,” the contest invites central Florida students in grades 6-12 to enter the contest, referring to the L.E.A.D. values that put the Tuskegee Airmen in the history books – Leadership, Excellence, Advocacy and Determination.

First place winners in each of two categories (grades 6-8 and 9-12) will take home $500; two second place winners each will receive $300.

Fantasy of Flight’s 2013 Legends & Legacies Symposium Series continues with several open-forum/question-and-answer sessions as well as meet-and-greet autograph signings with some of the original Tuskegee Airmen Feb. 7-9, 2013. The event will be held in celebration of Black History Month and marks the first of six symposiums.

Other topics scheduled for 2013 include Beyond the Battlefield, March 8-9; The First World War, April 6; D-Day: Normandy & Beyond, May 3-4; Espionage: The Cold War, Oct. 4-5 and Veteran’s Day Salute: A Celebration of Service, Nov. 9-10, 2013.

Symposium events are included in the price of Fantasy of Flight general admission and are free for annual pass holders.



[Photo Credit- Flickr user Suzanne_C_Walker]

Other Countries A US President Has Never Visited

by Chris Owen on

President Barack Obama will land in Myanmar (aka Burma) this week, a first-time visit for any President of the United States. Never mind that Myanmar is best known as a brutal dictatorship, not exactly in line with U.S. foreign policy. Disregard any political or geographically strategic reasons for befriending Myanmar. Today, this is all about the President being the first to visit Myanmar and the trip begs the question: “So are there other countries that no sitting U.S. President has ever visited?”

Out of the 190+ countries in the world, just 113 of them have been visited by a President of the United States, according to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian.

Countries not visited include close-by neighbor the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, St Kitts, St Lucia and assorted tiny island-nations. Understandable, we would probably view a visit to the harmless Seychelles as a taxpayer-paid vacation anyway.

On the continent of Africa, more nations have not been visited than have been by a U.S. President. Again, probably not a lot of strategic reasons to stop by.But some big-name countries we might think that some President, somewhere along the way, might have visited; not one has.

  • Monaco, the second smallest country/monarchy in the world and the most densely populated country in the world boasts the world-famous Monte Carlo Casino.
  • Algeria, in northern Africa, famous for its vast Sahara in the south..
  • Nepal- famous for eight of the world’s ten tallest mountains. No visit.

Armenia is a country one might think worthy of a trip by any standards. Bordered by Turkey to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, Georgia to the north and Iran to the south, Armenia does seem to have a strategic location. Still, no visit.

Presidential travel takes any given sitting head of the free world to countries all over the planet on visits of good will. Meeting face to face with world leaders, attending meetings and spreading good old American spirit around when they can, Presidents are a big ticket when they come to town, along with Air Force One and more as we see in this video


Oh, and that trip to Myanmar? While President Obama is the first U.S. President to visit, he’s not the first Obama. The president’s grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was a cook in World War II for a British army captain stationed in what was then called Burma.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user 0ystercatcher]

Lost WWII Planes Discovered In Mint Condition In Myanmar Jungle

by Kraig Becker on

Twenty-five years ago a British farmer by the name of David Cundall overheard a group of American World War II vets discussing how they had buried a squadron of unused Supermarine Spitfire fighter planes in the jungles of Burma. The plan was to leave them there until the RAF needed them, at which time they could be dug up and pressed into service. But as the war ground to a halt and newer planes replaced the Spitfire, there was never a need to retrieve the hidden aircraft. So, they’ve stayed there, buried under 40 feet of soil, ever since. That story struck a chord with Cundall, who was a farmer at the time, and for some reason felt compelled to go looking for the lost planes. Two-and-a-half decades, and $210,000 later, he has found them, and the discovery has exceeded his imagination.

Cundall started his search about 15 years ago, making regular trips to Burma, which is now known as Myanmar, to comb the jungles there. Earlier this year, he finally found what he had been looking for but while he expected to locate about 20 planes, he has actually discovered nearly 140. All of them are still stored, wings folded back, in their original crates and are wrapped in wax paper and covered in grease. That has kept them in near mint condition, even after being buried in the jungle for nearly 70 years.

After the discovery, Cundall petitioned the government of Myanmar for permission to begin excavating the vintage planes. They have recently granted him that permission, and he is now free to start the process of digging them up and shipping them home. And why exactly would he want to dig up all of those old planes? Because each of the Spitfires is estimated to be worth about $2.5 million when sold to a collector. That makes the entire find worth roughly $350 million.

It seems this lost cache of British fighters may not be the only one either. According to the “Business Insider” story linked to above, there are rumors that more than 230 Spitfires were buried somewhere in Queensland, Australia, as well. To date, none have been found, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from searching.

[Photo credit: RAF via WikiMedia]

Ghosts Of War: Photographer Overlays ‘Then’ And ‘Now’ Photos

by McLean Robbins on

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. They also say that a photo can capture a memory. Which partially explains why we’re so fascinated by photographer Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse’s haunting overlays in the “Ghosts of War” series (see her Flickr and Facebook pages here), which takes images of locations today and overlays them with people-filled images from World War II. The series showcases locations in France, Auschwitz, Poland, Germany and Amsterdam.

Dutch historian Teeuwisse found negatives at an Amsterdam flea market and had the idea to begin this series, the Daily Mail reported. Each photograph and location is researched before being put together. We’re fascinated by the idea of seeing modern-day locations in historic and haunting context.

Which image is your favorite?
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[Photos used with permission from flickr user juffrouwjo]