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| So there it is...in the 17th century the Spanish--this was their part of the world, via Charles V, the Hapsburgs, et al.--dug a 4 km canal from the Channel to Gravelines, and named the place after Phillip II, their king; impressive...until one harkens back to the Grand Canal in China, a millennium before...1100 miles |
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| The big thing here nowadays is the spring Parade of the Giants, which, damn!, we missed by only a couple months; we'll certainly be back |
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| Anyhow, here's the canal, from the aire, low-tide |
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| A DFDS ferry glides out of Dunkirk harbor, past the volley- ball and futbol fields on the humongous (low-tide) beach |
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| The chapel at lands end here... |
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| The canal and jetty go way beyond; we didn't...high wind and sand are not good for contact-wearers |
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| A container ship glides by |
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| Looking across the canal to the marina and beyond |
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| From our site |
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| Next morning...water in the canal! We're in the land of big tides! |
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| The ferry crossing the canal |
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| A stone circle in Fort Grande Phillipe...Vicki theorizes there were two circles originally, an outer and an inner; I theorize there probably are pull-tabs beneath these rocks |
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| The traffic--particularly the A16 around Dunkirk and Calais-- was caused by a ferry workers' strike and associated sympathy strikes and protests; trucks were parked for miles and miles on the freeways, waiting for the strike to end; DFDS ferries continued running out of Dunkirk...they apparently precipitated the strike by buying out a competitor and letting it known they would close it down; we read on BBC that the situation in and around Dover was much, much worse; in Phillippe and elsewhere we ran into numerous Brits who had been stranded and who had not been able to make new reservations |
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