En France: La Normandie

Warning: Looooong blog entry!

Last week was Toussaint vacation! (which is pretty much the equivalent of fall break back home.) I was lucky enough to spend a few days traveling all over Normandy with three Northern Irish and one Welsh! It wasn't an incredibly helpful weekend where learning French is concerned, but I sure learned a lot of Irish terms! The trip was filled with expressions like, "a wee bit, rubbish, grand, pudding (which is a term used to mean dessert), lovely, and biscuit (for cookie)." I actually found myself reading facebook with an accent when I got back to my room after having only heard British accents for 3 days! haha!

Anyway, we started the trip going to visit, "Le Mont Saint-Michel" which is, according to our guidebook, "One of the most iconic images of France." It really is an amazing sight to see. When driving up to Mont Saint-Michel, you can't help but stare at it. Le Mont Saint-Michel is this really extraordinary monastery that is built on an island about a half mile off the shore. The tide goes up and down making it accessible during the day, but the tide varies an incredibly 14m each day. There were signs in the parking lot that advised you to move your car before 6pm or else it would be underwater!

The inside of Mont Saint-Michel was almost as awesome as the outside. It reminded me quite a bit of visiting Carcassonne in the south of France a few years ago. It was basically a little town inside the walls....Mostly touristy shops and cafés, but still. We didn't actually tour the monastery because we didn't have that much time, and it cost 5€. We did, however, find a bench about midway up the stairs and eat our packed sandwiches...making us the envy of several hungry french children who then bugged their parents for food. haha.

The view from inside Mont Saint-Michel

After Mont Saint-Michel, we headed to the town of Bayeux in Normandy where we stayed in an adorable little chambre d'hôte (B&B). It's actually on a farm! Anyway, we spent the first day getting acquainted with Bayeux...which included seeing the Bayeux Tapestry! We spent at least two or three classes in senior English talking about the history behind the Bayeux Tapestry, so it was very interesting to get to see it in person. It's much longer than I expected it to be. The audio tour took us scene by scene explaining what was happening. Photos weren't allowed, so here's a picture courtesy of google. haha.

The other main thing to see in Bayeux is the cathédrale. Like almost every other French cathedral, this one is really impressive. Other than walking in and around the cathédrale, we spent quite a bit of time just exploring the city a little bit. While the buildings in Nantes are mainly white, I found Bayeux to be mostly beige and brown....very Norman.

Creeping on adorable French children...what I do best.

Gargoyles!

Heather in front of an Irish store!

Our next stop was to the Bayeux War Cemetery where over 4,000 commonwealth soldiers (and some from other countries) that died in Normandy are buried. It was so peaceful, and the changing autumn leaves made the scene very somber. Each of the grave stones had a personal message inscribed into it. I think it was these epitaphs that made it seem more real to me.

At this point, it was beginning to get dark, so we headed out to find dinner. We found a little restaurant in Bayeux. I was shocked when they asked us if we wanted to sit outside seeing as how it was about 50 degrees out...but it was heated by a heat lamp! I had an omelette with a side salad and fries followed by a chocolate banana crumble for dessert!

Emmaline and Elisabeth

Day 2

I'm completely hooked on Bed and Breakfasts after the one we stayed at in Bayeux. The breakfast was sooo good. It was a typical French breakfast of assorted breads and homemade jams. We also had coffee that actually satisfied my coffee craving I've been having since leaving Costa Rica. It was strong and wonderful. :) The breakfast was also great because the host was so helpful and friendly. She gave us all the info about touring the sites, and also told us about how she got started in the B&B business. When she learned that I was from the US, she told me she has a daughter living in Chicago.

Annnnnyway, our first destination was to Arromanches....which is a small town very close to Gold Beach which was chosen to be one of the sites where harbors were built by the allies. We visited the museum in Arromanches that is all about Operation Overlord...the code name for the battle of Normandy to invade German occupied Western Europe during WWII. The museum was very interesting, but we had the lucky chance of arriving at exactly the same time of a bus load of about 50 American tourists. Therefore, we opted to watch the movie and go on the tour in French instead of in English to avoid the crowds. When you look out at the ocean from the museum, you can see huge concrete and metal chunks out in the ocean which are what's left of the harbor that was built.

After learning all about the history, we headed over see La Batterie de Longues located between Gold and Omaha beaches. It's basically several large guns protected by enormous concrete cases which were built and occupied by the Germans. Everything was so green and gorgeous which made it hard to imagine what happened there.

Elisabeth!

Croque-Monsieur

After a quick lunch (I had a wonderful croque-monsieur) we continued on to Omaha Beach, which was one of the beaches invaded by the Americans. It was GORGEOUS! I had the same feelings as when I had seen the battery de longues. It was so hard to take in the amount of history that happened in that place. On the beaches of Normandy, so many soldiers lost their lives, and standing there is quite an overwhelming feeling. It seems just like any other beach until you see big concrete blocks in the water or a shelter up on the hill overlooking the beach.

From there, we walked over to the nearby American Cemetery which overlooks Omaha Beach. If you've ever seen Saving Private Ryan, this is the cemetery that is shown during the first few minutes of the film. There are over 9,000 white crosses (and stars of David) that are in perfect rows. The sheer number of graves is enough to take your breath away. For a few minutes, I almost forgot that I was in France. All the signs were in American English with French underneath. I've never felt more American than standing in that cemetery. We spent probably a good 45 minutes just walking in the cemetery. I was so impressed at how well kept the memorial is. There are about 20 people whose job is just to clean the headstones all day. (We saw them doing it, and Andrew stopped to ask.) As you exit the cemetery, you also see a wall with over 4,000 names carved into it that belong to soldiers who were never found after the battle. After the cemetery, we went through the visitor's center/ museum where we watched videos about the soldiers and about step by step descriptions of the events that led up to D-Day. One of the coolest things in the museum was a sign that told about the real brothers that inspired the movie, "Saving Private Ryan."

Overall, the American cemetery definitely left an impression on me. It was strange to be hearing English spoken on all the videos and to see English written on all the memorials.

Saving Private Ryan Brothers

"We don't forget, we will never forget, the infinite debt of gratitude that
we have contracted to those who gave everything for our freedom. "

Last stop of the day was to Pointe du Hoc...located between Omaha and Utah beaches. It's a very steep cliff that was very difficult to overtake from the Germans. Many of the structures are still there, as well as quite a few bomb craters. We basically spent the time going into the many holes. haha.

Emmaline!

On the way back, we ran into a road block. haha.

Day 3

Last day in Normandy! We decided to take a break from the war history stuff and spend a few hours in the city of Caen. I was particularly interested, because Caen was one of the places that I could have ended up studying abroad. It was a nice city, but I still prefer Nantes any day. The main things to see in Caen were the cathedral, the abbeys and the castle that belonged to William the Conquerer. The castle is one of the largest in all of Europe!