Normandy

Normandy!
We spent about a week in Normandy in September, a great time. After flying to CDG, we rented a car and fought our way out of the Paris area in Monday morning rush hour traffic. Not recommended! We were very happy to arrive in Rouen and find our room at the Hotel de l'Europe. The hotel was just minutes away from the Place du Vieux Marché. The Place has a checkered past, as the place where Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake. Today it is the site of a large, modern church Jeanne d'Arc, and also a daily market. In addition, the square is lined with restaurants and is a popular spot with tourists and locals alike.

We had a great lunch at Restaurant Gill, in the Place du Vieux Marché. Great food and ambience, a good beginning to our stay. After jet lag naps we set out to explore lovely Rouen. Lots of medieval half timbered houses everywhere, great pedestrian walking areas. And of course the huge and beautiful cathedral, made famous by Monet, who painted it multiple times in all different lights. We walked around the town, saw the Beaux Arts Museum and a lovely little park across from it, and generally enjoyed getting to know it. We began to realize how significant World War II was in all of Normandy, and the huge damage that so many places suffered.

The next morning we walked some more, visiting more churches, including St Maclou and the Aitre de St Maclou, a courtyard surrounding half timbered buildings, with carved motifs of death--skulls and crossbones, sickles, and other symbols of death. It was for many years a cemetery for plague victims. Today it houses a fine arts school-go figure. But it does offer fascinating art.

Later we drove to Caen (with a flat tire as we were leaving town--definitely not recommended!), stopping along the way to visit the ruined abbey at Jumièges. We drove along the Seine through beautiful countryside to this large and impressive set of ruins, in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. After our visit we took a small ferry across the Seine to continue our trip.

In Caen our hotel was just around the corner from the Château, a huge complex with ramparts and towers. It's a great place to walk around the get views of the city. It also houses the fine arts museum and the Musée de Normandie.

We spent most of one day exploring the D-Day beaches and surrounding communities. We started in Ste-Mère-Eglise, made famous when the US paratroopers missed their target and landed there. Many were killed as their parachutes drifted toward town. One, John Steele, caught his parachute on the tower of the church and hung there for several hours, pretending to be dead, and thus saved his life. Today there is a parachute and a mannequin representing Steele on the church tower. Many people come to see this and to express their thanks in the church guest book for the Allied soldiers. The tiny town also has a military museum.

We drove from there to Utah Beach. It was sobering to see the bunkers still in place and to walk on the dunes and try to imagine what it was like. From there to Colleville-sur-Mer, site of the largest US World War II cemetery. We've all seen pictures of this, with the rows and rows of white crosses (and occasional stars of David), but it is very moving to see in person. It's a solemn place, where people come to honor and respect those who died there. It is on a hill overlooking Omaha Beach, where so many died, and a beautiful spot of remembrance. Even in late September it was full of visitors. We went from there to Omaha Beach. It looks like...a beach, in a small French town. Hard to imagine what all went on there.

Caen has built a huge memorial museum, dedicated not just to the history of the war but also to future peace. It's very high tech and comprehensive and provides information about events leading up to the war, the war itself, and post war/future.

We celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in Caen, having a great dinner at a very nice restaurant there, Le Bouchon du Vaugueux.

Next stop, Bayeux, home of the amazing Bayeux Tapestry. It's actually an embroidery rather than a tapestry, 70 meters long, displayed in a u-shaped case with appropriate lighting. It tells the story of the Norman Conquest and William the Conqueror. Really amazing--how often do you get to see something from the 11th century that still is intact and beautiful! The town itself was charming too.

We took a little detour to the town of St-Lô, which has the dubious distinction of being the "Capital of the Ruins." Some estimates say 95% of it was destroyed in 1944, as it was a crossroads and communications center. The church has been rebuilt, but the tours remain as the were after the destruction as a reminder. Another example of how significant World War II was to this region.

Next to Mont-Saint-Michel, where we had arranged to stay on the island for two nights. That was really cool. We arrived about 5:30 and the place was mobbed. We fought our way up the narrow main street that was full of people, and after walking up the cobble stoned Grande Rue we got to the Vieille Auberge. Our room, however, required walking up 66 more steps! Definitely worth it, as we had a big terrace with a great view of the bay, and a view of the abbey if we looked up. Cool. It was also great to watch all the cars and buses leaving the parking lot! When we went back down later in the evening the street was quiet. We got to walk around the abbey at night and enjoyed a great dinner of Moules frites (mussels and French fries) in a little restaurant overlooking the Bay.

The next morning we got up early for the sunrise and enjoyed seeing Mont-St-Michel covered in fog--very atmospheric. We walked out onto the grassy areas and saw some of the famous sheep grazing. The Mont-St-Michel lamb is supposed to be particularly tasty because the sheep graze on the salt marsh hay.

After breakfast we toured the Abbey itself, again climbing up lots of stairs to get there. As you approach the entrance, the left side is for groups and the right side for individual travelers. The groups side had a huge line, and there was no one on the individual side! We walked right in but of course were surrounded by groups. We had gotten the audiotour, and after a while we figured out how to pace ourselves so we could enjoy some of the beautiful spaces in between the groups as they made their way through. It made us even more grateful that we had the experience of staying on the island and experiencing the peace and tranquility of the evening and early morning.

By this point the 66 steps felt like nothing, since we had been climbing all morning. So I picked up some sandwiches we popped back "home" for lunch on our terrace before heading out again.

Our visit happened to be at a time when the tides were not high, which meant that we never actually saw the island surrounded by water. Huge sand flats went on for ages, and offered great views. In addition, that meant that we could walk all the way around the abbey on the sand at any time and get great views from all angles. Some people actually waded through various places where there was some water, and headed out to little islands and more distant spots. We were happy hanging out nearby.

That evening we once again enjoyed the tranquility and the sunset, and from our room heard the quarter-hour bells of the small Église St-Pierre, which we saw from our terrace.

The next morning we stopped at the Portes of Mont-St-Michel, basically an area of hotels, shops, and restaurants just across the causeway. The places there advertise themselves as having the view of MSM you don't get if you stay there. And the views were great. Most interesting was the dam that has been built to control the flow of water in and out of the bay. There have been problems over the years with silt building up, and MSM is in process of replacing part of the causeway with a bridge, to allow for greater water flow. The dam is part of the process of allowing water from the river in and out, to prevent the silt build up. It's very high tech and is another spot with great views.

From here we moved on to Brittany. Next blog entry coming soon!