Normandy

Oh, I'm so behind. We've been busy these past few weeks, but here's the beginning of catching up:

Normandy: May 1 - 3
May 1 is a holiday for everyone in the world, it seems, except the Americans. We had the day off, but neither of us knows why. Of course, we weren't about to complain about it.

To prepare for our road trip, I rented a Citreon C4 Picasso from the Avis at work and promptly handed the keys over to David. Thursday morning, everyone piled into the French grocery-getter and we rolled out of town.

On the way to Grainges, we stopped in Bayeux for a small visit of the town and a viewing of the famous Bayeux tapestry, depicting the invasion of England by William the Conqueror in 1066. We also took a walk through the local cathedral.

By mid-afternoon we reached Grainges and the small farmhouse that we had rented for our stay. In fact, it was part of a large farmhouse that was fixed up into a cute little bed and breakfast. The owner, a sweet English girl not much older than me, got us settled and gave us directions to all of the local sites.

We had some time before dinner, so we decided to drive out to the closest D-Day beach, Utah. Not much to say about Utah beach, just the ocean and the sand and your imagination to fill in the historical blanks. There is a little museum near the road, and some old WWII tanks and boats and a few flags.

So we ambled back to the gite (reminder, "gite" is a room or house one rents for holidays in France) and our hostess made us dinner and told stories about the significance of the area and the role the house played during the war. Apparently a History Channel documentary was filmed on their quiet little road just a few years ago.

The next day we drove out to Omaha beach and Point du Hoc, which was where rangers scaled the cliffs to take on a crucial German vantage point. Point du Hoc was interesting because even 60+ years after the war, the landscape is still pocked with craters from the bombings.

Next onto the American cemetery, which was on a beautiful hill overlooking the sea. After a walk through the cemetery we went into the visitors' center, which was really a mini museum, and learned "cartloads of personal stories", as David says it.

From there we visited another beach - the name escapes me right now - where Allied forces had created an artificial harbor with large cement platforms. Many of the platforms are still there, and when the tide was low we walked out to see one.

The next day we said goodbye to the farm and passed through Bayeux again for a bit of shopping. On the way into Paris we stopped in Giverny to take my parents to see Monet's gardens. The weather had warmed up significantly, and it was a beautiful day to view the gardens. But unfortunately, good weather means lots of tourists, and Dave and I found our quiet rainy day visit last year to have been more enjoyable.