Adventures at 14° N 17° W: Normandy is a very cold place

Cold but quite lovely! I made my way from Nantes to Bayeux, a journey comprised of three different trains, and finally met up with Grace and her parents. They picked me up at the train station and took Grace and I to the hostel where we were planning on staying. The hostel had pretty decent reviews online (though it didn't have it's own website, and when we called, it never rang) and it was suggested in Grace's relatively new guide book, so we thought all would be fine if we just showed up and tried to get a room. We found the hostel, but there was a sign in the window saying that it was closed "definitively" so we had to go a different route. It was a very senegalese-esque moment, inconvenient and for most people probably pretty frustrating, but just comical for us. We did some searching around guide books and pamphlets and found a relatively reasonably priced hotel right in town. The owner was very nice and the hotel was served it's purpose perfectly. There was a heater and a hot shower. What more could you ask for? Plus, we really got to practice our French! Sometimes in France when a non native French speaker tries to speak it, they'll just speak to you in English, but the people at the hotel actually spoke to us in French and it worked out very well. It was quite enjoyable.

The first full day there, we drove out to Utah Beach where Grace's mom's father had landed five days after D Day. The weather was actually pretty nice in the morning, so the beach was enjoyable. There was also a really nice D Day museum there and I learned a lot. After the beach we decided to go down to Le Mont St. Michel. It started to pour down rain, but we went anyway! It was packed with tourists, of course, but charming still. Because I'd been there twice before, I opted out of the tour of the Abbey this time, but Grace and her parents went. It was kind of cool because it gave me an hour or so to just wander the island alone. Such a cool place!

Horse carts on Utah Beach...a la Senegal.

Lucky sun break

Grace at Le Mont St. Michel

Our second day in Normandy, we went to the big outdoor market in Bayeux and walked around a bit. Lots of smells and sights, it was pretty fun. We saw a man selling pants that they also sell in Senegal and Grace and I almost got up the courage to talk to him and see if he was Senegalese, but we chickened out. After the market we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry, which is 230 ft of embrodiered cloth, telling the story of William the Conquerer and the Battle of Hastings. Here, check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry. It was pretty cool. After that we went to Omaha beach and the surrounding areas. It was very very windy and cold that day, which made the beaches less desirable, but it also gave a pretty good idea of what those soldiers were experiencing when they landed. It was a lot to take in. Such a beautiful landscape, but so much history of pain and loss. Hope too, I suppose! We went to visit the American Cemetery as well and that was incredible. Very beautiful and respectfully done.

All and all, our trip to Normandy was very fun. I saw a lot and learned a lot, which was great. On Sunday morning Grace and I hopped on a train to Paris, then another train (and another train) later, we were at the airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam!