Normandy
Last weekend I went on a Châteaux of the Loire trip to see, well, the châteaux of the Loire. I saw a few I've seen before and some new ones. Seeing Chambord and Chenanceau brought back a lot of good memories from when I went with my dad. :-)
So....after that, I went to Normandy with my friend Kerri Frizzel, who is from UNH but I didn't know her before the trip. I'm so glad I went. It meant a lot to me and it's beautiful there and the ppl are nice
and it was very moving. Monday our train was 40 mins late, so when we got to paris we ran
to the metro to get to gare de lazare to get to our other train. it was crazy!!! Got to
Caen and walked for 2 plus hours looking for our hotel. it sucked! Turns out our "5
minute from town" hotel was really 5 mins by bus. It was out in the middle of no where.
But it was sweet, like a mini apartment. We had 2 bathrooms, one with toilets and one
with shower, a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and another bed built into the couch. So,
we saved money by making our own dinners and breakfasts. :mmmm! The ladies at the hotel
were nice too cause they booked a tour for us for Wed so we would be able to see the
beaches!
That night we wandered around Caen and took pictures of William the Conquerers Castle and
the churches. i found it weird that all the buildings were modern and there were just a
couple churches among a town that reminded me of Boston, which i would later find out
why... ( turns out during the war, most of Caen was destroyed, except for l'abbaye des hommes, notre dame, etc.)
Tuesday we took the train to Bayeux and saw the 70m long tapestry that told the story of
William the Conquerer. It was cool. I bought a small re-creation of it to show my parents and whoever else wants to see it when i get home. The Cathedral there is beautiful. i think it's my favorite ever. We also saw
the British cemetary and The Normandy musuem of the battle. it was sad. I learned so much
though. We stayed there for 3-4 hours just reading everything. Wednesday we took the
train to Bayeux again and waited around for a guy with a sign with our names on it. i was
so sketched out, thinking it was gonna be some creepy old guy who was a pervert and it
was a scam and he was going to kill us or something. But, a van pulled up and a somewhat
attractive man of 30 asked us if we were Frizzel and Moon. His named was Olivier and he
was wicked cool. It was only the two of us on the tour, until later in the afternoon we
were to pick up two more ppl. We went to the German burial ground and it was interesting
cause i didnt know they had those here. Apparently there is one in Tennessee as well. We
then went to St mere Eglise where a parachutest was caught on the steeple for 2 hours and
had to play dead cause a German sniper was above him. We saw a museum and a video of the
parachutests too. It was kinda awkward with Olivier up until that point, like he was our
tour guide, we were the customers, but then I kinda broke the ice by asking him where he
was from, how often he does tours and why he likes the job, etc. We also spoke French to
him which i think he really liked cause most of his customers are usually english
speaking, from US, canada, britian, and australia. He said one time he spoke English for
4 months and then had a French family, and he had trouble bc he had forgotten alot of the
words in French! We went to Utah beach and I got shells from there that are in my room
now. We went to lunch in a little fishing town, and we went off on our own and Olivier
ended up going to the same place so he ate with us and we talked about our families and
what we do in school and things about the different cultures. Then we went to Point du
Hoc where we picked up two other Americans, from texas. SOOOO sterotypical. They were
prob late 20s and the guy was tubby and had longish hair and huge aviator sunglasses. The
girl was skinny, had long bleach blond hair, pink aviator sunglasses, and a guicci
handbag. They spoke no french whatsoever.
Point du hoc was the most influential on me. it had huge craters all over the land from where the bombs had hit,
and the barracks were all blown up, etc. Thank goodness it was sunny out and a beautiful
day, otherwise if it was rainy, more like how it had been the days it happened, i prob
would have cried. I did tear up a couple times though. Then we went to Omaha beach, which
didnt seem that impressive, but it's cause it was high tide. I think that if it were low
tide the distance of the beach would seem more impressive. We went to a museum near Omaha
beach. It was interesting, but the one in Bayeux was better. They had old things that
were found in the area though, from the war, and I really foudnd that interesting.
Next we went to the American burial ground. (cemetary). It was sad. Finally we left and
went to some other British barrack area, and then just drove around Normandy for a bit
until he brought us back to the train station at 6pm. So, it was a 9 hour long tour. I'm
really glad we did it because it was way cheaper than us renting a car, and we got to see
a lot b/c we prob would have gotten lost on our own. We also got a lot of history and
stories with it that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Olivier was cool too. It was fun
to talk with a French person about random things, and it made me feel cool too cause he
would talk in French just to Kerri and me when he didn't feel like having the Texans
overhear things haha. Thursday we took the train to Rouen, but missed our train because
the bus got stuck behind a garbage truck so we tried to walk, but we were further away
than we thought we were. Luckily there was another train an hour and a half later we
could take. Rouen was nice, and our hostel was in the centre ville, right along the Seine
river. We walked around that night and saw lots of cathedrals and churches. We saw where
Joanne of Arc was burned at the stake, and the church built in her honor. There was a
Joanne of Arc relics and wax museum we saw too. Kinda creepy... I just really find wax
figures creepy, yet interesting at the same time. "House of Wax" anyone? That night we
walked around forever looking for a cinema, and turns out it was just on the other side
of our hotel. We ate dinner at a little bistro where an older woman had the door barred
and had her little dog running around. We were the only ones there, and she made us food
all by herself. I got a croque madame and it was amazing. It was like grandma making us
dinner haha. She had pictures of her dog and grandkids everywhere. Then we went to the
cinema and saw "La Môme", which was a biography of Edith Piaf. it was WEIRD. Hard to
understand the actress too. Friday we checked out and hoped to leave our stuff in a
locker in the train station while we explored more until 7, but they were all closed and
the lady at the train station was a B****. So, we walked around the city, in the rain,
hoping that we could leave our stuff places we went. We ended up going to the Joanne of
Arc tower, where she was held until she was burned, a museum of iron which was really
really cool. They had old keys that were amazing and made me think of my Auntie Jane. Musée
des beaux arts too. Left around 3 cause we changed our train tickets, and got back to
Dijon around 9. It was such a great trip and I'm really glad I went. :-)
So....after that, I went to Normandy with my friend Kerri Frizzel, who is from UNH but I didn't know her before the trip. I'm so glad I went. It meant a lot to me and it's beautiful there and the ppl are nice
and it was very moving. Monday our train was 40 mins late, so when we got to paris we ran
to the metro to get to gare de lazare to get to our other train. it was crazy!!! Got to
Caen and walked for 2 plus hours looking for our hotel. it sucked! Turns out our "5
minute from town" hotel was really 5 mins by bus. It was out in the middle of no where.
But it was sweet, like a mini apartment. We had 2 bathrooms, one with toilets and one
with shower, a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and another bed built into the couch. So,
we saved money by making our own dinners and breakfasts. :mmmm! The ladies at the hotel
were nice too cause they booked a tour for us for Wed so we would be able to see the
beaches!
That night we wandered around Caen and took pictures of William the Conquerers Castle and
the churches. i found it weird that all the buildings were modern and there were just a
couple churches among a town that reminded me of Boston, which i would later find out
why... ( turns out during the war, most of Caen was destroyed, except for l'abbaye des hommes, notre dame, etc.)
Tuesday we took the train to Bayeux and saw the 70m long tapestry that told the story of
William the Conquerer. It was cool. I bought a small re-creation of it to show my parents and whoever else wants to see it when i get home. The Cathedral there is beautiful. i think it's my favorite ever. We also saw
the British cemetary and The Normandy musuem of the battle. it was sad. I learned so much
though. We stayed there for 3-4 hours just reading everything. Wednesday we took the
train to Bayeux again and waited around for a guy with a sign with our names on it. i was
so sketched out, thinking it was gonna be some creepy old guy who was a pervert and it
was a scam and he was going to kill us or something. But, a van pulled up and a somewhat
attractive man of 30 asked us if we were Frizzel and Moon. His named was Olivier and he
was wicked cool. It was only the two of us on the tour, until later in the afternoon we
were to pick up two more ppl. We went to the German burial ground and it was interesting
cause i didnt know they had those here. Apparently there is one in Tennessee as well. We
then went to St mere Eglise where a parachutest was caught on the steeple for 2 hours and
had to play dead cause a German sniper was above him. We saw a museum and a video of the
parachutests too. It was kinda awkward with Olivier up until that point, like he was our
tour guide, we were the customers, but then I kinda broke the ice by asking him where he
was from, how often he does tours and why he likes the job, etc. We also spoke French to
him which i think he really liked cause most of his customers are usually english
speaking, from US, canada, britian, and australia. He said one time he spoke English for
4 months and then had a French family, and he had trouble bc he had forgotten alot of the
words in French! We went to Utah beach and I got shells from there that are in my room
now. We went to lunch in a little fishing town, and we went off on our own and Olivier
ended up going to the same place so he ate with us and we talked about our families and
what we do in school and things about the different cultures. Then we went to Point du
Hoc where we picked up two other Americans, from texas. SOOOO sterotypical. They were
prob late 20s and the guy was tubby and had longish hair and huge aviator sunglasses. The
girl was skinny, had long bleach blond hair, pink aviator sunglasses, and a guicci
handbag. They spoke no french whatsoever.
Point du hoc was the most influential on me. it had huge craters all over the land from where the bombs had hit,
and the barracks were all blown up, etc. Thank goodness it was sunny out and a beautiful
day, otherwise if it was rainy, more like how it had been the days it happened, i prob
would have cried. I did tear up a couple times though. Then we went to Omaha beach, which
didnt seem that impressive, but it's cause it was high tide. I think that if it were low
tide the distance of the beach would seem more impressive. We went to a museum near Omaha
beach. It was interesting, but the one in Bayeux was better. They had old things that
were found in the area though, from the war, and I really foudnd that interesting.
Next we went to the American burial ground. (cemetary). It was sad. Finally we left and
went to some other British barrack area, and then just drove around Normandy for a bit
until he brought us back to the train station at 6pm. So, it was a 9 hour long tour. I'm
really glad we did it because it was way cheaper than us renting a car, and we got to see
a lot b/c we prob would have gotten lost on our own. We also got a lot of history and
stories with it that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Olivier was cool too. It was fun
to talk with a French person about random things, and it made me feel cool too cause he
would talk in French just to Kerri and me when he didn't feel like having the Texans
overhear things haha. Thursday we took the train to Rouen, but missed our train because
the bus got stuck behind a garbage truck so we tried to walk, but we were further away
than we thought we were. Luckily there was another train an hour and a half later we
could take. Rouen was nice, and our hostel was in the centre ville, right along the Seine
river. We walked around that night and saw lots of cathedrals and churches. We saw where
Joanne of Arc was burned at the stake, and the church built in her honor. There was a
Joanne of Arc relics and wax museum we saw too. Kinda creepy... I just really find wax
figures creepy, yet interesting at the same time. "House of Wax" anyone? That night we
walked around forever looking for a cinema, and turns out it was just on the other side
of our hotel. We ate dinner at a little bistro where an older woman had the door barred
and had her little dog running around. We were the only ones there, and she made us food
all by herself. I got a croque madame and it was amazing. It was like grandma making us
dinner haha. She had pictures of her dog and grandkids everywhere. Then we went to the
cinema and saw "La Môme", which was a biography of Edith Piaf. it was WEIRD. Hard to
understand the actress too. Friday we checked out and hoped to leave our stuff in a
locker in the train station while we explored more until 7, but they were all closed and
the lady at the train station was a B****. So, we walked around the city, in the rain,
hoping that we could leave our stuff places we went. We ended up going to the Joanne of
Arc tower, where she was held until she was burned, a museum of iron which was really
really cool. They had old keys that were amazing and made me think of my Auntie Jane. Musée
des beaux arts too. Left around 3 cause we changed our train tickets, and got back to
Dijon around 9. It was such a great trip and I'm really glad I went. :-)