FRANCE, Part 1 (Caen and D-Day sites) - May 16-18
The short version...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3_eEOJfoPk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Z_OnKCYIA
The long version...
France
May 16
We got into France at 5:30am London time. The announcement on the loud speaker is what woke us up from our lovely beds on the floor of the ferry. We disembarked sleepily, and shivered as we made our way into customs, which consisted only of having our passports stamped. That was easy. We bought our bus ticket to the Caen train station, which was quite close to the house we were staying at there. The bus was supposed to leave at 7:05. We forgot about the time change until about 6:58 France time, and we saw a bus outside. We went outside just as the bus pulled away. It was exactly 7:00am, so we figured that wasn’t our bus, because who’s ever heard of a city bus being early? So we waited out in the cold until 7:05… then 7:10… then at 7:15 Isaac went inside to ask if that had been the train station bus. Yep. It was. Grr! The employee told us we could walk to a nearby bus station and take one from there to the center of Caen in about an hour. So, we walked, frozen, to that station, where we had an hour to just sit and be tired and cold, because no businesses were open yet. When the bus arrived we were so grateful! We enjoyed our trip from Ouistreham to Caen. The part of France we traveled through is exactly what you think France should look like. We even saw a little old man in a hat going into his perfectly French-looking house, carrying a baguette under his arm. Awesome.
We arrived in Place Courtonne, the center of Caen. My friend Suzy, who lived in Caen for 9 months, told us the tram would take us to the house we were staying at, but we didn’t have a clue which way to go or where to get off, and the tram ticket machine wouldn’t take our Euro coins for some reason! But once we figured out the general direction to go, Isaac had the brilliant idea of following the tram line. It worked! Except we followed it too far because the street Clement & Ingrid live on is not marked when you’re going that way, so we walked 4 blocks past it. *headdesk* Finally we made our way to their house and hit the buzzer. I was unsure of what to say - we had never met them, and in fact, had only talked to them on couchsurfing.com - so I just said, “Bonjour, uh, this is Bethany & Isaac… from couchsurfing…” They came right down to greet us, and then we went up to their very cute little apartment, where Ingrid had an apple pie/tart waiting! We talked for a while, getting to know each other, when we said we wanted to go to the Caen Memorial that afternoon. They offered to take us, which was very nice of them.
The Caen Memorial is considered one of the best war museums anywhere. It begins with a literal downward spiral into World War I, and also covers WWII and the Cold War. They had some really interesting stuff, such as the wedding gown made from a soldier’s white parachute! Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much out of the museum as I should have, because basically as soon as we walked in, exhaustion just came over me. I was swaying when I stood still and my eyes wouldn’t focus on what I was reading. I sat down and closed my eyes for a second and the next thing I knew I jolted awake when Isaac touched me. When I saw a mini-theater showing a film on a loop, I convinced Isaac to go in there and let me sleep on his shoulder for a few minutes. He learned a lot about the Battle of Stalingrad while I slept, LOL! Shortly after that we went into a big theater for a video on the D-Day invasion, which I was really interested in because we were going there the next day, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I slept through the entire film - loud explosions and all! We finished the rest of the museum without me falling asleep again, but I wanted to puke when we went through the Nobel Prize winner exhibit and saw Al Gore amongst all those deserving people like Mother Theresa. We spent some time at the American Memorial Fountain, which had stones donated and inscribed by each state. After we recorded a video there we both fell asleep on the grass, taking advantage of the sunshine. It still wasn’t very warm though, so we ended up waking up because we were cold. Oh well. The sun was welcome.
From there we hopped on a bus back to Place Courtonne and waited to meet up with Suzy and her friend Daniel for dinner. They showed up and, after 3-4 years of wishing, I got to hang out with Suzy in person! (We are online friends.) She took us to her favorite restaurant in Caen, called Carambole (“star fruit”). They specialize in the French dish called galette. Basically galette is dinner wrapped in a crepe, hehe. There I got one with cheese and bacon and potatoes. It was really good. For dessert Isaac and I split a crepe with white chocolate inside and milk chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. YUM. We also had our first taste of Normandie (the region of France that Caen is in) cider, which they are famous for. It was so good! We found it very easy to talk with Suzy and Daniel. Daniel and Isaac have a similar sense of humor, so that was fun. Suzy is just as stylish in person as she seems online. I felt like a slob in my backpacking clothes!
After dinner they took us to the Caen castle, which was built by William the Conqueror, but was mostly destroyed in WWII. Still, it’s a really cool place to hang out and see. It’s free and open to the public pretty much all the time. We walked up on the wall to see the view from the castle and the creepy statues they had behind a building. (I didn’t take a picture! Grr. But trust me, they were disturbing.) We also went into the castle museum. Daniel put on some headphones to listen to an audio exhibit, hit the button to play it, and all the sudden music started playing LOUDLY. Everyone turned and looked. Turns out if you hit that button, it doesn’t just go through the headphones. LOL. We also saw wooden shoes carved to look like feet (made me think of the SNL sketches mocking Jack Johnson) and a quartet of men playing seemingly odd instruments - or, at least, odd for a museum.
When we had finished doing all there was to do at the castle, Isaac and I followed the tram line back to Clement & Ingrid’s. There we watched the French version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and showered in their lovely non-hostel shower. Isaac and Clement discussed politics, where they learned that all they have in common in that area is that they really don’t like their country’s current leader. Bed time came and Ingrid showed us how their couch is actually one of the Transformers, and it ended up turning into a queen-sized bed, but not the way I’ve ever seen any couch turn into a bed. It was really quite comfy. And so, blessed sleep arrived at last.
May 17
We slept in till 11:00! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Isaac sleep that late. But we were beat, after that cold, rainy day walking around Portsmouth and hardly sleeping on the ferry the night before. We got dressed and walked to Place Courtonne to meet Suzy and Daniel again. When they arrived, they each bought a crepe for breakfast, and Isaac managed to order a coffee with milk and sugar all in French. Suzy took us around the market as we bought the makings of lunch and got to see the many things for sale in the Caen market. (There are a heckuva lot of cute flats [shoes] in France…) One cheese - sorry, fromage - vendor lured us in with several delicious free samples. We bought some parmesan from him. Suzy’s French friend, Emilie, joined us halfway through our time in the market. She speaks very good English and is absolutely HILARIOUS. When we had all the stuff we needed for lunch, we went to the castle lawn and laid out our spread. We shared strawberries, cherries, almonds, baguette, the parmesan cheese, camembert cheese (made in Normandie and described by Suzy as, “It kind of tastes like grass. But good grass.”), and some more lovely French cider. We talked and laughed and ate a lot. One conversation that stands out was between Suzy and Emilie. Suzy (looking at some bicycle taxis in the distance): “What are those, Emilie?” Emilie (looking the same direction as Suzy but not as far): “Children.” We lost it laughing! Maybe you had to be there. Hehe. We also asked Emilie what the French think Americans are like. She immediately held out her arms like she was fat and blew up her cheeks so they were big. Then she started talking very nasally and proclaiming a love for hamburgers. LOL! We told her she was pretty much right on. Hehe. She told us that Obama was coming there soon for the D-Day anniversary (apparently they were very excited about this, as at least three people told us over the course of our 2-day visit there). I muttered to Isaac, “Maybe he’ll stay.” “What?” she asked. I said, “Uh… we definitely didn’t vote for Obama.” She was shocked that we didn’t like him, just as Clement and Ingrid had been when talking to Isaac the night before. Apparently their media is just as bad as ours, and had them all convinced that everyone in America adores him. We informed her that that is not at all correct. Anyway, this lunch was absolutely one of the highlights of this trip. What could be better than eating fresh food from the market with friends in the sunshine on the grass of the castle lawn?!
After lunch we went back to Clement & Ingrid’s. They had offered to take us to some D-Day sites since the tour we’d wanted to book was full. (Did I mention they were SO nice?) So, we headed out to the French coastal countryside in Ingrid’s little car. It was an absolutely beautiful trip. France is lovelier than I ever knew.
We first went to Pont du Hoc, which is where 225 Army Rangers scaled a steep rock face to take out some big German guns that were shooting at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. It’s a testament to those men and to the Rangers that they were even able to get up that cliff, let alone do the rest of what they did. It’s very strange to walk near the cliffs there because the ground is full of craters left by mortar shells 65 years ago. The ground looks like swiss cheese even now. The few areas that aren’t now-grassy craters are what’s left of German bunkers and gun stations.
From there we went to Omaha Beach, which is also where the American memorial and cemetery are. We first walked down the long, windy pathway to the beach. It was beautiful and peaceful; birds were chirping, flowers were in bloom, and you could hear the white-topped waves roll in. It was so… wrong. I mean, it was a fitting memorial to the men who died there - memorials should be peaceful - but when you thought of how the waves had been red and full of bodies… it was wrong.
We walked along the beach a while and then back up in silence and made our way through the American cemetery, which was far too large. Most of the graves had names on them, but there were also several that were inscribed, “HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD.” I will admit I started to cry a few times when I saw those. There was a little chapel in the middle that was beautiful. As we walked to the main memorial, we saw the American flag being lowered and folded because it was nearly evening. I’m glad we got to see that. We spent some time at the beautiful American memorial, which had maps of where various units had been deployed and other very hard to read paragraphs. It was all beautiful and serene and, I think, a fitting memorial for the sacrifice of those many brave men.
Our next stop was the Arromanches. They are what’s left of a portable harbor that the British built to bring in supplies. They couldn’t bring their ships in close enough to the beach there, so they basically made floating roads that connected the ships to the beach. Quite a bit of it is still in the water, so you can get a real idea of what it looked like. Apparently it even lasted through a really bad storm they had during the war.
That was it for our D-Day tour, and it was amazing and heartbreaking. It is seriously impressive what the soldiers who fought there were able to do. Isaac had a great-uncle who lost his hearing fighting there. I found out after we got home that one of my grandma’s cousins fought and died there too, when he was just 18 years old.
We took Ingrid & Clement out to dinner at a restaurant in Caen. They interpreted the menu for us and spared Isaac from ordering RAW steak! EW. I got pizza that had potatoes on it. It wasn’t bad. Suzy and Daniel joined us after dinner for hot chocolate there. We had a great time talking - we were there for 3 hours! - and then sadly said goodbye to Suzy and Daniel, and then walked back with Clement & Ingrid. Oh - on the way there I mentioned something about H&M, the clothing store. I pronounce it as it’s written - the letter H, the word “and”, and the letter M. Ingrid had the hardest time figuring out what I was saying until I pointed out an H and an M for her on other signs. Apparently they pronounce it “Eshem” or something - like they just smush it all together so it becomes a word. From then on that's how Isaac and I pronounced it too. =o)
When we got back to their house, they helped us figure out which trains to Paris we could take the next day, and then how to get to our hostel from the train station. We are so thankful for all their help and generosity! We said goodbye then, because they both had to work in the morning. (Yes, they were trusting enough to let us stay in their house alone and lock up after we left!) What a blessing to have been able to meet them and stay with them in their town and country.
Pictures of our time in Normandie, France.
(Pics 1-23 are of Normandie. The rest are from Paris,
which I shall have a written report up about soon!)
TO BE CONTINUED
Click to viewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3_eEOJfoPk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Z_OnKCYIA
The long version...
France
May 16
We got into France at 5:30am London time. The announcement on the loud speaker is what woke us up from our lovely beds on the floor of the ferry. We disembarked sleepily, and shivered as we made our way into customs, which consisted only of having our passports stamped. That was easy. We bought our bus ticket to the Caen train station, which was quite close to the house we were staying at there. The bus was supposed to leave at 7:05. We forgot about the time change until about 6:58 France time, and we saw a bus outside. We went outside just as the bus pulled away. It was exactly 7:00am, so we figured that wasn’t our bus, because who’s ever heard of a city bus being early? So we waited out in the cold until 7:05… then 7:10… then at 7:15 Isaac went inside to ask if that had been the train station bus. Yep. It was. Grr! The employee told us we could walk to a nearby bus station and take one from there to the center of Caen in about an hour. So, we walked, frozen, to that station, where we had an hour to just sit and be tired and cold, because no businesses were open yet. When the bus arrived we were so grateful! We enjoyed our trip from Ouistreham to Caen. The part of France we traveled through is exactly what you think France should look like. We even saw a little old man in a hat going into his perfectly French-looking house, carrying a baguette under his arm. Awesome.
We arrived in Place Courtonne, the center of Caen. My friend Suzy, who lived in Caen for 9 months, told us the tram would take us to the house we were staying at, but we didn’t have a clue which way to go or where to get off, and the tram ticket machine wouldn’t take our Euro coins for some reason! But once we figured out the general direction to go, Isaac had the brilliant idea of following the tram line. It worked! Except we followed it too far because the street Clement & Ingrid live on is not marked when you’re going that way, so we walked 4 blocks past it. *headdesk* Finally we made our way to their house and hit the buzzer. I was unsure of what to say - we had never met them, and in fact, had only talked to them on couchsurfing.com - so I just said, “Bonjour, uh, this is Bethany & Isaac… from couchsurfing…” They came right down to greet us, and then we went up to their very cute little apartment, where Ingrid had an apple pie/tart waiting! We talked for a while, getting to know each other, when we said we wanted to go to the Caen Memorial that afternoon. They offered to take us, which was very nice of them.
The Caen Memorial is considered one of the best war museums anywhere. It begins with a literal downward spiral into World War I, and also covers WWII and the Cold War. They had some really interesting stuff, such as the wedding gown made from a soldier’s white parachute! Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much out of the museum as I should have, because basically as soon as we walked in, exhaustion just came over me. I was swaying when I stood still and my eyes wouldn’t focus on what I was reading. I sat down and closed my eyes for a second and the next thing I knew I jolted awake when Isaac touched me. When I saw a mini-theater showing a film on a loop, I convinced Isaac to go in there and let me sleep on his shoulder for a few minutes. He learned a lot about the Battle of Stalingrad while I slept, LOL! Shortly after that we went into a big theater for a video on the D-Day invasion, which I was really interested in because we were going there the next day, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I slept through the entire film - loud explosions and all! We finished the rest of the museum without me falling asleep again, but I wanted to puke when we went through the Nobel Prize winner exhibit and saw Al Gore amongst all those deserving people like Mother Theresa. We spent some time at the American Memorial Fountain, which had stones donated and inscribed by each state. After we recorded a video there we both fell asleep on the grass, taking advantage of the sunshine. It still wasn’t very warm though, so we ended up waking up because we were cold. Oh well. The sun was welcome.
From there we hopped on a bus back to Place Courtonne and waited to meet up with Suzy and her friend Daniel for dinner. They showed up and, after 3-4 years of wishing, I got to hang out with Suzy in person! (We are online friends.) She took us to her favorite restaurant in Caen, called Carambole (“star fruit”). They specialize in the French dish called galette. Basically galette is dinner wrapped in a crepe, hehe. There I got one with cheese and bacon and potatoes. It was really good. For dessert Isaac and I split a crepe with white chocolate inside and milk chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. YUM. We also had our first taste of Normandie (the region of France that Caen is in) cider, which they are famous for. It was so good! We found it very easy to talk with Suzy and Daniel. Daniel and Isaac have a similar sense of humor, so that was fun. Suzy is just as stylish in person as she seems online. I felt like a slob in my backpacking clothes!
After dinner they took us to the Caen castle, which was built by William the Conqueror, but was mostly destroyed in WWII. Still, it’s a really cool place to hang out and see. It’s free and open to the public pretty much all the time. We walked up on the wall to see the view from the castle and the creepy statues they had behind a building. (I didn’t take a picture! Grr. But trust me, they were disturbing.) We also went into the castle museum. Daniel put on some headphones to listen to an audio exhibit, hit the button to play it, and all the sudden music started playing LOUDLY. Everyone turned and looked. Turns out if you hit that button, it doesn’t just go through the headphones. LOL. We also saw wooden shoes carved to look like feet (made me think of the SNL sketches mocking Jack Johnson) and a quartet of men playing seemingly odd instruments - or, at least, odd for a museum.
When we had finished doing all there was to do at the castle, Isaac and I followed the tram line back to Clement & Ingrid’s. There we watched the French version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and showered in their lovely non-hostel shower. Isaac and Clement discussed politics, where they learned that all they have in common in that area is that they really don’t like their country’s current leader. Bed time came and Ingrid showed us how their couch is actually one of the Transformers, and it ended up turning into a queen-sized bed, but not the way I’ve ever seen any couch turn into a bed. It was really quite comfy. And so, blessed sleep arrived at last.
May 17
We slept in till 11:00! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Isaac sleep that late. But we were beat, after that cold, rainy day walking around Portsmouth and hardly sleeping on the ferry the night before. We got dressed and walked to Place Courtonne to meet Suzy and Daniel again. When they arrived, they each bought a crepe for breakfast, and Isaac managed to order a coffee with milk and sugar all in French. Suzy took us around the market as we bought the makings of lunch and got to see the many things for sale in the Caen market. (There are a heckuva lot of cute flats [shoes] in France…) One cheese - sorry, fromage - vendor lured us in with several delicious free samples. We bought some parmesan from him. Suzy’s French friend, Emilie, joined us halfway through our time in the market. She speaks very good English and is absolutely HILARIOUS. When we had all the stuff we needed for lunch, we went to the castle lawn and laid out our spread. We shared strawberries, cherries, almonds, baguette, the parmesan cheese, camembert cheese (made in Normandie and described by Suzy as, “It kind of tastes like grass. But good grass.”), and some more lovely French cider. We talked and laughed and ate a lot. One conversation that stands out was between Suzy and Emilie. Suzy (looking at some bicycle taxis in the distance): “What are those, Emilie?” Emilie (looking the same direction as Suzy but not as far): “Children.” We lost it laughing! Maybe you had to be there. Hehe. We also asked Emilie what the French think Americans are like. She immediately held out her arms like she was fat and blew up her cheeks so they were big. Then she started talking very nasally and proclaiming a love for hamburgers. LOL! We told her she was pretty much right on. Hehe. She told us that Obama was coming there soon for the D-Day anniversary (apparently they were very excited about this, as at least three people told us over the course of our 2-day visit there). I muttered to Isaac, “Maybe he’ll stay.” “What?” she asked. I said, “Uh… we definitely didn’t vote for Obama.” She was shocked that we didn’t like him, just as Clement and Ingrid had been when talking to Isaac the night before. Apparently their media is just as bad as ours, and had them all convinced that everyone in America adores him. We informed her that that is not at all correct. Anyway, this lunch was absolutely one of the highlights of this trip. What could be better than eating fresh food from the market with friends in the sunshine on the grass of the castle lawn?!
After lunch we went back to Clement & Ingrid’s. They had offered to take us to some D-Day sites since the tour we’d wanted to book was full. (Did I mention they were SO nice?) So, we headed out to the French coastal countryside in Ingrid’s little car. It was an absolutely beautiful trip. France is lovelier than I ever knew.
We first went to Pont du Hoc, which is where 225 Army Rangers scaled a steep rock face to take out some big German guns that were shooting at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. It’s a testament to those men and to the Rangers that they were even able to get up that cliff, let alone do the rest of what they did. It’s very strange to walk near the cliffs there because the ground is full of craters left by mortar shells 65 years ago. The ground looks like swiss cheese even now. The few areas that aren’t now-grassy craters are what’s left of German bunkers and gun stations.
From there we went to Omaha Beach, which is also where the American memorial and cemetery are. We first walked down the long, windy pathway to the beach. It was beautiful and peaceful; birds were chirping, flowers were in bloom, and you could hear the white-topped waves roll in. It was so… wrong. I mean, it was a fitting memorial to the men who died there - memorials should be peaceful - but when you thought of how the waves had been red and full of bodies… it was wrong.
We walked along the beach a while and then back up in silence and made our way through the American cemetery, which was far too large. Most of the graves had names on them, but there were also several that were inscribed, “HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD.” I will admit I started to cry a few times when I saw those. There was a little chapel in the middle that was beautiful. As we walked to the main memorial, we saw the American flag being lowered and folded because it was nearly evening. I’m glad we got to see that. We spent some time at the beautiful American memorial, which had maps of where various units had been deployed and other very hard to read paragraphs. It was all beautiful and serene and, I think, a fitting memorial for the sacrifice of those many brave men.
Our next stop was the Arromanches. They are what’s left of a portable harbor that the British built to bring in supplies. They couldn’t bring their ships in close enough to the beach there, so they basically made floating roads that connected the ships to the beach. Quite a bit of it is still in the water, so you can get a real idea of what it looked like. Apparently it even lasted through a really bad storm they had during the war.
That was it for our D-Day tour, and it was amazing and heartbreaking. It is seriously impressive what the soldiers who fought there were able to do. Isaac had a great-uncle who lost his hearing fighting there. I found out after we got home that one of my grandma’s cousins fought and died there too, when he was just 18 years old.
We took Ingrid & Clement out to dinner at a restaurant in Caen. They interpreted the menu for us and spared Isaac from ordering RAW steak! EW. I got pizza that had potatoes on it. It wasn’t bad. Suzy and Daniel joined us after dinner for hot chocolate there. We had a great time talking - we were there for 3 hours! - and then sadly said goodbye to Suzy and Daniel, and then walked back with Clement & Ingrid. Oh - on the way there I mentioned something about H&M, the clothing store. I pronounce it as it’s written - the letter H, the word “and”, and the letter M. Ingrid had the hardest time figuring out what I was saying until I pointed out an H and an M for her on other signs. Apparently they pronounce it “Eshem” or something - like they just smush it all together so it becomes a word. From then on that's how Isaac and I pronounced it too. =o)
When we got back to their house, they helped us figure out which trains to Paris we could take the next day, and then how to get to our hostel from the train station. We are so thankful for all their help and generosity! We said goodbye then, because they both had to work in the morning. (Yes, they were trusting enough to let us stay in their house alone and lock up after we left!) What a blessing to have been able to meet them and stay with them in their town and country.
Pictures of our time in Normandie, France.
(Pics 1-23 are of Normandie. The rest are from Paris,
which I shall have a written report up about soon!)
TO BE CONTINUED