Normandy: Roundabouts, Beaches, and Cows

Our first stop in our European adventure was Normandy. Saturday morning I met up with my parents for a nastily early train to Vernon to see Giverny, where Monet created a lot of his paintings, including his waterlily series. Absolutely breathtaking, I think we could have stayed there for several hours, mom painting and dad and I playing with the camera.





I plan to use this photo when I apply for my summer job at glamour shots in the mall; the gardens; artistic shot of the gardens; parentals on the bridge; close up of some flower that I forget the name of.







At Vernon, we also rented a car, so we could work on our own schedule for Normandy. so, the rest of the day was NORMANDY DRIVING EXTRAVANGZA - Day one. It was such an extravaganza I slept through it all, waking up in Caen to parents who were completely lost. We got ourselves to the hotel, checked in, found dinner (crepes), and pretty much passed out for the night.

The next morning, NORMANDY DRIVING EXTRAVANGZA - day two, at the completely reasonable hour of 6:30am, we piled into the car and headed to Mont-St.-Michel. An old abbey/chateau/castle/military stronghold first dating back to the 11th century, it's located on a tiny island right off the coast of the mainland, one that before they built a road was only accessible during lowtide, and is full of ramparts, turrets, massive rooms, and tourist shops. I like to think of it as the stairmaster of the middle ages.






Mont-St.-Michel and it's parking lot; i'm stretching like dad; looking out off the ramparts; Mom in the hazy weather




Next up on the N.D.E. was the beaches of D-Day. With Mom at the helm, me as navigator, and Dad snoring in the back, we made our way up to the coast, surviving a horribly incorrect map, going the wrong way on a roundabout, and Dad eating all of our baguette. The beach we stopped at first was Arromanches, part of the Juno invasion, where the Allies had to scale sheer cliffs. Completely incredible, they were about a 90% incline. I can't imagine what they went through.

After Arromanches, we took a road that let us drive right along the coast, passing through all the little villages and towns that spot the area. Dad was asleep, and thus has no opinion, but my Mom and I loved Houlgate. It would have been maybe a 30 minute direct drive from Caen, and seemed like an incredible picturesque town, literally on the beach. We made it all the way to Honfleur, which is a small harbor town across the way from La Havre. Recommended to me by Stan and Caro, the town was idyllic. the evening included wandering around through various art galleries and dinner on the harbor.

The next morning we packed up, checked out of the hotel, and went to Caen's Memorial for Peace, a fabulous WWII museum. They did a good job of mixing personal stories, historical context, and political motivation together. After the morning at the museum, we drove back to Vernon, dropped off the car, and hopped a train to Paris, ending the night in Bruges, Belgium.

--gros bisous!

ps - i'll post pics as soon as I can get my hands on Dad's harddrive that he's storing them all on.