Day 14 August 29, 2008
If you ever think of doing Normandy as a day trip from Paris, don't. That's not fair to Normandy. But if you choose to ignore me, then do it like we did this day. Start in Bayeux, go to the D-Day Beaches and then have a quickie glimpse at Mont St. Michel.
There was a reason for our slapdash schedule; everything takes longer to do than we ever think it does. I don't know why we haven't figured it out for ourselves yet. We're a little slow, maybe?
Anyway, the Battle of Normandy Museum in Bayeux was our first stop. It was gave us a great overview of the landings and the ensuing battles over the summer of 1944. We then ate pizza. Yes, pizza. It was in the Place aux Pommes so that's apple-y. Sort of. There were no apple trees so uh, nevermind.
Afterwards, we headed to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. It's a very peaceful and beautiful place, but I'm finding it hard to put the experience into words so I can only offer a visual:
We also saw in the same area Pointe du Hoc and Utah Beach in the distance. After a nice picnic lunch at Omaha Beach where sad French children will never know what the sun looks like for real (where are you, sun?), we headed to Mont St. Michel.
Along the way, we had two deviations. The first was in Avranches where the map told me there was a viewing point across the bay of MSM. The map just sorta stopped giving me street names and streets. But we found it eventually and although we'll probably never find it again, the silhouette shots of MSM were pretty spectacular.
Closer to MSM, we had to stop on the road for a traffic jam. It went like this:
They're actual salt marsh sheep, or as Cylinda lovingly or deliciously calls them, salty sheep. It was pretty awesome.
You know what was awesomer: Our hotel room view. The last building before the causeway to MSM is Relais St. Michel. There is absolutely nothing blocking the view. We went to sleep with the Mont lit up and woke up at sunrise with it hovering over a cloud of fog.
Honestly, we'll only ever have a better view if we reserve rooms on the next space shuttle. Stay here if you don't do the aforementioned Normandy day trip, which you're not going to do, right? One day isn't enough time for the amusement park that is Normandy, France. And don't worry, the Normans are growing more apples after I invaded.