Normandy Weekend

Top to Bottom: Beach at St. Malo; Beginning our trek through the bay to St. Michel; St. Michel; Garden in St. Michel; Heather and I with Gold Beach in the background, one of the D-Day beaches

Day 17: I can't believe it has been 17 days since I left the US! There is so much to say about my weekend that I am going to start right away. On Friday we left early in the morning to go the Normandy region. Our first stop was St. Malo which is a quaint little beach town. I called it the Charleston of France. We had a free afternoon which we spent on the beach and walking around the town. I did not swim because it was freeezing but some of the others were brave enough to go on. Something to note: in all of pictures the sky is beautiful and sunny but temperature-wise, we were all freezing for the majority of the trip! The wind was absolutely brutal.
The next day we headed toward St. Michel which is an abbey that is on a small piece of land surrounded by a bay. When it is low tide the tide goes out for 7-12 miles depending on the moon cycles. In the olden times, people coming to the abbey for religious reasons would make the pilgrimage across the bay at low tide and we did it too!! It was about 4 and half miles in sand, water, silt and the best part....quicksand! At certain parts you could jump on the sand to loosen it up and before you knew it you were up to your knees. It was awesome. You can see in my picture above how far away were (Mont St. Michel is the 2nd island). The adventure might be my favorite thing we have done on the trip mainly because it is so different from the touristy stuff we have been doing. Our tour guide at the abbey said we were the first group of Americans he has ever had that have walked the bay. When we finally got to Mont St. Michel, it was a little touristy and too crowded for me but all in all, the day was great. We spent the night in Caen which is another cute harbor town. I have enjoyed the traveling we have been doing compared to being in Paris. Paris is great but it is crowded and loud. It has been great to get out and see some of the more peaceful places because I am just not a big city girl!
Sunday was our World War II day. First we went to the Caen Memorial Museum. It was a beautiful and well put-together museum with great exhibits about World War II, particularly D-Day and what was going on in France at the time. After the museum, we headed to Gold Beach which is where British troops landed on D-Day. This is also where my camera died so I didn't get any pictures for the rest of the day :( Later we went to the American Cemetary in Normandy. It is a beautiful memorial to those who died in WWII and I was very moved just being there. Dr. Romeiser is a WWII buff and he was part of a committee that put a memorial together for soldiers from Knox County that died in the war. It is in World's Fair Park. He had the names of all the men and brought flowers for us to put on all their graves. That put a lot of it in perspective because they were men that lived where I live. They gave their futures away so the people just like us could travel to France and do all the great things I have been doing. It was a beautiful experience. We went to a couple other important D-Day areas like Longues-Sur-Mer and Pointe du Hoc but it is hard to explain them and I don't have pictures. The day was somber but I really enjoyed it and later we went to a place that sells cider for a cider tasting. Normandy is famous for its apples so the stuff was really good. We spent the night in Caen again where there were parties all over the streets for La Fete de la Musique (Musical Festival). It is the way France celebrates the first day of summer. There were bands all over the streets. We actually heard one duo playing Achy Breaky Heart. It was crazy to watch.
Today was pretty uneventful compared to the past two. We went to Rouen, where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake. It was another quaint town but we only spent about 2 hours there so I didn't really get to absorb it. Then we headed back to Paris! We only have 4 more days here with our program which is just crazy to me! I remember when I first left 26 days seemed so long but my Paris adventure is about end and soon I will be in Amsterdam. Can't believe it. Anyway, I am about to post my pictures on Facebook so check them out and sorry this is so long! A tout ta l'heure!