Thursday, May 3, 2018 — Ypres
As we were packing to leave Bruges, we could hear the bells of the carillon outside our windows. The sun was shining and it looked to be a beautiful day. We had a continental breakfast at Hotel Botaniek and got some info from our host Brand. Our original plan was to visit Dunkirk, but after hearing about Ypres from people on the ship, we decided that would be a better stop. Ypres, or Leper, as the Belgians call it, was the site of several big battles of WWI. The first was fought in the fall of 1914, the second in the spring of 1915 when the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front. We have struggled with the pronunciation of Ypres but today Brand pronounced it ‘eepers’ (like keepers without the k). It is a beautiful town and we photographed the Menin Gate where the names of many of the Allies who died in the war here are inscribed. We left Ypres and went searching for the Christmas Truce Memorial that we thought was nearby. We saw Cantus performing “All is Calm” a few years ago and the story was very touching. The Germans and the Allies laid down their arms and had a night of peace, music and comaraderie on Christmas 1914. We drove around the area for a long time, and although we had an address for the navigation system we never found it and were disappointed. We headed on to Rouen, a drive of about 2 1/2 hours. The countryside was beautiful—very pastoral and green. We got to Rouen and were totally frustrated, driving around forever and not being able to get to our hotel (we could see it on the navigation screen but couldn’t get there). We finally parked near the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Rouen and walked to the hotel. It turns out there are barriers on some streets and you need a code to make the barrier lower itself so you can drive through. One would think the hotel would make this clear. We had read reviews that people found it very difficult to get to, but it seemed they were blaming their navigation systems. We went to a nearby pub for dinner and managed to find our hotel again and write this blog. There are no pictures to post because Barbara left the camera in the car and we don’t have the energy to retrieve it. With any luck we’ll post them tomorrow.
Friday, May 4, 2018 — Rouen
Oops! Jay looked in our emails this morning and found one with the info we needed to get to the hotel. The code makes the bollard (post) go down and it works like a charm. The Mercure Hotel (part of a chain we’ve been to before) is very modern with space by the sink to put all your bathroom stuff. Sometimes practical is good. Before we left to drive to Giverny, Barbara asked the front desk people, a very young man and woman, if they knew where she could buy a flat iron, as hers wasn’t working in Europe. They weren’t familiar with the term so the young man asked us to spell it. Barbara did, and he used a search engine and excitedly said “oui!” He told us to go to a store near the hotel called Fnac. It was like a Best Buy store with lots of electronics and books as well, but no beauty supplies. A clerk there directed us to a store named Darty, just a block or so away. We went there after we returned from Giverny and voilà! There was a flat iron for €25. The drive to Giverny to see Monet’s Gardens and home was through a beautiful part of France and in the direction of Paris. While waiting in a long line to buy tickets at the garden, Barbara asked the lady behind us if she spoke English, as we didn’t want to be in the wrong queue. She said 'a little' (actually quite a lot) and then told us that her young daughter, who looked about 7 or 8 was learning English as a second language and also some Spanish. We ran into them several times around the gardens and would say “hola” to each other. The gardens were just spectacular, with some interesting tulips, blooming trees and flowers of all kinds. We toured the house and saw that practically every room had windows that looked out on the garden. The dining room and kitchen were very bright and impressive. Next we walked to the water lily pond, and that was amazing, too. We walked to the church and took photos in the cemetery, where Monet is buried. The cemetery also has monuments to the soldiers who died near here. There were some beautiful ceramic-like pieces on some of the grave markers—we’ve never seen that before. We talked to a nice couple from Ireland while we were in the cemetery. We hadn’t heard much English spoken today until our conversation with them. There are visitors here with stickers on their shirts and we think they came from a Viking River Cruise ship. Before we headed back to Rouen we had lunch—ice cream cones. The 4 flavors were vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and violet. Jay had chocolate and Barbara tried violet—both were good. We drove back to Rouen and after buying the flat iron, walked to the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was only 19 years old. There is a lovely small church there now and many restaurants around the square at Place du Vieux-Marche. We then walked to the Cathedral of Notre Dame-Rouen. It may be even taller than Notre Dame-Paris and had beautiful stained glass windows. We ended our day with a bottle of wine and steak dinner at one of the restaurants around the square at Place du Vieux-Marche. It’s Friday night and lots of people are out and watching street performers. Back at the hotel we picked photos for today and wrote the blog only to have it disappear! Barbara rewrote it while were we in the car on May 5th.
Saturday, May 5, 2018 — Honfleur/Bayeux/Formigny
Barbara is very happy with her hair now that she has a new French flat iron. We’ve had two "not a cloud in the sky” days in a row. Today the temp was about 70, a little warmer than yesterday. We had breakfast at the Mercure again. The breakfast buffet had wonderful scrambled eggs that were so completely different from the scrambled eggs at hotel buffets at home. The eggs were moist and very tasty. The pastries were also delicious. The drive from Rouen to Honfleur was expected to take about an hour, but a toll bridge that crossed the Seine near Honfleur had traffic inching along for miles as every vehicle had to stop and pay the toll (€5.40 for cars). When we had parked our car and walked into the city, a draw bridge was up and we had to wait about 10 minutes for a sail boat to get through. There seemed to be almost as many people here today as there were on the Nicollet Mall the week before the Super Bowl. This picturesque city was popular with artists—Monet and his contemporaries. We went to the Tourism Office where we found a WC (always an important item when traveling). We took some pictures and then headed to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry. The cloth (it is not really a tapestry as it was embroidered) is 230 feet long and 20 inches wide. It tells the story of events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. William, the Bastard of Normandy, defeated Harold, the King of England, and became known as William the Conquerer. We also went to the cathedral, Notre Dame-Bayeux, which is a large church for a small town of around 14,000. Our lunch today was a wonderful chocolate pastry in Bayeux. Around 3:00 we headed for the B & B we’re staying at in the little village of Formigny. Our timing couldn’t have been worse. The navigation system didn’t like our info, but we hoped it would get us close. We stopped by the church, which was full of cars, so we presumed there was a wedding. We called the B & B but got no answer so left a message. At 4:00 the church bells started ringing and you could hardly hear yourself think. We made a right turn and saw the B & B sign immediately. We pulled into a small space to try to figure out how we could get there. One lane of the road between the church and the B & B was closed and an unfriendly guy was directing traffic. Soon there’s a lady yelling “are you Barbara?" (the bells were still tolling). We got ourselves turned around (no thanks to the guy directing traffic) and our hostess, Joelle, opened the gate to let us on to their property. Her husband Loic was mowing the lawn on their large piece of land. They have lots of animals and the cats are especially friendly. They converted an old barn into a 4 bedroom B & B. The room we had was small but the bathroom was large. The kitchen, dining room and living area for guests was right outside our door. Joelle, who was a nurse before they built the B & B, gave us information about the D-Day museums that we plan to visit tomorrow. She also made a dinner reservation for us at La Sapiniere restaurant in St-Laurent-surMer on Omaha Beach. The place was not easy to find, but we finally got there and had a nice meal with wine. It was still light enough to take some pictures on Omaha Beach where there are a few monuments and a sculpture. We came back to the B & B and worked on our blog.
Sunday, May 6, 2018 — Omaha Beach
Another beautiful spring day. Today is the day we visit one of the places where Jay’s dad, Earl, was in June, 1944. This was the primary motivation for this trip. Joelle and Loic sent us off with a great breakfast. She makes her own yogurt and also the jams and jellies from fruits that she grows—all of her foods are organic. The cat that snuck in yesterday (they know they are not allowed in the B & B) licked Barbara on the cheek, just like yesterday, as Joelle was taking her back outside. We talked to Loic about Earl being here in June, 1944 and he said his father was a military man who fought at Guadalcanal in the war. We drove to the Overlord Museum, which is in nearby Colleville-sur-Mer. This museum is just amazing, with over 10,000 pieces of memorabilia. They have 35 vehicles, tanks and cannons. The displays included some dioramas with life-size figures that helped tell the story, which was printed on signs by each exhibit. It was well-organized in chronological order. Barbara took over 100 photos. From the museum we drove the short distance to the Normandy American Cemetery. We found a photo online that shows the cemetery and Omaha Beach along the English Channel. This is from a brochure from the cemetery:
“The massive Allied assault on the Normandy coastline on June 6, 1944 aimed to liberate France and drive into Nazi Germany….The U.S. 4th Infantry Division pushed inland from Utah Beach. To the east, on Omaha Beach, the U.S. 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions battled German resistance over a beach bristling with obstacles. To reach the plateau where Normandy American Cemetery stands, troops fought across an open area of up to 200 yards, and attacked up steep bluffs. By day’s end, the Americans held fragile control of Omaha Beach.…Over the next three months, The Allies battled German troops throughout Normandy. British and Canadians freed Caen. Americans liberated Cherbourg and staged a dramatic breakout near St. Lo. Allied troops, joined by French and Polish units, encircled and annihilated German troops at the Falaise Pocket while surviving units fled eastward. The way was now open to advance toward Paris and then to Germany."
The cemetery was serene and we heard mainly French spoken by the visitors. There is a beautiful gate with a sculpture at one end and a chapel at the other end of the cemetery. About 10,00 American soldiers are buried here. We watched a short film that told the stories of a few of the heroes. We were low on gasoline and stopped on our way to Arromanches where we found a station but could not get our credit or debit card to work. There was no attendant. We drove on to Arromanches, where we visited the Tourism office. The lady told us they don’t sell gasoline on Sundays in these small towns but maybe we’d get some in Bayeux, 10 km away. Oh boy, this could be a disaster. We shared a panini for lunch, then made our way to the Musee du Debarquement. It had a lot about the artificial harbor the Allies built but was not nearly as good as the Overlord Museum so we didn’t stay long. Then we walked up a very steep hill to go to the Arromanches 360 theater for a film about The 100 days of Normandy. It was okay, but you would have had to turn around a lot to see the 9 screens in the circular theater and Barbara got a little queasy just watching a few screens. Instead of walking down the steep hill, we took the free shuttle. We headed off to Bayeux, where we found a gas station but again, our cards didn’t work. Luckily, Ted, a biker from Stafford, England who was biking with friends, was at the next pump. When Jay told him we were almost out of gas, he offered to put 40 euros worth in our tank and Jay gave him the cash. Ted and Jay visited about where we had been in each other's countries—Ted had actually been to MN and Jay told of our most recent visit to Scotland and England. Thank God for Ted being in the right place at the right time! We left Bayeux and drove to see the German Gun Battery of Longues-sur-Mer. There were 4 guns left with varying degrees of damage. We then drove to Pontorson, where we are spending the night. We got a glimpse of Mont Saint Michel on our way and are looking forward to going there tomorrow. The Hotel Montgomery in Pontorson was built in the 15th century. It seems a bit crooked and uneven but the room was quite comfortable. The elevator is interesting—about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide. The public areas are very nice and there’s a garden in the back. The bathroom is most unusual. The toilet is in a closet-sized room and the sink and tub/shower are in a separate room. A very tall person would have to be a contortionist to sit on the toilet. We went to dinner at a brasserie across the street. The food prices are much more reasonable than we expected. For 18 euros you could get a 3 course meal, and Barbara had a great salad, salmon and creme brûlée. Jay had a steak, frites and homemade chocolate mousse. We went back to our room and worked on pictures and the blog. There was an email from Loic telling us he had found Barbara’s little pillow in the bed at the B & B (yes, the same pillow the cabin stewards on the ship had retrieved from the laundry). She had to tell them we wouldn’t be back to get it. Maybe one of the cats will have a new pillow.
Monday, May 7, 2018 — Mont-Saint-Michel
We walked around Pontorson for awhile this morning--this is the first French town we’ve stayed in that has wide streets and free surface parking. We then had a good breakfast at the Hotel Montgomery in a pleasant room overlooking the garden. We had our first galette (buckwheat pancake) and it was quite tasty. We spent some time with the photos and blog this morning. It is quite time consuming, but we know if we wait too long it will be more difficult identifying photos and writing the blog. We checked out of the hotel and drove to Mont-Saint-Michel, which is only 7 km away. In the past few years they have built a dam and a roadway and added free shuttles to get you from the parking lot to the amazing Abbey and village that grew below it. It was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The village part of the site has no steps but the walkway has an incline that is very doable, if crowded. There are many places to eat and buy souvenirs as you go up toward the Abbey (Barbara found a little pillow in a shop to replace her knee pillow). Then the steps start. We didn’t count them on the way up, but did on the way down, and counted 339 steps. Most of the stairs did not have hand rails, so it was challenging for Barbara with her balance issues. She held onto Jay and we made it safely. There weren’t many people our age here, and amazingly there were a lot of strollers with dad’s carrying the strollers up all these steps. We used an audio guide to let us know where we were in the abbey and the history was interesting. The first sanctuary was built in 708 in honor of Michel the Archangel (a gold statue of him is at the top of the structure). Pilgrims came here in the early years and a village began growing below the walls of the abbey. It is amazing that this could be built at all—it was difficult enough to walk the stairs, and the builders here were hauling tons of materials up a long way. In the 13th century it was destroyed by fire and the king funded a reconstruction in the Gothic style. In the 14th century, battlements and fortifications were added. During the Hundred Years War the monks defended the abbey against the British and at the war’s end Mont-Saint-Michel was know as “The Impregnable Fortress.” While we were touring the abbey, two soldiers with assault rifles suddenly appeared in the room. On our way down we saw more security. We used a WC near the entrance to the village and it had a sign that said “no washing your feet in the sink or toilet.” There was a similar sign at a water source a short distance away. We’re still trying to figure that one out. We spent about 4 hours around Mont-Saint-Michel and then drove the short distance to our hotel in Saint-Malo. Although the navigation has worked pretty well (a few exceptions), it kept telling us to turn where it wasn’t allowed. After going in circles for a frustratingly long time, we parked and immediately saw the hotel in front of us. The lady at reception told us we could move the car closer to the hotel but we would have to make a big circle to get there. Saint-Malo is a walled city, and although we knew we were very close, we just couldn’t get there. We decided to leave the car where it was even though parking would cost more. We were in a mood for pizza and a beer at a nearby cafe. Barbara wanted to stay in Saint-Malo because of a great book she read called “All the Light We Cannot See.” It is a fictional story of a blind girl who fled her home in Paris to escape the Nazis and lived in this town. The hotel is very nice and has a sea view (the English Channel). People are walking the walls of the city right outside our window and the fort is near us, too. Barbara took the first picture of a sunset tonight.
This is the end of the Normandy portion of the blog. The next section will be about our travels in Brittany. Click on the “Brittany” tab at the top of the page or click here.
© Jay 2020