It takes a drive out into the countryside to realize how much you miss it, especially when you've been living in a city for the first time in your life. I think I am lucky to be in Paris, obviously for many reasons, but especially because it is very open and there is a decent amount of green space. Still, nothing beats an open landscape. At times, Normandy reminded me a lot of Central New York: rolling hills, farmland, trees. It reminded me that while I do have a list of big cities to visit, I need to have some breathing room as well.
A trip to Normandy isn't a trip to Normandy without a visit to the D-Day beaches. Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc were two major sites of the American attack, and it was a haunting yet inspiring experience to walk these shores. Omaha Beach, I learned, is technically American soil; here you can find many memorials, a visitor center/ museum thing, the beach (obviously) and the cemetery. The white crosses were striking against the green of the grass and the gray sky (it seemed appropriate that it was drizzling and cloudy for this visit). There were thousands overlooking the fateful beach. It made me feel humbled, grateful, and proud. The beach itself is beautiful, which was so odd to me because I didn't think it should look so innocent, so untouched. What struck me about the place was the fact that once the soldiers got to the beach, if they got to the beach, they had to fight their way through a jungle of marsh and brush up a steep hill that took us ten minutes to walk each way. And those soldiers didn't have an asphalt path to guide them.
Pointe du Hoc was even more frightening, because there is no beach: just sheer cliffs. I suppose the American generals wanted to pick places that would surprise the Germans. I wouldn't expect them to attack at this place either. Here looked more to me like an old battle site, because the remains of the german bunkers and machine guns still stood. Even more poignant: the ground was pockmarked with craters, within feet, inches of each other, ten to 20 feet in diameter and almost as deep. Truly haunting and humbling to think of what this place must have looked like 70 years ago.
After a tiring day we spent the night in the village of Granville, in this little hostel for sailors. We didn't get there until 11 pm, so we had no idea what the surrounding area looked like. We woke up the next morning, just before sunrise, to one of the most beautiful sights of the weekend. The hostel was situated right on the coast of this little bay, but you could see the entire ocean (I'm assuming it was the English Channel, but it could have just been the Atlantic). It was dawn, and the sky was this wonderful mix of purple and orange and yellow. I've included a picture because it really was remarkable. It made it all worth getting up at 7 am.
Our last stop for the weekend was Mont St. Michel. If you aren't familiar with this spot, it is a tidal island (a big rock, really) with a really old church/ monastery on top. This place has the strongest tides in the world, meaning low tide is a MASSIVE difference from high tide. It used to be that you could only access the "island" when the tide was out, but recently they have built a permanent road to it from the mainland. What was cool though, among other things, was that the parking lot we parked in is only accessible when the tide is out. Also, surrounding the island and for probably half a mile in front of the island it was just moist sand, that you could walk on (with the help of a tour guide, apparently there is a lot of quick sand that kills people. crazy). But clearly the most amazing thing about this island is that it is essentially a medieval fortress completely preserved. We took a tour of the church/ monastery, which is a combination of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, dating back to an initial construction in the 8th or 9th century. It was a little unfortunate that our guide, Gille, was so intensely focused on the architecture, because he missed a great deal of information about what the rooms were actually used for and how people actually lived in this place. He is a historian, so naturally long-winded and repetitive. Mais, c'est la vie. It was incredibly scenic, with wonderful, expansive views of the ocean and country side and amazing medieval architecture. I've decided that I am going to retire there; no Florida or Arizona for me.
If anybody goes to France, the top two destinations should without a doubt be Paris and Normandy, namely Mont St. Michel. Period.
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