Padam, Padam, Padam...

I just returned yesterday from my first outing from the city of lights to Normandy and Mont St. Michel, and what a whirlwind of a weekend it was.

Friday morning my roommate Erik and I woke up at 6:15 to meet everyone from our program at the ISA offices on the other side of the city. We loaded up our double-decker charter bus, and were on our way around 8:00. The trip was planned to drive the 3 hours to Normandy on Saturday, Mont St. Michel on Sunday, and return that Sunday night for school the next morning.

After dozing off a couple of times, the trip over was surprisingly easy. We arrived at Le Memorial de Caen around 11:00. This museum is dedicated to the Normandy invasion, and is constructed in a way that schools and big groups can view it in an orderly manner. Among lots of videos and pictures, some really cool Nazi artifacts were in the museum. We learned all about D-day and the invasion, and watched two short films of footage from the war where we saw places of the attack.

After having lunch in the museum (très cher), we were on the bus again for our next destination: Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. Upon arrival, I could tell everyone was excited to be out of the city for a moment and in wide-open air. We all walked down onto the massive shore of Omaha Beach. This beach is amazing beautiful, and very somber at the same time. Only an hour ago had we watched footage of soldiers running on this shoreline to liberate the countries’ people. After spending a good amount of time taking pictures and walking the beach, we trekked back up the winding stairs to the American Cemetery.

The American cemetery is full of American soldiers that died on French soil during the invasion of France in WW2. As a gift to America, France gave the U.S. the area of land in commemoration of those lost. It was nice to be on American soil, even if it was only technically. I walked the grounds of the cemetery with a sense of pride for the soldiers of our country. How honorable these men were to come across the ocean to help fight for their ally country.

After the American Cemetery, we took a short bus ride over to Point d'Hoc. This beautiful area was another point of invasion from the war. We got to see the hiding places of the Germans and the barbed wire from the 40's.

Hopping on the bus again, we were told that a surprise was in store later that day. Our directors drove us to a Cider Farm in the countryside of Normandy! We got a great tour of how the farm makes their apple juice, cider, and alcohols. It was amazing to see how tiny the company was; yet they seemed to have a very lucrative business. We got to have a taste test after the tour, and let me tell you: the best apple juice I have ever had in my life. I bought two bottles of it before leaving it was so good! “Simply Apple” in the states does not even compare.

That night was spent in the city of Caen, (pronounced kind of like “con” as in pro-con, but without the n) a great town in the Normandy region. I would love to go back there someday to actually get a sense of the city, as we only had a stormy night to explore.

The next morning I awoke to rain on my window, and my moods were not as high as I had hoped. I had wanted to visit Mont St. Michel for a very long time, so rain was not an option for me. We arrived there in the middle of a storm, so we could barely see the Mont through our bus windows. The directors told us that we shouldn’t bring our umbrellas because the wind would ruin them. I never could have imagined how right they were! As soon as I got out of the bus, I was almost knocked over by the gusts of wind!

For those who don’t know, Mont St. Michel is a very old Monastery that was turned into a prison for a while, and then converted back into a church/tourist site. What is amazing about this place, however, is during two times of the year, during extreme high tide; the site is completely surrounded by water, making it an island!

We were given the opportunity to have an amazing tour of the inside of the monastery, snapping pictures of everything because it was so beautiful! The rain was almost unbearable to watch ruin a lot of my pictures, but I kept snapping them anyway. I had a goat cheese salad for lunch in a great hotel on the Mont, (who knew you could stay overnight there?!) came out of the restaurant , and was greeted by intense sunshine! I was so happy to have the opportunity to finally get a better sense of the views and architecture of my surroundings. By that time, I had found my new favorite site in France. Something about it is so breathtaking to me.

A five-hour bus ride followed Mont St. Michel, and I almost immediately fell asleep as my head hit the pillow back in Paris. It was such an odd feeling to see the Eiffel Tower and think, “Ah, I’m almost home to my bed.” I had to remind myself over again how lucky I am to be here having this experience.

A crazy, intensely-packed weekend trip? Yes. Amazing? Yes.

School is now going to be my focus, which is good…I suppose!

Affectueusement,

George.

Sunday 21 February 2010