Two-day excursion in Normandy!

Howdy!

Quite a bit to talk about this time, since this past Thursday and Friday (June 21 & 22) was our 2-day trip to Normandy!

DAY ONE

Rising quite early, we headed out of Saint-Brieuc at 7:30 in the morning to start our little adventure. After our relatively short bus ride, we arrived at our first destination:

Mont Saint-Michel


Although I could go on and on talking about Mont Saint-Michel and its history, I'll just give you the following link which leads to the official tourism page if you're interested: http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/index.htm?lang=en

Below you will find a couple pictures:

(I would like to thank Larry for these pictures, as my camera decided that it was a perfect time to malfunction. Merci !!)

Mont Saint-Michel!

A semi-successful group photo (the friendly passerby
unfortunately didn't realize that we wanted Mont
Saint-Michel in the background...)

Le cloître ... which I think we call the cloister (?)

The second pillar in is an original!

Some of the stagiaires trying to keep dry while
eating their lunches

After the long hike up to the Mont and our exploration of both the Église and the town, we headed off to our next destination:

La Pointe du Hoc


This marks the start of our exploration of WW2. La Pointe du Hoc is a reminder of the war's devastating effect on the landscape. It was here that the U.S. Army Ranger Assault Group attacked the German soldiers during Operation Overlord. Read more about the Pointe here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Hoc

After our time at the Pointe du Hoc, we headed off to...

The American Cemetery and Memorial


After taking their first steps back into the US in a couple weeks (where, despite being the States, they were still required to speak French!), the stagiaires had the opportunity to explore the cemetery itself, the museum, and even walk on Omaha Beach. Read more about it and watch a short video here: http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/no.php

Although it was nice and sunny for most of the visit, as soon as we got to the beach, it decided to storm for a whole 3 minutes. Enjoy our feeble attempts to protect ourselves below:

Just before the storm...

After our trip ended, we headed to the hostel for dinner and some much deserved rest.

DAY TWO

We awoke early the next day and headed off to...

La Cambe: German Military Cemetery


After having experienced the American Cemetery the first day, we started off the second day with the German Cemetery, the stark contrast of which is remarkable. Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cambe_German_war_cemetery or here: http://www.cpmac.com/spip/spip.php?article100349

Tumulus and statues 

The contrast between the German and American cemeteries
is outstanding

After this, we went directly to Bayeux, the home of the famous Tapestry.

The Bayeux Tapestry


Here, the stagiaires had the chance to see this tapestry, dating back almost 1000 years, and also visit the cathedral where it was once housed. Read more about the tapestry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry and the cathedral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Cathedral

A quaint spot before we reached the Tapestry.
Which means...

Group photo!!!

The cathedral

A peek inside

After this, we headed back to Caen to see...

The Caen Memorial


I didn't happen to take pictures while inside the memorial, but the sheer magnitude of the place and the overwhelming amount of information and history cannot really be expressed by pictures anyway. Feel free to click this link to see the memorial's website: http://www.memorial-caen.fr/portailgb/

Another group photo just outside the Caen Memorial

After the memorial, we took a stroll through the British Garden, where everyone, very tired, decided to take a little rest on the grass before heading back to Saint-Brieuc.

Well, that's about it for now. Our next excursion isn't for another two weeks, but I'll surely be updating before then, since our Breton dance night is this upcoming Friday. It's going to be great!!

à bientôt,

Jamie