NORMANDY & BRITTANY

Day 140 - 141

Stayed the night: Caen, France

Normandy & Brittany

AND THE WONDERFUL St MALO and Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey!

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To commence the tour we had to catch a train at the metr to the Cityrama Tour Office with our little bag. (We left our luggage at the hotel in Paris. It was great not lugging around our huge backpacks i tell you...

It was all a bit confusing at first..no one really knowing what bus to board .. or whether the 2 day or 3 day or 4 day tours went together or not...crikey, i was thinking we'd be better off just catching a bus to Normandy if it was going to be so disorganised!!!

Anyway..they got it all together finally and we loaded onto the bus along with about 50 others and headed off to Rouen where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake! There was a church there that looked like a fish and had fish scales all over it that was dedicated to Joan of Arc as well. Amazing that she was only 19 when she was burned at the stake..all because she'd had a calling from God. She was persecuted and burned for being a witch of the time (and for dressing as a man and helping the french army) and years later was martyed. Fascinating story. We pondered upon it at a little cafe overlooking a monument of her (or what they thought she'd look like).

There was also a fascintating cathedral in Roun as well..

We went to Honfleur for lunch which is a pretty norman town.

The wooden church in Honfleur was incredible. Apparently in Nomandy only the wealthy could afford to build in stone so everything else was built in wood. This church was just GORGEOUS..so many beams..and all diffent coloured woods....there was even a door that still had bullet holes in it too....showing the violence that once was.

We learnt so much being in Normandy..especially about William the Conquerer who came from there! The thatched houses were norman..and here we always thought they were English. Histoy really tells a tale doesn't it...

And travelling has certainly taught me so much about the world and how it all fits into history.

After that we went to Omaha Beach...and the American cemetery which was almost eerie....almost 10,000 white crosses depicted the soldiers that lost their lives helping the French, against the Germans, in World War 2. There were actually 20,000 german soldiers that lost their lives and amost 10,000 british as well. Very sad knowing so many young men lost their lives in this battle in Normandy.

Winston Churchill was mentioned a lot..as was Eisnhower..and one of the comments summed it up from one of the American's on the tour..'i wonder what they thought they were doing ordering all those men to die.'

We saw a sealed box built into the ground which were articles from Journalists of the time and they have asked for it to be opened 100 years after the event..so in 2041 we'll see what the journalists thought of Churchill! (i wonder if we'll get to see that!) We were told by our guide that Churchill also had journals that were to be opened in a 100 years to coincide with this as well. Not sure how true that is?

We were sitting behind an American couple who we got really close to. And exchanged emails etc (as you do)...but they were fascinating. They'd been yachting around the world for the last 9 years, two of those in Australia. So of course, Greg had a lot in common with them...talking about sailing. They're planning on getting a houseboat on the river seine next!

We went on to Caen and stayed there the night...there was a lively discussion over dinner with some American and Canadian couples we met on the tour. There was an interesting mix of people and travellers on this tour that's for sure! One of the women was staying in Paris for the summer while her house got refurbished in New York. She has a business that i thought was a GREAT idea! One to remember for when i get back as it involves working..as you travel..and i thought Greg and i would be very good at doing the same thing!!!! *NOTE TO SELF: remember this concept!

On Day 2 of the tour we went to St Malo and went into the St Malo castle which was fun. So much to see in there that' for sure! The thing that i found fascinating was there was a poet called Chateaubriand and someone (Girodet) had done a painting of the house he lived in and made it in Chateaubriand's hair!! Weird huh. He was eventually buried on an island off St Malo with his feet facing the ocean!

Later in the day we went to the Mont Saint Michel Abbey which is an abbey built on a mount. That was fascinating too..and especially learning all about what the monks did. I didn't know that monks were allowed to drink wine??

It was a LONG tour..all that travel there and back...but it was worth it..and we met some wonderful people....