Ok, so I’ve been sick, and haven’t been in much mood to post anything lately. But, I’m finally feeling normal again and have found some time to write about our recent trip to Normandy.
Paul and I decided to go to France at the end of January pretty much on a whim. Yes, we knew we would end up in France
some time this year, but this was a random decision we made one afternoon and before you knew it we had booked the
weekend. I guess maybe because I was between jobs and had two days off that we felt we couldn’t
waste the time. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, because off to Normandy we were headed.
To begin with, the weather wasn’t great, and we were soon happy that we had decided to take the car on the train instead of the ferry this time. This is the train which allows you to go to
Calais with your car, which was far easier and faster than the ferry. And, considering the weather I was certainly happy to be below the sea. I think we definitely be doing that again.
We stayed at a lovely hotel called Ferme de la Rançonnière, where we had a gorgeous room and great service. As you can see from the picture, we had a massive bedroom, with beautiful furniture and a canopied bed. The only downside was that the hotel had clearly just opened back up after the holidays and the room was freezing when we got in. It took almost our entire stay before it became a comfortable temperature, but we can’t really fault it. We weren’t in the hotel for very long anyway, as the restaurant was still closed as well. This has been one of our best experiences so far with hotels and France, and I think we may very well stay there again if/when we go back to Normandy.
The main thing Paul wanted to get out of this trip to Normandy was to see the D-Day beachesto and the surrounding historical spots. As you can see, we got to see large guns left by the Germans, and to the right here you can see a shot of Omaha Beach. I would have a picture of Utah Beach as well, but it was dark by the time we found our way there.
We also visited the town of Ste Mere Eglise , which is where the paratroopers landed, and on our way home we stopped by and took in Pegasus Bridge. They had a nice museum there along with the original bridge. We didn’t see everything though, and there are other things in the area that we would like to go back and see. For instance, it would be nice to go closer to tourist season, and make a point to taste some calvados and local cider.
While I enjoyed the trip, I was thoroughly all warred out by the end of my three days and was quite happy to be able to take some pictures of a pretty French village. I don’t have the name of the village with me – but it was a pretty little place.
Also, I guess I would be misleading you if I let you think the whole of the trip was focused on the D-Day landings and WWII. While a large majority of the trip did focus on this, we did see the famous Bayeux Tapestry – you know, the one which depicts the story of why the Normans invaded England in 1066. It was pretty impressive.
And that is Normandy in a nutshell. I’ve uploaded a few more pictures which can be found under European travel in the Gallery.
