April 30 - On to Honfleur!

 Today we had a nice easy start with breakfast at Chez Claire and Barbara walked into the village for photos.

Church we passed today

 

Road in Normandy

Then, we drove to Honfleur on the coast of Normandy to meet up with Pete and Shirley at a hotel above the town. First, we stopped at Pont l'Eveque and got some of their famous cheese. It was sunny and warm enough to break out sandals and shorts.

    Mark drove us all into town and we strolled the harbor and had a nice lunch.

In Honfleur

      We talked and talked.

      We all ate dinner at the hotel, Le Ferme de la Grande Cour. Very delcious!

Dining Room with Shirley, Pete, Mark

April 29, another day at the seaside

Today we had another nice breakfast at Chez Claire's with homemade bread, yogurt and jams. 

Beuvron-en-Auge

We got a nice early start and headed toward Plage de la Redoubte on Claire's recommendation for a quiet beach. It is just outside Merville-Franceville-Plage and on the Orne Estuary. We walked about 800 meters to the beach, hoping for a picnic spot, but it was windy and no place to sit, so we walked around and heard many birds, but could only identify a few via Merlin and descriptions. It is a place where 3 different plovers nest and is a protected area.

It is called Redoubte Beach because of all the bunkers left there from WWII, also called redoubts. Grim reminders abound in this area.

From there, we drove into the nearby town, Merville-Franceville-Plage, a long name for a small seaside town which we liked very much. We walked along the promenade; the wind calmed down as the day went on and more and more families showed up to enjoy the beach. As tide was out, the beach was very, very wide. 

We had our picnic there - the usual - baguette, cheese, tomato, pate, oranges. This time we added a sparking rhubarb water made across the street from our guesthouse. (We bought another bottle today to take with us tomorrow)

After sitting there quite a while, we had a coffee and tea and the drove to the outskirts of Cabourg where we stopped yesterday, but were driven away by the cold and the wind.

We walked the promenade; today the beach had a lot more people as the weather was sunny and warm. There were walkers and bikers on the promenade. We watched kitesurfers and saw 4 sulky drivers and horses trotting by the water's edge which was very cool. We could envision spending time in Cabourg in the future.

Chez Claire's

Then - back to our guesthouse, Chez Claire. But, we left our key in our room as we'd done every day. But, today is Claire's day to close the cafe and she was busy taking two of her children to lessons- piano, violin, tennis. So - it was locked. We tried email, but knew she'd be unlikely to check it. Barbara tried putting in the one number we had to What's App and to call it - no avail. (We think it was the centralized number for the Chambres d'Hotes) After sitting in the car for 45 minutes, we decided we'd go into the village and eat, although we weren't hungry. But, then we saw a number on her sign. Barbara called that, and lo and behold!, Claire answered. She told us that there was an unlocked door around back. Whew! So, we got in and we had our left-overs from today's picnic sitting in the lovely front garden here. We'd have waited a long time if we'd have had to wait for Claire to get home.

 

April 28 - Beuvon-en-Auge - visit to the seaside

 

Little church next to Chez Claire

Today we had a nice breakfast at our guesthouse, Chez Claire. Claire, is a hard-working mother of three who runs the guesthouse and her restaurant by herself. The bread was homemade as were the yogurts and the jams. Her family also made the apple juice. 

  She recommended that we take a trip today to the seaside, so we took her advice and went to the towns of Cabourg and Houlgate which are side-by-side, separated by the River Dives.

 

  Both have huge, tidal sandy beaches and home from La Belle Epoch, from around 1870-1900. They are a bit reminiscent of the mansions of Newport, but French style. It was very windy walking the promenades of both towns, but we did. We walked by the Grand Hotel in Cabourg and then the wind and chill made us leave and walk up the main shopping street.

     We drove to Houlgate where it was still windy, but it had warmed up a bit. We parked on the outskirts of town and walked a good deal of Roland Garros Promenade and gazed at more impressive Belle Epoch mansions.

  As always, we wonder at how many working class people it took to support the few rich ones.

    We watched windsurfers in Houlgate for quite some time.

    We walked into town and had a light lunch which was delicious - a scallop veloute soup. It was unlike any we'd ever had. Not heavy, but smooth. With some French bread, it made a great lunch.

    We drove back through some very secondary (tertiary) roads with big hedgerows and by some huge estates of horses. This area is known for its horses. Claire, our landlady, has a horse (not here) and her eldest son will work with horses when he finishes school.

 

Beuvron-en-Auge village

 We walked through the little village, bought some bread, looked at some horses just outside of town and also bought some rhubarb sparkling drink to try from a man just across the street here.

Rhubarb sparkling water

   We ate at Claire's restaurant. To keep it simple, she does not change her menu. Mark had an andouille quiche and Barbara had a vegetable quiche. The quiches are very light and, with a salad, it made for a nice dinner. Maybe tomorrow we will try one of her desserts.

April 27- onto Beuvron-en-Auge, Normandy

  

This captures why we remember, and must remember, history

Today we left Bayeux and La Maison Victoire, both of which we thoroughly enjoyed. Frank served up another sumptuous breakfast and also carried our luggage down the stairs which was appreciated.

    Mark drove through Caen en route, but just passed through. It has a chateau, castle and several large churches which we passed by. If we could have found an easy place to park, we might have walked about.

   

The front of our guesthouse "Claire's" in Beuvron

St Martin's Church behind our guesthouse

 We drove to a very small village, considered one of the prettiest villages in Normandy. We had stopped at a SuperU to get the fixings for another French picnic, this time we added some pate to it. We ate by a field by the Bureau de Tourism and we got some maps and suggestions there. 

Flowers in the front of the guesthouse

    We are staying at a very modest Chambre d'Hote in a small bedroom room off the kitchen and laundry room of a tea room run by Claire, a very nice woman who serves lunch every day in the garden in front.  Our bathroom is only for us, just outside our door. The bathroom only has a curtain.

     

 After we settled in, we took a walk around the village which has many half-timbered houses, and an area where crafts are demonstrated and sold. We stopped in shop nearby where the man makes ciders (alcoholic and non) as well as sells various edibles made in the area. He has sparking rhubarb on offer now. 

        

April 26, D-Day Beaches

 

Garden at the Guesthouse

Today we had another great breakfast at La Maison de Victoire which, by the way, is one of the three places recommended by Rick Steves. And, we recommend it, too. A couple from Belgium toured the D-Day sites the day before and gave us a few tips.

Gold, Juno and Gold Beaches

  We dedicated our day to the beaches of Normandy, both for the battles of D-Day, June 6, 1944, and to the beaches themselves which are extremely wide with huge tides. We drove about 60-70 miles. It was a beautiful day - mostly sunny and in the 60s. As it was also a Sunday, there were a lot of people visiting the area.

   We started at La Pointe de Hoc. It gives a panorama of Omaha Beach where the American Rangers went ashore and up the 100 foot high cliffs. It was also where the Germans were the most fortified and, of the 200 Rangers who climbed the cliffs, only 90 survived that first ay.

   Operation Overlord was the largest amphibious assault in history. 

The steep cliffs of Omaha Beach

 Artillery from ships started bombardment before the soldiers went ashore. The huge holes made by those shells are still evident. These took out some German artillery and bunkers, but not all of them and German resistance was fierce.

    In all, there were five landing beaches. On the first day, the Allies landed 156,000 troops. The Americans landed 23,000 on Utah Beach and 34,000 on Omaha Beach.  Another 15,000 troops landed by air. The British and Canadians landed 83,000 on Gold Beach, 21,000 on Juno Beach and 28,000 on Sword Beach. They also landed 8,000 airborne troops. 

   The first day, the Allies got a small foothold in Europe. They had hoped to liberate several towns on the first day, but the German resistance was too stiff and the terrain too difficult.   

Craters from artillery

  

   From Pointe de Hoc, we drove through the towns of Port-en-Bessin, Arromanches and Asnelles working our way from Omaha Beach to Gold Beach which is one beach where the British and Canadians went ashore.

    

    En route, between Omaha and Gold Beaches we ate at a cafe in a small village. The larger towns were crowded and it would have been hard to find a quiet restaurant or parking spot. We had a very good lunch of salmon galette (B) and fish sandwich (M). 

      Even though we visited these beaches over 40 years ago with Nick and Jecca, we were still amazed at the extent and breadth of the D-Day line of amphibious landings - over 100 kilometers of beaches.  The sheer logistics are staggering.

          We stopped at Gold Beach and walked at very low tide. We met a man who was digging for small shellfish which he called "cocques" or something like that. 

     

At Gold Beach are many remnants of the artificial harbors the Allies built, called mulberries, both on the beach and in the water. (2 artificial harbors were eventually built - quite a marvel of engineering) These were key in landing troops over the next months to begin the liberation of Europe.

       It is sobering to visit these battlefields and emotional to see the visible remains of the war which the French have left in place in memoriam. We saw many tourists reverentially visiting. We think they were mostly French and American, but also saw several Italian groups. 

Mark by a piece of a Mulberry

     After we got "home" we visited the Cathedral for our third time, this time taking photos in the crypt, mostly of instrument-playing angels. 

April 25 - A day in Bayeux

 

Today we stayed in Bayeux all day. After a sumptuous breakfast, served by the owner, Frank, we took a walk into the center of town and then along the Auge, the small river here. It was not as long a walk as we'd thought or hoped. 

It was lovely weather and we listened to lots of birds, but didn't manage to see most of them flitting about in the trees. But, we did see a beautiful grey wagtail in the river and we did see a Common Chafinch. We heard a lot of blue tits, but, try as we could, never saw one.

When we spotted the wagtail, a French woman was also interested and we got to talking. She pointed us to the farmer's market, so we walked there and bought fresh strawberries, asparagus, cheese of Normandy (Liverot), baguette and some of the yogurts made in St Malo that we so liked - even Mark who is not a big fan of yogurt.

   We strolled "home" to our room in the tower and microwaved the asparagus and had a lovely lunch. We both liked the cheese, which is a bit like Camembert, but harder and a little stronger.

The prince and princess in their tower room.

    We also talked to Nick as it is his 53rd birthday today.

    After a short rest, we walked out again, this time to the Cathedral (another Notre Dame)  which was dedicated in 1077 (!) by Odo, the half-brother of William the Conquerer who was the bishop here. It is a huge cathedral and so very old. We did not stay long as Barbara had a migraine coming and we went back to the guesthouse. We had a quiet evening of reading, corresponding and blogging. 

  

April 24 - on to Bayeux

    We left St. Malo at almost noon, taking another walk along the ramparts and having our morning coffee and croissants where we bought them yesterday. We also revisited the butter store and bought more delicious yogurt. Mark got a photo of the little butter shop which escaped the destructive bombing which was all around it.

     We really enjoyed our time in St. Malo. It is walkable and, with the huge tidal changes, the scenes are every changing and mesmerizing.

      Once again, we had a gorgeous, sunny day with blue skies. We drove about two hours and had our picnic in St. Lo. We didn't find a great place to eat there but did find a bench along the river.

      From there, it was about half an hour to Bayeux. Wow- another beautiful town which largely escaped the destruction of WWII. (Again, but it did not escape the suffering.)

     We are at another old guest house, dating to the 15th Century. And, we are in the tower! We found a parking spot (free) not too far from the guesthouse, Le Manoir St. Victoire.  Once again, we are up two flights of stone spiral stairs, but the friendly owner kindly carried our suitcases up. This was a great pick! We can see the large and beautiful Bayeux Cathedral, which is immense, from our window.

     

 We took a walk and fot our bearings. We visited the Cathedral quickly. (We will return tomorrow) Then, we found a Carrefour and got a few provisions. There is a lovely little river running through the town. Then, we walked back to our guesthouse and at baguette, cheese, ham, the best butter ever (St Malo!) and a yogurt in our room. 

        Another fantastic day.

         

      

April 23, St Malo, Dinan to see Jecca

 First day without jackets!

   Today we walked to the Boulangerie de la Cathedrale and had coffee and croissants. Then, we walked the ramparts for about a mile.

    We drove to Dinan and parked in the port. It was actually hot today! Jecca was waiting for us at Le Roger Bontemps alongside the river. We all had the same specialty of the day, but added 8 oysters from Cancale to it. The presentation was gorgeous, starting with a Caesar Salad with anchovies.

That was followed by a pasta dish (shells) with gorgonzola cheese which was, as Jec said, it was an adult version of mac and cheese. That was followed by a rhubarb tarte with raspberries, crumbled cookies and some sort of vanilla creme fresh.

We basked in the sun and thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely French lunch. We all thought it was a special meal in a special place with people we love.

     Jec and Barbara climbed back to Jec's apartment and gathered a few clothes for us to take when we meet up again in June in London as she wants to carry as little as possible on her hike in Cornwall in two weeks.

Mark at Boulangerie de la Cathedrale in St. Malo

You could still walk out there - but risky!

    We drove back to St. Malo and waited to get a good parking spot (and we did). We went back to the butter store and got butter and two yogurts. Then, we went back to the Boulangerie de la Cathedrale for another baguette for dinner.

   A very good day.

On the ramparts looking down