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

April 22 Full Day in St Malo

  Today Barbara wasn't feeling great, so we had a quiet day. 

 

This is a photo of the swimming bath a low tide. See below!

We went into the St. Malo Cathedral; it was significantly damaged in WWII, but has been rededicated and rebuilt in parts.  We walked down to the Bain aux Dames for coffee; it

overlooks the salt water swimming baths which were submerged today due to high tide. We saw them yesterday at low tide. There were lots of people with children digging in the sand and having fun.

After that, we walked around the ramparts and then along the corniche along the waterfront outside the ramparts. We are still so impressed by the wooden breakwaters. They are made of oak, 21 feet in height and there are about 3,000 of them. They were installed 200 years ago.

   We went to Bergamote for a late lunch, a highly rated Breton restaurant. Barbara had a salmon galette and Mark had a chicken pot pie and salad which was more like a quiche than an American-style pot pie. Delicious.

    We walked to La Maison Beurre Bordier, a famous butter store. We read all about butter, but did not buy any as we don't have storage, plus a 'stick' was about 15 Euros, too!

    We spent a few hours figuring out how to put Mark's photos into Barbara's iPhone library in order to put them into the blog. We think we may have figured it out!

     We took an evening walk. Mark got a baguette at the Boulangerie de la Cathedrale, recommended by Jecca and then got some cheese and ham to eat at the hotel. 

This is the swimming bath with just a little of the diving platform and no pool visible at all

April 21 - On to St. Malo

   Today we had another hearty breakfast at La Maison Pavie and said farewell to the wonderful innkeeper, Katrine. The house was once owned by Monsieur Pavie who was a diplomat to Laos and Cambodia and decorated with many things from those countries. Two books that he wrote were in the sitting room, in fact.

Mark by some brakewater pole for scale

    Mark drove about 25 miles to St. Malo where we had to wait to find parking- an indication of just how popular this beach-side resort it. We are at La Maison des Armateurs on the Grand Rue. Coincidentally we are right across the street from where Jecca had a flat for two weeks! She was able to give us a lot of tips about what to do and where to eat.

     

An old picture of St. Malo

We wandered around and got our bearings somewhat. We walked a good deal of the ramparts facing the sea and little islands; we also walked down onto the beach. There are MILEs of wide, sandy beaches here. And, the tide is immense - 16 meters. There are a lot of signs warning people to pay attention to the tides. The breakwaters are made up of huge wooden poles. They stretch for as far as the eye can see - at least a mile. Jec said they are worried these tall, straight poles cannot be replaced with trees that tall and straight.

     St. Malo was largely destroyed in WWII by bombs and fire. It was occupied for a long time. (All the Light You Cannot See)  There was consideration of leaving the rubble as a memorial, but it was eventually decided to restore the city. However, it has never recovered its pre-war population. It obviously does not have the charm of the medieval town of Dinan, but the ramparts are impressive and the sea is enticing.

   

The Swimming Baths at high tide with diving platform

On the ramparts. Rocks and sand

 It is quite windy, but with beautiful blue skies.  People lined up for ice cream, many with winter clothes on and some in shorts. We had a generic pizza/salad dinner; most of the restaurants are closed on Mondays.  After dinner, we walked most of the ramparts we had not yet walked. There were people in the water then as the sun had come out and the tide was way out.

Tide is in

Tide is mostly in