Heading west to Bayeux

We arrived in Bayeux, near the Normandy coast, in late afternoon.  This was after taxiing from Paris out to Versailles, picking up our rental car, driving to Giverny, having lunch and seeing Monet's garden at our leisure.  It really doesn't take very long to get to Normandy from Paris.   It's about 140 miles, and a good part of the drive is on a toll road. 

We found the toll roads to be fast and efficient.  Just like in the U.S. though, you might not see the most fun scenery along them.  Taking the back roads in France might have you driving through the center of tiny, little villages.  This can be good or bad!  The cost of the toll roads seemed a bit high - for our trip to Bayeux it cost about 15 euros, or $19.  We also had varying success using our credit card to pay the tolls at the machines along the route.  Our British Airways card through Chase Bank has an imbedded chip, which seems to work most of the time in France, but we had occasional problems on the road.  There was always a "help" button to push when we got stuck at an automated tollbooth, and an attendant would come over and allow us to pay cash.  Some of the tollbooths took only coins.  

Our driver for the next two weeks is Tim.  Rick is the navigator, and the car has a GPS, which we've named Brunhilda, after Tim and Linda's GPS at home.  Everyone names their GPS, don't they? 

Our little hotel in Bayeux, The Hotel de Sainte Croix, which I found on TripAdvisor, was in an old home right on the main square, Place St. Patrice.  The sign said "B&B de Charme", and that it was.  We had beautiful, bright rooms, big beds & huge bathrooms.  Our hostess, Florence, spoke english well enough, and welcomed us graciously, even though we arrived almost an hour early for check-in.  It's so hard to know how long it will take to drive between our destinations, and we're usually early.  This little hotel, and the B&Bs for the rest of this week, were all in the homes of the proprietors, and they didn't have reception desks.  We had to ring the doorbells to check in, and in each place we had a key for the door to the building, and a key for our respective rooms.

One of our rooms at the Hotel de Sainte Croix

Florence suggested some restaurants for dinner, but we decided to try a place where Rick and I ate 9 years ago when we were here.  La Rapiere was a great little place down a narrow alley in the center of town.  We didn't know that since we were here last it's been included in the Michelin guide, the highly-regarded last word on good quality restaurants, so it was "complet" (full) on this night and the next.  We made reservations for our third and final night in town and went up the street to find another place that looked good. 

La Table du Terrior looked like a good spot, and had lots of customers - always a good sign.  We ordered escargot as our appetizer, and each ordered a "menu" which is a fixed-price meal composed of a number of courses.  It's usually a good deal, although the selections for each course might not include all possibilities on the a la carte menu.  Linda chose a duo of prawns and bulot for her main course.  "Bulot" is the french word for whelk, and my menu translator calls it "large sea snail".  We all like seafood, so why not try it, Linda thought?  Well, it was interesting, but not very tasty.  A little too tough and chewy, and lots bigger than an escargot. 

I had cafe gourmand again for dessert.  This is the little dessert tray with 3, or in this case 4, little desserts and an espresso.  I can't do this anymore!  It's just too much!

Breakfast each morning was a nice surprise.  We were served in the dining room, and a big table was set for 8 guests, with a little table for two on the side.  Each day we had coffee, tea, juice, croissants, baguettes, and on this day a little cup of caramel custard.  Then came a sweet bread, and a small waffle for each guest.  We would have liked a bit more protein, but each item was delicious and special.  We also enjoyed talking to the other guests each day, and comparing activities and restaurants with them.

Breakfast table at our hotel

Since it was Saturday, the square was filled with the weekly farmers' market.  We perused the fruit, veggies, meats, cheeses, breads and sweets, and bought some things for a picnic lunch later.

I hope these chickens being sold at the market will be someone's treasured pets!

Fruit and veggies at the Bayeux market

Our plans today were to see the D-day beaches and the American and German cemeteries.  We started at the town of Arromanches where you can still see the remnants of huge concrete blocks sunk by the allies to create a false harbor.  It's almost surprising to see these very physical reminders of something that happened over 65 years ago.  For the people of these now-peaceful villages it must be a constant reminder of a horrible time. A theater-in-the-round shows actual footage taken during the advance on the beaches, and the young soldiers getting ready to attack. 

The town of Arromanches and a few of the concrete blocks sunk off the coast to create the harbor

After visiting a museum dedicated to D-day (or Jour J in french) we had a picnic lunch on the wall overlooking the beach. 

Tim, Kathy and Rick setting up our picnic

From there we headed down the coast to see the American cemetery overlooking Omaha beach.  It is truly a moving experience.  Over nine thousand of the troops who perished on D-day and the days afterward are buried there.  We heard visitors speaking many languages, all there to pay their respects to the men and women who helped free Europe from the Nazis.   We saw an American family looking through the rows of grave markers with papers in hand, undoubtedly trying to find a relative who was buried there. 

Over 9,000 crosses and Stars of David fill the American cemetery in Normandy

From there we drove to Pointe du Hoc, a jagged cliff where 300 US Army Rangers attempted an assault on a heavily fortified German gun battery .  Only 1/3 of the Rangers survived the difficult climb, and the area is still pockmarked with craters from the bombing there.

Our last stop was the German cemetery.  This is the resting place of over 21,000 soldiers, and has a bleak and despairing feeling.  The grave markers here show the dates of the birth and death of each soldier, making it clear how young some of the soldiers were.  At the American cemetery only the date of death is noted on the grave markers.

The German cemetery in Normandy

Back at the hotel, we noticed the streets blocked off around the Place St. Patrice.  From our hotel windows we couldn't help but hear the cheers and see dozens of bikers racing by in front of our hotel.  Just a few minutes later they would go by again.  There seemed to be a bike race set up right in town, circling just a few blocks, based on the appearance every minute or two of the pace car and the racers.  It was very exciting, and we could hear an announcer speaking over the loud speaker when the race ended.  We had no idea what was going on, but it was fun to watch.

Our hoteliere, Florence, had made reservations for us at a new place in town, L'angle Saint Laurent, and some friends of Tim and Linda's were hoping to join us for dinner.  Karla and Jay, also from Washington state, were in the area doing some biking.  We hadn't been able to connect with them in the last day or so to coordinate dinner plans.  As we were driving around to see the WWII sites, we happened to recognize them on their bikes.  

We came across Karla and Jay riding their bikes in Normandy

We had a wonderful dinner at L'angle Saint Laurent, some ordering a al carte and some ordering the menu option.  One fun little detail was a tiny cup of warm liquefied foie gras with fig sauce served in between courses.   

Dessert was layers of puff pastry filled with chocolate cream, topped with gelato. 

Even the little sign on the top was edible chocolate

In Rick Steves' France book, he notes that Normandy is famous for the four Cs: Calvados (apple brandy), Camembert, cider and cream.  I would add caramel, crepes and seafood to the list.  We tried plenty of everything while we visited here!