Normandie

Early Saturday morning, I found myself lugging a giant suitcase out of the apartment on my way to the Gare du Nord. I was meeting the two most wonderful ladies for a week of vacation! Well—their vacation to Paris! Mom and Pam had landed in Charles De Gaulle airport and were making their way to meet me in Paris. We were taking a train north to Normandie for the weekend to stay in Bayeux and visit the beaches.

Already on European time—the ladies arrived four minutes before the train was scheduled to depart and we rushed in to validate our tickets and claim our seats. Exhausted, they slept while I worked on some school work and within the hour we were nearing our destination. I was in charge of rousing them went we arrived in Bayeux. I must have been daydreaming—because suddenly I realized that we were at our stop! I assured them that we would have plenty of time to disembark. We were rolling our suitcases to the exit when we felt the train lurch-- !

It was a split second decision but we jumped! Mom and Pam were on the platform and I began throwing bags out of the cabin doors! I thrust the last one off and landed on the platform. The train halted and the conductor came running to see if we were ok. I apologized (in French) and told him that we didn’t know—we were American. He seemed satisfied and boarded the train and headed off. It wasn’t the smartest move but everyone was awake now and ready to start touring Normandy!

We unpacked and headed out to explore the highlights of Bayeux— food & tapestry. We visited some pastry shops, a tapestry museum, and a café. The tapestry museum held an original French tapestry which told the story of a king…blah blah blah. I’m not too fond of rugs. We found a wonderful bistro and made reservations for our St. Valentin’s diner.

We freshened up at the hotel and walked to Le Pommier for dinner. It was absolutely delicious-- three courses of fish, cheese, wine, and French delicacies! I had Coquilles St. Jacques (Scallops).

Sunday was quiet since all of the shops were closed, but we hired a private car tour of the beaches of Normandy. Our guide picked us up at the hotel and took us on the route that the Americans had conquered the beaches. It was amazing to still see the craters that the bombs left in the ground and the steep cliffs that the soldiers had to climb. Our tour guide said that we were on of the small groups of tourists that got to see the beaches, covered in snow! We stopped at three landmarks before heading to the American Cemetery. It was beautiful, the way they designed the tombstones and landscape. It overlooked the vast ocean and blue sky. It felt as if I was back in Washington DC, between the American signs, inscriptions, and architecture.

On our way back, we stopped at a local fishing village, near Caen. We picked up fresh camembert cheese, calvados liqueur, cidre douce, and fruit & nut bread—all specialties of the region. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the hotel and relaxing afternoon, before our early departure to Paris, Monday morning.