Day 7

This was a long day that started at the Basilique de Ste-Thérèse, and ended near Mont-St-Michel. The Normandy landing beaches were our main target, but we had to get around Caen first. One wrong turn had us going back to Paris. We turned off, but this left us in the suburbs of Caen without a map! We drove in the correct direction to get to the beaches (with a few misturns), but it seemed that every road in Caen was being repaired. This left us standing in traffic for almost an hour before we got to the beaches. By the time we got to L'Angrune sur Mer, we were starved, so we stopped for pizza at the first restaurant we found (Chez Italo).

The Beaches

Everyone goes to the Normandy beaches with the expectation that it will be an emotional experience, but in light of recent happenings it was more emotional than we expected.

First we came to the British landing site at Arromanches. There were the remains of a German pill box.
There was no harbor to land men and equipment, so the Allies built a harbor, called a Mulberry Harbor, by sinking old boats.
The central point of any visit by an American is the cemetery at Omaha Beach.
The main monument has maps of all of the European campaigns, but the visiting American soldiers who fought there and were telling their stories in tears was more impressive.
The flowers at the base of the monument were from the firefighters of Cherbourg, and other French groups. One bouquet had a card that said, "To our liberators in their time of need." As we left the cemetery, there were about 20 more firefighters with flowers and cameras heading for the cemetery.

When we left the cemetery there wasn't a dry eye in the parking lot.

The Cider

Normandy is known for its cider. We had been looking for a farm that sold cider, and after the cemetery, the stop at such a farm was needed. The Ferme de la Sapinière, run by Michel and Philippe Legallois seemed the ideal place to stop.

As we entered the store next to the house we heard a child practicing on a recorder. The little girl's mother was the daughter-in-law of the owner. She brought out all of the samples that are usually tasted by the customers, but when she found out we were Americans, she wanted to talk. She explained to us that the mayor of their town took a photo of their town, and everyone in the town signed it. They sent it to the mayor of New York City. She said we were all in this mess together. Later we talked about where we lived and compared dog stories. After a few glasses of different types of cider and pommeau (a distilled apple drink of about 30 proof), we exchanged addresses and left to go to Ducey.

Along the road to Ducey we saw many quaint Norman villages and wished we had allowed more time to stop and explore many of them. We were, however, heading for one of the high points of the trip, a hotel along a salmon river with a restaurant that had top level cuisine. The reason for heading in this direction was to see Mont St-Michel. As we approached, we could see Mt St-Michel in the far distance. This is at best an approximation of that sight.

The Hotel and Restaurant

As expected the hotel was very charming. We stayed in a garden cottage and Terre was in the main building. The restaurant was excellent. We all had burbot in a lemon-grapefruit sauce with green onions. This had a side dish of turned potatoes and puff pastry. We also had an excellent white wine.

Our room
Terre's room

Tomorrow Mont-St-Michel.