Normandy, Part Four

19 April Thursday

Today was another beautiful day and a trip to Mont St. Michel was planned. Someone had told me to get there early, so we were up and gone by good daylight. That was good advice, since by the time we left there about noon; the place was covered up with arriving tourists.

We had about an hour and a half drive through beautiful Norman countryside, but by 9 AM, we were walking the causeway over to this huge castle perched on a massive rock and surrounded by the ocean at high tide. This in itself is interesting because a lot of the parking lots are built on the tidal flats. If you don’t get your car out by the time the tide comes in, you are wet. We parked further away, since the lots were flooded then. It was about a mile walk to the gates of the castle and the village at its feet. There are the usual gaggle of tourist shops and restaurants in the narrow alleys along the base of the rock, but these were just opening.

For 8 Euros each we got an admission (comes with a free tour if you want to wait on the language schedule), and for 6 more Euros, we got two English guide audio phones for a self guided tour, which was very nice and complete. The stair climbs are significant but not that hard since not all is done at one time. We spent a couple of hours going about the different areas and hearing the history of this structure that was thought to have begun in 708 AD. School kids and even Japanese tourists were there in abundance.

On the way back out to the car, we stopped at the Au Pelerin Snack Bar for a drink. The Normandy cider has become a favorite of mine. It has less alcohol than a beer and is really good. Barbara’s new favorite libation is a Kir, and she quickly became the bartender’s new best friend. He told us about the three kinds of Kir; cassis and white wine (Kir), cassis and Champagne (Kir Royal), and a Kir Bretagne (cassis and cider).

Fortified thusly, we then made the walk to the car and headed out to wander someplace for lunch. We drove up the coast to a town called Granville where we found the Restaurant du Port. I had some of the best oysters on the shell that I have had in many years; small and sweet with a lemon-shallot sauce. No red sauce here! These and a Paella were just fine. Barbara had a dish of gratineed mixed fish in a cream sauce. This with a glass of Rose wine for her and more cider for me with my chocolate ice cream and her apple tart a la mode cost us 43.30 Euro. With breakfast and snacks at night at our apartment, this isn’t bad for our one “out meal” of the day.

After this we drove back to Bayeux over some wonderful Normandy country. The roads are superior here and well marked. Driving has not been a chore except for
the trip getting here from Sachseln.


20 April Friday

Another spectacular day dawned. Even the locals say that the weather this April has been exceptionally pretty. We made a foray into Bayeux for some shopping after hitting the big grocery store for goodies to take home. We killed some time until we could lunch at the restaurant that Jerome had mentioned the other day. He had admitted that his daughter owned the place. We saw him there today and told him we liked his choice. The Moulin de la Gallette has a very nice terrace open by the river and the old mill. The sun was warm, and we enjoyed a fine lunch. We enjoyed it so much that we had empty plates before we remembered the camera to make the pictures of it. We had started with an aperitif of cider and Pommeux (a mild apple liqueur). Barbara had a first course of pate-like meat made of what tasted like the crusts of baked ham served with tiny pickles. The she had a slice of local ham covered in a cider sauce and served with baked potatoes and sour cream with a brochette of grilled vegetables. She drank a rose wine with this. I had salad of greens and walnuts and then a gallette of Gruyere, mushrooms and cream. I drank the local cider with this. For dessert, we split a heavenly chocolate mousse. Espresso ended this two hour-long feast.

Having once again fended off malnutrition, we struck out for the coast. It was too pretty not to go to the sea. Our first stop was Longues (called “The Chaos”. I wanted a picture of Barbara with the named sign but none was to be found. What we did find was a small but nice site of gun batteries with an impressive history. This is where the opening scene of ”The Longest Day” was filmed. For a small place there was a lot of tourist activity. I have been impressed at two things during our days here. One, the number of French that are visitors (the majority), and two, the number of what look like high school age kids (French and some British) that cover the exhibits. I enjoyed our time in this small but significant spot.

Moving onward, we went to what had been our original quest. We went to Pointe du Hoc. This was reached by continuing down the D-514 road toward the Utah Beach area. Pointe du Hoc was a very strategic place. It sits on a point so that German artillery could blast away at both the Utah beach to the west and the Omaha beach to the east. The Rangers (like the USA Green Berets now) were assigned this cliff side area to attack and neutralize. They did this with 225 men (90 survived the bitter battle) and a lot of luck. The most impressive thing to me, aside from bunkers with 9 feet of reinforced roofs, was the number of huge shell craters surrounding the defensive positions. Some would hold a two-story house easily. Our guidebook, “Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches” that was written by Major and Mrs. Holt and recommended by Joan Herriges, was and is, a great resource for information. This said that on 6 June 1944, the fields around Pointe du Hoc must have been the nearest earthly equivalent of hell.

After Pointe du Hoc, we rode through some of the nice Normandy country back to our home in Bayeux. Tomorrow, packing and a last look at this interesting place.

Mrs. Chillcott was over to say goodbye and ask if we had a nice time in their home. (parts of this house are 400 and another part 200 years old)!