Weekend in Normandy

I know I haven't been great about posting, but I'll try to do better! I've had the opportunity to see a lot in the past couple weeks, so I've got a lot to write about! I'll start with my weekend in Normandy, which afforded me the opportunity to see two of the top things on my "Must-See-in-France" list: the D-Day beaches and Mont Saint-Michel.

First of all, another big thank you to the incredibly kind leader of the Davidson College program in Tours, who let two of my friends and me travel for free with their excursion in Normandy and Brittany! Traveling with them allowed us to see much more than we would have been able to otherwise!

Our first stop on Friday was Caen, a charming town and the capital of the Basse-Normandie reigon. We visited the Caen Memorial Center for History, with exhibitions on World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, and the Cold War, as well as a Nobel Peace Prize gallery. (The Nobel gallery, contrasting with the museum's focus on war history, is intended to remind of the possibility of peace.) Of course, the museum's few references to Africa caught my eye - namely a statement that France allowed the German government to build military facilities in Senegal at the beginning of World War II (what?!) and a discussion of African soldiers fighting for the French during the War. Another highlight was a large exhibit of the everyday life of soldiers during World War II. It really forced us to realize that they were just regular people, often around my age or even a few years younger, and to reflect on how incredibly difficult life was for them and the family and friends they left at home. Overall, it was an extremely informative and truly fascinating museum, though there was so much, we didn't have time to see the whole thing (and I don't think we would've had the energy to process more anyway). We spent the night in Caen and had the chance to explore the winding cobble-stone streets and, to my surprise and excitement, to discover three different stores full of imports from Africa - including a clearly Senegalese sous-verre painting of a car rapide!

On Saturday morning, we left Caen for Bayeux, a town in Normandy that is famous for having the world's oldest tapestry. While we didn't see the tapestry, we thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the town for a few hours. Bayeux was even more charming than Caen, and it hosts an enormous cathedral and has a salon de thé (tea shop) on almost every block!

Bayeux:

We left from Bayeux to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, which overlooks Omaha Beach, the site of one of D-Day's primary landings. After going through the very informative World War II museum, I walked around the American Military Cemetery, the final resting place of over 9,300 Americans who died during the D-Day landings and following operations. What struck me about the cemetery, other than its size, is that it really doesn't look like a cemetery. Its perfect, rigid rows of solid white crosses, every grave exactly the same (in place of crosses, Stars of David mark the graves of the handful of Jewish soldiers), make it easy to forget that you're standing in a graveyard. After spending some time in the cemetery, I headed down to the beach. The most eerie thing about the beach is that, today, it seems (and is) just like any other beach - when you're there, standing in the sun, taking pictures, talking with your friends, it's hard to believe what happened in that same spot 65 years ago.

American Military Cemetery:

Omaha Beach:

We also saw Point du Hoc, another important D-Day site. Point du Hoc is a clifftop overlooking the coast between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach (the other beach where Americans landed on D-Day). On D-Day, Allied soldiers scaled the side of the cliff at Point du Hoc and destroyed many of the German weapons positioned atop it. Today, some weapons and weapons storage spaces remain intact, and seeing them was really surreal. Even more striking, though, is that the entire area is covered in large craters from the attacks.

Craters and Cliffs at Point du Hoc:

German Weapon at Point du Hoc:

We spent Saturday night in Dinan, a third picturesque town, this time in the slightly-further-west region of Bretagne. We were able to explore a bit and see the town's chateau before leaving the following morning. Our last stop of the weekend was at Mont Saint-Michel, a tidal island in Normandy and one of France's best-known sites. To my surprise, Mont Saint-Michel is absolutely in the middle of nowhere, and, much to my disappointment, it is not actually an island on most days (I'm told it gets completely surrounded by water every couple months). Despite that, though, it was beautiful and extremely interesting! Built some 1,300 years ago, Mont Saint-Michel was a functioning abby for hundreds of years. Its importance had dwindled significantly by the time of the French Revolution, during which it was converted into a prison and held many high-profile political prisoners. The prison was closed in the 1863, and Mont Saint-Michel was declared a historic monument. Only in 1969 did monks return to the abby, although I'm not sure how peaceful it is for them these days, now that around 3 million tourists visit the site each year.

Mont Saint-Michel from a distance: