Excursion #1: Normandy!

Excursion day!

This morning was an early one. We had to be up and packed at 5:00am to meet Dr. Hudson and the crew by 7:00am at the study abroad apartment. We were a little early but it was good to have some extra time to talk. The bus came a little before 7:00am and we were off! We have a hot pink Mercedes Benz bus for the weekend and everyone gets two seats to themselves. It’s a pretty sweet setup! Of course, I had to have the appropriate France road trip treats too.

The French countryside is probably my favorite thing in the world. I LOVE it! I mean, how could you not fall in love with this:

It was fun to watch out my window, but I was exhausted from the early morning so I napped on and off the whole way to Normandy. That is, after Dr. Hudson gave us 50 Euros for spending money while we’re traveling! ☺

Our first stop was in Bayeux to see the famous tapestry. It’s almost 1000 years old and is so cool! It tells the story of William the Conqueror and it’s 224 feet long. It’s not really a tapestry, but an embroidery. Our appointment was at 1:30pm, so we had two and a half hours to kill in the town. There was a BEAUTIFUL cathedral in the center of town, so we went to look inside. There was an organist playing when we walked in and the music was amazing.

RANDOM STORY: We were walking around the town (a group of 8 or so people) and a car pulled over and the guy driving said, "BYU?!?! Rise and shout, baby!" It was hysterical. That's what you get if you wear BYU stuff abroad, I guess!

After the cathedral, everyone was ready for lunch. We went to a restaurant not far from the church and I got the most DELICIOUS omelet ever! It came with a salad and frites and it was heavenly! Then it was off to the tapestry for our audio guide tour. It was only 20ish minutes long but it was so interesting! If you’re ever in France, you HAVE to go and see it!

Next on the agenda was Omaha beach, followed the American cemetery. It was amazing to go back again after over 10 years. I knew it was a sacred place when I was a little girl, but I appreciated it a lot more now that I’m older and understand the history behind it. So many men fought for our country - for our freedom. It was a supremely humbling experience. The weather was horrible (rain, cold, strong winds, etc.) but it almost made the whole experience more real. It made you wonder if the soldiers landing on those beaches experienced the same thing.

The final stop for the day was “La Pointe du Hoc.” We were able to see craters from bombs and mines, go into German bunkers, and see more beaches where the soldiers landed on D-Day. The barbed wire has been untouched since the war and is original. It was unreal! My family went to something like that (was it the same place, family?) when we lived in Belgium and I remember going to it like it was yesterday. The wind was outrageous (as seen by my hair in the pictures below), but at least there was no rain.

After that, we had to drive to our hotel for the night in Avranches. It’s super cute and Mckenna and I have our own room! Woo! Oh, and we passed Mont St. Michel from a distance and I’m SO excited for that excursion tomorrow!!!! I’m sure you’ll see pictures and hear stories later. Sorry that this post is so scatterbrained and not well written! It’s 11:00pm and I have to be up early tomorrow to eat and catch our bus. I just wanted to share some tidbits and pictures from my day before going to bed. Bonne nuit, everyone! Me and my cheetah/zebra print wallpaper are goin' to sleep.