The European Excursion: Normandy

The next morning, we decided to head off to Normandy. Supposedly, Normandy made a good day trip, so I reserved a room at the same hotel we had stayed at that night to ensure that we did not return to the scary dark streets of Paris and have to find somewhere to stay. This was a most unfortunate mistake (as will be shown later), especially as we did not get into Bayeux until the afternoon. We bought our tickets, and soon were on our way. This train trip was similar to the one the day before, where we could not see much of the countryside except for those brief snippets of awesomeness that can only abide in memory, for no camera is that quick.

Bayeux is a lovely village on the coast, near Omaha Beach. There are plenty of tour buses and such, but you can get around very easily on your own for a few euros. The regular town bus stops right there at the train station (well, across the street/parking lot from it). Bus 70 will take you to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery (single stop), and you can take the same bus on to Pointe du Hoc, which has well preserved bunkers from D-Day.

Outside the temple, there are few places that I really feel to be sacred ground. It takes a lot for me to really pick up on that feeling. The American Cemetery lies on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, and it truly is a sacred place. Row upon row of white crosses stretch across the land, the final resting place of men who gave their lives for the freedom of people they did not even know. It is a truly humbling experience, seeing that and what it represents. Even as I write about it now, more than two months after visiting that sacred site, I get a little choked up. Whenever people say they are not proud to be American, I have to wonder. Can they not see the selfless sacrifice made here? Truly, that generation was the finest this country ever produced. And in exchange for the liberation they fought and died to give to the people of France, all they asked for was a little land to bury their dead.

I did not see much of France, but I will probably go to the American Cemetery again the next time I go there. It is worth visiting. The films in the visitor center are touching, and everyone should take some time to simply walk through the cemetery and read the names of those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom.

Enjoy the beach, too; bring a swimsuit. The sand is very fine, the kind that'll stick to everything. The beach is lots of fun, and there are the remains of some bunkers on the hillside. Pavio and I spent so much time wandering the cemetery and later exploring the beach that we did not get a chance to go to Pointe du Hoc (another reason for me to visit again). The last bus back to Bayeux leaves at 6pm.

We got back to Bayeux and stopped at an overpriced French café for some food. Note: All French cafés are overpriced. Then it was time to head for the train station to catch the last train back to Paris and our already-paid-for hotel. However, while Bayeux is a small town, it was not as small as we thought, and we had gotten off the bus much further from the train station than we had thought. We ran. We ran as fast as we could. The Flash would have made it there, but neither of us is the Flash (who arguably would have no need for the train, now would he?). Why I had not thought to check the prices of hotels in Bayeux beforehand, I can't tell you. That would have been the smart thing to do, so I guess no one would expect that of me.

Thankfully, there's a small hotel right next to the train station that is also fairly cheap (I believe it was €32 for a room for both of us). Of course, I was still put out about having spent the money on the hotel room in Paris that we would not be using. So after we looked around town for awhile, I had to wander to blow off steam. In my nighttime wandering, I found my way into a hotel with easy free access to the internet, got the phone number for the place in Paris, and then started looking for somebody with a cell phone who would let me make a phone call. The few people that I interacted with in Normandy were much friendlier than the Parisians, and it held true that night. A man and his daughter helped me call the hotel and cancel our reservation (which the hotel probably appreciated since it likely let them rent the room out twice, as they kept our money). It took a lot of back and forth with my little bit of French and guessed at French, the little English they had, and lots of writing, but I had a nice conversation with the people that helped me before I headed back to the hotel by the train station.

And that was my experience in Normandy. Bayeux is a really nice town, and I recommend staying there. (There are plenty of nice hotels in town if you have a bigger budget than I had.) There's plenty to see, and it gives you easy access to the D-Day sites. The American Cemetery, as I noted above, is simply inspiring. Don't make this a little day trip on the side as we did; Normandy deserves at least a full non-traveling day, and I will give it at least two or three next time I make it there, for there are many more sites nearby that I would like to visit.