Normandy, it's been real

Basically the longest two days of my life.
This weekend the program I’m in took an overnight excursion to Normandy. Rainy. Windy. Normandy. We were to leave at approximately 7:45 AM for a four hour bus ride. The second the bus leaves Paris I put my headphones in and fall fast asleep. We eventually arrive to Bayeux, which is a town in the region of Normandy and we go to a museum to visit the Bayeux Tapestry. I won’t lie, that was super boring. We had some free time afterwards to walk around this tiny town and grab some lunch. I had a ham gallette which was incredibly delicious. Our group returned to the bus ten minutes late, oops!

Next we move on for another hour of a bus ride to visit the D-Day beaches which was completely fascinating to me since I just studied WWII in my history class this last quarter. Our first stop was Pointe du Hoc which has all of the bunkers. It was starting to drizzle a little bit and the wind wasn’t too kind at all. My bangs were a mess. Anyway...the beach went on for miles, it was so beautiful. The view, the bunkers, it was moving to realize that a battle of World War II took place on the Earth that I was walking over. Just to imagine people actually fighting there was overwhelming. By the end of this stop my feet are completely soaked because it started to rain a good amount and I lack the proper shoes for such rainy weather.

 
Our next stop was Omaha beach which had two memorials for the soldiers. The first one had red gravel surrounding it to represent the blood of those who died. The next one was just an awesome piece of art. We only stayed at this beach for five minutes due to our group’s lack of punctuality. We stayed just long enough for my feet and shoes to be covered in sand which was utterly miserable. There is NOTHING worse than having wet feet covered in sand in the cold.

 
Then we departed Omaha beach to go see the American Cemetery which was my favorite part of this baby excursion. Now it starts raining...and it won’t stop. Despite this awful part, we walked around the graves and as sad as the history is, it was so moving. The elegant tomb stones all in the lines, ah. It was simply breathe taking. There just aren't words to describe it. You just have to look at it, and you understand. Now we have one more beach to visit...

 We arrive at Arromanches and no one wanted to go out in the rain besides one brave person. After being on a bus for the entire day, everyone just wanted to go to the hotel and eat. But we have to wait because there’s an hour and a half drive to Trouville. We finally arrive to this tiny town in Normandy and it seems that the only people in this place is super old. A little bit after we arrive, we’re served a three course meal which was the most I’ve eaten so far in one sitting here. After dinner, for the purposes that my mom is the only person in the world reading this silly blog, we did not go out to a bar, and everyone went straight to bed after a long day of traveling to get a decent night’s sleep.
The next morning we wake up to some breakfast which had coffee! My goodness how I’ve missed having a cup of coffee in the morning. Shortly after that it’s time for another full day of being on the bus and making several stops. We depart to Honfleur which is a super old town. All of the houses had no space in between, the river runs right through the middle, it was very quaint. We had such a long walking tour, visited an old church, and the Boudin Museum which I liked since it had a bunch of watercolor Impressionist paintings. After Honfleur we visited Château du Breuil to taste some Calvados, apple cider, and apple pie. We were only served a little bit of the Calvados because of it's ridiculous amount of alcohol content. It was pretty strong and tasted very strongly of apples, naturally. The apple pie wasn't as sugary like it is back home, but still very fresh and scrumptious.

                                                                          Trouville

                                                                         
                                                                          Honfleur

                                                                     Château du Breuil

Now it’s time to go home. FINALLY. (It was really weird to say, “I want to go home” and I don’t mean the one in Spokane). We arrive in Paris and it felt like home sweet home where I yet again, went straight to bed because of walking around and being cooped up inside a bus.
Normandy, it’s been real but I think I like the hustle and bustle of Paris a little bit more. The country side is definitely beautiful and was a nice little change of scenery. Versailles, I think you’re next!