Arromanches

The day after our D-Day tour, we had planned to go to Honfleur as a day trip because I had been there before and absolutely loved it.  When the day came, neither of us really felt like going through the hassle of a three hour trip mixing bus and train with limited schedules, so that day we explored a bit more of Bayeux and went to Arromanches instead.  Arromanches is probably about 10 km away from Bayeux towards the coast and is off of Gold Beach (one of the British fronts).  It's a lovely little town.  Here, it can be seen from above:

That day was one of the first nice, warm days that we'd had in France since Reed got here so we mostly strolled around by the beach and had some ice cream.

There were also still remnants from D-Day.  We saw what looked like giant cement things in the water that were used to offload cargo that day.

After we got back from Arromanches, we decided that we might as well see the Bayeux tapestry since we were, after all, in Bayeux.  I really had no idea what the tapestry would be like.  To be honest, I expected to see a giant rug hanging on a wall and it didn't seem too exciting to me, but it was actually really cool.  It was not at all a giant rug, but a really really really really long piece of intricately embroidered cloth that ran all the way around an entire room, telling the story of William the Conquerer.  They gave us headsets to explain what we were seeing on each panel.  It was really interesting and brought back memories from my History 201 class that I had freshman year.  I imagine that the tapestry often gets overlooked because people come to Bayeux to learn about the events of WWII and completely forget the Normandy has a very famous history that goes back much further.  Anyway, Reed loved the tapestry.  As far into our trip as we are, he still says it was the best, and he bought a few books to learn more about it.  We weren't allowed to take pictures but if anyone is interested, there is a website that tells about it:

http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/

That was all for Normandy; stay tuned for Paris coming soon!

Bayeux and the Normandy Beaches

On Monday morning, we set out for Normandy by train.  We went through Paris where we stopped and had lunch and then continued on.  The thing about going through Paris is that it has about (at least) 7 different train stations and most of the transfers mean that you have to switch stations using the metro.
We got to Bayeux around 5pm and wandered around town.  The cathedral there was one of the first things that we saw.  It was grand and amazing.  Reed kept asking over and over again how nobody knew about it, while everyone knows about Notre Dame de Paris.

Unfortunately by the time that we had gotten there, the cathedral was closed to visitors so we wandered around town a bit more.  The streets of stores were all cute and old but they had all of the regular french stores.

The streets in Bayeux and in other towns along the Normandy coast still celebrate the Allied victory that liberated them in World War II.  They've got the Allied flags everywhere in the streets.

On Tuesday, we went on a tour of the D-Day sights.  After asking around, I decided that a guided tour was the best way to go because there is very limited transportation between all of these places outside of a tour.  The first place we went early in the morning was Longues-sur-Mer, the Germany gun battery.  It's kind of hard to tell in the picture but the light was literally streaming in through holes in the clouds.  It looked pretty cool.  You can also see La Manche (the English Channel) in the back of the photo.

The guns kept at this battery were really big and could shoot a very long way (as they were aimed at boats in the English Channel, the distance of which can be seen above).  

From the back side of the gun (inside the bunker):

I believe that he said that it took something like 10 people to use this one gun.  We walked into the back of the bunker and looked into the supply rooms.  They were basically just big, empty, cold cement rooms.
One of the bunkers was blown up.  Our tour guide told us that what is thought to have happened is that a missile came in through the hole around the gun and hit the supply room which caused the gun powder in there to explode.

After that, we went to Omaha beach.  It was very windy and cold there and for that reason, I didn't like it very much.

Omaha beach was one of the bloodiest of D-Day because the long expanse of flat sand didn't allow any cover for the incoming troops.
From there, we headed on to the American D-Day cemetery.  The land of this cemetery was given to the United States by France, so while we were there, we were actually on American soil.  More than 9,000 soldiers are buried here. 

All of the Christian soldiers have crosses and the Jewish soldiers have stars of David.  It's so peaceful and calm there.  This is probably the only cemetery that I like.  It's so beautiful and horrible at the same time to see all of those white crosses spreading out over acres of land.

After that, we left for the Pointe du Hoc, another German bunker area.  I had been here before but it was fun to walk around again.  When D-Day happened, the Germans had been in the process of building the concrete bunker things to hold their giant guns that could reach both Utah and Omaha beaches.

After that, it was lunch time.  For that, we went to see Saint Mère Église and the 101st Airborne Unit Museum.  Saint Mère Église is a church famous for a parachuter who got stuck on its roof and played dead for 2 hours until he was taken prisoner by some Germans.  They still have a dummy there today.

The 101st Airborne Museum was kind of cool.  It showed all about flying and how the military lives were back then with letters and uniforms and such.

At the entry, they had the flags of all of the Allies but not the US flag.  Instead they had the flags of each individual state going all the way around the inside of the building.  Look which two states were right next to each other:

After lunch, our tour group went to see Utah Beach.

I really liked Utah Beach.  It probably helped that it was quite a bit warmer than when we went to Omaha Beach.
That night when we got home, we went and checked out the cathedral.  It was very beautiful on the inside.  It was much lighter and brighter than Notre Dame de Lyon or Notre Dame de Paris, but again, I don't have any pictures of the inside.  For dinner that night we went to a restaurant called Le Petit Normand.  It served special Norman cuisine.  I hardly liked a thing on the menu so I got something steak-like that was really not good at all.  Reed had oysters and cod with caramel sauce.  Ever since, he's been raving that it was the best meal of the trip.

Reed visits

The Tuesday after my final exams were finished, Reed arrived in France.  The first couple days, he had really bad jet lag and we just hung out around Chambéry.  The weather during the first week was not very good.  It was rainy or cloudy nearly everyday and fairly cold.  I don't think he expected it because he had to buy a sweater here to stay warm.  That Saturday, we decided to go to Lyon.  I thought he'd really like the Notre Dame de Lyon that I saw with my family.  I had never come into Lyon (with the intention of seeing it) by train before, so we got kind of lost coming out of the train station.  I had forgotten that there were two rivers running through Lyon (the Rhône and the Saône), so I was thoroughly confused once we'd crossed over one river and weren't where I thought we'd be.  Anyway, I really like the bridges there, so I took a few pictures:

After I figured out my mistake, we found our way to the big red square with the horse statue (where I was with my family).  From there, we headed up to the Notre Dame de Lyon (which you can see in the background of the horse picture).  Since I'd already been there, I didn't take too many more pictures.

This time when we went to the cathedral, we also went down to the basement part of it.  There weren't really signs so I didn't know what it was, but there was practically a whole other church down there.  I don't have pictures because my camera doesn't do well in low-lighting, but it had all of the chairs set out just like the main floor and seemed to have an altar even.  It was huge down there, but not as ornately decorated as the main level of the church.
After that, we checked out the view from the platform beside the church.

Then we walked down the same way that I did with my family so that we could make a stop by the Roman ruins again.  This time, we came at them from the top and saw where a street and a row of houses used to be, behind the amphitheater.
After that, we spent some time looking around and window-shopping on the Rue de la République (the main shopping street in Lyon).
Lyon is world-renowned for its cuisine, so we decided to stay and have dinner there.  We ate at a restaurant called Les Enfants Terribles.  I had a tomato and mozzerella salad, but Reed, who is a much more adventurous eater than I, got a Lyonnais speciality, tripe.  He kept offering for me to try it, but I told him that I didn't think I could, knowing what it was.


The following day, Sunday, we went to Grenoble.  I thought that Reed would be interested in the Fort de la Bastille (also, I knew that it was open on Sundays, whereas much of France shuts down on Sundays). 
When we first got there, we decided to grab lunch at a local bakery.  I got a baguette and Reed got a sandwich and a strawberry tarte.

We saw all of the normal stuff that I saw the other times, like the major parts of the fort and the views of the city.  It was somewhat cloudy that day so the mountains weren't that clear.

After that, we headed around to the backside of the fort where I noticed these holes in the side of the mountain.  I guess I had noticed them the other times that I was there but I didn't actually consider that one could go in them.  Apparently there were used to fire on the backs of enemies advancing from the rear.  They had a secret stairway that led presumably to the fort.

They were very cool and wet inside but it was interesting to go in.
After looking through the caves, we decided to go up to Mont Jalla.  I saw it with the Cables and wondered if one could go up there.  Well Reed and I decided to do it.  Unfortunately, neither of us uses our eyes so we didn't see the actually gravel path to get up there and ended up taking one that was carved by other people who hadn't found the "official" path which I believe would have been a bit easier.

It is a lot farther up than it looks like in that picture.  It was quite the tiring walk up, but the views at the top were amazing and it was fun to see the more ruined part of the fort.

It was really cool to be up that high in the mountains and to be able to see all the way around.  It turns out that the top part of the fort is currently a monument to all of the Alpine troops that have died in combat.

On the way down, we ended up finding the actual path and took that back down to the fort.  From there, we took the bubble lift down.  After that, we decided that there wasn't that much more to see in Grenoble and headed home to prepare for our trip around France.

Final Exams

The day after my parents left, Nicolas Sarkozy (the french president) came to Chambéry to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Savoie becoming a part of France.  He came to Chambéry because it is the historic capital of Savoie.  Anyway, I was walking home from class that day and I noticed a giant crowd of people, so I went to see what was going on.  It turned out that they were all waiting to see Sarkozy drive by so I decided to wait too.  There were police/ military people practically every 10 feet along the road he would be driving on.  Once he did drive by, it was very unexciting.  He was in one car out of a line of about 15 cars.  The cool part was that after he drove by, the french air force did a fly-by.  Their jet trails were blue, white, and red and made a french flag in the sky.  Sorry I don't have any pictures of this.


Now on to finals.  I had a final exam for every class which meant 8 finals in one week.  My finals took from 15 minutes (for an oral exam) to 3 hours depending on the class.  I really hate having my exams scheduled this way because I feel like I have an information overload and by the end, I can hardly get any of my info straight.  My finals were as listed:
- XIXe century french theatre
- XXe century french theatre
- reflexion on contemporary art
- linguistic perfection
- french civilization
- history of religion (which was an oral exam)
- modern history
- french to english translation
(Can you believe that all of these only add up to 12 credits in the US?!?!)
I think they all went pretty well considering that I am not a native french speaker.  The hardest one was definitely reflexion on contemporary art for which the question was very abstract and for which I didn't think that the class adequately prepared us.  I was most scared for the history of religion exam because it was done orally but I think it went ok and the professor was really nice.
Anyway, I was so glad to be done with them and I had a nice restful weekend, full of sleep.

Family visits! (part 8) - the last one :)

On Monday, my family called me and told me that they would be going to Italy for the next few days.  They went to a place called Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy, only a few hours from here.  Even though I myself did not go, I will not deprive you of their European experiences.  Here is what I got from them:
To get to Italy, they had to drive through Switzerland and thus right through the Alps.  Even though it was in the 70s in Chambéry, there was still snow up in these mountains.

This is Lake Maggiore (there are two islands in the middle)

They went to a castle; I believe it is the one you can see across the lake in the picture above.  It had white peacocks (as any proper castle should).

Here they are at a restaurant.  My mom says that the food there was much better than in France (It's much more her style: more tomatoes, less meat)

On Wednesday, they came back to meet me in Chambéry.  We got some lunch and spent the day shopping around.  

My grandma and grandpa also got some more chocolate from Jeff de Bruges to take home to their friends.  Then they went on their way to Geneva.
It was so happy to have had my family come visit me.  It was awesome to share some of this experience with them and to get to see places that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.