D-Day Beaches and Mont Saint Michel - Sat/Sun May 5-6

Taking photos is like taking notes. There is so much I'm going to remember later!

On our way to and from Mont-Saint-Michel we stopped at the D-Day Beaches of Normandy. Gold Beach near Courelles-sur-Mer (where we had a terrific lunch of a giant bowl of small tender local mussels in bacon cream sauce. The food is not really the point, but it is hard not to mention it because it truly is wonderful. We stopped at Omaha Beach and the American cemetery nearby. It is of course very moving to see all those crosses and to witness the difficult task the troops had to get up that steep incline.

We were told by the keepers of the hotel I'd booked ahead at Mont-Saint-Michel that they would cancel our reservations if we weren't there by 5pm so we were more than concerned when we arrived at the parking area at the bottom of the village precisely at 5! We hot footed it through the city walls and up narrow twisting pedestrian-only streets. I have to say that this part was momentarily nightmarish as the street became steeper, more narrow and more crowded! When we found it, the lady at the desk was all, No probleme! We would hold it for you! Hmm.

Anyway, our room was in the annex to La Vieille Auberge, through an old stone arch up another winding cobbled passageway, tucked in across from and beneath a cemetery. We settle in, explored a little, and went to a restaurant for dinner. When we asked the waiter if we could buy the cups our local cidre bouche (hard cider) was served in he said, I see nothing! So we tipped him extra and smuggled them out.

Mom went to the room while Hydra and I roamed the passageways and ramparts for another hour and a half or so. We saw the famous tide come in at about 6 km an hour...watched a pair of gulls sit on a sandbar as the water rose swiftly around them. They waited until the last possible moment to fly away. Hydra and I had so much fun exploring after the lights of the village came on. It's a grown-up's playground!

We were up early enough the next morning to have the streets to ourselves as we took another walk/climb before breakfast. Just the three of us and the songbirds of Mont-Saint-Michel.
We drove back to Paris that day, stopping at Omaha Beach on the way. There is a real and powerful connection between the U.S. and France, and it is very evident on these grounds and in the philosophy of the two democracies.

More soon. Tonight Hydra is home in California and Mom and I are wandering the countryside. Staying in Chateau Thierry tonight. This keyboard is exhausting.

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