Ibis Caen Centre

This last weekend my program's group traveled to Normandy and Brittany. It was a very cool trip! On Saturday we drove from Paris to Caen, Normandy. We visited the Memorial de Caen, which is a museum/memorial from WWII. Caen was a city during WWII that was occupied by the Germans, and it was a major victory when the Allies were able to seize it. After Caen, we drove on to Omaha Beach to the American ...

... at each scene on the tapestry. Without it you would find it hard to depicher the story and miss the little details which bought the tapestry to life. <br> The town of Bayeux itself is gorgeous and miracouslouly escaped WWII bombing...even though it was only 10km inland from the D-Day beaches

... we drove past Courseulles code name Juno Beach and onto Arromanches code name Gold Beach and where the famous Mulberry Harbour was built. <br><br>The Mulberry Harbour was made by the British. Over a dozen old ships on their last voyage were intentionally sunk as the foundation of the harbours break wall. Several dozen extremely large concrete blocks which were transported across the seas ...

Arrived at Ouistreham just before dark and found an Aire de Service right on the beach and this time it was free! The downside was it was right next to the ferry terminal and the 6am ferry to Portmouth the next day was kill the tranquilo the next morning. Kim's Maison du Scooby cooked up a storm. Pork fajitas on rice - delicious. I gave it 5 stars.

The trip to Normandy was a lot to absorb. It's hard to believe, that my grandfather Kelly was there on D-Day over 60 years ago.I certainly do not think I would have survived. I am thankful he did, I wouldn't be here. Nor my mother and her siblings, my sisters, or my nieces. His sacrifice has not only affected the existence of my own life, but the daily lives ...

... with a waiter who was very understanding of our language limitations. Once we had full bellies, we walked around Caen and decided we really liked the town. It&#8217;s a very charming old town with lots of big, beautiful churches, a castle, a quaint historic quarter, and a port and river in the center of town. We walked around the castle for a while, and got to see buildings that were as old as the 11th century and a really cool moat. There were ...

... Agathe and I will return to Paris and Wednesday I fly home. Normandy has been amazing and I love it here. It has been a great conclusion to my trip. I will have more entries soon, I have 12 hours on a plane Wednesday and a lot of reflection to do so expect to read more. I'm pressed for time, so if I don't get all the photos or Bungee video online right now, I will tomorrow when I have internet in Paris. Talk to you soon! Good night from Normandy, France!

... more than in Texas), and almost all the businesses were closed from 12:00-2:00 for lunch. Also, for all the people who think that when you go to Europe, something will be stolen from you, I can tell you otherwise. While at the Abbey we received a bag with a t-shirt, an atlas of Normandy, and some other small souviniers and I accidently left it outside at a cafe we stopped at. I didn't realize I had left it till about 20 minutes later ...

... that once went on there. We ate lunch at a small cafe near to the memorial and then walked a while along the coastline. Next we went to the National American Cemetery and Memorial. It was absolutely stunning to see row upon row of white crosses. It is truly a beautiful memorial to our fallen soldiers. Someone had been through the entire cemetery planting US and Alabama flags for every soldier from Alabama. We then went to an area where the Army Rangers were very active on ...

My first stop in France was to spend a few nights in Caen at my friend Ben's place. I met Ben during my semester abroad in Denmark (see semester abroad blog). We then met up with Mike, another American, and made a day trip to Mont St Michelle. Also made a day trip to Belgium, and then headed down to Paris....