France, 35 years later. (Part 2)

Driving a car around France gave us the freedom to visit some small towns not normally on the tourism circuit. We first visited Rouen where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the British. Next, we visited the picturesque port city of Honfleur, and stayed at the Mercure for one night.

Honfleur.

The next day, we drove to the Normandy Beaches where D-Day took place. While my family didn't immigrate to the United States until the late 1970's and thus never quite knew about America's involvement in Europe during the war, the museums at Arramanche Beach and the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach was deeply moving, a testament to a world at war and the valor of the young men who died for their countries.

Photo of D-Day landing at the American Cemetery in Normandy.

After the Normandy beaches, we stayed a night at the Le Lion D'Or, in Bayeux, a hotel supposedly favored by General Eisenhower during WWII. The hotel was rickety, but filled with memorabilia from the war and quite different from the efficient but charmless business chain hotels.

We also visited the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, a museum with only one single item on display: The thousand year old tapestry that depicted the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror. For a one item museum, a 9 Euro admission fee seemed a bit excessive, but for those who are interested in Medieval history and it's importance to European history, it's quite worth it.

The same day, we visited the Bayeux cathedral. It was a treat when we found out that there was a guided tour of the bell tower that day because the priests were raising money from the villagers to install a new bell in the cathedral. We climbed the bell tower with some local visitors, got treated to a ringing of the bell in the bell tower, and given some cider and then were hit up for donations. We gave some token euros as a contribution.

The next day, we headed for the main event, le Mont Saint Michel. The weather co-operated all the way. We arrived at Mont Saint Michel, took a bus across the causeway and climbed up the Rampart until we reached the cathedral. Once there, we walked through the cathedral, the cloister, the abbey, dining hall and the city. It was quite breathtaking. The scenery looking down to the sea was out of this world. One has to wonder how medieval folks built this marvel... or all the other marvels we saw for that matter. Unfortunately, the village and the Hotel Vert where we stayed this side of the island was charmless and quite depressing compared to the other parts of France.

View of the sea from Mont St. Michel

Finally, the following morning, we droveback towards Charles de Gaulle Airport. But along the way, we stopped at the incredible walled city of Fourgeres where the moat still flowed with water, and the castle wall still towered forbiddingly over the city.

Rampart and moat of Fourgeres in Brittany.

We also stopped by the Chartres Cathedral that was built in high gothic style when builders supposedly figured how to make the cathedral ceilings vault even higher. However, I was cathedraled out by then and was not as amazed as I was at the beginning of the trip.

We stayed at the airport Ibis hotel for one more night before heading back to Los Angeles on Air France. I'm glad we took this sentimental trip with our aging parents. I got to visit parts of France outside of Paris. Who knows when we'd get to do this again?