Quicksand, Crêpes and D-Day

Field Trip!

That's right, no matter where you are in school you can't escape the class field trip. They were fun in elementary school when it meant you got out of the classroom for a few hours, but as you get older you realize you're still in a classroom. They just moved it outside and called it a "trip" so they could get you to come to class on a Saturday morning at 8:00am. Okay, I'm just kidding (sort of). Yes, I was forced to learn something over the weekend, but I also discovered a new part of France I would never have seen otherwise. This past weekend we traveled to Normandy and Brittany-- two regions in the northwestern part of France. If you ever get a chance to come to France, make sure you escape Paris for at least a day to visit this part of the country. It really is the epitome of rolling meadows and fresh seaside air.

We started our journey with a five hour bus ride to Mont Saint-Michel. Despite it's extremely touristy atmosphere, this mountain is quite a site. Out of the middle of miles of flat farmland rises the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, originally built in the 8th century. It sits on what is known as a tidal island, meaning that originally the mountain could only be reached at low tide when a natural land bridge was exposed. Due to natural events and human driven modernization of course, it can now be reached at all times. We happened to be there during low tide, and though the water was nowhere to be found they advise against walking across the sand, not only because of how rapidly the tide can change but also because Mont Saint-Michel is notorious for quicksand. After taking a tour of the abbey and grabbing some lunch we got back on the bus and continued on to Saint-Malo, a walled-city in Brittany that sits on the English Channel, where we spent the night. Fun fact: Brittany is the birthplace of crêpes, so merci beaucoup Brittany!



Mont Saint-Michel



The Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel

The next morning, once again we clambered back into the bus and drove to Colleville-sur-Mer, where we visited Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Omaha Beach was the site of one of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. Despite it's peaceful atmosphere today, the cemetery and memorial remind its visitors that this particular stretch of land once witnessed a very gruesome part of history. There are just over 9,000 American soldiers buried in the cemetery as well as 1,500 more names of soldiers missing in action engraved on a wall. We took a short guided tour around the cemetery. Although our guide was French, he gave the tour in his best English (I think I counted the words "in fact" at least 50 times), and attempted to create a hallmark moment and bring us all to tears by telling us the story of two soldiers, both from Bedford, Virginia (he seemed to have a thing for Bedford). Despite the tragic nature of both stories, we all successfully held ourselves together.

 In case we we hadn't gotten enough of WWII, we then continued on to Caen where we visited the Memorial of Peace. I have no idea why it's called the Memorial of Peace, because really it's more like a museum of everything you ever wanted to know about WWII and more. If you happen to be a WWII history buff, this would probably be the place for you, but be sure to give yourself several hours in the museum as there is a lot of reading...I mean a lot. The one thing I found really interesting was a short movie someone put together of film taken from June 6, 1944. The entire short was split screen, with shot after shot of the action and no dialogue whatsoever. The film ended with a juxtapostion of the coast as seen today and the coast as seen on that particular morning (perhaps a little cheesy, but I think our guide would have appreciated it).

That about sums up the field trip and now I'm finally caught up with my blog. I hope to keep it that way, but with papers and exams coming up over these final few weeks I can't promise anything.

So, until next time!