Friday, June 24, 2011

Report from Normandy

(click on image to enlarge)

Mont St. Michel
Watercolour, crayon and CP
©2011 Charlene Brown

Our first stop in Normandy was Mont St. Michel.  It is virtually an island at high tide, and because of the great area of the very shallow bay over which the tide rises – the wave was described by Victor Hugo as ‘coming in with the speed of a galloping horse’ – I was a little surprised when we arrived at low tide and were allowed to park in the lower lot – we certainly couldn’t go in there when I was at Mont St. Michel in the fall of 1996. I mentioned this to the guard, and quickly gathered he was really sick of being asked about it. Then, at the base of the climb up to the village, we saw a sign explaining that the galloping horse thing only applies during the high spring and fall tides and as this was almost mid-summer, so such drama would be taking place.
such drama would be taking place.
At our next major stop in Normandy, Bayeux, they have something for everyone. I went to see the tapestry of the Battle of 1066, and my husband went to the 1944 Battle of Normandy Museum.
We finished off our ‘driving off into the sunset’ Grand Tour of Europe by ‘hitting the beach’… by which I mean touring the beaches -- and also the battlefields and Memorials -- relating to Canadian participation in World War II.
Eventually, we drove to Brussels to leave our car for shipment to Canada.  It was two months before we saw it again, but that’s another story…