Normandy - tapestries, battles and a magical island

As we embarked on our epic 3 week trip to the continent, we left our new home in Prestwood after moving in two weeks earlier.  We drove down near Portsmouth and caught a ferry across to port town of Le Havre.  The channel crossing was sunny and pleasant with spectacular views of the white cliffs stretching to Dover.  

We then drove a couple of hours until we reached our destination at Bayeux in the heart of Normandie.  We had rented an Airbnb apartment just 10 minutes walk from the city center, so we walked into town for dinner and explored around. 

We happened upon a concert in a plaza near city hall and then a very interesting light and music display in the courtyard of the large cathedral. 

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A giant tree called the Tree of Liberty, which had been planted in 1797, grew majestically in the shadow of the giant church.  People began gathering around the tree around 2145 for a show that was going to start at dusk.  We claimed some seats and waited for about 45 minutes as the children slowly descended into wearied chaos.  Finally, the show began with a mesmerizing projection of images, video and shifting patterns of color upon the trunk of the tree.  Every couple of minutes the theme of the images would change with the music.  We stayed for about 30 minutes before walking back across town. 

 

The next day we had a packed itinerary ranging across the D-Day beaches to most of the sights Tyler had seen a couple of months earlier when he visited with the staff college.  We went down to the beach at Arromanches to the see the remnants of the artificial Mulberry harbor.  Laura wandered through a street market while the kids and Tyler explored some of the hulking and rusted barges washed up on the shore. 

Next we took a little driving tour to the guns at Longues-sur-mer.  This is coastal defense battery was constructed by the Germans to defend the beaches and shoreline several miles up and down the coast.  The four turrets contained a repurposed naval gun from a damaged German cruiser.  about 300 yards closer to shore, there was a spotters bunker that overlooked the English Channel.

The kids had fun seeing the big cannons and then we had a nice picnic behind one of the bunkers.

Next we stopped at Pointe-du-Hoc where a famous Aggie, Earl Rudder, had led his regiment of Rangers to scale the cliffs in an effort to neutralize a key battery of guns that ranged in to the D-Day beaches.  The jut of land is still pock-marked from the aerial bombardment that preceded the assault.  When the Rangers finished climbing the cliffs, they discovered that the guns had just been removed and transferred to a different location.

Finally, we stopped at the American cemetery above Omaha Beach.  As the kids were napping and Tyler had just visited a month prior with his British school, Laura went in by herself to take it all in. 

The next morning we showed up bright and early to visit the Bayeux Tapestry, the famous scrolling cartoon depicting William the Conqueror's victory over Harold in the Battle of Hastings. The entire length of the tapestry was in an excellent museum stretching around a giant square protected by glass. 

It was amazing to see details from life a 1,000 years ago from the dress to the Viking ships the Normans used.  

We then left Normandy and began our drive south to the Loire valley.  On the way, we detoured west slightly to visit the famous island city of Mont St Michel.

Our first glimpse of the city was from about 20 miles away as we saw its tall spire in the distance rising from the coastal plain.  

The city is sits upon a giant rock rising out of the beach about a mile off shore.  When the tide is out, as it was when we visited, one could walk across the mucky sand and reach the city on foot.  However, when the tide is in, the island is cut off with several feet of water.  In modern times, a bridge has been built to permanently connect the city to the mainland. 

It was a warm day and we briefly walked around the base of the wall of the city in the sand and found out how boggy and muddy it was.  We then began a trek up, up, up along the outer wall in a bid to try and avoid some of the summer tourist horde.