If you are looking for a region that is American-friendly, has lots of history, is easy to navigate and has great food ~ Normandy is the place. From the D-Day beaches to thousand year old cathedrals, to pastoral landscapes dotted with cows and sheep, we enjoyed Normandy quite a bit. We also liked Normandy because when we rented a car for the day we drove on the right side of the road again ~ hurray!
Our base of operations was a little town on the train line from Paris, Bayeux (BAY-ooo). Bayeux is home to a huge cathedral and among other things, a museum with a famous, centuries-old tapestry that tells the story of the Battle of Hastings. This is the pivotal battle when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold, to decide who was going to be the King of England. Although we didn’t actually see the tapestry, (ran out of time), we read that it was maybe woven to be displayed in the cathedral. When people couldn’t read or write they could get the message from the tapestry every Sunday at mass ~ “William fought a righteous battle and is now the King.” Side note: our visit to the Tower of London also brought us into contact with the story of William the Conqueror ~ it was the location of his residency and fortification as he moved to subjugate the English.
This Cathedral town was not bombed at all in WW2, supposedly because the Mayor at the time somehow got word to the Allies that there were no Germans stationed there and no collaborators of note to deal with. The more likely scenario is that the Allies needed an intact town for their own base of operations. Whatever the truth is, I’m grateful. The cathedral is a work of art and retains some of the oldest stained glass anywhere. The crypts below the church are fascinating for their medieval art. We attended Sunday morning mass (in French of course), just to hear the organ and feel the space being used in the way it was intended. I’m not sure I loved the service, but the organ music was awesome!
Having seen the movie, “Saving Private Ryan”, I thought I had a sense of the cost to the Allies of opening the European Theatre…I know better now. We visited Omaha Beach and the American Visitors Center & Cemetery on a windy, cloudy, rain-threatened kind of day. We walked from the cemetery on the bluff, down to the beach, past the remains of German bunkers. Looking back up towards the bluff from the beach was a powerful thing ~ to know that more than 2500 Americans from all walks of life died there on that day. Whether war is folly or necessary is debatable, but there is no disputing the choices those soldiers made that day. Each marker in the cemetery tells a story of lives changed both at home and abroad.
Multiple cemeteries dot the region for soldiers of all nationalities who died in the push towards Paris that started here, but there are no U.S. soldiers anywhere but in the American Cemetery. My understanding is that by law, U.S. soldiers killed in action must be buried on U.S. soil. The French national government gave the land the American cemetery sits on to the U.S. in perpetuity as an act of gratitude after the war. Technically, the Visitor’s Center and Cemetery is U.S. soil.
French food you say ~ yes please. My favorite was either the ham/cheese/mushroom omelette I had for dinner that was a beautifully done, or….the first course of my dinner the next night; a shrimp aspic set on what was basically a fish cracker. Both were yummy ~ one just happened to be peasant food & the other decidedly a bit more upscale. Come to think of it, maybe my favorite was my dessert of meringue floating in a pool of crème anglaise…….O.M.G……. Hard to decide on a favorite when there is full fat cream, butter and fresh ingredients prepared in a thoughtful way.
Our stay in Normandy was refreshing and was a good way to prep for our month in Italy. (Once again I have to pinch myself when I say things like that!). Would we live there? Probably not…..although it’s lovely and feels like it would be an easy transition to living in France with so many Americans around. Would we go back? Maybe…..for an event or with people who have a direct connection somehow to the region…..maybe.
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