Normandy and Auxerre
Caen, like St Malo, was badly destroyed during the liberation in 1944 but the main historical buildings were restored (apart from a couple which were retained as memorials) and the rest of the city rebuilt in 1950s concrete. The city has an excellent tram and bus service and numerous cafes, bars and restaurants. We stayed at the Hotel Bristol, which seemed to be home base for Americans in town to visit the D-Day beaches. On Tuesday we took the train to Bayeux to view the famous tapestry. This is 70 metres long and 50cm high and is kept behind glass in very low light in a special U shaped room. The visit includes an excellent introductory film and “audio-guide” (‘automatic’, meaning that you had to keep walking, gazing at specific details of the tapestry as you went). We went through the viewing hall twice it was so interesting: William the Conqueror starring in his own blockbuster action adventure/propaganda movie.
On Wednesday, 6 June we took the bus out to the Caen Memorial where we met the driver/guide who took us to a selection of the D-Day beaches. Our fellow minibus passengers were 6 Americans. The weather was cool and misty with a fresh wind blowing in from the Atlantic, kind of appropriate for this event. We could just make out the remains of the “Mulbury” artificial harbour off Arromanches which had been in the British sector. We then visited a German gun battery at Longues where the 4 x 152mm Skoda guns were still in place although very rusted and battered by the bombardment they sustained during the battle.
We arrived at the American war memorial and cemetery by Omaha beach, just as Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defense was starting his speech, followed by the French and US national anthems. Very moving to hear while surrounded by over 9,300 tombstones. We then visited Omaha beach itself, which would have been nice if the weather had been better, and another German battery at Pointe du Hoc, where 250 US rangers scaled 100 foot cliffs under machine gun fire to silence the guns, only to find that the guns were just wooden telephone poles. Only 90 men survived. Kind of underlined the tragedy of it all. Back at the Caen Memorial we decided to skip the museum tour and headed back into town for lunch and a walk around viewing the Abbaye aux Dames, Chateau de Caen and Abbaye aux Hommes, where William the Conqueror is buried, or at least a thigh bone which could have been his!
The next day we caught a bus which took us on a very interesting tour through the countryside and resort towns such as Houlgate, and Deauville, arriving finally at Honfleur. Honfleur is a very picturesque old port on the south side of the entrance to the Seine. (Le Havre is on the north side.) The basin connects to the sea with a lock and is surrounded by 17th and 18th century stone houses which are now mostly cafes, with a few art galleries, antique shops and real estate agents. We trundled our bags over the cobbles to the very nice Hotel Le Cheval Blanc and then explored the town. It was hard to see how all the cafes and restaurants could survive, but apparently Honfleur is a very popular weekend destination for Parisiens. We blundered into a very interesting museum devoted to Eric Sati, the composer, pianist, writer and general eccentric who was born and lived in Honfleur. The museum, located in the house where he was born, is a multi-media experience and quite unique.
Friday, 8 June, we had an early start for our journey to Auxerre which Judy had planned and which tested the French public transport system to the maximum:
Hotel to Honfleur bus terminal by taxi.
Bus to Le Havre over the amazing Pont Normandie suspension bridge.
Train to Rouen, change, train to Paris Gare St Lazare Grandes Lignes
Metro line 14 from Gare St Lazare Metro to Gare de Lyon Metro
Train from Paris Gare de Lyon Grandes Lignes to Laroche-Migennes, change, train to Auxerre
Bus from Auxerre station to centre ville.
All this worked perfectly and we arrived ahead of schedule at about 2:15pm and had lunch at a nice café before we met up with our friend Sylvie around 4:30pm. Terry and Ann arrived an hour or so later, having already unloaded the boating equipment we’d bought (including bike and BBQ) and most of their heavy luggage at the Vermenton base of France Afloat. Soon Francois also arrived home and an animated conversation ensued over aperitifs in their small back yard garden. Sylvie then served a delicious dinner and after a lovely meal and good conversation we all crashed off to bed. Sylvie and Francois’s home is right in downtown Auxerre within a minute’s walk of the medieval streets where the restaurants, art galleries and dress shops are located.
