Normandy-France Part 2

Outside the Cathedral of Chartres

Early Wednesday morning we boarded the bus once again to start the second leg of our trip. We were headed to the island of Saint Malo. We made a pit stop about 2 hours in at the cathedral in Chartres, where we took a guided tour. It was another spot that was being restored, so there was a lot of construction going on when we were there. There was gothic architecture, similar to much of what I saw in Paris, but nonetheless is was a great sight to see.

Inside the Cathedral of Chatres

A message we were VERY excited to read!

Once we made it to the second hotel we put our bags down and went right to dinner because we had been on the move all day. For the second hotel spot, I was a roommate with Tissy for the second time in a row, and Chloe made up the third person in our room.

Thursday morning I woke up super early to go for a run before the scheduled days activities. After breakfast a bunch of the girls walked down to the beach to see it before high tide. We were able to walk along the sandbars out to the deserted castle in the middle. It was a rainy morning, but the mist was light enough for it to still be enjoyable. I could still not believe I was walking the beaches of France, when just about a week prior I was back home in New York.

Katie, Caroline, Me, Shayne, Tissy, Nicole, and Chloe in St. Malo.

We headed back towards town and looked into some shops before meeting with everyone to get on the bus to Le Mont-Saint Michel. We spent much of the week in France touring ancient structures, but they all were unreal. Approaching the island, I felt like I was in one of J.K. Rowling’s novels approaching Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The castle sat atop a huge mountainous island. There was one thin road leading up to the base of the hill. Once we arrived, we were told to meet up at the top just before our scheduled tour time. In small groups we navigated our way up the steep alley full of stores, restaurants, and vendors. I felt like I was truly in a magical world walking passed the thousands of people that packed this small island.

The view as we approach Le Mont-Saint Michel.

We had an English-speaking tour guide (thank goodness!), and fellow English native-speakers from Australia and Austria joined us. It was fascinating to see how many different nationalities came to see the sights of Le Mont-Saint Michel. This whole experience has opened my eyes to all the different cultures that mesh in Europe. So back to our tour-guide, she seemed to be a bit…tense. She prefaced the tour by stating that anyone who talks will be asked to leave, because she didn’t force anyone to come here…not exactly the cheerful welcome we were expecting.

The bottom of the hill, before we started our trek to the top!

But besides from the less-than-optimistic tour guide, the walk to the top of the mountain was definitely worth it. We could see for miles and miles…or kilometers and kilometers (since we’re in Europe, I still have to get used to this). It reminded me of my time in Kerry, Ireland looking out to the coast and all the green grass that seemed endless. The tour was quite in depth, we climbed staircases after staircases! There were so many twists and turns that it was hard to believe people could easily find there way around! We looked down into the marsh and were warned that people head out there on their own risk, because there is quicksand that is quite dangerous. Only experienced guides venture there occasionally, needless to say we headed to the bus when the tour concluded.

A view from the top!

Friday morning we work up early to start our trip to our 3^rd and final stop of our French adventure. We were heading to the beaches of Normandy to walk where history played out years before. I was particularly excited about this because the places we were going, I had learned about for years.

Our first stop was the Bayeux Tapestry, it was something cool to see, but not something I was too familiar with. We only stopped for about an hour, but it was amazing to see the details of the story depicted on the tapestry. We were each given a personal listening device that fed us information about the tapestry as we walked along it.

A portion of the detailed Bayeux Tapestry. 

Our next stop was a beach off the coast of Normandy where the D-Day invasion took place. It was called 'The Pointe Du Hoc.' We were most familiar with it from the scenes of the film, “Saving Private Ryan.” We saw the different trenches and structures that were still present from the days of the war. It is crazy how preserved everything was, and it was even crazier that I was standing on the land that was the witness of one of the most significant invasions in history.

The Pointe Du Hoc. You can see some of the trenches and protective structures still there. 

Katie, Shayne, and I near the coast.

Our final stop of the day (aside from a quick stop at a armory…) was Omaha Beach, another beach on the coast of Normandy. It is where the Normandy American Cemetery is located. It was an amazing sight to see the thousands of headstones lined up across the fields. It was a beautiful tribute to so many brave souls who gave their lives for our country. It was tough to see the headstones that did not had names, but rather a message stating that it was a tomb of an unknown soldier. As heartbreaking as it is to think of the families who never were able to bury their loved ones, it was comforting to think of the millions of people who came to prayer for those heroes, there at the cemetery. After walking through reading the headstones, that listed the date of passing, and the hometown of the soldier, we headed to look at the beach.

Normandy American Cemetery 

We walked for about 10 minutes down stairs, and through paths that were created to access the beach. It was so serene to look to my left and right and see nothing but sand and sea. We all went down to put our feet in the water and really soak up the moment. There were so many beautiful sights, it was hard to fully take it all in.

                                            

                                                      Omaha Beach

 After all the stops, we headed to our hotel, La Marine. We had a dinner at the hotel set up by Loyola to celebrate our last night in France. It was really nice for everyone to come together again to share our favorite experiences we had over the course of that jam-packed week. The food was delicious and we were free for the rest of the night to take in the sights.

Our hotel in Normandy.
I spy Dr. Hughes peering out his hotel room window!

Early Sunday morning, Shayne and I woke up to enjoy a run before our 7-hour bus ride back to Leuven. We walked out the door and met Steve who had woken up to see the sunrise. Shayne and I had no idea how lucky we were going to be to see the sun rise along the coastline of the beach. We decided to run in the sand, along the water, because it was so quiet during the early morning hours. The serenity was unexplainable and it was the perfect way to end the week.

Our trip back to Leuven was long, but we were all very excited to get back ‘home.’ Hard to believe we had spent more time in France by that point, than we had in Belgium. I think I could speak for everyone when I say we were ready to go back and get settled into a schedule. Dutch class here we come!