Honfleur

Normandy

Normandy is the north western part of France. There are lots of deciduous forests, the climate is cool and wet like the Pacific Northwest, and the historical style of building includes the half timbered houses that are typically associated with tudor England. This is the place that Vikings (Normans) took over from the local French in the 900s and settled for a couple of hundred years before invading England in 1066 during what is called The Norman Conquest. Back home, the only people who have heard of this are probably history nuts, but it's a big deal for the English and the French, and considered to be a major turning point for the local history. Imagine it for a minute... the FRENCH invading somebody else. And it's England. I think that the English are still burned up about it! I really dig Normandy, partly for the great cool wet climate that is so familiar to me, but also because of the green little villages and farms everywhere. The food is damn good too. We took the bus down to Heathrow on Sunday after graduation, and stayed the night to catch a morning flight to Paris. After landing, we took a cab to Gare San Lazar to get the train to Lisiuex, a town in Normandy. From there, we caught a tram to Deaville, a cute little coastal town where we rented a car and drove to Honfleur, our final destination. Honfleur is another tiny norman coastal town, with an 18th century era port in the center of things. Basically, the port is a football field sized rectangle done in stone, with a narrow channel out to the Seine estuary and the sea. The port is surrounded on three sides by beautiful 17th, 18th and 19th century buildings in a sort of hodge podge layout that is so quaint you'd think Walt Disney designed it.

port in Honfleur

An interesting fact about Honfler is that it's right across the Seine from Le Havre, a massively built up city and port complex with dozens of cargo cranes, huge smokestacks shooting flames out the top, and one of the biggest suspension bridges in Europe. BUT, the clever people of the quaint medieval port across the water have managed to strategically place trees and parks such that Le Havre is basically hidden from view. Pretty smart, because that shit really would detract from the charm of poor little Honfleur.

Omaha

My mom has always wanted to see Omaha beach, so we drove out there one day. There's not too much there, just a really big flat beach, a few monuments, and an old pontoon from the artificial harbor the allies build to take supplies ashore during the war. If you look hard, there are a few hidden and crumbling German bunkers dotting the hillside. It's kind of a cold lonely place, but it was good for a walk on the beach.

mom and I on Omaha

Nearby is the Pointe du Hoc, which is much better preserved in terms of military stuff. This is where the US 2nd Ranger Batallion had to scale a cliff while German soldiers shot down at them. The Rangers were late landing, because of a navigational error, and so the Germans knew that an invasion was on by the time the Rangers got there. Their mission was supposed to be a sneak attack, and they got hammered for this error. There's a whole big story about this battle, but out of 225 Rangers who landed on the beach, only 90 were left at the end of the day. This place had a whole complex of gun emplacements and bunkers, and could shoot down on both Omaha and Utah beaches, and prior to the landing the allies bombed the crap out of it. The area has been under the care of the American Battle Monuments Commission since the war, and they've left all the bunkers, gun emplacements and bomb craters intact. It's exactly what you'd think a world war two cratered battlefield wasteland would look like, though I imagine that it's quite a bit greener today.

view of Omaha from Pointe du Hoc

old German bunker

this one got hit by the bombing

old German gun emplacement

US Military Graveyard

Near the town of Colleville sur Mer, there is an American military graveyard and monument where about 9000 soldiers are buried. It's a really big place, 9000 is a lot of dead guys. It's damn somber and Reba and I have been here before... it always chokes her up to visit. The rows and rows of headstones, combined with the heavy quotes about sacrifice, liberation, and freedom, etc. are pretty moving. For me, this type of language is totally insincere and unbelievable political BS when I hear it used in the context of the current Iraq fiasco, but for me, in the context of world war two, it's really moving. I admit that this may ultimately be illogical on my part. The three of us have spent a good deal of time talking about how over time, people remember only the grandeur of military leaders and forget the horrible things they have done. Caesar, William, Ferdinand and Isabella, Henry VIII, Wellington, Napoleon, etc. are looked upon today as heroes or great leaders, or at least as important and fascinating figures of their time worthy of study and a degree of admiration. However, more recent military conquerors such as Hitler and Stalin are viewed as evil mass murderers. "Mass murderer" is usually not what first comes to mind when Caesar, William or Napoleon are invoked, yet all three were just that. Following on that reasoning, is it possible to view the military exploits of the 2nd Battalion Rangers in Normandy as the bloody execution of cold US political and financial calculus? Or conversely, should we view the green zone of Baghdad as a bastion of hope and freedom for the oppressed peoples of Iraq? Looking over all this in the context of today leaves me with a bunch of questions, if I'm being intellectually honest.

endless rows of crosses, sort of reminds me of a slayer album cover I know

taking it all in

Bayeux

Bayeux is another neat little Norman town, with a great spooky old cathedral and most famously, the 230 foot, 11th century propaganda piece known as the Bayeux Tapestry. Sometime shortly after the 1066 invasion of England, unknown embroiderers put together a 3 foot tall, 191 foot long "tapestry" documenting William's invasion of England and victory over Harold Hadrada. This was a very important event in European history, maybe I can tempt Andy into expanding on this a bit via comments. Andy?? :) Bayeux is the current home of the tapestry, and has been for most of it's long history. Looking at it, a couple of things come to my mind. 1. Damn, that is a long tapestry. 2. The workmanship is really all over the place. Some of it is simply beautify and really conveys movement, energy, and passion. Other parts are totally shitty "doodle" quality work that I could probably have knocked out. 3. The view into life at the time is awesome. They show all sorts of stuff about boat building, medieval dining, battle formations, hunting pastimes, etc. etc. Really cool. 4. There must have been a lot of decapitations and amputations during that battle for them to take the time to sew so many of them into the tapestry. Creepy. 5. There's a lot of naked dudes with really big dicks in there. I really don't get that part.

mom and me at the Bayeux cathedral

At the end of each day, we would come back to Honfleur and our cozy little house. Sometimes we would go out to eat, which was great because traditional Norman food is AWESOME. Lots of seafood, cream sauces, and stuff made from apples... cider, calvados, pommeau, tartes, sauces, etc. etc. Other times, we'd just get a bunch of stuff at the market and have a hearty little Norman snack fest at home.

cider, pate, Camembert, baguette, sausages, olives, and wine... the perfect dinner

Powered by Zoundry