Anouchka Talks

le 6 à 7 novembre Our final morning in Bayeux began with a little last-minute shopping for souvenirs for the folks back home.  Let's be real:  You cannot come back from a European trip without Chinese-made garbage for your friends and family!  (Yes,  fabriqué en Chine exists in France, too!)  After picking up a few essentials, we hit the road to Rouen, which had been one of my top favorite French cities to date. To my dismay, however, the beautiful city -known worldwide for being the location of Joan of Arc's trial and execution- was not as I remembered it.  Perhaps it was the weather, as France in mid-autumn is much different than France in late spring.  The streets -although still rather lively- were less scenic than I remembered.  The façades of the exposed timber buildings were nowhere near as picturesque.  Despite this, I still found myself as intrigued by the city's history as I had before. After installing ourselves ...

le 5 novembre Enfin! Le petit déjeuner sur place!  This morning, Habibi and I finally had breakfast at our hotel.  Don't get me wrong; we've certainly eaten very well on this trip.  Where else -besides France- can you have a delicious, multi-course meal complete with a fancy calvados digéstif,  all while listening to a Greatest Hits album of The Police?  ( Nowhere , is the correct answer to that question.)  Truthfully though, brekkie in European hotels is often pricey...and not included with your stay. Our run-of-the-mill hotel in Bayeux, however, offered a reasonably priced petit déjeuner , so we took advantage!  Despite the fact that it was all carbs and sugar ( malheureusement, pas de yaourt nature pour Anouchka ) it was decent enough. After our baguettes with Nutella and confiture , we headed first to the Mus ée M émorial de la Bataille de Normandie where we continued our WWII education . The exterior of the museum ...

le 4 novembre Bidding adieu  to Le Mont Saint-Michel  was bittersweet.  While we were eager to escape the year-round hoards of tourists and continue on to our next stop, knowing that such a monumental creation as "Le Mont"  would simply fade into a diminishing memory was a difficult reality to accept.  However, our next stop would be no less monumental, though somewhat  less touristy... We cruised into the town of Bayeux (in the Calvados  département of Basse-Normandie ) on Sunday afternoon and checked in to our typical European hotel.  Before unpacking however, we thought we'd take advantage of the break in the rain and head to see the famous Normandy beaches. As we drove along the coastline of La Manche ("the sleeve," a.k.a. the English Channel), we imagined the American troops nearly 70 years ago, landing on those shores. Omaha Beach Not only did they arrive travel-weary and -in some cases- sick after being aboard ships for w...