Driving Through Normandy

This weekend I went with friends to the Normandy coasts. Because Paz insisted on not waiting for when Liisa was available to drive and no one else was of age, I was assigned to rent and drive a car. Driving in Europe, check. One less thing to not have done in life. It was an adventure, for sure. Though, I think the 12 hours was a bit excessive. And I was promised a Mercedes, but received a Citroën instead.
So, on Saturday morning, I was the only person on time to leave. Then we had to wait for an extra hour or so because Lorena and Brandon (the other driver) had slept through their alarm clocks and we had to call and wake them up. Being one of my huge pet peeves, I had to fume a bit and walk around the station for an hour.
What really sucked about the trip was that essentially the GPS unit was given to me, and the couple stayed in the back to make out all 12 hours and cuddle and everything, while poor Rimi tried hard to stay awake to keep me awake and living, and I drove. And drove.
And Brandon's car had a lot of fun because they actually all talked and sang and didn't depend on an obnoxious GPS system to figure the way for them.

Anyways, the first place we stepped off to was Caen to see William the Conqueror's fortress. Not extremely impressive. Basically just this big walled park with a church and museum in it in the middle of some old town. It was on a lovely hill. Nice cathedral outside. And it was free. Pleasant, but I think we stayed there a little bit long.
Next we voyaged to Bayeaux to see the Tapestry. The museum was super simple, but I thought it was remarkable. Simple, but it worked. They give you audio guides and you walk around the 70 meter tapestry while listening to the explanations of everything. It really is an amazing piece of art. And there was a whole lot of DDay Vets at the museum. They were excited to see a bunch of American kids, so one man particularly continued coming back to talk to us. He was really adorable.
As we drove to the beaches, we literally came into a wall of fog. Sunny one minute, all of a sudden engulfed in this thick soup of fog. It was very eery, especially since it was the week of the anniversary...
We made it to the American Cemetery on the beaches just before it was getting ready to close. The fog really added to the somber atmosphere of the huge site. Beautiful fountains. A cliff over the beaches (that we went down to, and were not completely impressed with....it was a beach, but we were expecting more). The graves were absolutely beautiful. I hate to be walking around graves and taking pictures, but it was so artistically done and beautiful that I couldn't help it. Fog, too! Taps were being played while they lowered the flags, and then we were kicked out of the park.
The last stop of the day was (again, for me) Mont St Michel. We were there the same weekend that the big Marathon was happening, so it was packed with fans and tourists and runners and all. The hotel was nice, clean, and modern. And only 2km from the mount. So, we walked at night to it. Got a bit in the way of the marathon runners.
I am amazed at marathon runners. They really are inspirational. 47km?! And such perseverance! I'm tempted to try training for one, just to be able to do it and say I have. I think it's something to investigate when I stay a little more rooted...
Damn, can Rimi eat. She was hungry always and ate a lot!
The mount is actually nicer at night when everyone's left. We waited for about 40 minutes for the other car to get there so we could eat at one of the restos at the top of the mount. It was a nice dinner, and there were fireworks going on outside on the waterfront, so we enjoyed the view. After we ate, we walked around the city walls and got lost a bit. It was really nice to walk around without a lot of people crowding the streets, and it is so well lit at nighttime! Even walking through the little cemetary was interesting! It really was something I'm glad to have done. We joked off at the top of the mount (when we finally reached it...), and I dropped my sunglasses down probably 3 or 5 stories! Don't worry, they still function quite well (thanks, $5 sunglasses from Target!). Brandon grew into taking pictures of the group while going down stairs. Not a good idea. But we still enjoyed it all.
We walked back to the hotel after they turned off all of the lights of the city, which was a bit creepy, and hard to see things. Luckily, the marathon had just ended the parties, so cars lit our way back on the road.

The next day we woke up early to go to the grocer's next to the hotel to buy our breakfast. I bought a box of chocolate cereal that I ended up finishing that day.
We roamed around the mount again, only this time we had a time limit and were mainly interested in going through the Abbaye. Having already gone through the abbey, I joined up with a French tour, and got yelled at by a bunch of the french folks because I didn't realized it was a private group. Oops.
We left to hit up the cape town Saint Malo for lunch. It really is an adorable seaport town, walled with bricks, tightly nooked buildings. And lots of sea and boats and yachts. Because we didn't have lots of time, though, we only had an hour to look around fast, eat lunch, and scoot out. The parking itself took 20 minutes. So we basically had time to walk in, eat pizza and an ice cream cone, and leave again.
The trip back was agony. 4 hours turned to about 5.5/6 hours from the traffic. I was fuming because Paz insisted on being rude to me the entire trip, and then continue to snuggle in my rearview mirror. And so by the end of the trip, I was on the verge of tears from frustration and aggrivation and I busted out of that car ASAP.
I wish I didn't have to spend so much time in the car and more time with my friends in the other car.