Normandie

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This weekend was my class trip to Normandie (that's the French spelling) and it was SO much fun. Of course it was overwhelming and the memorials were really very sad and the cemeteries were sadder but the beach was beautiful and we visited an apple orchard where they made cider and the food was some of the best seafood I've ever had, so really it was a great trip.

Friday I met my classmates at 8:50 at the Saint-Lazare Train station. It was crazy. There were people EVERYWHERE and everyone was in a very big hurry and very unhappy about it. I think I was nearly trampled a half a dozen times. And on the metro on the way over the people glared at me and judged me for bringing such a large suitcase- but I needed to have one with rolly wheels and so I just glared right back.

Then we went to Le Havre and waited for the bus. We waited and waited for fifteen minutes, for half an hour. The bus was really late. Isabelle, our group head, decided we should just take the public bus. So all eighteen of us crammed into the public bus and spoke English to one another loudly and the other people in the bus stared.

The bus dropped us off a few blocks away from the one building that's survived the destruction of WWI. It was beautiful, but it was a really sad thing to see. The other building around it were so ugly and new. I took a picture of the beautiful building, and none of the others.

Then we went to the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall, and went to the top of it to see the rest of the city. Pictures are here.

Then to a Best Western which was neither the very "best" nor very "western". I had holes in my pillow case (cigarette burns, I think), there was no shower curtain, and one of the soaps provided was still in its packaging but had water damage on it as if it was left over from when the last guest used the room and had not used that soap bar. Ah France, je t'adore.

The next day we visited the memorials and the cemeteries. We also got to walk barefoot on the beach and eat Mussels which came in a HUGE pot and which I devoured.

On our last day we visited an apple orchard where they make cider and got to taste the different kinds.

J'ai eu un bon temps!

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