Day 13

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Day 13: Saturday, July 4, 2009

PARIS, FRANCE

4th of July, Independance Day in the United States. Yet, I'm in France. Doesn't mean a thing here.

Having completed my research yesterday, I am ready to travel south to Normandy. Aside from it's other attractions, many would know that the Normandy area is where the D-Day landings took place during WWII.

After checking out of my hotel, it took about half an hour to travel via metro to St. Lazare train station.

Note: Paris is a large city with several train stations. So when you are taking a train from Paris, you must know from which station it is travelling. For today's trip, my train left from St. Lazare station.

At St. Lazare train station, I had my 2-month Eurorail Global Pass validated. This is necessary with any Eurorail pass. When you are about to start using a Eurorail pass, you must go to the station's ticket office and have someone there validate the ticket. They check it, then enter the start and end dates of validity, and stamp it. With that done, I'm good to travel Europe for two months with my pass.

With a little time before my 7:45 am departure to Caen, I got a crousant and orange juice for breakfast (3.95 EUR; 5.53 USD).

Though the train wasn't a TGV (one of the high speed trains), it moved along pretty fast. One benefit of purchasing a Eurorail Global Pass is it's automatically First Class. I guess they figure if you pay that much, you should go First Class. However, as anyone who's traveled by train in Europe will know, not all trains have First Class. Luckily, this train did. I found First Class quite comfortable. I was tired, so it was nice just lean back and relax. I started to nod off.

Going through rolling farmland. Forests with plowed fields tucked between. Was sunny earlier, but becoming overcast.

At Lisieux, I saw a magnificent building on the hill overlooking the train station. I wouldn't mind going back and getting a closer look some day.

9:40 am - Passing farmland and there are wind turbines off to left. Sun breaking through clouds every so often.


CAEN, FRANCE

After arriving in Gare SNCF station in Caen, France, I didn't have much trouble finding my hotel. There is a tram that would have made it easy, but from the directions I'd written, it didn't appear to be very far. So I walked. It was several blocks, but not too bad.

I'd made my reservation at the Hotel Du Havre. As I figured, I arrived before check-in time. But the hotel let me stow my luggage so I could walk about town.

Cool weather today. That's a relief. Sun peaking out.

The first thing I encountered was an old church, Eglise Saint Jean (St. John's Church), which is literally next to the hotel. The church is not particularly fancy, yet there is something about it. When one looks at the church, you sense something is off. It's not the design of the church. You can't put your finger on it until you look at it a bit and walk around to see it from different angles. Then it hits you. Parts of the church are leaning. Inside the church there are displays detailing the history. One flaw with the original church was that it was built on soft soil and the foundations were not sufficient. As a result, part of the foundation sank, resulting in a lean. Though the church has been severely damaged and rebuilt a couple times over it's history, the older portions still lean. I was amazed the church hadn't collapsed. Apparently work had been done to prevent further problems with the foundations. Walking around, there is a musty smell about the church that adds to it's sense of age.

After leaving the church, I heard a sound like cars racing. About a block or so away, a came upon a group of people standing by barricades, when all of a sudden a number of vintage cars went screaming by. The barricades were blocking off several streets for what appeared to be a race course. It was some kind of vintage car race. Very cool! Many people were dispersed around the course, watching the old cars go at it. It wasn't actually a race, but more of a car rally. I later found out that I'd arrived during the the Retro Festival, a classic car show where they not only show old cars and motorcycles, but some of the cars actually race around the course. It's one thing to see classic cars on display, but quite another to see them racing. It was fun. The owners really got into it. One car was back firing quite a bit. It was startling. When the group of cars on the track took a break, I paid the 10 euro to enter the display portion of the show. There were all types of cars on display, all in show condition. Ferrari, Porche, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, and so many other brands were represented. There was also a smathering of American made cars. The Retro Festival was to run the weekend (Saturday, July 4th and Sunday, July 5th). Glad I got to see it.

Farther in town, on Rue Neuve Saint Jean, there is a pedestian area lined with shops. Tables were out with all types of items for sale.

Turning left on Rue Saint-Jean, I walked past Église St-Pierre and saw Château de Caen, which is a castle built circa 1060 by William the Conquerer. (1) I didn't investigate either of these as I would do that tomorrow. Today I mainly wanted to wander around. I also wanted to get signed up for a Normandy tour. For that, I needed to contact the The D-Day Memorial.

The D-Day Memorial Museum (or simply The Memorial as it's known in Caen) is on the outer edge of the town. I decided to do this in person, so I went over to The Memorial and purchased the Museum + Normandy Tour combo (59.00 Euros; 82.65 USD). I decided to do the tour tomorrow morning, but went ahead and saw the museum today. The Memorial Museum is a popular destination for those interrested in the D-Day landings and for good reason. It's a spendid museum. The displays are top notch. In addition to covering the D-Day landings, they also cover other aspects of WWII as well as the Holocost and the Cold War. Well worth a visit if you're near Caen.

Returned to my hotel around 5:30pm and checked in. I booked at Hotel Du Havre for the price, location to the train station, and the reviews I saw on the booking website. It's a cost effective hotel with a basic room, but is nice. I had a room on the 4th floor with a double bed. The only draw backs are there is no elevator and no air conditioning. Not great, but fortunately the weather has cooled. As for no elevator, I've actually begun to get use to that. There are a lot of places where you must get use to steps. As I'm traveling relatively light, stairs haven't been much of a problem. I would say if you want an economy hotel in Caen, give it a try.

Watched a little TV. Of course the Tour de France is on.

Cars have been going around town honking their horns. Turns out there was a wedding somewhere and the people were going around town celebrating. Getting a little annoying as they have been doing it on and off throughout the day.

Very tired, so I took a nap for a while. When I got up, I noticed I'd gotten more sun. My face was a little red and the top of my head hurt a little. That will teach me to wear my hat.

On the Internet, it says the weather today in Caen was Low 14 C (57.2 F) and High 26 C (78.8 F). Sounds about right.

It started raining around 10:20 pm.

3:00 am - Some noisy people outside. Bars must have just let out.

Before finishing this entry, I'd like to mention the hotel I stayed at in Paris. In my previous blogs I haven't mentioned much about the hotels I've stayed at, and perhaps I should. In Paris I stayed at the Hotel de Saint Germain, which as the name implies, is in the Saint Germain area. It's a nice boutique hotel which a friend recommended two years ago. You won't likely find it via the hotel booking websites. If you want to book, you must do so through their website. I this hotel because it's comfortable, not too expensive, and it's in a good location (of course this depends on where you want to be). There are three metro stops all within a couple blocks. But that's not to say there aren't a couple drawbacks. One of the metro tunnels must be nearby, because if you are on a lower floor, you may hear the trains. Two years ago I was on the top floor and didn't hear a thing. This time I was on the 1st (I would call 2nd) floor, and I could hear them. However, I was usually so tired by the end of a day, I didn't notice. The second thing is if you get booked on the top (6th) floor, the elevator only goes to the 5th floor. From there you take a narrow spiral staircase. Regardless, I would recommend checking it out.

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Notes & Misc Information:
• EUR = The Euro, currency used in France and some other European Union countries.
• USD = United States Dollars.
• Currency: The currency in France is the Euro (EUR). The exchange rate was 1.40042 USD = 1 EUR or 1 USD = 0.71407 EUR as of June 25, 2009.
• Sunrise = 4:45 am
• Sunset = 9:22 pm
• Temp Low = 14 C (57.2 F)
• Temp High = 26 C (78.8 F)

Sources:
• 1. Château de Caen: Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%!C(MISSING)3%!A(MISSING)2teau_de_Caen

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Photos

Lisieux, France
Saw this from train while passing Lisieux, France.

Eglise Saint Jean
No, the lean is not a trick of the camera. Parts of the church actually lean.