Off to the Normandy Coast

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Geo: 49.4195, 0.232602

Today we headed off on an excursion to the Normandy coast. The first order of business was to get onto the freeway, a nightmare of a task, as all the roads were jammed with morning rush hour traffic headed to Paris. Oh, we so don't miss that! Once on the freeway, we had about a two hour drive to Honfleur, a pretty little village on the coast. Because it is so picturesque, it is a magnet for tourists, so it is mostly restaurants and souvenir shops, but lovely nonetheless.
We then headed west along the Normandy coast, through a series of small villages, until we reached Sword, the first of the series of D-day beaches. We stopped in a couple of little villages that were on Juno Beach, where Canadian forces landed. We were surprised at how flat the land behind the beaches was, as the American media always portrays the D-day landing sites as cliffs. Nevertheless, the landings must have been terrifying for the troops involved.
Ultimately, we reached our destination of Bayeux. We found our hotel, the Hotel Tardif, a really nice old hotel right in the centre of the historic old city. The hotel owner recommended a restaurant for us, and Sonya treated us to a really nice dinner. Most restaurants in France feature fixed-price, multiple course meals. After dinner we enjoyed strolling the town, and seeing the cathedral all lit up.

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