Well y'all today is a big day because I OFFICIALLY SURVIVED MY FIRST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE! And with travel experiences come more great stories. But even better than last time, I have pictures! So get excited.
This weekend, 4 other girls from my program (Claire, Ashley, Marykate and Meghan) and I ventured to Caen (pronounced "Cah" with a nasally sound) in Normandy which is in the northern region of France. Marykate had been planning to go for the World Equestrian Games (which is basically the Olympics of riding horses so it was pretty dope) so we figured it would be the perfect opportunity to tag along and explore a new part of France for the first time.
After waking up before the sun, we arrived in Caen very early in the morning. First, we had to get Marykate to the stadium which sounded fairly easy considering the buses were free on Saturday, specifically for the games. Now, as I mentioned in my previous post, the public transportation system in Paris is actually incredible. The metro can take you wherever you need to go, in the fastest way possible and it's really simple to navigate once you get the hang of it. Caen. Was. Not. Now I like to consider myself to have a fairly decent sense of direction BUT HOLY CRAP WHOEVER INVENTED THE BUS LINES IN THIS CITY WAS ON SOMETHING. Luckily, a bus driver helped us get on the correct line and arrive just in front of the stadium. After Marykate got in, the rest of us treated ourselves to a delicious lunch of a sandwich, a drink and a dessert for 7.5 euros. Hoooooolllaaaaaaaa.
We decided to go at a leisurely pace for the first day. We didn't really know what Caen had to offer so we began walking towards a large and beautiful building we had passed on the bus.
This weekend, 4 other girls from my program (Claire, Ashley, Marykate and Meghan) and I ventured to Caen (pronounced "Cah" with a nasally sound) in Normandy which is in the northern region of France. Marykate had been planning to go for the World Equestrian Games (which is basically the Olympics of riding horses so it was pretty dope) so we figured it would be the perfect opportunity to tag along and explore a new part of France for the first time.
After waking up before the sun, we arrived in Caen very early in the morning. First, we had to get Marykate to the stadium which sounded fairly easy considering the buses were free on Saturday, specifically for the games. Now, as I mentioned in my previous post, the public transportation system in Paris is actually incredible. The metro can take you wherever you need to go, in the fastest way possible and it's really simple to navigate once you get the hang of it. Caen. Was. Not. Now I like to consider myself to have a fairly decent sense of direction BUT HOLY CRAP WHOEVER INVENTED THE BUS LINES IN THIS CITY WAS ON SOMETHING. Luckily, a bus driver helped us get on the correct line and arrive just in front of the stadium. After Marykate got in, the rest of us treated ourselves to a delicious lunch of a sandwich, a drink and a dessert for 7.5 euros. Hoooooolllaaaaaaaa.
We decided to go at a leisurely pace for the first day. We didn't really know what Caen had to offer so we began walking towards a large and beautiful building we had passed on the bus.
Ok I know the picture looks fake but THIS PLACE IS REAL. There are very few times when my camera can capture the feeling in person but this is one of my favorite shots of the weekend. This building was beautiful.
After walking around for a bit, we decided to head to the office of tourism to get some direction on the day and for details on how to get to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. After talking with the woman, we found a tour service that was 65 euro per person and left from the D-Day museum in Caen at 9 AM on Sunday. We were relieved to have a solid plan and decided to check out the museum for the rest of the day. In order to get to the museum from the office of tourism, we had to take bus 2. Remember that terrible bus system I was talking about??? Weeeeell.... after waiting for a good 30 minutes for a bus that never existed, we decided to lounge on the grounds of a giant castle that sat behind us. So you could say it was a rough day. But in all seriousness, living in Paris is my first time in a big city, so having a carefree, relaxing day in a small town was much needed.
After walking around for a bit, we decided to head to the office of tourism to get some direction on the day and for details on how to get to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. After talking with the woman, we found a tour service that was 65 euro per person and left from the D-Day museum in Caen at 9 AM on Sunday. We were relieved to have a solid plan and decided to check out the museum for the rest of the day. In order to get to the museum from the office of tourism, we had to take bus 2. Remember that terrible bus system I was talking about??? Weeeeell.... after waiting for a good 30 minutes for a bus that never existed, we decided to lounge on the grounds of a giant castle that sat behind us. So you could say it was a rough day. But in all seriousness, living in Paris is my first time in a big city, so having a carefree, relaxing day in a small town was much needed.
Rested and ready to go, we ventured into the city before we had to meet the host of our airbnb reservation (which had us all concerned by the peace sign, no smile profile picture of this random guy..but we will get to that later). In France, there are TONS of bakeries and sweet shops that could get you into some trouble, but after passing this amazing looking place on the street, I decided it was time to try my very first french macaroons. THEY WERE AMAZING. I got one cookie butter flavored speculoos and one vanilla flavored "D-Day" macaroon. Cause where else are you gonna find that right? |
Soon it was time for us to meet our host and see the apartment we booked for the night. Since this was our first airbnb experience, it was actually pretty terrifying. With the World Equestrian Games, finding a place to stay in Caen was pretty difficult, and he was the last guy we found without a single review or many pictures. BUT THIS HAS A HAPPY ENDING - to keep it short and sweet, the guy was super awesome. He let us check out as late as we wanted and the apartment was actually incredible with a spacious living room, nice stereo and TV, useful kitchen, beautiful porch, and two bedrooms.
DAY 2 in Normandy
We woke up early and headed straight to the D-Day Memorial museum (by taxi this time cause heck to the no we weren't messing with those buses again). We arrived before the museum was open so we had to wait. We became a little frantic when we realized we hadn't made a reservation and it was clear there wasn't space for more. Once the museum opened, the woman at the ticket desk gave us an option for a 2 pm tour which would have cut it close to our departing train back to Paris. When the woman understood our situation, she called over to a taxi service to see the price of renting a taxi for a block of 5 hours. It turned out that the price per person for a private taxi was 5 euros less than the tour and we got to navigate as we wanted! She also gave us a map and marked the important and best stops to make along the way. SOOOO depressed I didn't get her name because she is the reason this trip was so amazing. WOMAN AT LA MEMORIAL IF YOU CAN READ THIS I LOVE YOU.
DAY 2 in Normandy
We woke up early and headed straight to the D-Day Memorial museum (by taxi this time cause heck to the no we weren't messing with those buses again). We arrived before the museum was open so we had to wait. We became a little frantic when we realized we hadn't made a reservation and it was clear there wasn't space for more. Once the museum opened, the woman at the ticket desk gave us an option for a 2 pm tour which would have cut it close to our departing train back to Paris. When the woman understood our situation, she called over to a taxi service to see the price of renting a taxi for a block of 5 hours. It turned out that the price per person for a private taxi was 5 euros less than the tour and we got to navigate as we wanted! She also gave us a map and marked the important and best stops to make along the way. SOOOO depressed I didn't get her name because she is the reason this trip was so amazing. WOMAN AT LA MEMORIAL IF YOU CAN READ THIS I LOVE YOU.
The first stop along the way was La Pointe du Hoc, an absolutely magnificent coastline with enormous cliffs. On D-Day, American troops had to scale the cliffs to reach the German forces and then continue to attack to gain control of the territory. It may seem unbelievable, but the Americans were successful. The cliffs of Normandy are breathtaking. |
The next stop was Omaha Beach. It was absolutely surreal to be able to visit a place that you have heard about you're entire life. The beach is very long and scenic with American and French monuments commemorating soldiers along the way. This has always been one of my bucket list places and I feel so lucky that I had the opportunity.
The third stop on the trip was to the Normandy American Cemetery. I knew that this trip would be emotionally heavy, but I didn't really know how I would react to the things around me. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the site was indescribable. The first thing that hit me was the first tombstone that I read. It indicated that it was an unknown soldier, his identity buried beneath the surface. I think these were some of the hardest to accept and there were so many. There are 9,000 and some buried at the Normandy American Cemetery, but that is only 1/3 of the people who were killed in the D-Day battles. The next thing that really struck me was the first Jewish tombstone I came across. Although it seems odd, I always assumed all of the tombstones were crosses at the cemetery. When I saw the first Jewish star, it really hit somewhere close to home. These people fought for something so much bigger than themselves, and they never knew the great impact of their heroic sacrifice.
I left a stone for Abe Kasowsky. When I got home, I was hoping to find some more information on him, but the information online is very limited. He was a Private from New York City, Kings county. He was in the 39th infantry 9th division, which was the first unit to step foot on foreign soil during World War II. He was killed in action on July 18th, 1944. I wish I could have found more, but I'm glad I got to learn the little bit about him that I could.
This trip was absolutely amazing and extremely successful for my first adventure. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to come and spend the weekend with some great friends.
This week, I will be visiting Montmartre, a neighborhood in Paris in the 18 arrondissement AND going to Beyonce and Jay-Z on Friday night! I. Can. Not. WAIT. Stay tuned for the next post!
AR,
Kailey
PS. IF YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MOUSE SITUATION, my host family did not find it NOR kill it this weekend. So I'm currently laying in bed hoping it doesn't come snuggle with me. Say a prayer for me
This trip was absolutely amazing and extremely successful for my first adventure. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to come and spend the weekend with some great friends.
This week, I will be visiting Montmartre, a neighborhood in Paris in the 18 arrondissement AND going to Beyonce and Jay-Z on Friday night! I. Can. Not. WAIT. Stay tuned for the next post!
AR,
Kailey
PS. IF YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MOUSE SITUATION, my host family did not find it NOR kill it this weekend. So I'm currently laying in bed hoping it doesn't come snuggle with me. Say a prayer for me