On the day of arrival, Paris was pouring. I had wanted to visit Monet's Garden in Giverny on the way to Normandy (It was closed when Geoff and I was there in 1999). But, due to the rain, we decided to try our luck on the way back instead.
The alternative plan was to visit Versailles and then to Honfleur for lunch before driving to Bayeux, a town in Normandy where we would be staying. Coming from the airport in the north, we were supposed to take the outer ring road to A13 on the west of Paris. Part of the ring road was closed but the GPS system we were using didn't take this into account and kept directing us to the outer ring road. What was to be a 30 mins drive turned out to be 2 hours of horror navigating the streets of Paris!
In the end, we had to scrap Versailles and drive straight to Honfleur, a major defensive town in the 15th Century. Soon as we drove into Honfleur, it started to rain again. The weather was bright and sunny while we were in the car!!! To wait it out, we sat down for some wine and oysters. Oh, the oysters were wonderful! Once the rained stopped we walked around the picturesque town before sitting down for lunch.
Lunch time! First of many in France!
For lunch I ordered mussels in wine sauce. While eating, Rob pointed out that there were little crabs in there.
Further investigation indicated that these crabs were mussel food!!! Eewwwww.....
At Honfleur, we walked passed a very interesting shop selling all types of canned sardines! I had never seen so many different types of canned sardines ever! I couldn't resist, I bought some.
After Honfleur, we drove to our hotel - Lion D'or in Bayeux. Bayeux was apparently the first town to be liberated by the Allies in 1944 and was fortunate to escape war damage.
My room is directly above the hotel name - lucky they turned off the neon lights at about 10pm, otherwise, it would be difficult to sleep
The next day, before the wedding, we went to visit some of the sites of the D-day Landings. First the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville.
Next, we visited Pointe du Hoc. Pointe du Hoc is best known for the assault made on it by the US 2nd Ranger Battalion. There it was feared the Germans had fortified six 155-mm artillery emplacements on the cliffs which overlooked the landing beaches. These guns would enable artillery fire to be directed over both Omaha and Utah approaches. Despite initial setbacks due to weather and navigational problems, resulting in a 40-minute delay and loss of surprise, the cliffs were scaled and the strongpoint was assaulted successfully, with relatively light casualties.
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