Mt. St. Michel

We spent a pleasant morning at the French Mt. St. Michel,

pretty much deserted, at least until the Japanese tour busses

started arriving for lunch; we skipped the abbey, having seen

it a couple times before; a fine day, the views were great

"OK, then let's park here!" Actually, we spent the night too

Gate, portcullis...presumably, murder-holes,

too

Actually, the streets and shops reminded us

a bit of Namche Bazaar; a bit...

Tide's out

 

View from the abbey battlements (I thought you were

supposed to turn the other cheek...)

Looking toward toward the 14 euro abbey; no concession/

reduction for old age pensioners like us

Thanksgiving, 2009

Yes, the French do have turkey; it's called Dinde; as you

can see, it was a somewhat abbreviated turkey dinner,

although Vicki cooked heroically despite the lack of

yams, giblets, and, horrors, green jello for the green

slime (lime bavarian); we are gratified to know Rachel

carried on the tradition

It was all washed down with Normandy cider; Normandie

Gourmandie, the label says

Unfortunately, what I thought might be cranberry sauce

turned out to be something else, something wretched, I

fed to the sea-gulls

We ate at Mount St. Michel, at the foot of the mount, and indeed reflected on the many things for which we have to be thankful. And we thought of our many family and friends, wishing them a happy Thanksgiving as well.

Pointe du Hoc

For the 50th D-Day anniversary, this place came under

American control, or influence, finally. Previously, the

French account of the action, which we had read on

repeated visits, told of the American Rangers climbing

the cliffs on D-Day under withering machine-gun fire,

to knock out artillery batteries covering both Omaha and

Utah beaches. At the top, they discovered only telephone

 poles, disguised to look like guns. End of story. Heroic

American fools.

What actually happened, and is finally related in the

signage here, is that the Army Rangers then fought their

way a mile inland, found the suspected guns, spiked them,

and then fought their way back to the Pointe, holding off

repeated German attacks, until they were relieved two days

later. Of the 200+ men landed, 90 were still alive, although

not a single one was unwounded. Their leader, a former

Texas high school football coach named James Rudder,

went on to become president of Texas A&M.

All honor...

The cliffs at Pointe du Hoc

It's one of the few D-Day places left that not been cleared

over

Gun emplacement

More wreckage

The cliffs, from the west at Grandcamp Maisey

Arromanches

After the disastrous 1942 "raid" on the fortified harbor of

Dieppe, where only half the force of 7,000 returned to

England, the Allies resolved to bring their own harbor

the next time they invaded France. And so, off of

Arromanches, square in the middle of the British and

Canadian D-Day beaches, one can still seen remnants

of the "Mulberries," huge concrete structures towed

into place off the beach, then sunk, creating an artificial

but highly effective harbor. They are among the few still-

visible sites from D-Day. Above, looking in the direction

of Omaha beach, beyond the cliffs

 

On the beach

Remains of landing ramp

More mulberries

14 places for camping-cars, gratuit...we are learning new

respect for French camping

 

Bayeaux Cathedral

Bayeaux Cathedral, very old, 1047-1077

Nave; nothing fancy

Cracks in the ceiling always worry me...

Beautiful window

The best part was the crypt and its 12th century paintings,

a couple dozen or so depicting angels playing musical

instruments

Bagpipe

Double-flute

And, upstairs, a later painting of the Becket martyrdom;

Henry was very, very sorry

 

A Good Yarn

The Normandy and Brittany coasts are pretty familiar ground,

relatively speaking, and we always enjoy seeing them; this is

our third or fourth visit. Maybe Vicki's fifth. Anyhow,

after spending the night at an aire in Merlontin-sur-Mer,

we drove on to Bayeaux, inadvertently skipping Caen.

At Bayeaux, we walked the town a bit, saw the Cathedral,
and--once more dear friends...--the Bayeaux Tapestry.

Having seen the ground at Battle, UK, and the presentations

there, it was very interesting to seeing the 10th century

Norman perspective. We drove on, at length, camping at a

designated "camping-car" site at Arromanches. Above,

the gale continues, violently, the morning after our channel

crossing; sand blowing over the sea-wall at Merlontin-sur-mer

Street scene in Bayeaux...lunch time;
we had hoped to eat at the patisserie at the
tapisserie, but settled instead for a local

bistro, Vicki doing the galettes, me the
fish soup

The 200+ year old Liberty Tree in Bayeaux--

planted at the time of the Revolution

Entry to the tapestries, still fascinating (no pix)

And, if you can find a US-DVD-compatible version, I heartily

recommended the new animated version...a hoot!

Dover/Calais

Saturday's fine weather turned awful Sunday. The captain of the "Pride of Kent" described the Channel as in a "violent gale." Winds of 75 mph, gusts to 90. Our departure was delayed 2 hours; high seas and higher winds; lots of very sick people, but the Dramamine worked for us.

So the Grey Wanderer has had its last boat ride for a while, and we are back in beautiful France.

Our three months+ in the UK were not nearly enough. The last week, we kept asking ourselves if we really had to leave. But the weather kept getting worse and worse and answered that question. So now we're heading west along the Normandy coast, turning south, eventually, and looking forward to some sun and some warmth.



Dover Beach

..."Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night. "

--Matthew Arnold, 1867 (the whole poem is at

http://www.eecs.http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/dover.html)

 

Ferry traffic

 

The harbor exit, leaving in a "violent gale"

 

Ships passing

 

A really big one

 

White cliffs of Calais

Calais beach and harbor entrance

Dover and Castle

November 20 we drove on to Folkstone and the Vicarious
bookstore, which maintains a collection of European and
UK camping guides. After stocking up there, we drove on,
in a downpour, to Dover, and stopped at the town center
carpark, where overnighting is allowed. We shopped all the
charity stores, donating as well as purchasing, then took in
the castle the next day. Above, the giant TV screen in city
square, Dover

Dover castle by night

Main castle by day; it's a huge, curtained,

11th-12th century structure

Keep

Throne room; English Heritage just finished a major

restoration in August, furnishing the keep with a variety of

objects thought to be typical of what it was like in the 12th

century; "history in technicolor" they call it



Banquet hall; more history in technicolor







Just down from the keep, the 1st century Roman lighthouse

and the 10th century Saxon church

We also visited the Dover Wartime Tunnels (of which there

are nearly 4 miles' worth); the tunnels date from the

Napoleonic Wars, but were expanded and used importantly

in WWII, especially in directing the Dunkirk evacuation;

similar in approach, exhibit-wise, to the Cabinet War

Rooms; no pix allowed

More Canterbury Cathedral

Medieval painting on wall showing the
life of St. Eustace

Detail; apparently St. Eustace was converted after having a
vision of Christ crucified on the antlers of a deer; the Lord
works in mysterious ways...

Beautiful blue window

The Canterbury Pilgrims window: Chaucer's agent saw this
in 1277 and dashed off the following note: "Jeff: how about
pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury? Could
be a vehicle for your short stories; cross-section of society
...what do you think?"

The Black Prince, a personal favorite

Set up for event the next morning; where's the most
 important guy sit? (or possibly the tallest?)

In addition to the items depicted here, we also visited the crypt (no pix), which was quite interesting.