Giverny and Normandy

My final exams are next week, so I've been super busy studying and whatnot. My Aunt Julie e-mailed me and reminded me that I haven't blogged in a while, so I decided to start this post with something that remind me of her last week: Monet's gardens in Giverny.

A few classmates and I had a day off of school last week, so we decided to leave the city for the day and go see Monet's jardins at his house in Giverny, France. We took the train for about 45 minutes and once we arrived at the train station, we had to take a bus for another 10. Once we arrived, we got in the very short line and got our tickets. The garden was absolutely gorgeous. We wandered around the grounds for a good two hours, looking at all of the beautiful scenes that inspired many of Monet's paintings. I had heard that Giverny is a zoo during tourist season, but it wasn't bad at all while we were there, perhaps because we went on a weekday. We had perfect weather and really couldn't have asked for a better day. I was thinking of you the whole time, Aunt Julie. You would've loved it and I'm sure you could have identified the hundreds of different flowers that we saw.

This past weekend, my class went on a trip to Normandy, France. We met at 8am and boarded a luxurious charter bus for our 3.5 hour drive. I'm not kidding. This bus was sparkling clean had leather interior. Since there were only 16 students and 4 adults, everybody got a row to themselves. It was fantastic. There's some crazy rule in France that bus drivers can't drive for more than two hours at a time, so we made a stop in Bayeux, France to see the Bayeux tapestry. Never heard of the Bayeux Tapestry? You're not missing out. It's a 70-meter long piece of fabric from the 1070s that depicts the story of William the Conquerer. I realize that it's huge and was made a long time ago, but it was horribly underwhelming. The best part of Bayeux was the lunch I had with some classmates. We found an English pub and I got a fantastic homemade tomato-cheese soup. After our lunch, we headed back on the bus to our next stop, Pointe du Hoc

Crater at Pointe du Hoc

I wasn't planning on stepping on American soil until June 25th, my return date, but it happened a lot sooner than I expected. Turns out, Pointe du Hoc was declared American land in 1945, just after the war. It was a key spot in Operation Overlord, at which the American troops arrived and fought the Germans on D-Day. The site is preserved so that it resembles how it looked on June 6, 1944. The ground is filled with enormous craters that were left by bombs and you can even walk inside the German bunkers. The site was fantastic. It was so cool to be able to stand exactly at one of the most significant sites in recent world history. After our walk around Pointe du Hoc, we drove a few kilometers to our hotel in Port-en-Bessin, a little fishing village on the Atlantic coast. We had a few hours of free time to unwind and hang out before going to the dinner that our professor, Katie, organized for us. It was held at a local restaurant and we got three courses for only 10 euros each (instead of the original 20), thanks to the "Paris by Site fairy", as Katie informed us that morning. I opted for escargots, sirloin, and apple bread as my three dishes, and all three were out of this world. I ordered my steak medium-rare, but it came out practically still mooing. I didn't care- it was fantastic and I haven't gotten violently ill yet, so I think I'm in the clear. The dinner was an awesome experience and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to do it!

I woke up very well-rested the next day, since I got a queen bed all to myself the night before. We had a great breakfast in the hotel, then headed out to see both the American and German cemeteries. The American cemetery / museum was so émouvant, I must've gotten chills at least ten separate times within the hour that we were there. The museum was filled with tons of anecdotes that I loved learning about and did a phenomenal job of respecting people's stories. One of the stories that stuck with me was about a woman who, in a period of a few days, learned that her husband and two sons had been killed in the war and that her third son was reported missing. I can't even imagine what horror that woman experienced and I sincerely hope that I never have to live through anything similar to the mid-1940s. The German cemetery was a totally different experience. Instead of beautiful, tall gravestones, the soldier's monuments were somber plaques on the ground. It was hard to feel sympathy when standing in the middle of the burial site of 21,000 Nazis, but it was important to remember that many young German men were required to join the Nazi army and were likely there against their will. The most interesting thing about this whole experience is that my professor's husband, who is a German, was with us. He was able to tell us all about the German perspective on World War II and what it was like learning about the war in a German classroom.

The trip to Normandy was very relaxed with plenty of time to wander around and experience a given space. It definitely made me realize how important the United States was to Europe in World War II and sent chills through every patriotic bone in my body. God bless the USA!

Affectueusement,

Katie