Sorry for the long silence, but we’ve been without internet for a few days here in Orval. The weather has been rather nasty and a thunderstorm knocked out the internet cables nearby; the person who owns the stable has informed us that it should be fixed within a week (hopefully), but that the French are like the Chinese in the sense that they give you the worst possible prediction, yet end up completing the work in a shorter amount of time than originally expected. Hopefully, this practice will be true because we are suffering from severe web-withdrawals. (I wrote this entry last night, but I'm posting it from McDonald's on Sunday morning.)
Here’s a brief explanation of what we’ve done since my last entry:
Tuesday
We drove to the American Cemetery near Omaha beach, which was one of the American landing sites during the D-Day invasion. There was an educational, and moving, visitor center that we toured before entering the cemetery; the exhibits provided an excellent overview of the events and they reinforced what I’m learning in the book I’m reading about the military operation.
After wandering around the cemetery for a while, we took some stairs down to the beach. It was eerie, moving, and strange to visit a place I’ve heard so much about over the years and that has made such an impact on the world. This trip to Europe has taught me that history is important, but that we’re constantly moving forward and we should focus our attention on the past, present, and future because all are equally important. We need the past to help us understand our present and future, our future to push us to make a better present, and our present to live the lessons we’ve learned from our past.
On the beach we encountered people playing in the waves, taking pictures of the historic landscape, and contemplating the scene. Though it was little disconcerting at first to see people being frivolous in such a historically bloody place, I became happy that the French had reclaimed their beach because it’s such a beautiful spot. I feel that we should always remember the people who made sacrifices for our freedoms, but if we’re busy mourning all the time and not living and enjoying the gift peace, it’s a tragedy.
Once we had finished our visit, we stopped at Pointe-du-Hoc for a quick stop. Then we returned home to Orval (after eating a hamburger at a Leclerc and seeing a prostitute eating with her pimp), made dinner, watched some terribly trashy British TV (is there any other kind?) and went to sleep.
Wednesday
I was feeling quite terrible on Wednesday, so we took a break from touring and stayed in our stables in Orval. I read a lot, took a nap, and recuperated.
Thursday
Thursday was one of the market days in Coutances, so we made the trip into town, wandered around the market, bought some produce (the fruits were good, but the veggies weren’t quite as tasty), grabbed some food for lunch (sausage in a bun with mustard!), returned to our stables and relaxed the rest of the day.
Friday
We drove on the backroads to get to Mont Saint-Michel and man are the roads tiny! There were times when the road was only the width of our car, which is far smaller than most American autos, but it was considered a two-lane road. We were holding our breath through many corners hoping that we wouldn’t meet anther vehicle coming in the opposite direction; most of the time we were lucky, but we almost collided with a tractor at one point.
The Abby was fascinating, but extremely crowded; we paid that nine Euro entrance fee to tour the famous religious monument and, though it was expensive, I enjoyed the experience. At one point, Jean-Jacques and I lost one another and it took some time to reconnect because there were so many visitors.
After our trip to Mont-Saint-Michel, we tried to find a restaurant for lunch, but nothing was open. The longer we’re here, the more we’re discovering that we don’t understand the rhythm of French life; each country moves at its own pace, and has its own time table. We’re American, so we expect to be able to find food in eating establishments between the hours of eight AM to eight PM; however, in France this doesn’t seem to be the case. We have quite figured it out yet when the French eat lunch, but we do know that many of them eat dinner from eight PM to midnight. We’ll figure it out eventually, I hope.
Saturday
We drove more back roads to Sainte-Mère-Église and tried to find a mansion and chateau along the way; though we finally tracked down both locations, we were disappointed to find out that they were only open for about four hours in the afternoon. (We still aren’t accustomed to life’s rhythms here.) We did stop at a market and bought more sausages in a bun for lunch; we ate our meal sitting on the steps of an abandoned shop while people watching.
When we finally arrived at Sainte-Mère-Église, we toured a fascinating museum dedicated to the paratroopers who landed in the city to capture it before the main invasions forces arrived. Jean-Jacques and I both really enjoyed the museum and were impressed by the interesting displays; we both agreed that it was probably one of the most interesting and well-done museums we’ve visited on this trip (and by this time we’ve seen a few...).
Along the way back to Orval, we stopped at a few chateaux, one of which was probably one of the most exciting places I’ve ever visited because of my cultural background. The Great Wall and Forbidden Palace will always be the most exotic sites I’ve wandered through, but seeing the medieval castle today thrilled me because I’ve studied, read and seen movies about European history for as long as I can remember, so being able to experience a real castle was a dream come true.
I’m off to bed now. We’ll be home in less than three weeks!
