Trip Report - Normandy and Paris for Easter break (Part 1)
 

Thanks to the always-helpful Fodor's forum, we were inspired to see the sights of Normandy and D-Day with our 8- and 10-year old before returning to our friend's apartment in Paris for the Easter weekend. While the weather was not quite spring-like, we had a great time exploring another part of France, one that holds special poignance for Americans (as well as Brits and Canadians).

As a few others on this board have done, we decided to forego Eurostar and go old-school via Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Caen. We took the train from London Waterloo on a Friday morning - how nice to be travelling against the commuter flow; I think we were about the only ones on the train -- for the quick 90-odd minutes down to Portsmouth, a charming historical harbor town. We had the day to explore it and really enjoyed the feel of the town. We stayed at a modern Holiday Inn Express at Gunwharf Quay, a 10-minute walk from the Portsmouth Harbor station. They did a nice job renovating the old wharf area while still preserving some historic parts of town -- "Olde Portsmouth" with a few nice pub-restaurants (fish & chips at the Still & West highly recommended), the D-Day museum (it was one of the major embarcation points), and the HMS Victory (Lord Nelson's ship from the battle of Trafalger, on which he died) are all worth seeing. We ran out of time for other sights at the dockyards, but the guided Victory tour was absolutely a highlight. Incredible to see and hear about the conditions on board those old sailing ships. One other sight we had hoped to see was Dickens House, where the great writer was born, but it is seasonal and was not yet open.

Early the next morning we cabbed it to the Continental ferry terminal and boarded our large catamaran car ferry. We had a near-headache when I got a text at 4:50pm the previous day saying our Portsmouth-Caen ferry would instead be heading to Cherbourg, as it meant I had to scramble to re-book the rental car. Fortunately the online car-rental agency I've used a few times, Nova, in a matter of minutes got us re-booked out of Cherbourg with the same car at the same price. Once aboard the ferry, we were among maybe only twenty passengers on a ship that probably held 200, so I suspect the reason for the changed destination (which Brittany were very vague about on the phone) was perhaps them combining two ferries into one because of the lack of passengers). In any case, it worked out fine except for my son barfing on the somewhat choppy 3-hour passage (while unaccountably, my easily carsick daughter had no problem at all). Still, it pays to bring the Dramamine, as I've never been on the Channel when it is a flat calm.

Picked up the car in Cherbourg, a somewhat unglamourous port town, and headed east on the well-signposted N13 road toward our "manoir" near Bayeux. On the way we passed St-Mere-Eglise, one of those familiar names from the D-Day books and films, and stopped to see the famous church where a 101st Airborne paratrooper managed to get caught and suspended by his parachute until captured by Germans (he lived to tell the tale) - today a mannequin of a paratrooper still hangs, chutes and all, from the steeple. Across the street is an excellent small museum dedicated to the airborne landings and battles in that town.

Two hours later we were back on the road and found ourselves passing the signs for Utah Beach, where we stopped for another hour looking at the various memorials and the museum. As dusk was approaching, we headed immediately to our home for four nights, the Manoir du Quesnay. ( Part 2 follows)

Trip Report - Normandy and Paris for Easter break - Part 2

A friend recommended the Manoir, and it turned out to be a wonderful spot with the kids. It is a large and historic converted farmhouse, built with the house, stables and outbuildings in a large square form around a central courtyard. The house is beautifully decorated and has amazing beamed ceilings throughout, and our family room was a spacious two-bedroom suite with shared bath up a centuries-old stone spiral staircase. Our lovely hosts, Jacques and Alix Fourcade, could not have been more accommodating, and Jacques is clearly an expert on the WWII-related sights in the area (he also has guides that he can recommend). No meals were served other than a plentiful continental breakfast, but the manoir is only about 15 minutes from Bayeux with its many dining choices. (Jacques was also very helpful when I had lost a train confirmation, and accompanied me to the station in town to sort it out).

On Day 2 in Normandy we continued our self-guided D-Day tour. A word on that: while we read many favorable stories here about people having guided tours, we opted to go on our own, for several reasons, and I think it was the right choice. Number one, I am fairly well-read on WWII and D-Day in particular (Ambrose and others, and currently finishing the Antony Beevor -- not nearly as good as his Stalingrad or Berlin books, IMHO), so I felt I could get us around. Two, we had the kids who are great with historical stuff but probably could not stay focused for 8 hours, as most of those tours are (or more). Three, I'm a bit of a WWII buff and even I felt that we had seen enough after two fairly full days, and we ended up skipping a number of well-known spots - just about every village has some sort of D-Day museum, it turns out. Four, the cost was a little daunting - almost 500 euro for one of the customized one-day Battlebus tours. So while it works well for some, the visits we made worked great for us, it was just the right amount.

So we started the day by continuing the eastward progression from the day before. That meant Pointe du Hoc, the clifftop point separating Utah and Omaha beaches (and thus strategically very significant to the invasion). The kids loved this one - the entire clifftop is pock-marked from the naval shelling some 5 miles offshore, and interspersed with the remnants of the German bunkers Lots of areas to explore and old bunkers to climb around in, and a nice museum focused on the heroic tale of the Rangers who scaled those cliffs from landing craft 100 feet below, much to the disbelief of the Germans manning the bunkers (some reported to HQ, according to Beevor, that the ships were shelling them with rope-ladders in the shells).

From there we moved on to Omaha Beach, which is a little less familiar-looking compared to Utah because of the presence of post-war houses along large stretches of the beach. It runs the length of three towns, of which Colleville-sur-Mer, home of the American cemetary, is in the middle. We continued on to lunch in the small port village of Port-en-Bessin, with lots of nice restaurants along the port, and then returned to Omaha to vist the American Cemetary. That was as moving as expected, and the visitor's center there is especially good, with films concentrating on the human lives cut short. Almost 10,000 young men buried there, most of whom were killed in the first few months of fighting -- a good reminder that the battle was far from over once the beaches were secured; in fact, it was only beginning.

That took care of most of Day 2, so it was back to the Manoir to relax before a nice dinner at L'Assiette de Normandie across from the cathedral in Bayeux. (Part 3 follows)

Trip Report - Normandy and Paris for Easter break (Part 3)

OK, I'm on a roll, so let's keep it going...

By Day 3 we felt we needed a break from D-Day, so we went into Bayeux to see the famous tapestry. Parked in town behind the Churchill Hotel -- which I do not recommend as they turned away my 10-year-old daughter from a bathroom emergency only to send us to a vile public stall with no toilet, just a hole. I realize we weren't staying there, but come on, she's a kid for God's sake! I will avoid the Churchill Hotel until they demonstrate they can treat tourists with a bit more kindness and charity.

Anyway, the tapestry was fascinating and very well laid out. We found an old book that explained it panel by panel (the victory of William the Conqueror in 1066), so it all made lots of sense and the audio guide was also very informative. Incredible to see see a 1000-year old relic like that, made of cloth, in such a beautiful condition.

Briefly toured the gothic cathedral in the center of town, then lunched at a wonderful little creperie next to it called Pied a Pat (I believe) - delicious "gallettes" (savory crepes filled with all manner of fillings) and the best chocolate/Nutella crepe I've had in France (and I've had a few). Then wandered around the old town following a little walk with historic markers every 50 yards or so. Very pleasant town with stunning architecture; unlike Caen, Bayeux suffered little bombing during the war and is mostly intact (or well-renovated). Finished the day at that town's D-Day museum, also one of the best displays we had seen. It is adjacent to the much smaller British cemetary on the ring road of the town.

We still had a few more D-Day sights on the list for the following day -- Arromanches, with remnants of the "Mulberry" artificial harbors, Longues-sur-Mer with its intact German batteries, the Caen museum (supposed to be very good) and of course we had not touched the Juno-Sword beaches handled by the British and Canadian armies -- but as noted, we felt like we had seen enough. In retrospect perhaps Arronmanches should have stayed on the list, because many people commented about the 360-degree film there, but in any case we opted for our last day to head to Rouen.

It took about 90 minutes to drive to, and appears to be quite a large city, but we made it to the center of town to see the cathedral made famous by Monet's 30-odd attempts to paint it. Had a nice walk around town and saw the site of Joan of Arc's burning at the stake, a lot of lovely Tudor-style buildings. From there we drove along the Seine river downstream towards Le Havre to Jumieges Abbey, one of the notable abbey ruins along that route. Frankly it was not that interesting (much of it under construction) and it was a rainy day, so we drove on and stopped and the small historic port of Honfleur, across the river from the major port of La Havre, and were delighted by the hour we spent in this charming little town. The weather cleared and it was beautifully quaint along the harbor, with about a million restaurants along the water and the narrow streets. Worth a repeat visit without the kids if we can manage.

From here it is on to Mont St Michel and Paris...

Last and final...

Departed the Manoir and drove the well-signposted route to Mont St. Michel, France's 2nd-biggest attraction. The weather got worse and finally it was hailing with about a 40mph wind as we approached from the bay side, where the view is supposed to be the best. Thought we would have to bail on it entirely (or at least not get any decent photos), but the sky suddenly cleared and we had a fantastic view of this incredible monument from the far reaches of the causeway.

It's very easy to park (don't leave your car there too long or it will be under water) and walk up to the rock. Even though you are bombarded by tourist-joint hell upon entering the site, with every manner of cheesy souvenir shop, takeway crepe stand, and bad overpriced restaurant crowded into the narrow, winding path up to the church, it is still an amazing place. The views are incredible, and seeing how everything is jammed onto this lonely rock surrounded by water and quicksand is impressive. I took about a dozen photos from various spots on the causeway outside, and they all look like paintings, like a color version of one of those impossible Escher drawings of the castle where every staircase goes up from the previous ones.

We climbed to the top and toured through the church/abbey and its various rooms. I couldn't be bothered with the audio guide this time, it was all pretty windswept and austere -- a Catholic version of Alcatraz -- but still fascinating to see. We had one of those bad overpriced lunches inside the site (which wasn't so bad, it's still France), then made our way to Rennes to catch the train to Paris.

As I'm fortunate to have been to Paris dozens on times for business and pleasure, I won't go into detail since we mainly just walked around town and ate (what else would you do in Paris?). Enjoying dinner "at home" in our friends' flat across from St Sulpice church - especially the mouth-watering roast chicken and potatoes cooked in the chicken fat bought from one of the outdoor rotisserie stands off of Blvd St Germain -- was a nice break from five days of restaurant lunches and dinners. We had taken the kids to all the big sites on our spring break two years ago, so this time we were more low-key, spending a half day at a very crowded Musee d'Orsay, Easter morning at Sacre Coeur at Montmartre (also packed, but we managed to get inside the cathedral during one of the Easter services, which is sort of cool even for totally lapsed Protestants like us), and taking the Batobus hop-on-off boat ride on the Seine. The girls spent one morning at the Marche de Puces (flea market) out of town at the Porte de Contrescarpe, while the men wandered around the Luxembourg Gardens and the Latin Quarter, stopping at our favorite "sandwich grec" (doner kebab) joint near Place St. Michel - a gourmet dive if there ever was one.

Easter Monday it was back on the Eurostar and home to London. A wonderful 10-day trip, and nice to see another region of beautiful France.

A wonderful trip! thanks for sharing!

Thank you for sharing. Sounds like a great trip.

Nice report. I'm going to be in the same area of Normandy in early June--this is a good appetizer!

Nice report. You certainly covered a lot of ground with 2 kids along!Sorry you missed Arromanches though