THURSDAY, 9/8:
When you don't drive very much in your
normal life, hitting the road in France can be a sweet, sweet treat.
Greetings again from Bayeux, where
we've returned after some time spent in our second favorite place in
France, Avranches. Today was another one of those days where we
started driving in the morning and pretty much kept going until we
got back here seven or eight hours later. We knew we wanted to get
to Avranches, but in keeping with the credo I espoused a few days ago
we just took the unbeaten path. And it was sweet. Like I said, I
don't drive much when I'm home. My feet and/or my bike are my main
methods of transport. But for the nine or ten days we're on the road
here it's an entirely different way of life. And unlike back the the
U.S., the roads (especially on the unbeaten path) can be twisty,
turn-y, occasionally narrow, and and in all just a blast to drive.
Of course, that could change if a farmer decides to pull his tractor
out in front of you, or if you forget that on some country roads the
old French law of “Priorite a droite” (which means that someone
approaching from the right, even if you're on a main road and they're
on a dirt lane, has the right of way) still exists. And even though
both of those did happen today, it was still a whole lot of fun.
Especially because I don't get to do it
that often.
If you're curious as to what we're
driving over here, take a look at the last car in the long line of
cars--
That's our Kia Cee'd (yup; that's how
it's spelled), a nifty little 6-speed sedan with (inexplicably) Dutch
license plates on it. Even though we picked it up from Avis at the
airport in Paris, we still have a car with Dutch registration, which
was kind of funny a few days ago when we were cruising along the
French shore, stopped to take one of those scenic shots I posted on
Tuesday, and had a couple in another Dutch car say “hello” to us
in Dutch because they thought we were fellow residents of the
Netherlands.
Thankfully, the Dutch word for “hello”
is “hallo”, so we were able to get out of that with a minimum of
effort.
Anyway, back to the road. Our journey
to Avranches included several unexpected stops, including at this
bridge--
It's not often you see a bridge blown
in two, and according to the memorial placed nearby it was caused
when Canadian pilots bombed it in a attempt to stop Germans from
leaving the area in the summer of 1944. Unfortunately, there was
another bridge nearby the Germans could use, so the bombing was kind
of in vain, but it sure made for a good photo op. It also served as
a reminder, as Loraine often comments, that there was more to the
Normandy campaign than just the beach landings. Many things we've
seen this week have proven that point.
Oh, and the donkey in the field across
the road says “hey”.
We made another beach stop, too, this
one near Regnesville-sur-Mer. From the town we saw a point of land
sticking out in the ocean, noticed there was a road leading to it,
followed that road, and saw another empty beach!
There were actually people camping
nearby, and several people flying kites on this very windy day, so it
wasn't as bad as the totally empty beach on Saturday. But at least
the view was amazing!
We eventually made it into Avranches
(and as an aside, Loraine took a great picture of the town sitting
atop the hill with her camera as we drove in, but some idiot forgot
to bring the cable for the camera, so we'll have to share it at a
later date) and immediately headed to one of our favorite places
there, the Jardin Publique--
This one, aside from the usual flowers
and trees, also has an amazing view of the number one tourist
attraction in France, le Mont-St-Michel--
There were so many flowers and so many
different colors that I didn't know where to point my camera, so I
just started snapping--
And even had a butterfly photobomb one
of the pictures--
I know I've been asking you guys to
identify a lot of flowers I've been shooting, and thanks to those of
you who've shared your thought. I actually ended up buying a book
today on the flowers of France, so from now on I'll try & figure
them out myself.
And to Loraine's Aunt Suzanne, who says
she'd been enjoying the flower pictures, you should see the ones we
haven't put up!
We ate lunch in the garden. On the way
there, we had stopped at a market to see what kind of chocolate they
had when we also noticed these--
That is a dark chocolate hazelnut
tartlette, a tartlette that may just redefine the words “delicious”
and “amazing”. And the neat thing about that? That wasn't the
best food we ate today.
More on that later. First, let me
introduce you to the view from Caumont-l'Evente--
This is actually looking toward Utah
Beach, which accounts for the American flag in the picture. For
several trips now, Loraine and I have visited this outlook to try &
see the landing beaches, only to be waylaid by fog or rain or both.
So when we were making our way back to Bayeux and found ourselves
approaching the town, we remembered the outlook, thought things might
turn out better on a sunny day, and viola...
They did.
Upon returning to Bayeux, we decided to
return to last night's restaurant, Le Marsala, to try several of the
pasta dishes (as opposed to the pizza of last night). And for as
good as the dark chocolate hazelnut tarlettes were (and you know how
good they were) these dishes may have been even better. Loraine
tried asparagus ravioli in an asparagus cream sauce--
While I had capaletti with smoked ham
in a nutmeg cream sauce--
A dish that was so amazing that I
honestly wished it would never end. Thankfully for my waistline it
did, but I really do think it would've been worth gaining a few
extras pounds just so the pasta would never be finished.
It was heaven in a bowl.
Okay, I notice this is getting little
long, so I'll wrap it up with two things. First of all, I lied
yesterday when said you wouldn't see any more Tour de France related
pictures--
Well, maybe not lied so much as forgot
that we'd be returning to an area where the race passed through on
the opening day. So my mistake.
Secondly, have you ever been lucky
enough to see a coin operated washing machine outside of a grocery
store? Well, now you have--
This was actually outside of the Casino
store where we bought the tartlettes. I'm really not sure why they
have an open-air laundromat outside of the store. Maybe it's so you
can wash while you shop, or maybe if you have really long arms you
can use it as a drive-through laundromat. Either way, there you have
it.
Tomorrow, sadly, is our last full day
here, and we'll be hitting those long & windy roads once again in
search of amazing views, this time courtesy of the Vire River Valley.
So until then, save your change.
After all, I know a washing machine
where you can use it!
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