Going
Walkabout |
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| I found my way to
Normandy. While in Caen I picked up a D-Day map at
the tourist center, and a
really nice and inexpensive toothbrush at the grocery
store around the corner. I wanted to get to the beaches
early the next day so I hopped the train for the 15 minute
trip to Bayeux. But when I got there the buses to the
beaches had stopped running (ever hear of foreshadowing?).
Which put me in a dilemma. Do I stay the night in Bayeux
and
pay
the
outrageous
price? Or do I hoof it to the next town hoping for a
cheaper hotel there?
This decision is not as hard as it seems. One thing
I learned from living in France is that being an American
means more than going to Starbucks and shoppping at
Walmart. Americans are different than every other people
on the planet. We think differently. We act differently.
And when the merde hits the world fan, we step up and
clean it off. Why? Because nobody else will.
And that after all is why I came
to Normandy. To pay homage to those Americans who came
to clean the Nazi
merde off of Europe's fan. And from the beaches to
Bayeux (and beyond) most of them walked. My choice
was made 62 years before I even knew I had a choice. The
red line above shows my walking route. |
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| While I was walking evening fell...one
of the nice things about walking Normandy
at night is the starflowers (my
name for them). They're inconspicuous enough
by day, but under starlight they are luminous. And
they are everywhere. |
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| So after what seemed
like four hours
( it was actually only four) I
reached Port
en Bessin. I
got there at 11:10 PM, which would be 10 minutes
after the hotel closed. And in France, customer service
is a foreign concept. So I, being a foreigner, found
my own hotel, via a broken window. Turned out to
be
a storage
depot
for French fisherman. I "slept", meaning
froze my hiney off, there between the two grease
spots. |
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| Since I was hotelling in an unauthorized
fashion, I thought it would be best if I checked out
before the neighors awoke. This was easy since I already
was. I walked into town looking for hot coffee and found
the only open brasserie, which was nearly empty but for
a pair of old salties, where I promptly fell asleep.
I woke up two hours later to a full hall and a dog leaning
against my leg. When I again ventured out of doors I
saw this... |
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Needless to say
given the quality of the coastline
at Port en Bessin there was no landing here.
I found the cows a few miles outside of PeB. They
were quite curious and followed me around for a
while. I was a little nervous. It being spring
and all I didn't want to find myself competing
for their attention with a French bull. I had quite
enough French bull to deal with back in Paris.
Click on the cow for a
short video about la vie française de
la vache. |
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| Walk with me for day 2 by
clicking HERE!!! |
| Visit the D-Day landing
beach: Omaha by clicking HERE!!! |
| Find out what music is hot
in France by clicking HERE!!! |
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