Day 16 and 17-Normandy/Brittany

Day 1

I dont even know where to start! There was so much in this whirlwind of a trip. I'll start by saying it was absolutely amazing and I have so many amazing pictures! (Most of them are on facebook, if you want to see them all)

To start out the trip Ally and I left our house at 7h00 on Thursday. We packed all the stuff we needed into Ally's big backpack. (We laughed at everyone else because it looked like they were going on a weeklong trip with all their luggage). We thought that it would be quite chilly when we left the house, seeing as when we leave at 8h30, we freeze. So we bundled up! We had our tank tops, then a short sleeve shirt, then a sweater and then our raincoats. Ally had a scarf and I had a beanie. Ally loaded on the backpack and we were off. As we walked outside and closed and locked our door, we realized that is was not that cold. It was probably about low to mid 60's. We laughed, took a few pictures and headed for the metro.

We were the first ones to get to the BYU apartment, where we were meeting. Our director had said if anyone was late, they would be left, so we got there early. Surprisingly we did leave only a few minutes after 8h00. We headed out for a two hour bus ride to Bayeux in Normandy.

Our first stop was at the Bayeux Tapestry. Im sure most of you have heard of it. I know that I had. It is that really long, really old tapestry depicting the battle in 1066 when Normandy invaded and took over the English thrown. It was amazing to see something that has existed for that long. It is almost a thousand years old! However, the tapestry was not at all the best part of the town.

After the tapestry and small museum, we had an hour to explore the rest of the town, so I took off. As I hurried up and down streets alone, I realized how happy I was that my mother taught me that you need to move quickly and see everything you possibly can when you travel! Most of the group sat around and ate for the hour. I couldn't believe it.

First I went to the cathedral called Notre Dame de Bayeux. It was beautiful! I love cathedrals so this is one of the first places I make sure to see when I find a new one. Bayeux is a quaint little town and I decided to just start walking down streets and taking pictures. I walked up the first street and landed at this big grassy park with a fountain in the middle. Then I headed down the next street and got another great view of the cathedral. I walked a little bit more and then with 7 minutes left to get back to the bus, I grabbed a nutella crepe and was on my way.

The next place we went was Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. That is right above Omaha beach. The American cemetery was wonderful. One of my favorite places in Washington DC is Arlington, and this place had a very similar feel to it. It was much smaller and was very well kept. It was pouring there and only about a third of us had umbrellas. I was not in the lucky group so I was in my raincoat completely soaked for most of it. I thought it was actually very fitting to be raining. It subdued the mood in a place where so many lost their lives. After our short tour, we had 15 minutes to be back at the bus. Are you kidding me?!?! We thought we wouldn't have enough time to go down to the beach, so we just enjoyed more of the cemetery. Come to find out about half of our group had ended up going down there. I'm sad I didn't just go, but my first beach experience in France was wonderful(soon to come) so that made up for it.

Next on the tour was another little museum with some war artifacts and the like. Some of it was interesting, but it was really tacky. The soundtrack in the place was weird and the mannequins had some features that looked like a seven year old drew them with a marker. It was a little disappointing. I thought it was a crime that we spent about the same amount of time at this dinky little museum as we did at the Omaha beach and the Cemetery.

After that unnecessary stop, we headed for the town with our Etap Hotel (boy was I excited). We got there a little after eight and it looked like there was not much around. Our director told us if we turned left we would find places to eat. Eveyone was wanting to wait for each other, but I was starving so Ally and Sutton, another girl from our group who shared the room with us at Etap, headed off to find food.

We decided, for the thousandth time that day, that our director really didn't plan super well. We wandered and wandered and then headed another direction and found a pizza place. That worked for us, so we had dinner at Sprint's Pizza. Half of our group showed up later after trying to follow our director all over town.

I know I throw Etap under the bus a lot, but I was actually quite glad to see it. I was even more excited to see the shower!!!! There was a door! And a shower nozzle holder! I was happy! Its amazing how things can change in just a few weeks.

Day 2

Of we went again in our pink Mercedes bus with our bus driver, who by law had to stop for 15 for every hour of driving and who didn't bother to use a restroom when he had to go; the gas station parking lot was good enough for him. We headed to Saint-Malo. We had a grand total of 45 minutes to explore the town. So I headed off, a little slower than before and with a few people. Eventually once again people moved to slowly, so I headed for the Cathedral. Martha, a girl from my group, headed off with me. I think we were the only two that even went inside the Cathedral. They were robbed. It was another beautiful church.

We walked into some more of our group as we started for the exit to the town so that we could go to the beach. They moved slowly, so I left(have you noticed a trend here). Emily, yet another girl from my group, and I walked towards the beach. I had not yet been in the ocean and seeing as we were in Brittany France, I thought this would be a great place to first go into the the ocean in France. We took our shoes off in the bus, that was parked right by the entrance to the beach, and ran down. It was wonderful! I cant believe how beautiful it is here!!! It was great!

Once again, we piled into the bus. We were on our way to Le Mont Saint-Michel. This was the place I had been looking forward to the most. Ever since I was little I have had French teachers talk about this place. I have had multiple pictures of it hanging in my classrooms. Most people had no idea even what the place was, but when I saw the little island, it was just like I had seen so many times in all those pictures through the years.

Walking through the town was amazing. It was unlike any place I have ever been. The streets are narrow and there are stairs everywhere. Our group started out and found a staircase about a foot and a half wide, that we all decided we needed to climb. We walked all over little paths and stairs on the hill of this mountain. Finally we reached the entrance to abby. We had a guided tour with audio guides. The place was amazing!! The views...wow! As I walked upwards and upwards, I was almost speechless(but not quite :). As I approached the chapel I heard singing. I went inside and there was a mass going on. The priests were singing in that way that fills a cathedral and after pictures and videos, I took a seat alone.

As I listened to the singing and sat there in that beautiful place, that I never thought I would see, I cried. I cried with such gratitude to my Heavenly Father for letting my life take this amazing turn of events. I thought over the last year of my life and how I couldn't have imagined a year ago that my life would ever come close to being this good. Even now I am filled with such gratitude that I am here, on my own, and experiencing a life that I don't think could be better.

I wandered through the rest of the building enjoying the sights and never getting enough pictures. There were about eight of us that were walking through the same parts together. Once again we realized we were short on time so what did we do, we ran down Saint Michel.

We made it to the bus and off we went again, this time heading for home. The trip was great. The sights were amazing! I'm so glad I was able to go. However most of the group has decided that this is a study abroad that is quite poorly managed. I want to give my director and who ever else it is that is in charge a break, because I know how hard it can be to run programs and be in charge of things, but this is getting quite ridiculous. Most of us were sorely disappointed in the short time we had at all the places we visited and the lack of direction. Why we were only gone one night is another thing that we can't figure out, because what are we doing on Saturday? Well you can see I am sitting in my bed at noon. I'm sad that the trips are not longer and not better planned. We are trying to figure out a way that things can improve things.

I'm off to Michael's baptism this afternoon, so I am glad I am back so that I will be able to share that experience with him. Over all it has been a wonderful two days!

Ready to hit the road in the morning...

in all my glory!

Loved our girly bus-it fit the group.

Bayeux

Bayeux Tapestry replica(just so you get a taste of what the actual thing was like)

Notre Dame de Bayeux

And my wanderings...

Lunch!

Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer

Chapel at the cemetery

Berit and Shae

American Flag at the Cemetery

I was a little wet!

(Like my new raincoat? 35 euros-not bad)

I had applesauce on my nose but you cant tell in the picture...you can tell however that I was very wet and that we had a fun time in the bus!

Tacky Museum

Hip-Hip Hurray!

A SHOWER!!!

Saint Malo

Favorite cathedral window I have seen.

Me at Saint Malo

My entrance to the beach.

All ready

Happiness

Le Mont Saint Michel

I will return...