Normandy
Monday morning we hit the road again, heading towards Mont St. Michel. We stopped for lunch in the charming town of Fougères, where I got chance to sample the local crepes.
We reached MSM around 3pm where we could see people taking guided hikes through the mud flats at low tide. Avoid the quicksand! After time to roam the walls and buy cheesy souvenirs, we gathered for a group happy hour on a balcony with a view. Later after dinner, the crowds were gone and the tide had surrounded the island.
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The next morning, most of our group got up early to hear the monks and nuns sing at the abbey service. We climbed up in the fog, but then the sunrise came through the east-facing windows behind the altar. After breakfast we met a local guide for the tour of the rest of the abbey. (My fitness tracker gave me credit for climbing over 40 flights from the two trips up and down to the top!)
Next we drove to Bayeux, where we saw the famous tapestry. Because we visited only a couple weeks before the 75th D-Day anniversary, many of town's shop windows had paintings to celebrate.
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We then spent all of Wednesday with an excellent local guide touring many of the D-Days sites, including Sainte-Mère-Église, Utah and Omaha beaches, and the American Cemetery. For me, seeing the bunkers and craters at Pointe du Hoc helped the most in picturing the events of 1944.
