RR's mystery bag and two days in Normandy

 Bonjour, mon amis,

We are in France.  I'm sure there's something clever someone once said about arriving here, but someone else will have to come up with it. :)

I'm told I have to be sure to blog as often as possible because some of the audience is living vicariously through this blog.  That's sad.  But they probably have to work, so that's the beginning of sadness. 😀

Yesterday's journey to France began with me bolting to Avobar, which you may remember was 50 feet from our flat's door, and maybe, just maybe, grabbing a pastry while I waited for coffee.  Just maybe.  

If I did, it would explain how I made it to France without food.  Or real food. 

We got downstairs around 9:05 and I called an Uber.  He came in 4 minutes, but on the other side of the closed road a half block down from us.  He actually circled around and ended up coming right past where we were initially standing. 

Our driver, Osman, was loquacious.  In the hour forty minute trip to Gatwick, he talked cars, bikes (he hates them too), politics and how everything we'd ever heard about Asia was a lie. 

If you are doing the math, it is 1055 for a 1235 flight.  Okay, right?  Even K with her trip anxiety seemed to reassure us that all was well.

We got in the easyjet check bag line and I sent mine off; RR sent his off on a separate line and K tried to do hers and it said she didn't have a checked bag and needed to pay for it.  We got an attendant and she was no help and went and got another attendant.  It was loud and she had an accent, so understanding was tricky.  In the end, she came back with numbers on a slip of paper and said we had already sent 3 bags forward.  She said RR had sent 2!!!!  The one weighed 20k and the other 19k.  We said we didn't have a second bag.  RR hadn't gotten a receipt (I had), and there were no names on the luggage tags. 😡. Finally, now at least 15 minutes into the process, K said "just charge us and we'll file a complaint" and the woman took us to another kiosk and whisked her bag through -- without the extra charge!  😀 She told us to look in Rennes for the other bag and let them know.  I realized as she did the kiosk what happened -- it asks you for another bag and you have to say no and if you don't, the next person up can use your account!  That must be what happened.  Given there are no names on tags, how can one know?  But that person's bag went to Rennes; how they ever were going to identify it and get it back to them, I don't know.  I'm betting it didn't happen.  I also speculated about what was in it -- my companions said they couldn't care less. :)

So that was that adventure. 

We were given an MG ?Z to drive: the desk person called it their "large SUV."  It ain't large.  It holds (barely) our three large suitcases and a small bag, and all of us (and a fourth, if we had it) comfortably, but in the States it would maybe be a medium SUV, leaning to the small side.  It runs nicely though.  It is in "vert" (on the tag)...if you want to work on your French. 

From the airport we shot as quickly as possible (with an almost embarrassing stop at Burger King [it was easy on and off the highway] for K's first food of the day.  I had to join her.  RR was living on his pent up anxiety) to Mont. St. Michel.  K and I had been here in 2002 (pre-blog), but RR had never been close.  If you aren't familiar, it is absolutely spectacular, sticking up on an island for hundreds of feet. 

We parked and got on the shuttle, that takes 20 minutes to the foot of the hill, and RR bolted ahead, hoping to climb to the top before it closed.  He didn't make it. ):  They were just closing the one gate as he got there.  He said he looked for "a secret passage around, but there wasn't one."  He only got up to the level of the first chapel, but still said it was unbelievable, which it is.  The village below is cute, too. 

Then to our hotel, where we stayed in 2002, which is in Ducey, set on a stream in an old mill. We had a view of the falls from our room:

We were running late, we ate dinner at 730, so we ate at the hotel. It turned out to be excellent.  

Pollock in muscat sauce.

Apple, bacon and goat cheese salad (K tried to get chicken on it, which Andrea, the staff person who both checked us in and served dinner, could not understand -- notwithstanding there being no chicken on the menu :))

This was supposedly their butcher cut.  Seems a lot like a burger to me, but I'm not French. :)

This morning we had the hotel breakfast, which was a modified Continental.  It had eggs and pancakes along with the usual Continental stuff. No pics necessary.

And then off the hour and half to the Normandy beaches. 

Oh, but, no!  The MG decided one tire was low!!!  So we pulled into a rest area (I figured out what the sign meant to indicate one -- my French being tres mal) filled up -- it took two persons (don't ask me how a single person does it) and found out that the MG self corrects rather than having a reset button.  Ten minutes down the road, the light went off!!!

Finally we arrived at Utah Beach.  There was only a couple pieces of equipment there, so we moved on to the WW2 museum (you'll find there are a lot of museums around here) . We paid the 9 euros and were done is less than half an hour. 

From there, I took them to St. Marie Eglise, the first town to be liberatored on June 6/7.  It is famous for having a dummy hanging from the church spire from his parachute, as an American did on June 6 and survived that and the war! 

It was a very cute little town and we ended up having a half sandwich there (or, as Sheldon Cooper would call it, "A sandwich.") as RR again checked out every nook and cranny.  There were statues of Eisenhower, memorials to the airborne divisions, another museum (we didn't go in), the whole shebang.  

Then we shebanged off towards Omaha Beach.  If you aren't a WW2 history buff, Utah and Omaha Beaches are the two where the Americans came ashore on June 6.  They cover many miles of Normandy coastland.  

It should be noted that RR, who was assigned as second driver on the MG, drove this leg.  As I slept most of the way, I suspect I missed a lot that would make entertaining blog, but what I did see and hear was fun.  There was a lot of confusion about which spur to take out of roundabout on Google maps (this has been a theme of the trip) and other turns.  That he had to lean toward the console to read the map I found concerning.  I was told I had no right to say anything.  I don't know what that's about....🤷

The museum at Arromanche, part of Omaha beach and where a lot of American equipment was brought to shore, was remarkable.  Called the D-Day Museum (to separate from all the others), it had a building dedicated in 2023 and lots of displays and several films.  

The most amazing thing at Arromanche was this --

 

They decided in 1944 that they weren't going to easily win either of the natural harbors on this coast, Cherbourg or Le Havre, but that they needed to develop the technology to create an artificial harbor.  What you see is the remains of that harbor -- still there 80+ years later.  None of us knew of this, which was a part of the post-D-Day operation.   They moved 3m tons of stuff into France as part of the invasion.  Which included 150,000 men the first day and many times that thereafter. 

I admit to not taking my time in the museum -- I was WW2 saturated.  I sat down and sent RR a message as to where I was.  I got bored at that spot and sent a second message.  I walked around, looking to see if there was another exit they might have come out of.  I was about to go to see if they were standing at the car, parked a blcok away, when RR appeared.  I guess I gave him some body language bc he mocked me. ):  They had stayed and both conceded they listened to EVERY track on the audio guide. 🤷🤷🤷

We had a drink across the street and I drove them to the Engineers Memorial on the hill east of Arromanches --

And then in the other direction to the top of the cliffs and these bunkers. 

It still had the German gun in it!!!

And then we went into Bayeaux -- no, the tapestry is NOT here -- and found that our hotel was in the very center of another cute little town.  

And now for the food porn.  

During one of my several sits, I looked for "best restaurant near the Churchill Hotel Bayeaux" and got all kinds of places within walking distance.  The one was across the street, got 4.9 out of 5 on Google (who the dopes are that didn't give it a five, I don't want to know) and was only 20-30.  They required reservations but I walked up (couldn't get the French phone number to work 😡) and he said they would have a table in half an hour.  We went and had a drink and came back.  

FYI the desk person at the hotel told us it was a couple running the place and the man was the chef and specialized in sauces.  He wasn't wrong. 

This is piquillos -- chilis stuffed with cheese.  The waitperson poured the sauce on in front of us -- too quick for me to get a video. It was very, very good but he told us the entrees would better.

Truffle linguine with pig jowl -- the biggest piece I'd ever seen, it was like a pork chop!

Their beef on flatbread. With a sauce (see small pitcher)

Apple patin with ice cream.

Everything was to die for.  We made MS sounds over and over, and we tasted each other's and wondered if we'd chosen wisely.  The apple dessert was a bit of a disappointment, but everything else more than made up for it. 

And it was only 108 euros, including tip!!!!

That is our first two days in France.  It's been great and we are all tired but having a good time. 

Tomorrow we are hitting the cathedral here, the American WW2 cemetary, then heading inland...

And K made it a point that we had to stay in the hotel where we are staying tomorrow night, so it should be something...

Till then...