A Comedy of Errors: Assumption Day

Monday, August 16, was a holiday in Luxembourg (to make up for Assumption Day on Sunday, August 15). I actually didn't realize Monday was a holiday until Friday morning and I still have no idea what Assumption Day is. But given the long weekend, I made a last-minute decision to drive West to the Normandy region of France with the main objective to visit the D-Day beaches and other WWII sites/museums. I went alone, and it was probably a good thing I did as I'm pretty sure no one else would have wanted to be with me as I tried to do/see as much as humanly possible in the little time I had. Not to mention the fact that before leaving Luxembourg, I had no hotel rooms booked and no set plans (though I had read the Normandy section of Rick Steve's book on France, so I had a vague idea of where to go/what to do based on his list of suggestions).

I drove out Saturday morning towards a small town called Honfleur, with the aim to arrive around 2pm. I hadn't planned on any traffic and I didn't consider that I would want/need to make rest stops to stretch my back every 1-1.5hrs so my 2pm arrival ended up being closer to 4pm. I wandered around the city and took pictures and a short boat trip out to the Pont de Normandie (the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western World (the Japanese built a longer one in 1999)) before I decided I should probably think about where I was going to stay for the night. I sat down next to the Vieux Bassin (the small harbor in the middle of the town) and used a free wifi signal to search through booking.com for a hotel (I had asked at a couple of hotels in town already, but they didn't have anything available). In fact, there were no rooms to be had in Honfleur so I settled on a chain hotel in Caen - about an hour away, but closer to the D-Day beaches and home to a highly recommended memorial/museum. Having finally booked the hotel, I set off to find dinner at crepe restaurant recommended by Rick Steve.

I didn't arrive at the hotel in Caen until around 11pm (I think...but anyway, it was pretty late). I did a quick search for Sunday's accomodations, but couldn't decide if I wanted to stay out toward the beaches again or head back in the direction of home so I would have a shorter drive on Monday. In the end, I left the decision for Sunday and went to bed.

I didn't spend any time searching for a hotel Sunday morning (or afternoon). Instead, I went to the museum in Caen (after walking quickly through the Sunday morning market - in the rain) and then on to the beaches, stopping at five locations - Arromanches (there are cliffs just above the town overlooking Gold beach and they have a 360-degree theatre with a very good video), Longues-sur-Mer (where a German artillery battery still contains its original guns), the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial, Omaha beach and Pointe du Hoc (where Army Rangers (led by former Texas A&M University President James Earl Rudder) scaled a ridiculous cliff on D-Day). I could have spent another full day at the museum in Caen, which was very well done, and at least two more days at the Cemetary and beaches. And I still wouldn't have seen everything.

Unfortunately, I was so busy running around seeing things that I didn't ever find time to eat a proper breakfast or lunch. Instead, I munched on nut and raisin trail-mix type stuff, Normandy caramels (with butter from Normandy cows) and the rest of a bag of candied almonds I bought in Honfleur the day before. Sounds healthy, no? But I did finally have an omelette at a snack cart/trailer at Omaha beach around 7pm. As I said, it was probably a very good thing that I was alone.

Still not having a hotel room for Sunday night, I went to the nearest decent-sized city (Bayeux) and tried unsuccessfully to find an interent cafe or free wifi connection. I decided to go back to Honfleur for dinner, thinking I could use the free wifi there (again) and, if there were no hotels in town, I could surely find a place in La Havre or Rouen which aren't too far from Honfleur and are in the direction of Lux. But I did find a hotel, checked in and then went to enjoy a dinner of moules a la creme (mussels in cream sauce) around 10:30pm. Yep, I had 2 meals all day - at 7pm and 10:30pm.

When I got back to the hotel (a recommendation from Rick Steve's book, but only a 2 star hotel), I realized that the bed was terrrrrrible. Absolutely no support whatsoever. But I figured I would be miserable in any event and toughed it out. I was awake pretty early for obvious reasons and had no desire to spend any more time in that bed, so I got up for an early breakfast and to hit the road. The problem was that I was too early for a proper breakfast. I bought a pastry from a bread shop and drove up to a scenic spot overlooking the city to eat it and relax for a few minutes before making the five-plus hour journey home.

Not terribly far down the road, I made a last second (and absolutely worthwhile) detour to Etretat, which was utterly gorgeous. There is a pebble beach (which is slightly difficult (and occasionally painful) to negotiate in flip-flops) flanked by giant cliff outcroppings. Breathtaking. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to spend in town, but maybe I will make it back there another day.

It was a long, tiring weekend with more driving than I probably should have been doing. But well worth it in the end (except maybe that second hotel...).

Here are a few pictures, but very few of them do any justice to the real thing:

Honfleur