Scott's Invasion of Normandy

(Pictures coming soon!!)

Recently, a group of us joined a bus tour of Normandy on the northern coast of France. We bussed down to Portsmouth then jumped on an overnight ferry to Cherbourg. That was a bit of a sleepless or sleeplittle night for most, but we soldiered on to the first stop of Rouen.

I wasn’t ever much into history and the like at school while I was studying laws of kinematics, simultaneous equations etc. so am a bit behind the 8 ball when it comes to heroes, villains and stories of the past. But this trip certainly opened my mind up a bit in that respect. Rouen is the city where Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc) was burnt alive by the English at age 19 after leading French forces to victory after having visions from God telling her to reclaim homeland from English domination. She was a national heroine at age 17. We visited a small museum expanding on her story and then the actual place where she was killed as well as Rouen’s Notre Dam Cathedral.

After that it was on to Honfleur, a small seaside town where we saw The Sainte-Catherine church, which is the largest church made out of wood in France. Then onto Caen to our Hotel which would be our base for the next two nights.

Ordering food in Caen was a bit risky at times. The first night Raquel (whom is pretty good at French) just wanted a nice steak so ordered the Steak Tartare. Everyone thought as she did that steak would probably mean a solid cooked piece of beef, however it turned out to be some sort raw mince and raw egg substance – not too appetising!! The next night Anna ordered Steak cooked well done with no vegetables and some salad. She ended up getting a very rare steak, with vegetables and no salad! Maybe you have to order what you don’t want in that country? Luckily I got away ‘Scot Free’ and pretty much got what I ordered. A €6 Guinness at one place was a bit steep though..

The Sunday morning I was feeling ok when I got up and had a coffee and then some OJ then on to the bus for the days adventures. All of a sudden I felt awful and was not looking fwd to the next two and a half hours on the bus!! I thought it was because I mixed the coffee and OJ, but the others reckon it was because I mixed wine, whiskey and Guinness the night before!! Either way, I battled on through to our first stop at St Malo, a walled city. We walked around on top of the wall before walking around inside to appreciate the buildings before getting back on the bus to head to Mont San Michel, which is surrounded by the sea

The next day was themed around battles; our first stop being Bayeux, which is famous for the Bayeux Tapestry. It is a 70m long by 50cm high tapestry depicting events leading up to and including, the Battle of Hastings in 1066. After that we visited the Commonwealth and American Cemeteries for the Soldiers that were killed during the Normandy Invasion of WWII beginning June 6, 1944 (D Day). It’s a bit sad to see some graves for un-named soldiers. We also visited Omaha beach (as depicted in Saving Private Ryan) which was the beach with a very high U.S. Soldier fatality. There wasn’t really any evidence left of the landing, but as we travelled further along the coast to Arromanches, we could still see the reminence of the Mulberry temporary harbour which was Winston Churchill’s brainchild. It was a huge undertaking to build this harbour in England in the year or so before the invasion and tow it across to France to enable the Allied troupes to be supplied with everything they needed to be able to carry on reclaiming the France from the Germans.

Then it was back on the bus and back on the ferry back to Portsmouth. It wasn't very smooth sailing this time (the sea was angry that day my friends), so some of us weren't feeling as hot as Scott on a hot tin roof. Anyway it was a good little excursion and a highly recommended way to see this major historical area.

A few facts I learnt about France on a quiz on the way there:
· Population approx 60million (similar to UK)
· In the way that the English call the French “Frogs” they call the English “Roast Beef
· Normandy is known for it’s cider production