IES Normandy Excursion

Thursday and Friday I got the opportunity to go to Normandy with my study abroad program. It was a really amazing trip. We toured the D-Day/Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum, visited Bayeux and saw the Bayeux Tapestry, went to a cider tasting at Sapinière, and visited the American Cemetery.

Normandy is absolutely beautiful and we were lucky to be received by warm weather and the smell of the sea, rather than the gray, rainy weather for which Normandy is known.

I was super excited to see the Bayeux Tapestry because last semester I took a literature class in which we spent several weeks studying and interpreting the tapestry. To see it in real life and hear (on tape) the story it tells was super awesome. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Aside from seeing the tapestry, while in Bayeux we also saw the Notre Dame de Bayeux. It's just as stunning as the Notre Dame in Paris, if not more so.

We stayed at a youth hostel that was SUPER close to the beach. I was welcomed into my room by a GIANT spider on the wall. Yikes! Not to worry, though, one of the girls staying in my room killed it with her shoe. On Friday morning before breakfast, I got up early and went and walked around the beach as the sun came up. Super beautiful.

My friend, Sara, from the program, and me on the beach.

After breakfast we went to the American Cemetery, basically a giant memorial to the American soldiers who lost their lives fighting alongside the French during the Battle of Normandy.

Omaha Beach, where some of the fighting took place.

We then proceeded to our cider tasting at Sapinière farm. Before the tasting, though, we got a small tour around the farm and learned about how the different ciders and pommeaux are made. The tasting started with a regular apple juice. This was probably the best apple juice I've ever tasted. Then we tried a young cider, which didn't have much taste to it, followed by a more aged, sugary cider, which was pretty good, followed by a pommeau, which was very strong and definitely had the highest alcohol content of all the drinks. That one wasn't my favorite. Personally, I was really digging the apple juice, but hey, we can't all have mature palates. ;)

Aaaaaaaaaaaannnd end the Normandy trip. :( I would totally go back, although I could see how it would be difficult to do without a car (we traveled by bus and the streets were far too narrow for that giant thing! Also everything is really far apart) and a tour guide to show you where to go. It's definitely a beautiful place that I would recommend visiting if you ever get the chance!