Bonsoir from Caen! This will have to be a short post since I'm exhausted and we have to be up at 8:30 am to get on a bus to Brussels. We left Paris last week, packed our bags and headed off to the north of France. We all filed onto our chartered bus and began our day trip to Caen, which is only about three hours away by itself, but we had many stops along the way...
Caen is a small and, to be honest, uneventful, town in the north of France. Caen is... not my favorite place, being that it reminds me of the suburbs I grew up in and it has been rainy and cold the entire time I've been here. But, it's cheaper than Paris by far, and it's close to a lot of interesting things Gonzalo wants us to see. On the bus ride out, we stopped first at Monet's home, the famous impressionist painter known for his graceful natural landscapes. We got to explore is quaint home, look at the bed still dented from where his body used to lie in it, walk amongst his lush flower garden and look upon the lilies that inspired so many of his great paintings.
Next we stopped at Omaha Beach in Normandy, where the Americans famously stormed the shores and won a great victory for the Allied forces. We got out at the American museum dedicated to fallen troops, which beautifully told the story of the lives lost in the historic battle. We were trapped in its mausoleum-like halls for a while because it was pouring rain outside, and coming from hot and humid Paris with our light sweaters we were completely unprepared.
After the sky stopped shooting down icy bullets of water for long enough for us to escape to our trusty bus, we headed to Pont du Hoc, the perilous cliff climbed by American troops with grappling hooks and sheer force of will. As the wind whipped around our bodies and threw us off balance, it seemed impossible. Yet it had happened. We continued on down the shores of Omaha Beach, where so many had fought and died. It was here that Professor Freixes said what he says every year: "People always say, 'Oh the EU will fail, it'll all fall apart, it's never going to work.' And I tell them, 'It can't fail, it can't fall apart, we can never let it stop working. And this is why. Right here. We can't let something like this ever happen again.'" It was very powerful, and I can see why he takes students here every year. It was well worth the long bus ride and the suburban layover in Caen.
The next day, we headed to Mont St. Michel, an abbey built on a small island off the coast of France. It definitely had the medieval charm you would imagine, and we were there in time to catch the hymns sung and incense swung before mass. Gonzalo pointed us toward the world-famous omelettes made on site, and we gorged ourselves on the egg delicacies in claustrophobic cafes with slanted ceilings. It was a short trip, but it was incredible to see an entire city built on a hill, full of stairs and steep slopes of cobbled stones. It was so well-preserved, a real remnant that has withstood the test of time and stands as a monument to the medieval years past.
We only spent three days in Caen, and most of it was spent hopping on and off the bus to see everything we could in the northern areas. So, I guess the suburban dullness is alright by me...
See you next time in Brussels!
Caen is a small and, to be honest, uneventful, town in the north of France. Caen is... not my favorite place, being that it reminds me of the suburbs I grew up in and it has been rainy and cold the entire time I've been here. But, it's cheaper than Paris by far, and it's close to a lot of interesting things Gonzalo wants us to see. On the bus ride out, we stopped first at Monet's home, the famous impressionist painter known for his graceful natural landscapes. We got to explore is quaint home, look at the bed still dented from where his body used to lie in it, walk amongst his lush flower garden and look upon the lilies that inspired so many of his great paintings.
Next we stopped at Omaha Beach in Normandy, where the Americans famously stormed the shores and won a great victory for the Allied forces. We got out at the American museum dedicated to fallen troops, which beautifully told the story of the lives lost in the historic battle. We were trapped in its mausoleum-like halls for a while because it was pouring rain outside, and coming from hot and humid Paris with our light sweaters we were completely unprepared.
After the sky stopped shooting down icy bullets of water for long enough for us to escape to our trusty bus, we headed to Pont du Hoc, the perilous cliff climbed by American troops with grappling hooks and sheer force of will. As the wind whipped around our bodies and threw us off balance, it seemed impossible. Yet it had happened. We continued on down the shores of Omaha Beach, where so many had fought and died. It was here that Professor Freixes said what he says every year: "People always say, 'Oh the EU will fail, it'll all fall apart, it's never going to work.' And I tell them, 'It can't fail, it can't fall apart, we can never let it stop working. And this is why. Right here. We can't let something like this ever happen again.'" It was very powerful, and I can see why he takes students here every year. It was well worth the long bus ride and the suburban layover in Caen.
The next day, we headed to Mont St. Michel, an abbey built on a small island off the coast of France. It definitely had the medieval charm you would imagine, and we were there in time to catch the hymns sung and incense swung before mass. Gonzalo pointed us toward the world-famous omelettes made on site, and we gorged ourselves on the egg delicacies in claustrophobic cafes with slanted ceilings. It was a short trip, but it was incredible to see an entire city built on a hill, full of stairs and steep slopes of cobbled stones. It was so well-preserved, a real remnant that has withstood the test of time and stands as a monument to the medieval years past.
We only spent three days in Caen, and most of it was spent hopping on and off the bus to see everything we could in the northern areas. So, I guess the suburban dullness is alright by me...
See you next time in Brussels!