Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
1001 Degrees Of Latino Heat!!!
Bayeux. The first town liberated by the allies during the Normandy invasions. 27 kms away from Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary.
On the train ride to Bayeux I realized that there was only one other backpacker on the train. Bayeux is not on the must see list for most travelers I have no idea why. So much history. During the train ride a French sat next to me. She was so nice I almost forgot about Bayeux and went with her to her town. The second time that has happenend to me on this trip, the first time it was an Irish . Im staying strong though, besides women are everywhere history is not.
Just as in Paris I stepped off the train with no plan besides go to Omaha beach. I spotted the lone backpacker looking at a map and walked over to him. Ends up being an American. Peter from NYC. Like me a history buff. So we pair up and decide to find a hostel together. instead of a hostel we found an old French couple renting out their home. The place was so nice it was like an old country cottage. That night we went out on the town trading travel stories and everything like that. I must say that the best thing about my trip has not been the monuments, castles, museums and art but the people I have met on my journey. Peter is speaks french almost fluently having gone to school in Montreal so getting by with him is painfree. That night we went out to a French restuarant and I ate me some snails. They are not that bad at all to tell the truth. I wanted some frog legs but they were not on the menu.
Later that night as we are in the room I noticed that there was a ton of Ants congregating in our room. I told this to Peter and he starts to flip out. He is going on about how he is from the city and insects are disgusting blah blah blah...It was funny. I asked him about roaches and rats in NY and he replies with "roaches are harmless creatures, they dont bite. these are really insects and this is disgusting...". In the end he decided he was going to try to sleep through it. I decided I was going to see what this little town had to offer as far as night life. Not much. The town is so small. I saw a group of skirts and tried to get their attention to ask if there was a bar around. They ran away. At that point I felt like a creep so I headed back to the hostel. When I was getting to the front door out comes Peter in his boxers with his bag on his back. He couldnt deal with the ants. So we walk around the city looking for the hostel and we finally find after about 20 minutes. Its around 12 o clock and the dude is in his boxers with a huge backpack and some bags in his hands... it was great. So we agree to meet each other the next day and head to Omaha beach together. The next day comes. Im waiting in front of the church getting really antsy. We were suppossed to meet at 10am. Its around 9:55am and I decide that he is taking too long. I rent a bike look over my map and head out into the French countryside. I now realize why the tour de France is held in France. The country is beautiful. Dad I wish you could have ridden with me. Every 15 minutes I was riding through small villages that have to be more then 300 years old, when not passing through the villages the country is just so nice to look at. Biking was alot better then the bus tour and a heck of a lot cheaper too.
After some time I finally made it to the American cemetary. In this cemetary are the graves of 9387 servicemen and women that gave thier lives during the Normandy operations. There are 307 graves of unknowns and there is also a wall with the names of 1557 people that were never found. Im am so happy that I chose to visit the cemetary I think any American in Northern France should. It really makes one think. Very moving to say the least.
After the cemetary I hit the road again and headed towards the beach. The soldiers that did the fighting on D-day were nuts. When you stand on the beach and you look inland there is just huge cliffs. Anyone on that beach is such an open target. The movies bring it to life but actually standing there it puts it all into another perspective.
I did not go to Point Du Hoc but it was visible from where I was, time was running short and I wanted to get out of France and into Germany. I had to head back to Bayeux and grab the next train back to Paris. After getting lost for a bit I eventually arrived just in time to get a train. This is around 5 o clock. As Im waiting for the train to arrive Peter walks into the station. He sees me and he says "what the hell, where were you", I felt a little bad but I let him know what was up. He actually didnt care. He took the buses to Point Du Hoc but didnt see the Cemetary. He wanted to ride bikes too but he didnt see a rental place. So we ride back to Paris and Peter is trying to convince me to stay one night in the city and just give it another chance especially because it was a Thursday and Thursdays always go off. I said "Hell no, I hate Paris. All I want to do is get to Germany". So in Paris we went our separate ways. He was staying in Paris with some Canadien and I was catching the night train to Frankfurt Germany.
Oh yeah Paris Sucks
- comments