The Normandy Beaches

{This group of posts pertains to my Christmas vacation in which my family came to visit me. The posts are based on notes I took during the trip and then wrote up after returning. They are post-dated to reflect the proper sequence of events. This is Part 3.}

It was rainy, windy, cold day, or in other words, a typical day in Normandy. My parents had hired a guide to drive us to the D-Day beaches and show us around. Just from a stress point of view, it's worth it to have the driver so you don't have to worry about navigating or where to park or anything like that. You just sit back and enjoy the view. But the guide really goes beyond that; you learn so much more and it makes what you're seeing so much more interesting. On top of it, you can say "Hey what's that?" or "Why did they do that?". A guide book can't help you there.

Our guy, David, really knew his stuff and gave us a really good rundown of what happened and all the different operations. I'll be honest, I'm not as up on my WWII history as I should be, but he had maps and pictures that helped a lot. It was interesting to hear about how the operation was planned to go, and the obstacles that made it nearly impossible. It's really amazing that it worked when you think about it. 

Example: 

Dummy of John Steele on the Steeple

The Allies had several units of parachutists drop in to take hold of some strategic towns, bridges, etc, to keep the Germans from getting reinforcements to their bunkers. They thought it was going to be a clear night, which would give the planes the best chance of dropping the parachutists in the right spot. Instead, it was cloudy as all get out, and the winds were very strong, pushing planes and parachutists off course. Thus, instead of landing just outside of town, several parachutists actually landed in the town square of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. This would have been bad enough, except that instead of everyone being asleep as they should have been at such an early hour of the morning, the entire town was up to put out a fire in a building near the church. The Germans were likewise up to make sure the French didn't get any wise ideas. So when American troops starting falling from the sky, they opened fire. One soldier, John Steele, actually got caught on the church steeple. Being far too high off the ground to try to cut himself loose, he played dead. He kept it up for 2 hours, despite being shot in the foot and having the church bells constantly ringing right next to his head. Eventually the Germans noticed him and took him prisoner, but he escaped. The tale was so beloved they hang a dummy parachutist on the church. The Americans were able to secure the town by about 4:30 am and the church holds two lasting tributes to their heroics.

Parachutists with the Virgin Mary

 I know it's fuzzy but the Virgin Mary is surrounded by parachutists dropping down on the town in the night.

St. Michael with various insignia

 A much better picture of the other window which depicts Saint Michael surrounded by the insignia of Allied forces that fought in or near the town. In France, it is Saint Michael the archangel, not George, who is celebrated as the dragon-slayer. I'll talk about him more in the next post, but he is often depicted as a sort of warrior saint. The first window was donated to the church not long after the war ended and then years later for one of the anniversaries the second window was donated to the church.

We stopped at both Utah and Omaha beaches, the two American beaches, and at Pointe de Hoc, a strategic German strong hold on high ground. It was really interesting to actually be there and to see it all first hand. You learn about this stuff in history class, but it's not really the same as being there in person and actually seeing a german bunker, actually seeing Omaha beach and the huge expanse of beach. We also went to the US cemetery. At first, both the Allied and German dead were just buried where they died. Later, the US offered American families the choice between having them buried at home or in the US cemetery closest to where they were temporarily buried. There are 14 American WWII cemeteries on foreign soil. The Normandy cemetery at Omaha beach has over 9000 graves and a memorial to about 1500 missing or unidentified. There about 300 buried here who are unknown. Most of the graves are marked with a cross, but you'll notice a Star of David here and there as well. We didn't have anyone in particular to find so we just walked around a bit and our guide pointed out some of the interesting aspects. For any one who is interested in that sort of thing, the American Battle Monuments Commission keeps an online database of all WWI, WWII, and Korean War casualties and you can search for a particular name and find not only at which cemetery they are buried but the plot location as well.

Back in Caen, we found a creperie for dinner and then watched the light show on town hall. We also played several hands of cards. One thing you should know about my family, we are vicious card players. All's fair in love, war, and cards. 

Welcome to Caen

{This group of posts pertains to my Christmas vacation in which my family came to visit me. The posts are based on notes I took during the trip and then wrote up after returning. They are post-dated to reflect the proper sequence of events. This is Part 2.}

My family arrived today! They got through customs super quick and were able to grab an earlier train to Caen. I rushed down to grab some Buchettes de Noel as a special treat, but more about those later. I met them at the train station, and then we went to the hotel to drop off their luggage. They were beat, but determined not to give in to the jetlag.

Side note: I personally don't have much trouble with jet lag. I tend to get over after about a day, or at worst, two days, but I know people who take a week or more to adjust. There are two schools of thought: 1) Gradually change your inner clock by pushing yourself to stay awake an hour longer each day, and 2) Just force yourself on schedule. I ascribe to the second one. If you have a long time to adjust, the first method is probably gentler. However, I generally don't have the patience for that and especially if you're going to only be someplace for a short time, method #2 is the way to go. Thus, I dragged my parents and sister all over Caen to keep them up and at 'em.

All over town is a bit of an exaggeration. I could have taken them to see a lot more, but it turns out that I am a fast walker, and they, um, are not. We did get to see the Christmas market, where they tried some hot spiced wine. It got mixed reviews. My parents thought it was ok, but Mere wasn't especially fond of it. I don't prefer it over hot cocoa but it's pretty good. As we walked through the main shopping area we got a sandwich to share and a couple of nutella beignets. Happiness, I am quite convinced, is a nutella beignet. So delicious. I showed them the old castle and the main cathedral, and we walked over to my apartment. By that evening, Mere was just too tired to continue, so my parents and I went to dinner and left her to sleep. We had a great seafood dinner. Being on the northern coast of France, seafood restaurants are plentiful and really good.

Pre-Arrival

{This group of posts pertains to my Christmas vacation in which my family came to visit me. The posts are based on notes I took during the trip and then wrote up after returning. They are post-dated to reflect the proper sequence of events.}

Today was my last day at work before my winter break and I was actually there pretty late - 6:30, well past my usual departure time. Then it was back to the apartment to do some much-needed sprucing. The usual de-cluttering and such but also a good cleaning of my kitchenette.

Side note: I have the cutest paper towels with little elephants on them. THe packaging said that a portion of their revenue went towards saving African elephants. I don't know if it's true or not, but they're so cute I don't care.

I can't wait for tomorrow; it's going to be so great to see my family. I've more or less mapped out what I want to show them but a lot of it will be dependent on how tired they are and when they get hungry, etc. So we'll see. Off to bed.

The Late News with Jackie

*Ba buh ba buh ba-daaaaaa*

Good evening! I'm Jackie and this is the Late News. We don't always deliver the most important news, but you can be sure we'll deliver it late. 

Entertainment News

I went and saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey yesterday! It was so great. I wasn't interested in seeing the 3D version the first time around, which meant I had to wait until 9:35 to see it. It's a 3 hour movie (no really), but it was definitely worth getting in a little late last night. Peter Jackson does not disappoint. Also, I am now in love with Kili and Fili. Sorry girls, I saw them first. A+ 

Sports News

Cocky, the best mascot ever, is currently undefeated as he goes up against Raider Red in the finals of the Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge. Vote vote vote! capitalonebowl.com

Weather

It snowed last night, a beautiful but icy 0.3 inches. However, this being the first snow of the year, it was accompanied by the usual complete and utter meltdown of metropolitan transportation. The trams were not going, and the buses were stuck in traffic with everyone else since two trucks decided to run into each other and block the entire road. An hour and a half after leaving my apartment I managed to get to work, freezing cold, with no further desire to ever see snow again. 

Political News

Some politician somewhere said something stupid, because his father paid his way into a prestigious school where he skated by on his family's reputation and thus learned nothing. His remarks have stirred a lot of controversy, but he refuses to apologize, mainly because he's too drunk to remember what he said. 

Crime News

Someone did something stupid, and it probably involved a sexist/racist/expletive-filled statement, an illegal weapon/substance, and/or gang activity. However, his/her mother insists that he/she is a nice boy/girl and would never be involved in anything like that.  

Fluffy News

The world needs more happiness so look how cute my dog is:

The Coupe de Cheveux

Before I left for France, I felt that I was more or less prepared for life in France. So far, that feeling has been completely justified. However, I have always admitted that there was one thing that sort of scared me: getting a haircut in a foreign country. My hair does not grow very quickly so if I get a bad haircut, I'm sort of stuck with it for a while, and worse, my hair is very straight, which makes it harder to hide mistakes. This makes me uneasy about trying new hair stylists in the US, and I'm not very articulate about what I want in English, let alone French. And of course, there's the old stereotypical imagery of a French hair salon and some guy named Jean-Pierre giving you "The New Look". I don't want to look chic; I just don't want to have my bangs in my eyes. Well, I couldn't put it off forever, and any time my hair gets too long it starts to bug me. For the past week it's been practically driving me crazy so I decided to bite the bullet and go get a couple centimeters taken off. 

Now of course there's the question of where. I had done a little preliminary research over what to expect out of a French hair salon, and after reading a few blogs by fellow Americans, I knew one thing for certain: I did not want to go to someplace called "Tchip". In French this is pronounced like the English "cheap" and that's not a coincidence. It sounds a lot like Great Clips and I haven't gone to Great Clips since I was 8. I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for with a haircut, and I seen no reason to visit any establishment whose best selling point is their price. I may be a pinch penny, but I'll pay up for a good haircut. Thus I came across a place called Camille Albane. An easy to find location on one of the major shopping roads downtown, nice spacious salon (well, for France), and named after a person, not a price point. I personally have greater trust in salons named for a person, even if it's a chain, than something like Haute Hair. When it's your name and reputation on the line, there's greater accountability; there's more at stake. 

Thus resolved, and armed with a few well-selected vocabulary words, I went in and asked for a haircut. The lady was nice, but not chatty. I think my obvious foreign accent and extreme timidity probably deterred her from doing the usual small talk. I managed to remember my vocab words and explain what I wanted and she she showed me about how much she was going to take off. I agreed and she set about to shampooing my hair. I love  having my hair washed. So relaxing and nice. Ahhhh. And then the nerve racking part, the actual hair cut. All said and done I liked it. She cut it a little shorter than I think I was originally envisioning, but they always do. She did a great job with the layers, and my bangs are no longer falling in my eyes continuously. I would definitely go back. 

As a reward for having braved the dreaded hair salon I went and bought myself this delicious treat: 

Nutella Beignet!

Then I wandered over to the Christmas market. The town has set a whole bunch of wooden booths where vendors sell everything from Russian nesting dolls to ugly hats to hot spiced wine. They also have a giant Christmas tree and the kids can meet "Pere Noel" (Santa) at his cottage. When I got there a troop musicians and stilt walkers was performing. Great way to round out the day!