Road Trip in France

Driving in France. Completely different than driving in America. Like apples versus grapes.

Tuesday Nina, Drew, Jen and I set off for Bayeux (of Tapestry fame) equipped with PB&J's, cookies, and bananas. Getting there wasn't really a problem because we'd planned to take the toll roads. There are lots of toll roads in France. The map shows there are other roads that aren't toll roads, but there are no street signs on where those roads are. It's a conspiracy. Also, some direction signs had black paint over them (are they expecting an invasion?) It cost us around 26 euros to drive 3.5 hours. That's pretty steep. Steeper than the fancy Ponte de Normandie over the Seine we payed to traverse (you have to pay a Billy Goats Gruff toll to go over bridges). So anyway, we got there. Jen was our fearless driver. She brought her car over from England, and it's really exciting riding in a car built to drive on the left. Sitting in the front passenger seat, you just get the feeling that quite a bit is missing.

Anyway, so we bummed around in Bayeux that evening. This included attempting to put together a 1000-piece puzzle of a collie dog (not much else to do). We decided to wake up early and see the town, forgetting that the sun doesn't rise until 8:30, so our trek beginning at 7 am wasn't very eventful. The only people we saw were butchers and bakers (no candlestick makers). After breakfast, we went to see the ancient tapestry. It's from 1066 and is the length of a football field. It's displayed in a U shape, so you curve around it listening to a posh British narrator recount the Battle for the English throne between Harold and William the Conqueror. Because it wasn't crowded, the man let us go around it twice so we could hear it in both English and French.

After seeing the tapestry, we decided to go see the next battle scene northern France is known for--the D Day beaches. It was amazing to see them. They stretch on forever and are just bleak. It's hard to imagine the largest land invasion in history, but being there makes it easier. We went to the American Cemetery and Memorial, and the museum told stories of the soldiers. You can hear their letters, see their rations and look at maps of what happened. Finally, we went to Juno beach so Nina could see the Canadian site.

The way home was ridiculous. We planned to take non-toll roads. But couldn't find them anywhere. So a 3.5 hour trip ended up taking almost 7. Who knows what that was all about. French roads are nutty. I think it's just like everything else here--you have to know things that aren't published anywhere. If not, tant pis (too bad). But we sure did get a good laugh in the car from all the barney rubble (trouble) and finally made it home around 1am.