Back to Boston: Taking the Scenic Route: Normandy/Normandie/Normandía

My long-awaited journey to Normandy was a success! Paris was a teensy pain, but it was not the disaster situation I had imagined (with a person refusing to sell me a train ticket because I don't speak French, or a cab driver that drove me around in circles because I am American, or anything like that). I took the trenhotel from Madrid to Paris on Thursday night/Friday morning, and got to translate between the other two women in the cabin (I paid the extra 20 bucks for a bed and it was totally worth it), one of whom was a South Korean backpacking through Europe, and the other was from Galicia. What can I say, I am a superstar Spanish speaker.

This photo (taken out the window) does not do justice to the neon-ness of Normandy

Our train was delayed getting into Paris, so I missed the 10:10 train to Caen (pronounced KON but without too much N sound). Therefore, I had plenty of time to take the Paris metro, buy my ticket at a leisurely pace, and wait around at Gare Saint Lazare for an hour and a half. The train to Caen gave me my first glimpse at the Norman countryside. I can't decide if it's more like New England (because of the tiny towns surrounded by fields) or the Willamette Valley viewed from I-5 (because of the endless fields of growing stuff, plus cows and sheep). Either way, it was like, neon green. So Sam met me at the train station and we went back to her apartment for lunch, a shower, and planning. Her apartment is super adorable, and squeaks like you'd expect an old french building to. The only downside is that its a fourth floor walk-up (and the second floor is really the first in Europe). I met her roommate, Meg, who is also teaching English in France and is from merry old England. That first night (it was about 4pm by the time we got around to doing something) we explored the Chateau of William the Conqueror. That's right, a building that's been there for like A THOUSAND YEARS. Impressive stuff. On the way home, we walked past some churches lit up at night. One, the Abbeye des Hommes (or something) we later found out was used as a shelter for the citizens of Caen during Allied bombing, and the French Resistance told the Allies, so they didn't bomb anywhere near it and it survived the war intact. And we went out for dinner, too, for crepes (like good French people). Delicious. My Normandy trip, although not yet WWII-tastic, was off to a good start.