Normandy

There's so much more to be said about Lyon! But we left Lyon on Monday and this blog will just have to leave Lyon behind.

We're in NORMANDY now!

It was a day-long drive to get here from Lyon. We stopped at a gas station at mid-day for a picnic lunch. This tomato — the first tomato of the year from Marie's garden in Champagne-au-Mont-d'Or — was an excellent preview of the richness that lay ahead:

When we reached the Atlantic coast a few hours later, we stopped in Dieppe for a beer.  

[Whoops! Marie just looked at this last sentence and freaked out. NO! It's NOT the Atlantic!  It's "La Manche."  OK, that means the English Channel. If you're French, that means a lot. It's like saying that the Gulf of Mexico is the Atlantic. Well.... ]

Lots more about Dieppe later, but here's a quick glimpse of some boats in the harbor:

A short drive along a delightful road brought us to the very small town of Berneval-le-Grand. Here's Marie's country get-away: (The open door behind the green railing is my room for this week.)

And from my room, this is the view!

An old friend of Marie's from 40 years back, Lucette, has been staying in the house with her two granddaughters. When we arrived, Lucette had dinner waiting for us — moules, fresh from the sea right here!

And an assortment of local fromage:

By the time we finished eating, it was after 9:00. The sun was still up! Lucette's granddaughters agreed to walk down to the sea with me.

Here's the beginning of the walking path:

A couple of signs at the beginning of the walk tell us that horses are forbidden beyond this point, and you'd better keep your dog on a leash!

And there it is!  The Atlantic Ocean at sunset!

The coast of Normandy is famous for its enormous white cliffs, called falaises.

Alas, these cliffs have been eroding over the years. Some houses that were built very near the edge have fallen into the sea.

The incredible beauty of the Normandy coast is tempered by the profound sadness of the loss of life that happened here, especially during World War II.  British, Canadian, and American troops invaded German-controlled France by sea. Many died right here at Berneval, and all up and down the coast.

Here's one of the German blockhouses in Berneval:

Another blockhouse fell into the sea not far away! We can see its remains when the tide goes out.

There are memorials everywhere.

On August 19, 1942, a bunch of Canadian and American troops tried to land here. Most of these troops were killed before they could get ashore. 

The very first American to lose his life in Europe during World War II died right here in Berneval:

The good of the moment outweighs the pain of these memorials.

On our second night here, we had our evening meal outside!  Once again, Lucette prepared dinner. It was so amazing I failed to take a picture of the crabs and snails in our feast. But here's the cook with her granddaughters!

 By the time we finished dinner, the sun had already set. But we went down to the sea anyway since, at 10:00 pm, it's still light here.

It had been a very hot day! The beach was still crowded with young people watching the sunset.

Next post will show you some of the town of Berneval and of Dieppe and the surrounding countryside.  A plus tard.