ok, got back yesterday from Normandie.

Day 1 Drove up and did the world war two tourist thing, we went to Omaha Beach, where my grandfather was just after D Day, Utah Beach, the Pointe d'Hoc, and the German Memorial Cemetary, which being both American and Jewish, I found very powerful, I never felt a need to forgive the holocaust until i was standing six feet above german soldiers, i wasnt bawling but yea there were some tears flowing there, unfortunately the american cemetary was closed when we got there

All the other days blurred because it was a low key week, the first two days there were ten people at the grandmothers house, too many, since it was a little house with a little norman grandma. Mamie is a sweetheart, albeit a bit senile. She said she was very proud to have the granddaughter of a veteran in her house. Shes a big history buff too. The town was called Port Bail about sixty kilometres south of cherbourg, and thirty km across from the british isle of Jersey. Mamie cant see well, so there was no car, everywhere we had to go, it was with the bikes. I biked an average of 12 km a day. In Port Bail, there is nothing, it is however an adorable french nothing. THe usual...boulangerie, boucherie, coiffure, and a few cafes, but of course there was teh beach. The beaches of Normandy are really pretty, we went there every day, low tide is stupendously low, and therefore a trek across the desert if youre not aware of the times for the tides.

For bastille day there were fireworks and a band and we hung out with anne gaelles vacation boyfriend, floren, and his friends, who were actually very nice. the night before we hung out with them on the beach, apparantly thats what french teens do in a nothing town, go to the beach and drink, but it was fun, there was some decent conversation as well.

so combat the nothing, heh neverending story reference, i signed up for a week of sailing classes at the sailing school. i went every evening for a week to learn how to sail a catamaran. it was fun stuff, and surprisingly exhausting. the word for jib in french is le foc, which sounds like fuck with a french accent. my sailing partner was a french financeer from caen, who was a pretty experienced sailor, which made my life easier since he explained things very clearly. The monitor was a leathery kind of piratey frenchmen named sebastien. my french financeer deserted classes after a few days so one day i was with the mother of one of the sailors children...note not his wife, its comforting to know that even in todays modern world, there are still sailors with illegitimate children. she had never set foot on a boat, which was good for me because it forced me to work, and it was fine. we nearly won the race back to the school, so close but second out of four isnt terrible, especially with two complete beginners. cutest frenchboy in teh history of frenchboys who works at the sailing school, his name is nicholas, he has a killer smile, the most gorgeous green eyes ive ever seen, and is actually really friendly, nice, and funny. i snapped a picture of him before i left.

i also went riding in normandie. did a trail at nine in the morning so it was just me the leader and one other girl, very peaceful, my horse was a very large and beautiful bay named falco, with a really smooth trot. i can now walk, trot and canter with an english saddle, yay me. in french there are only three gaits, marcher, trottiner and galloper. there is no distinction between a canter and a gallop. that was really just for kelli's personal enrichment, so there you go kelli learn something new every day.

Mamie never stopped talking, and feeling sorry that she lives alone with her siamese cat romeo all year, i listened. i know now the occupations and nuances of every single member of this womans family. she told the same stories like eight times and never shut up, even if i was reading, she kept talking. im so grateful that all of my grandparents are incredibly competant and independant people. nonetheless mamie is a sweetheart and i will write her letters in the future to brighten her kitschy disgustingly spider infested home. note to self and friends...if a cat ever becomes my only companion for conversation please shoot me.

one day we biked the nine kms there and nine back to barneville carteret, a slightly bigger town, we had lunch at a creperie...god i love galettes and crepes, why are there no creperies at home. anne gaelle gege and i have decided to start one, we will be rich, as creperies are delicious and fairly economical, a galette, which is highly filling can range from 4 to 10 euros depending on the ingredients. then we found a minigolf place and played a round there.

three nights in a row we tried to go clubbing but there were always complications, it just wasnt in the cards

the third try was with anne gaelles uncle gerard, who tooks us to a club, which was immensly lame, less than a dozen people in the club, and only one extremely flamboyant homosexual on the dance floor, who was occasionally joined by his boyfriend, we danced two songs, watched in horror as gerard attempted to dance, played a round of pool, and left. thank god it was free for ladies that night, so at least we didnt pay to be bored and embarrased. we were home an hour after we left.

that was normandie in a nutshell, lots of biking, swimming, sailing, riding, pretty countryside, pretty little harbor, beautiful ocean, three teenage girls and a slightly smothering french grandmother. oh yea gege and i went to the tiny chateau of st lo, it was cute, its funny in the countryside a lot of people have ponies here, its funny because its like when youre a little girl the unattainable birthday gift is always, "i want a pony" and here its not at all unusual. i find ponies ugly. the horse is a noble and beautiful creature, powerful and graceful, long strong lines of muscles, a horse to a pony is really like comparing michaelangelos david to mini me. there was also an absolutely massive pig, who we thought was dead until we threw him a potato and he moved for it with surprising speed.

now were back at trellieres and im preparing to come home, im annoyed because i think i left my case of ipod accessories, which had a usb cable and the itrip in normandie, hopefully mamie can find it and mail it back to me. im also having trouble finding my other rolls of film. i have to buy a second small suitcase for my books and souvenirs, maybe well go to nantes tommorrow and do that. thats all for now.

Jen