Visit to Normandy (activité culturelle 2)

A full on post about my excellent host family is coming later, but here is one really good preface to the many I feel so lucky to live with Nannick:

A guided tour of the castles along the Seine in Normandy, complete with a perfect picnic lunch.

Nannick took my roommate Beth and I out for a drive one tranquil Friday afternoon. We only had a rough idea of where we were going, but the trip ended up being quite an adventure! As it turns out, Richard the Lionhearted (yep, that's the one that was away on a Crusade in the tales of Robin Hood) built several fortresses on (and into) the chalk cliffs that border the Seine in Normandy, in order to better survey against attack. Here are the ruins of Château Gaillard:


As we ate our picnic "aux bords de la Seine" (that is to say, on the bank of the Seine), we had a clear view of another castle whose name now escapes me. This castle was a 17th century update of a medieval fortress that had been dug into the white chalk cliffs. Those chalk cliffs must have been relatively easy to dig into, because there were a lot of buildings that were less building and more cliff, including a church whose bell tower protrudes a bit bizarrely from clifftop and a random two-car garage we saw carved clean out of the falaise. Nannick informed us that during Allied bombings of World War II in that region of France, the occupying German forces had hid out in these systems of caves dug from the cliffs.

This was an interesting glimpse at several layers of French history, especially that outside of Paris. My favorite story from the trip was that of one of the collegial churches we visited (and again, you'll excuse me if I forget the name of the village). During these same Allied bombings of Normandy, nearly the entire town was destroyed except for the church. There were some impressive drawings of the church rising majestically from the surrounding rubble.

Our very faithful Catholic host mother responded to my "Wow, c'est de la chance!" ("Wow, that's really lucky!") with, "C'est un miracle! Je crois aux miracles, moi." (It is a miracle! I believe in miracles.")

She has inspiring faith. Also, our little jaunt about Normandy was very pleasant!