Our last day in Caen was spent visiting the D-day landings, after that we packed up and headed across the coast to Saint Vaast la Hougue which is the home of Valerie's mother. Saint Vaast la Hougue is a tiny picturesque french fishing town directly opposite Brighton. As soon as we arrived I met Lucy, the daughter of Dominique and everyone went for the first of many long walks along the shoreline. I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the village and was really happy when I woke up the next morning to find a bustling market on the Main Street right outside the house. If the previous week in Caen was a touristy week with lots of outings this was the opposite. The cozy little French fishing town of Saint Vaast la Hougue had a magnificent backdrop of lighthouses on either side of the coast line as well as the sparkling blue sea that looked oh so inviting, even if it was only 15 degrees. I also discovered the local supermarket ‘Maison Gosselin’ which was full to the brim with French wine, homemade jams and preserves, all sorts of fruit, meat and tasty treats like nougat as well as of course plenty of French baguettes. On Monday we went on a grand adventure to our final destination ‘le Phare de Gatteville’. It was about an hour and a half walk each way but everyone had a great time firstly exploring a church we found then hopping across the rocks trying to avoid the sea spray. Le phare de Gatteville is a massive still working lighthouse standing at 75m which overlooks the local area. It took a while to climb all the way up but when we did it was well worth it. I could see for miles in all directions and even though it was a beautiful day I couldn't make out the English coastline. :( For dinner that evening we had whole fresh fish caught that morning. One of the perks of staying in a small fishing village is the amazing seafood we had access to each day.
Tuesday was a really fun day, we headed out early with Frank, Claire and their girls plus everyone from the Roussel camp to Le Port de Cherbourg. Located there is the French Submarine museum. We got an in-depth look at the history of submarines plus there were plenty of deep sea exploration submarines to look at, one of the more modern ones held the record for the 2nd deepest dive in history, and the only reason it wasn’t the deepest dive is because the scientists before-hand misjudged the depth of the trench they were diving in! We also got to go inside and do a guided tour of France’s first ever nuclear submarine, which had a whopping 16 nuclear missiles equipped, each one 10 times more powerful than the bomb that levelled Hiroshima. I hope like hell that we never come to a time when someone decides to fire one of those missiles because the outcome would be devastating. There was also a really well done exhibition on the titanic which showed the story of what really happened as well as plenty of information and recordings of survivors telling their stories, it was defiantly the most sullen part of the museum. After that we moved on to a 4D deep sea exploration adventure simulation which was really really cool. Finally we ended our visit to the aquarium where I got to touch a stingray… novel I know, but seriously it was a really cool place to visit, I had a great time. On the way home we visited a shop called La maison de Biscuit which sold madeleines and financiers which were to die for and I totally didn’t spend heaps of money on tasty treats.
Thursday was perhaps the pinnacle of the 2 week trip to Normandy as we visited le Mont St Michel. Le Mont is basically a rather large island castle with an abbey on top just off the coast of Normandy and is hence surrounded by either water or sinking sands 100% of the time. It was truly a magnificent sight, especially for the first time. Despite the vast crowds I still got plenty of great photos and the view from the top were simply phenomenal. Le Mont St Michel was built in the 8th century after the archangel Michael appeared and instructed the bishop of Avranches to build a massive castle on a rock. He obliged and hence there is now an almost perfectly preserved medieval town for all who visit to explore. I personally really liked the narrow streets and overhead hanging signs that advertised taverns and other shops alike.
For our final day in St Vaast la Hougue we visited Tatihiou, which was a former mental asylum just off the coast. To be honest reading some of the information on the island was a bit depressing, especially how the mental unstable people were treated. However today it has been shut down and now makes for a pretty pleasant day out and a picnic. The really cool part of the day was where we literally watched the sea recede before our eyes and discovered that just below the surface was covered in mussel farms. We decided to walk back to St Vaast and it was kinda cool to be walking where the sea had been just an hour before which was now nothing more than a few streams. To celebrate our last evening we went out to a local restaurant and had a great time even though I accidentally head butted Germain!
On our way home the next day we visited the gardens of Monet. While the gardens themselves were close to full bloom and looked pretty amazing unfortunately there were a million and one other people there also appreciating the back yard of this legendary painter. This meant we didn’t even get to visit the house of Monet and the photos we did take of the gardens weren’t the best. Despite this I was still in high spirits after having such an enjoyable holiday!
