Brittany and Normandy

Here's an outline of my excellent voyage to the west coast of France this past weekend:

Thursday:
-skipped Literature and Drawing class to meet Charlotte and Parents
-took Orlybus to Orly airport to pick up rental car
-drove to St. Malo, stopped at a very clean rest area and bought chocolate milk
-arrived in St. Malo, found centre-ville
-St. Malo = walled city right on the coast of the Atlantic
-found a one star (*) hotel with a room for four people for only 52 euros a night (bunk beds!)
-walked around deserted tourist trap, window shopping
-went to a bar decorated with dolls, puppets, and an albatross (Photos to come)

Friday:
-breakfast in the pub area of the hotel we stayed at- croissants and coffee
-walked around the wall of St. Malo, walked out to some islands off shore during low tide
-drove to Le Mont St. Michel, stopped at a cider gift shop on the way
-Le Mont St. Michel = an island with a town / cathedral / fortress built on it, acceseble at low tide, surrounded by water at high tide (Photo to come)
-walked around Mont St. Michel, only had 2 hours to walk around before the parking lot would be under water
-grocery store lunch of clementines, bread, and cheese
-drove to Cherbourg, followed signs to centre-ville but didn't really find it
-fount a two star (**) hotel with a room for four people for only 55 euros a night (two double beds, one in a separate room!)
-ate at a wonderful creperie for dinner, Charlotte and I shared 2 crepes
-le Popeye = crepe with cheese, spinach, garlic, tomatoes, and an egg = my favorite
-found several bars serving Stella Artois (a favorite beer of Charlotte's mom) which were too busy to visit

Saturday:
-breakfast in the breakfast room of the hotel- croissants and coffee again, but better jam than the day before
-drove to find Normandy beaches, visited Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, the American Cemetary
-(video of the American Cemetary)
-warm weather, not too windy
-drove to Le Havre, found it to be a lot busier than we had expected
-got lost in Le Havre driving up and down the bluffs, centre-ville, ville-haut, ville-basse, eventually had to stop to buy a map
-found a two star (**) hotel with a room for four people for only 55 euros a night (double bed, pullout couch for Charlotte and me)
-walked around a restaurant quarter and decided to eat pizza instead of seafood. Excellent choice.
-Charlotte and I found a youthful bar and had a very intense moment with some cross dressers, but a relief to be away from her parents for a while

Sunday:
-breakfast on the go, croissants from a bakery and some more clementines
-visited le Musée Malraux, which contained an impressive amount of paintings that were made in the Normandy region
-on the road again, driving back to Paris
-I think I took a nap for a while
-arrived at Orly at 3pm, in time to return the rental car
-took the Orlybus back to Paris

It's good to be home!