Five arbitrary impressions of Normandy’s attractions (besides our friends’ garden, wonderful landscapes, great food, Port Racine and The Bayeux tapestry…):
1. Les Blockhaus
Walking along the beaches of Normandy the remnants of Nazi German occupation in form of enormous concrete bunkers can be found virtually everywhere. It was amusing to hear that they are called “blockhaus” (pronounced something like “blocos”) by the French, who admit that the term obviously originates from the German language, but are unaware that in German the word (at least today) refers to a log cabin. So most German-speakers would associate the word with Western movies or hiking in the Alps. So we started to make up all kinds of possible stories how the bunkers got this name….
Almost eight decades after the end of the war some parts of bunkers are adorned by artists.
2. Stone walls and hedges
Found everywhere along hiking paths on the coast: hawthorn hedges in bloom and wonderfully overgrown stone walls.
3. Bayeux cathedral
A gothic masterpiece with rich interior details
4. Dolphins in the distance
In the Baie de Nacqueville, a family of dolphins or pilot whales.
5. The presidents’s start button
The button wich President de Gaulle pushed in 1967 to proudly launch the nuclear submarine “Le redoubtable”, still on display in the “Cité de la Mer” museum in Cherbourg. Hilarious.
