Marseille

(posted by Elizma)

No, we did not go to Marseille this weekend. We were going to, but we missed our flight. The one, yes the one and only time we've ever checked the traffic reports before we set of for the airport - and planned accordingly - seriously backfired. On the route we took to avoid the reported bad traffic, they closed the junction we had to take for the airport – not a sign of it in the traffic reports. We've decided never to check again.

We left for home very disappointed as the next flight was only the following evening which would have left us with almost no time in Marseille.

On the way home Leon suggested we take the ferry to somewhere else in France. By the time we got home it was already 20:00. It had taken us 7 hours to the airport and back - normally a three hour round trip. When we looked at ferries for the next day, they all were leaving quite late in the day so we resigned ourselves to staying home for the weekend.

Whilst Leon was out picking up our pizza - yes, we needed comfort food - I had another look at the ferries and spotted on that left 23:15 that evening to Caen in Normandy, France. We immediately booked it, wolfed down our pizza and 45 minutes later we were on our way to Portsmouth.

It turned out to be a fantastic weekend. The trip on the ferry was 5 hours which we spent in a cabin sleeping – much more comfortable than an airplane. We landed 7:00 the next morning and spent the next three days driving around Normandy and Brittany.

We spent some time at Omaha Beach – one of the scene of the D-Day landings of World War II. The rows upon rows upon rows of white cross tomb stones at the American Cemetery can not be described. And it’s quite hard to believe that the beautiful beach at the foot of the cemetery bared witness to such atrocities.



In Bayeux we saw the a thousand year old, 70 meter long tapestry telling the story of William the Conqueror’s invasion of England in 1066.

We also visited the walled city of St Malo - pictured below.



But the highlight of our trip must be the Abbey of Mont Saint Michel. It is one of the most spectacular places we’ve ever been lucky enough to visit…



If you want to see the rest of our photos, click here.