I have to start off our Spring Break adventure posts with my absolute favorite part of our trip: The beautiful beaches along the Normandy coast of France.
I have been to quite a handful of places, and out of them all, this blend of cow country meets the shore holds a special place in my heart!
I honestly didn't know what to expect, but what I got was one of the most chill and breathtaking vacations I have ever been on. I am happy I visited, yet sad that I had to leave.
First thing's first: Normandy sits in Northern France, for those who aren't geographically savvy.
You may have heard of D-Day? Yeah, when in June of 1944, our brave boys stormed the beaches of Normandy to help a heavily German occupied France. That place.
Just like beaches in the US, the region of Normandy has more than one beach; each sort of belonging to it's own sleepy fishing village. Think of a stretch of sand in Florida or California, and how the beaches all have their own name though they're strung along the same coastal stretch.
Same thing here.
But...there's more than just the famous Omaha Beach.
Lots of folks assume Normandy is a city. It's a actually what we Americans refer to as a "state" in the US, but in France states are called regions. There are 18 regions in all (5 of them are overseas).
Within Normandy, there are 5 departments (what we'd similarly refer to as counties). And within them, you guessed it: Cities.
In total, we visited about six or seven different cities within Normandy, though if I had my way, I would've visited many more!
Back to the beaches:
This isn't my WWII post, sorry. That will come soon, and is 99% of the reason we visited the region.
I honestly thought we'd be immersed in nothing but history during this trip because when one thinks of Normandy, one usually thinks of it in conjunction to the war.
Though WWII is a huge part of tourism there, I do want to point out that the area is so much more! If I were rich, I'd probably buy a vacation home here...so if I disappear after a big jackpot is won, you'll know where to find me.
The beaches are unspoiled by humans, which was a FIRST to see in my life. I was amazed to find that none of them had trash floating about, and although the weather was mild and had a daily high of 63 degrees (not exactly sun bathing temps), I expected to find more folks like ourselves walking along the sandy shore to enjoy the sunsets in Courseulles-de-Mar (the town we stayed in). Not the case.
We found ourselves alone on the shore quite often.
It. Was. Nice.
The following photos explain why I miss this place already!
Our rental townhouse was a minute's walk away from the shore of Juno Beach. We spent a great deal of time every evening taking beach strolls, which is just what I needed after a crappy winter.
I'll caption the other beaches we visited below, as needed, but I'll let the photos below do most of the talking.
NOTE: Except for four photos with a slight mattifying filter or a lightened shadow, none of these have been touched in Photoshop! No color correction, no retouched skies. All just as it was, which is the way it should be. Variances of light and depth were all made in manual camera settings.
Okay. For reals.
Is it easy to see why I miss it?
Although I wished the weather was a bit warmer for a dip, I'm glad now that it wasn't. Warm weather brings loads of people and I was in heaven having the beaches to myself (well, with the family, of course).
But something tells me that these beautiful stretches of sand are just as wonderful in peak tourist season, too. What I know for sure is that having some sand between my toes and sun on my face was what made this trip amazing.
I'd return in a heartbeat.
Well, I could go on and on, but there's much more to share!
I'll be breaking up the trip with categorized posts, just because I know some folks love WWII history, some don't. Some folks are tired of my palace, cathedral, and castle visits, some aren't.
And most folks are done with reading about my visits to Paris, but I'm not done with that city, just yet ;-)
It'll also make for less jumbled writing. We did buzz and bounce around quite a lot during spring break!
Next post? I'm honestly not sure. But you can bet money on the fact that it'll be about somewhere in France!
I have been to quite a handful of places, and out of them all, this blend of cow country meets the shore holds a special place in my heart!
I honestly didn't know what to expect, but what I got was one of the most chill and breathtaking vacations I have ever been on. I am happy I visited, yet sad that I had to leave.
First thing's first: Normandy sits in Northern France, for those who aren't geographically savvy.
You may have heard of D-Day? Yeah, when in June of 1944, our brave boys stormed the beaches of Normandy to help a heavily German occupied France. That place.
Just like beaches in the US, the region of Normandy has more than one beach; each sort of belonging to it's own sleepy fishing village. Think of a stretch of sand in Florida or California, and how the beaches all have their own name though they're strung along the same coastal stretch.
Same thing here.
But...there's more than just the famous Omaha Beach.
Lots of folks assume Normandy is a city. It's a actually what we Americans refer to as a "state" in the US, but in France states are called regions. There are 18 regions in all (5 of them are overseas).
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| Look near the top of France: Basse-Normandie (lower Normandy), voila! Haute-Normandy is upper (high) Normandy, but in 2015, the two were combined to make up one region: Normandy. The map is slightly outdated. France did a bit of region reform last year, which I mentioned when we visited Lorraine's balloon festival last summer. Paris sits in Ile-de-France, to give some distance perspective. |
Within Normandy, there are 5 departments (what we'd similarly refer to as counties). And within them, you guessed it: Cities.
In total, we visited about six or seven different cities within Normandy, though if I had my way, I would've visited many more!
Back to the beaches:
This isn't my WWII post, sorry. That will come soon, and is 99% of the reason we visited the region.
I honestly thought we'd be immersed in nothing but history during this trip because when one thinks of Normandy, one usually thinks of it in conjunction to the war.
Though WWII is a huge part of tourism there, I do want to point out that the area is so much more! If I were rich, I'd probably buy a vacation home here...so if I disappear after a big jackpot is won, you'll know where to find me.
The beaches are unspoiled by humans, which was a FIRST to see in my life. I was amazed to find that none of them had trash floating about, and although the weather was mild and had a daily high of 63 degrees (not exactly sun bathing temps), I expected to find more folks like ourselves walking along the sandy shore to enjoy the sunsets in Courseulles-de-Mar (the town we stayed in). Not the case.
We found ourselves alone on the shore quite often.
It. Was. Nice.
The following photos explain why I miss this place already!
Our rental townhouse was a minute's walk away from the shore of Juno Beach. We spent a great deal of time every evening taking beach strolls, which is just what I needed after a crappy winter.
I'll caption the other beaches we visited below, as needed, but I'll let the photos below do most of the talking.
NOTE: Except for four photos with a slight mattifying filter or a lightened shadow, none of these have been touched in Photoshop! No color correction, no retouched skies. All just as it was, which is the way it should be. Variances of light and depth were all made in manual camera settings.
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| My youngest wore her boots with the fur...on the beach. Le sigh. |
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| My first sunset in Normandy. Not shabby, at all. It was the highlight of my day. |
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| She decided she wasn't done digging for shells when we began to walk back. |
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| This is the beach of the Pointe Du Hoc area. Folks aren't allowed on the shore because landmines from WWII and such are still present. But the scenery is amazing. |
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| Pier of Omaha Beach; about 2km west of the Omaha Beach Monument. Nicknamed Sector Charlie in Vierville-sur-Mer We ate some awesome crepes in this place!  |
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| It looks very similar to Pointe Du Hoc, but the difference is people can walk around the water in this location. |
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| This is what we saw every morning and evening of our stay. The cutest little harbor town of Courseulle-de-Mer. You'll notice many of the coastal towns have the words "de-Mer", which means "Sea" in French. |
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| We walked along the fishing boat pier one evening. Handfuls of seagulls and fishermen, although I didn't photograph the fishermen. |
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| Courseulles-de-Mer has a carousel near the shore (it was closed during our visit), and the carousel has sea gulls. |
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| Juno Beach is located in Courseulles-de-Mer, which is the shoreline the Canadians stormed during the landings. I'll get more into that in my WWII post. But because of that, it wasn't uncommon to see crosses and monuments on this beach, like many of the others. |
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| The seashells were insanely pretty and big on this beach! |
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| The beach was littered with the giant seashells during the low tide. |
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| My husband found a old fishing net balled up and wading in the water. He's VERY environmentally conscious (sometimes frustratingly so) and pulled it all the way back to land to throw it away. |
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| This was our final evening in Courseulles-de-Mer. We decided to hit the beach a bit earlier, and for the first time since we arrived in Normandy, the tide was high. The giant seashells disappeared, and sea stones took over. |
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| I found it super neato that with each evening the sand would completely change in design. Mother Earth is quite the artist! |
Is it easy to see why I miss it?
Although I wished the weather was a bit warmer for a dip, I'm glad now that it wasn't. Warm weather brings loads of people and I was in heaven having the beaches to myself (well, with the family, of course).
But something tells me that these beautiful stretches of sand are just as wonderful in peak tourist season, too. What I know for sure is that having some sand between my toes and sun on my face was what made this trip amazing.
I'd return in a heartbeat.
Well, I could go on and on, but there's much more to share!
I'll be breaking up the trip with categorized posts, just because I know some folks love WWII history, some don't. Some folks are tired of my palace, cathedral, and castle visits, some aren't.
And most folks are done with reading about my visits to Paris, but I'm not done with that city, just yet ;-)
It'll also make for less jumbled writing. We did buzz and bounce around quite a lot during spring break!
Next post? I'm honestly not sure. But you can bet money on the fact that it'll be about somewhere in France!
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