Brittany and Normandy, or more specifically, Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel, have been on my travel wishlist for a very long time. I first heard and fell in love with wartime Saint-Malo in the book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out, it’s amazing. Mont-Saint-Michel has been on my list even longer. Having had not so great experiences traveling in France when I was young, however, meant that the Normandy coast was always pushed aside in favor of other destinations. I also wasn’t super interested in visiting the D-Day beaches and all the memorials and cemeteries in the area, as my WW2 interests have never been about the military operations, but more about the resistance and the stories of the people living under occupation. Growing up in the military, on top of being American, meant that my knowledge and views about WW2 and D-Day in particular, were rather skewed, and most of what I knew was only from an American perspective in many ways, which is a pity, and an oversight I should have rectified long before.
Anders had been to Normandy many many years ago, but barely remembered anything about it, so it was almost like a new trip for him, too. We decided to make a roadtrip out of it, and Anders plotted out the course, and booked the accommodations along the way, as well as figuring out when and where, and for how long, we needed to stop at charging stations. I was in charge of figuring out what things to do in each place (depending on timing) and booking attraction tickets. It was quite a distance to travel in the short time we had: only one week to make it all the way down to Saint-Malo and back again before we had to go back to work. We left the morning of Saturday, May 30, the day after John and family left, and started our roadtrip in high spirits.
The first night we stayed in Bremen, Germany (after driving out of Sweden, and through Denmark, and taking the ferry from Rödby to Puttgarden). We stayed at the apartment of one of John’s friends, a man named Kai who he had met when they both lived in Hopferau (where John still lives). We had thought we would be staying in the guest apartment of his building, but it turned out that he was vacating his place for the night for our use. Super kind! We arrived around 5 pm and after Kai left, Anders and I walked down to a sushi restaurant for dinner and then explored a bit of the harbor area.
We were up and out the door early the next day, and had a lovely breakfast buffet at a restaurant adjacent to the Tesla superchargers. That day was spent driving to our hotel in Mons, Belgium. Again, just for one night, and we had dinner at a great Italian place down the road. SO much food we couldn’t finish it all, and a Caprese salad that was divine. Then on to Saint-Malo! (if you are keeping track, that is 5 countries after we got to our destination).
We had 2 nights in Saint-Malo and we arrived on our actual wedding anniversary, in the early evening. We stayed at L’AccrocheCoeur, a great guesthouse dating back to 1653 inside the walls of the inner city, and our host Xavier was gregarious and funny, telling us all kinds of trivia about the place and the city. It turned out he worked at (or owned, it wasn’t really clear) the restaurant I had booked that night for our anniversary dinner. After we got settled, we walked down to the restaurant, Monsieur Madame, and had a delicious meal. The next morning we enjoyed a homemade breakfast served in the downstairs room with 2 other couples. Xavier served fresh croissants with jam and butter, and something he called “cow pats” (Kouign-Amann) for the way they looked, but which turned out to be sinfully delicious buttery pastries, as well as a fresh apple compote.
Happy 30 years of wedding bliss!
The city was heavily bombed by the Allies during the war, and basically reduced to rubble. It was built back up again over the course of 12 years from 1948 to 1960 and you would never guess by looking at it that it wasn’t the original walls and city. After breakfast we walked up on the ramparts and followed them more than halfway around the inner city. The tide was quite high and at one spot there was a huge sea-kayaking lesson for children going on. They were rowing out to one of the nearby islands in a big circle and back to the beach. People on the walls, probably parents, were cheering each kayak as it came in again. The day was quite breezy even though the sun was shining, but the temps were manageable, which was a good thing because I had completely forgotten to bring anything for colder weather other than a couple of sweaters (DOH!). We walked through and around a great deal of the inner city, into the Cathedral of St. Vincent, and around the harbor. There was a movie filming in the harbor and it turned out that a masted sailing boat we wanted to walk over to was off-limits because it was part of the film set! We took a little nap in the afternoon after the long walk exploring the city and having lunch and glace for dessert.
The harbor bay at high tide
Petit Bé fort on its island
Love locks
Diving platform under water
Cannon on the ramparts
Sea kayakers with Grand Bé behind them
The National Fort
Grand Bé with Petit Bé behind it
A closer view of the National Fort on its island
City gate
Swashbuckling actors on a coffee break
Our beady-eyed friend
Art inside Cathedral of St. Vincent
Altar inside Cathedral of St. Vincent
Later, we went to a lovely little restaurant where Anders got moules frites and I had filet mignon, and then we went back up on the ramparts again and goggled at how different everything looked at low tide! The tidal difference is boggling.
The harbor bay at low tide! What a difference!
The diving platform and Grand Bé at low tide
Grand Bé at low tide
Looking out toward Grand Bé and Petit Bé at low tide
The next morning, after our croissants and cow patties, we left Saint-Malo (not without regrets, because it was simply not enough time!) and headed north through Brittany to Mont-Saint-Michel, which lies on the border of Normandy. Next up: the Abbey on the Mount!
Mood: nostalgic
Music: Phoebe Ryan—Fall With Me