Family Visit Part 2

Tuesday morning, Lisa joined us in the car for a two-day trip to Lower Normandie. We started off the day seeing the Bayeaux Tapestry (at normal viewing speed for me instead of break-neck), a little bit of town, and the Museum of the Battle of Normandie. In the afternoon, we travelled out to Brecy so my family could see the first place where I worked and meet Michel and Katie that I spent so much time with. We also got to meet Kelsey, who just graduated from the University of Georgia and did her first month of the internship at Acquigny. She hardly speaks French at all, so we dragged her along with us for the tour of the gardens so she could get some time in English. The little kitten that I had found before had grown a lot in a month! He definitely still remembered me though. We stayed and chatted with Michel and Katie for a good while after the visit. I miss them!

After Brecy, we drove back to Caen to see if we couldn’t fit some visiting in before the hotel. We found Abbaye aux Hommes without too much trouble, but it was too late to get inside. Afterwards, we found some lovely restaurants next to the ducal castle, and then headed to our hotel.

Abbaye aux Hommes

In the morning, we struck out for Mont St. Michel! It was a bit of a drive, but totally worth it! I’m pretty sure the whole island outside of the abbey at the top exists purely for tourisms sake, but that doesn’t make any of it less striking. We didn’t want to hang out too long after we had toured the abbey, so we made it back to Caen in time to explore the ducal castle, eat dinner, and see the exterior of Abbaye aux Femmes. My Aunt Carolyn really loves the history around the time of William the Conqueror, so she gave us all some history lessons. We got back to Acquigny late that night.

Approaching from the road.

Some gutsy birds, and what mostly the views look like inside town.

Seiously?! This thing is HUGE!
And that's already from the top of the stairs.

With my mom and my aunt. View looks out are AWEsome!

Chapel in the Abbey

Cloister

Love the details!

Hampster wheel for the prisoners to lift up supplies to the abbey.

Ducal Castle at Caen

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Abbaye aux Femmes

Abbaye aux Femmes

Thursday morning, we headed back to Rouen so my family could see some of the sights. It was a pretty abbreviated tour, and we got a little lost in town in the car. But we hit all the big sights, and made it back to the train station in time to turn in the car, though we got on separate trains. It was a hastier goodbye than we had hoped for, but I’m just glad we got to visit and see the sights in France together at all!