Ma premiere "post" de la France...

So it's been awhile (as it always is between my posts!) and this time I find myself in a different country. Unfortunately, as I've had (sort of) a long day, it will probably be a short one. But I do hope to update more often now that I'm over here. Hopefully more adventures to tell.

For those of you who may not know, I'm living in Caen. Caen is a city of about 150,000 in the province of Normandie. It was almost entirely destroyed during the Allied invasion in 1944, and has been amazingly rebuilt since then. (Side note: From what I've seen so far, I really like the city. I find the combination of old and new very charming. For example, there's a "chateau" right in the middle of the city, with museums on the inside!)

Anyway, back to today. I went on my first excursion by myself today. (Except for the whole "arriving in France, finding my way to Caen" thing.) Today's excursion was a very small one, but, nonetheless, I was all alone. Caen is only about 25 km from the sea - the English Channel, that is. So today, I went to the Juno Beach Centre, the place where, 61 years ago, thousands of Canadians (and Americans) landed on the beaches in horrific weather and began their invasion of France. It was.....amazing. I don't know if amazing, or any word, can describe it. Just to stand on the beach, and imagine what it would have been like.... it was beyond words. 7000 vessels in the water..... thousands upon thousands of troops. I can't imagine it, really. But it happened. Apparently, still today, people are findind reminants (sp?) of the battle. At this time of year, there are extreme tide changes, so when the tide goes out, or after storms, people will go on the beach trying to find things. Some 60 years later, objects are still being discovered....

The Centre itself was quite nice. A good chunk of the information just described Canada before, during, and after WW2, which of course, as wonderful as that is, is nothing too new to me. The Centre wasn't what was of most interest to me, just being on the beach did it for me. But still, the architecture of the building was interesting, along with many other details here and there. (It's built so that, from an aerial view, it looks like a maple leaf. Unfortunately, I didn't have an aerial view!)

So... my first travelling adventure went well. Sorry there are no more details, but as previously mentionned, I'm quite tired.