Before returning to Paris, we made two last stops in Normandy. The first was theAmerican Cemetary, for the Americans that died in Normandy during the invasion. The second, a Ferme – or a Farm – which brewed their own ciders, apparently popular in the region.
The American cemetery was beautiful and grim at the same time. The weather was suitable too, with the winds from the coast pushing a thick fog and light rain inland. We were reminded of all the stories we read while exploring the beaches. One stuck out, where a German officer was telling the troops that the invasion would not come when the sun was shining, but rather in the dead of night with the wind and the waves crashing.
Most impressive was the memorial with the progression of the battles during WWII, showing how critical the landings on Normandy beach were:
After the cemetery, we headed to a local Ferme, Ferme de la Sapinière, which had been in production making ciders for seven generations. There, we got to sample a variety of ciders, as well as a Pommeau and a Calvados.
The ciders are brewed with natural yeasts, unlike how Phil and I have been brewing by pitching a store bought, controlled yeast, so the taste of the ciders is a bit more… wild, or natural. The Pommeau is an apertif, which we understood to be a mixture of the Calvados and apple juice, so the alcohol content is quite high, around 17% or so, depending on the type. The Calvados is a distilled alcohol, like brandy, with an alcohol content of around 40%. All of the Ferme’s ciders can be purchased online, but not shipped to the US currently 🙁
Once we purchased a few of our own bottles, we hit the road. We wanted to avoid the tolls again, and opted for a much longer route across France. The GPS said that it’d only add an extra hour and we had plenty of time. However, once we dropped off the rental car, I think the total time ended up around six hours, as opposed to the original four, but we did stop a few times.
One of those stops was in a town called L’Aigle, by far the largest city we encountered on our route. We saw this old church that caught our eye, so we stopped in.
Even though it seemed that every town had its own church, all likely 500-1000 years old, what stuck me about this one was the art work inside that appeared to be displayed in it’s original setting, as it was intended to be displayed. Too often we see religious artwork and sculptures in museums without the context in which they were intended. Unfortunately, the inside of the church was quite dim so the details in my pictures may be hard to see.
It seems like a lot of restoration and conservation efforts were being made, however, all the signs were in French, so we couldn’t understand a lot of it. From what we could tell, there is speculation that the center of the church, or at least the foundation, that dates back to the 1000s.
At some point on our drive, we realized that we would be dropping off the rental car after hours, so when we saw the exit sign for Versailles, we decided to spontaneously check it out. However, we arrived just before 5:30, when the last entrances were allowed, and only had an hour before closing. Additionally, we thought we had plenty of time to make our late, 9:45 pm flight to Amsterdam, but the GPS showed that the short (distance wise) drive into Paris from Versailles would take an hour. So, we the main palace of Versailles in less than an hour, literally running across plazas at times.
Every single surface in the palace ornate and opulent, a stark contrast to the 1000 year old churches and rolling hills of the French countryside.
Since we had to return our rental car, get to the airport, and catch our flight to Amsterdam, we didn’t get a chance to see the gardens, other than through the windows of the palace:
We were also sweating like crazy. We were at Versailles on the 26th, when the high in Paris was 93F and humid.