Deauville

It's been a very very very long weekend, but here goes.

We left Nancy at about 0h45. I lost Tang before we boarded and I think she ended up on the other bus. I was going to sit with the Americans, but I ended up being the fifth person so I sat with the Romanian. I don't know his name, but he's very quiet. He keeps to himself and even when I try to make conversation, he keeps it short. Oh well. We stopped after an hour to get gas (which I think was a complete waste of time; you'd think the drivers would gas up before picking the group up). A few hours later, we stopped for 20 minutes - bathroom break and to stretch our legs. French busses are very small when it comes to leg space. I got lucky to get an aisle seat because I basically just sat the whole ride with my legs in the aisle. It was difficult to sleep, though, because of all the stops we made. After the first 20 minute stop, there were at least 3 more.

We got to Etretat around 10h. We walked through the streets of this little old village and ended up at the beach. And that's where the cliffs were. It was spectacular. I'll post my pictures soon. I can't even explain how breathtaking it was. After being on the beach a bit, we were headed to the top of one of the cliff. There was first a brick staircase, and then a sort of asphalt one to continue up. It was amazing. But the higher we got, the more scared I was to go back down. If you know me, I have an issue with stairs and heights. Let's just say I've had one too many accidents. Chloe, the Australian, caught up to me and basically told me that there was no way she'd let me NOT continue. She promised that she'd stay with me and go slowly if I needed so that I'd make it. I agreed. I will probably never go there again in my life, it was imperative that I made the most of the experience. While we were walking back down the stairs, Chloe and I talked music. She was telling me about some finnish celloists and had me listen to some. It was amazing. We talked a little about metal and how most people steer clear of it when really most metal musicians are musical geniuses. We talked a little about Linkin Park and the next thing I knew we were back at the beach. I was so thankful.

We headed back to the bus to make our way to Honfleur. I don't really know what it is about Honfleur that they expected us to get so excited about. It's just a town on the water. Exhausted, we all sat on the dock and ate lunch. And finally, after an hour at Honfleur, we made our final bus trip to Deauville. We crossed the Pont de Normandie on our way to Deauville: a cable-stayed bridge (as Wiki called it) over the Seine that links Le Havre and Honfleur.

We got to the hotel around 16h. We were given our room assignments and then regrouped in the lobby at 16h30 to be shown the way to town.

Between our hotel and the centreville of Deauville, there is a hippodrome (a horse track) much like the one in Fort Erie but completely outdoors. We walked along the outside edge of a hippodrome and all the way to the beach. From there we were free to explore the city. I decided to stay with Atyeh and the guys (Jonas and Patrick, the danes, and Andy the brit). Deauville is kind of shaped like a pinwheel in that there is a centre, and from there it goes in different directions. I'm not sure if that made sense.

The first thing we did was a find a sports bar. I guess a common thing to do in Europe for people who dislike beer is to mix it with lemonade. In the UK they call it Chandy, in France they call it panaché, if I'm not mistaken. Atyeh had one because she hates beer. We sat and chatted about drinking games for the most part and how they differ in different countries. Andy told us about the Dirty Pint. Basically there is the "dick" of the night (he explained how they play it with his soccer team and the person who had an open chance and missed or something of the sort had to drink the Dirty Pint). Everyone else in the group pools their money to buy half a pint of Guinness, and with the rest of the money they buy shots and add them to the drink. He said Bailey's is always included because when mixed with Guinness (and I think all beer) it curdles. And at the end of it, the "dick" of the night has to drink the pint in its entirety. He asked if we had anything like that in Canada, and the only thing we could think of was Kings. He also told us about anchor (which I'm not sure if we have in Canada or not). Anchor is played with teams, coins and a pitcher of beer. Every member of the team has to try to get their coin in the pitcher, and the team with the least coins in has to drink it. The reason it's called Anchor is that the whole team has to help to drink the pitcher, but the last person has to finish it off no matter how much beer is left. He said how it's always funny to see teams want to screw over their Anchor and each only take a sip, leaving their Anchor to basically drink the whole pitcher. Jonas and Patrick told us about a game they play during festivals in Denmark called Beer Bowling. I don't exactly remember, but it was something along the lines of this. Each team has 2 member and they sit on chairs beside each other but a little separated. Between them is a bottle half filled with water (to keep it standing) and each member has a cup of beer in their hand. The team they're playing against has to bowl a ball to get the water bottle down and once it's down, they team sitting has to drink. There was a little more to it but I don't remember.

After that little drink at the sports bar, we headed to dinner. I feel bad for not remember the restaurant's name, but it was a great place. We had some interesting conversations during dinner. We talked about certain delicacies that each of our countries has. Denmark has a pig skin dinner that is a big tradition. England has it's traditional roast dinner, equipped with Yorkshire puddings. Mmmmm. And for Canada... Well the only thing I could think of was French Canada and meat pies, poutine and beaver tails. We talked about a bunch of movies and Andy revealed his love for some romcoms, The Ugly Truth being the one that he mentioned. We talked about weirdly placed piercings and how MRIs are so strong that a machine can rip the piercing right out of your skin.

After dinner, we stopped for ice cream. I had cherry and mango sorbets. Mmm. We were going to go play pool, but the place we'd seen apparently only had one pool table so we search for somewhere to have drinks. We went to 2 different places that were very very over priced. Before we could find our sports bar from the afternoon, we decided we were tired and headed back to the hotel.

Bed time.

On Saturday morning we headed to Bayeux. The Tapisserie de Bayeux is a museum containing the hand woven tapestry that depicts Guillaume le conquérant (William the Conqueror)'s feat to conquer England. A 70 foot tapestry with impeccable detailing. It was amazing. Just outside its gift shop, there was a Canadian soldier in a glass case (obviously a mannequin) wearing his war uniform. It made us Canadians feel very patriotic.

Though we would have wished to go to Juno Beach (where the Canadians landed on June 6h 1944), we ended up at Omaha Beach, where the Americans landed. It was a beautiful beach, and a beautiful day. On the way in, we drove by the cemetery where fallen soldiers are buried. We were only given half and hour on the beach, so everyone took their shoes off, ran around in the sand and put their feet in the water. Then back to Deauville. We were given the option to get off the bus in centreville, but I was exhausted. As soon as we got back to the hotel, it was naptime for me. I woke up around dinner time and was planning to head out for a meal with the rest of our floor at the restaurant across the road. Apparently it was a small restaurant and they only had room for 6. So 6 of the 23 that we were snuck in and took a seat. I was still tired, and in a bit of a cranky mood, so I just headed back to the hotel, grabbed some snacks from the vending machine and went upstairs. Everyone was going out, but with the long day on the bus the next day I decided against joining. In hindsight, I probably should have gone.

On Sunday morning, we were told to be ready and at the busses for 9h30. Groggy and hungover, everyone made their way to the busses and were ready for 9h30. I guess in France people are never on time and we didn't leave until 10h.

Sunday was by far the longest day of the trip. It basically consisted on being on the bus, stopping to stretch, and getting back on the bus. We were mistaken when we didn't understand how the ride home would take longer than the ride there because apparently an even more scenic route existed. We were scheduled to arrive back in Nancy by 22h, but we didn't get in until almost 1h.

As soon as I got to my room I unpacked, took a mini shower (aka washed my hair in the sink), got my stuff together for tomorrow, Skyped Momma D and now I'm heading to bed. Talk about a long weekend.