Normandy- Day 2

Hello!

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2nd day in Normandy (last Saturday):

We had breakfast at the hotel in two shifts, half the group ate at 8:00 am and my group ate at 8:30. At breakfast I had a 25 minute argument with myself over whether or not I could wear my comfy white shirt with the french writing on it and not look like an idiot. I decided to wear it and hope the French people in the two towns we were visiting that day wouldn't judge me. I spent most of the day with my sweatshirt zipped up over my shirt out of fear. But I was comfy!

On the agenda for Saturday was to visit two towns, the first was Honfleur and the second Deauville. After visiting these two towns we'd hop on the bus and head back to Paris.

Honfleur:

This was the cutest seafaring town I've ever seen. Monaco's harbor is magnificent but this was a tiny town built forever ago and it was very quaint. We had 4 whole hours to spend here. I started the day walking around the outdoor market with a few friends. The market sold everything from cheese, striped clothing, cool looking liquids of some kind of all colors in cool looking bottles (they were different kind of exotic juices), to CDs from a decade ago.

We passed by the Marine Museum and I stopped in to see how much a ticket would be. For 3.5 euro we could get a double ticket that would allow us inside the Marine Museum and also inside the Anthropological Museum. I was so excited! I ran out to tell my friends and two of them decided it was too much money (...?) and they left to go walk around more. One of them stayed behind with me and as another group of people walked past I was able to convince two of them to buy a ticket as well. The Marine Museum was cute, it was really tiny but they had some cool models of ships and some old clothing. We were told the Anthropological Museum was around the corner so we started walking that direction.

We got distracted by this sweet alleyway that reminded us all of Harry Potter. It was in this alley that I remembered it was my birthday! I checked my phone and I had a text from my mom wishing me a happy birthday. I felt so happy to be in Diagon Alley (or so I imagined) that I decided that it must be my gift. I had mentioned the previous night at dinner to two people that Saturday was my birthday, but I told them I didn't want it to be a big deal and that I wasn't going to tell anyone. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything because I'd already celebrated with friends and family back home. I'd already had cake from Portillos and that meant I'd already had my birthday.

It turned out that at the end of that alleyway was the Anthropological Museum! We went inside, grabbed our pamphlet in english that described everything for us, and started exploring. Outside there was some cool old stuff and lots of birds. I looked up and saw this bird in the rafters that looked like an owl. I was so excited!! Hedwig! I showed everyone I was with, then the owl moved and it was a bird, like a big bird, but not an owl. Oh well..being in the French Diagon Alley AND seeing an owl would've been unlikely. The museum was really big inside, it was a narrow old house with 4 floors. Everything was set up inside like it would have been 300 years ago. 3.50 euros well spent!

Remember how I mentioned the striped clothing for sale in the market? They were ALL OVER the place. This was like the town of stripes. I know stripes are french, and they're also nautical, so the combination of this french town with boats must've made all the tourists (and French people!) decide what they needed to do was to wear stripes to the town, and also buy some more stripes at the market.
We ate lunch there (mine was a 4 cheese penne which I didn't think you could mess up but alas, it was not good) and I also got a scoop of Ben & Jerry's. I've been craving Ben & Jerry's since Bolivia but I couldn't get any at home because A) the Vernon Hills one is closed, and B) I tried to buy a little container of it from Jewel but the label was misleading and I chose a gross flavor and couldn't enjoy it.

Our next stop was Deauville.

There was an American film festival and I think we were there for opening night. As a result, the town was very crowded. There were a lot of really well dressed people and very fancy cars, but I think that might be normal for this town because it is very posh and expensive..kind of like a Monaco of the north without the castle.
We snuck onto the red carpet and spent a few minutes waiting for something, but nothing happened so we assumed the official kick off wasn't starting until the evening. Coco Chanel opened her first shop in this town, so we went off looking for it.

We didn't find her shop because apparently it isn't there anymore, but we did find Hérmes, Ralph Lauren, Longchamp, and a great number of other designer stores. This hotel below was gigantic, and buzzing with people. I think it might be where the guests of the film festival were staying. Someone said that last year on this trip, people saw someone like Julia Roberts or Meryl Streep, so we had our eyes peeled and our cameras ready.
As we walked past the side of the huge hotel, we saw french people up against the gate periodically shouting a name like "John!" at this guy in the suit below. We assume he's famous because he waved once. That red flag is a picture of John Wayne on a confederate flag.

After walking around the town, we headed to the beach by the harbor and relaxed before getting back on the bus.

We were told we'd have a rest stop halfway to Paris, as we'd had one on the way up there Friday morning. After over 2 hours (it's about a 3 hour trip total) someone asked the leaders of the trip whether or not we were going to stop, as most of us were starving and had to use the bathroom badly (there weren't any accessible public bathrooms in Deauville). The driver pulled into the next rest stop and we all ran to the bathroom. After I'd used the bathroom I was waiting outside for my friends to be finished. I was standing amongst everyone else who was waiting for the bathroom (of which there was but one). Out of nowhere this girl I'd known before France comes up and says "HILLARY IS IT YOUR BIRTHDAY TODAY?? I JUST SAW IT ON FACEBOOK!" I was standing next to everyone on my program, and I was forced to admit it. So I said "haha..uh..yeah." They all took my not telling them as modesty, but really I just didn't want all the attention. It was cute though, everyone sang me happy birthday, then the French kids sang to me in French, and then the Polish French guy in our program gave me 2 kisses on the cheek. Then everyone kept saying "21? You gonna go out? We've got to stay out until the morning!" That was the last thing I felt like doing so I just smiled and laughed.

Anne-Cécil, the French teacher who was in charge of us for the weekend had told us we weren't allowed to eat on the bus, and we only had 15 min to stretch our legs and go to the bathroom but not to buy food. So what did we do? We all congregated in the mini-market and bought cookies and sandwiches while the male leader of our trip stood and watched. Once on the bus you could smell the overwhelming scent of tuna and potato chips, so Anne-Cécil said we could eat if we were very careful not to be messy.

That was my trip to Normandy! I hope everyone is having a wonderful September!

Love,

Hill