Another day in beautiful Normandy! We slept in until 930- our room has delightful blackout curtains and it was great to catch up on sleep. We caught the tail end of the hotel breakfast.
Just before noon, we headed out to a local ciderie for a tasting. It turned out to be the place that made the delicious cider we had on arrival. When we arrived, we were stuck behind an apple truck that was on the scales, which was pretty cool to see.
Bayeux Cider
The tasting wasn’t super formal, but we tried several ciders including a dry, sweet, rose, pear, and a mix of calvados and cider that was more similar to wine. All of these tastings were done in teeny shot-sized plastic glasses with amounts that wet the lips. This was fine and gave us an idea on the differences. We ended up buying three bottles of the Edouard, which is what we had at our hotel. It’s fermented wine-style; we’re not totally sure what that means but it is clearer (filtered?) and aged in wine barrels.
After the tasting, we went into town and walked around. We split a sausage avec pain from a grill truck that was absolutely delicious!
American Cemetery
After that, we hung out at the hotel in the afternoon before heading back to the American cemetery for taps. It was very moving and I’m glad we went back. We also walked the perimeter of the cemetery, which gave a better feel of the scale of the loss.
Next, we went to a preserved German battery near Arromanches. SMS had found it and with the guns still in place (destroyed), it helped us understand the Atlantic wall capabilities more.
Arromanches
Finally, we went to Arromanches, which was incredible. This is where the artificial harbor was built and there are still a lot of casements in place. The scale is truly industrial and mind-boggling. During our afternoon exploring, the tide was going out so we also had a better feel of how large the beach is.
Le Rapière
We went back to the hotel for a quick change before going out to dinner. I had made reservations at Le Rapière, which had rave reviews online. It was delicious! They had a lot of rules posted outside, but inside was more convivial. SMS and I got different set menus. Appetizer-wise, he was intrigued by the onion panne cotta, while I really wanted the fish soup with langoustines. For the main course, he had a cod dish while I had turbot. Finally, for dessert, we split a cheese course and a chou puff. It was excellent and a great find!
I thought I had commented on this, I guess I just read it in my email. I’m so glad that you’re posting about this trip day by day, it’s so fun to follow along.