One Way or Another....It Always Works Out!

Well, today was a really good day! As we mentioned in the last update, our plan today was to visit Omaha Beach in Normandy. The web information about buses made the trip look very straight forward and seamless, but reality always seems to drop right in between those adjectives and shake things up a bit. We could always take the tours, but they are pretty pricey and we figured we could do just as well on our own. First reality: sleeping longer than expected and waking to heavy rains (we had decided to try hitchhiking today). Once we realized that we would be completely soaked by the time we got to the main road, with no guarentee that we could get a ride, we decided to head into town and check out the bus. The first bus stop we got to was not the line we needed, so we hoofed it to the central station and found the bus to Bayeux, where we would then change to a second bus for the second half of the journey. The first part falls into the seamless category, they even gave us the student discounts!!! Once we got to Bayeux, the bus driver told us the connecting bus did not come to that stop and told us where to catch it. As far as we were able to find, the second bus did not run anywhere from the local stops, at least not during the hours that we needed...nor were there any posted return times. After the final hope that the bus would arrive (reality) we decided we would do our best to walk out of town and resume the original plan of hitchhiking. We had gottne that far and paid a bus fare already; we weren't about to give up! We walked the direction of the route out of town, stopped at a wine store to double-check our directional intuition and kept on trucking. Shortly there after we saw a sign for Omaha Beach (we were only about 4 miles from the goal!). We then immediatly stuck out our thumbs and hoped for the best,. Within ten minutes a van pulled over and woman by the ne of Isabelle, and her little dog Croquette, picked us up and we were on our way to Omaha Beach. Through broken English/French we talked along the way. She dropped us off and we agreed that if she was there when got back, great, if not, we still appreciated the ride. Omaha Beach is a beautiful beach with blue green waters that tumble gently onto the shore with such tranquility that it ses to betray the horror of June 6, 1944. Seeing the beach was an incredible experience; as you look up the hillside that gradually slopes up from the sand you can see the reminents of the Nazi bunkers, like massive gavestones rising from the grasses. There are a number of memorials on the hill, including an American cemetary (unfortunately it was closed already). Looking out on the sea, you can't help to imagine what it must have looked like to be a German soldier and see thousands of troops, planes and boats coming ashore. The battle lasted about 6hr 30min. When stand on the beach looking up, you have to wonder what it would have Bern like to be one of the first to reach the beach and have to endure so many hours of being bombarded by German artillery. It was a weird experience to be there, yet a great experience at the same time. After a while, we decided it was time to go home. We walked back to the parking lot and found that our ride had continued on and we turned our attention to the trek back home, thumbs out at every car that passed. As the sun set and the sky grew darker, we realized getting a ride was gonna be difficult, but the buses were no longer running and we had no other option...we could always try to call a cab, but that was financial suicide that was more of a last resort than an option. We walked for quite a while in what we thought was the right direction. Eventually, a driver stop and gave us a swift ride to highway that could get us home. To our dismay, our destination was 44 km away and Bayuex (where we started) was now 15 km away. It was about 8pm and we still had a ways to go. Luckily, being an on ramp to the highway, there was fairly regular traffic. We made a small sign with our destination ( smiley face and all...just to show we are friendly) and decided to wait it out with thumbs held high. After about an hour, we began to wonder how this all might pan out, walking was an option but it was not appealing and would probably mean we would get home in time to check out of the hotel and the taxi, well that has already been said. At that moment, when it seemed like it wasn't going to happen.. a small white car pulled over and offered us a ride. He was going all the way to Carn and knew exactly where our lodging was....oh yeah! We hade a great conversation in French- English-Spanish all chopped up just enough to get the main idea across. It was great! We made it home and cooked some ready made pasta in the room... it could have been the tastiest, packaged pasta of all time (it had been cheese sandwiches and oranges up to this point). We made it back happy and tired and are going to try and stay a couple more days in Normandy...if we can change our train tickets. That's all for now. Tune in again later for further updates!