normandy and brittany
a short weekend adventure
Hi friends,
I’m going to keep this letter short and sweet this week (or at least try). I’m currently trying to type with frozen fingers because, according to my books, today marked the first day of winter in Paris. The temperature dropped to 0 degrees Celsius this morning, which prompted me to take my beloved grey winter coat out of my closet. The heater in my flat is also in use, and I’ll be putting on my thick ski socks for bed tonight. Exam season is on its way, and I’m rested enough to fight my French classmates for seats in the library if required. But enough about the oncoming winter blues! Here’s a little recap of my last weekend of freedom before lock-in season:
Saturday, November 15th
A month ago, my friends and I signed up for a student tour group to visit Normandy and Brittany for the weekend. All of us were eager and excited ~ for around 100 euros, we got a tour bus, a guide, breakfast, and a night’s stay in a hotel (a steal!). With around 50 other students, we were to travel north-west to the coastal towns of Deauville, Honfleur, Saint-Malo, and Mont Saint Michel.
My friend Hanna and I woke up at 5:45 am and trudged to the metro. We hopped off the subway and met up with our other friends at the bus stop. Everyone trickled in at different times. Madeline and Annabelle arrived shortly after we did, then Louis and Ed. Sofia, worryingly, texted us to ask if the bus would leave without her, and Curtis nonchalantly walked up to us right before we were to board. We called my friend liv ₊˚⊹ ᰔ , but it turned out that she had turned off her alarms in her sleep and would not make it on time. I was shocked. This was incredibly unlike her! In fact, she texted me the night before that she had hustled to get her work done before this weekend, and what am I going to pack? As for our friend Gellert, we didn’t hear from him until we boarded the bus. If I had to bet which friend wasn’t making it, it would be him, so I wasn’t that surprised.
I honestly thought that Liv and Gellert would abandon all hope of joining us on the trip. Instead, their entire Saturday was spent in a BlaBlaCar (French carpool) chasing our tour bus in hopes of reuniting with the rest of our group.
I’m not sure what else went down because they were both too traumatised by playing chase all day that they each swore the other to secrecy, not telling us what happened. When they arrived, they joked that their private jet had mechanical issues, so it seemed like all in good fun. The only photo I saw of them in the ride-share was a selfie with their driver, so at least they gained a new friend.
While they were sorting out their little car chase, the rest of us arrived at our first stop.
Honfleur
Honfleur sits on the estuary that links the Seine to the English Channel. It has an old harbor and plenty of 16th- and 18th-century townhouses. When we arrived, we were greeted by fog descending from the distant mountains. Since it was Saturday, we happily explored the local farmer’s market. Hanna, Annabelle, and I enjoyed a lovely 3-euro apple strudel for breakfast. After just one bite, we had sugar coating our chins and sprinkling down the fronts of our jackets. Talk about a sweet start!
Honfleur is also a favourite subject for many impressionists. Monet and Boudin held the coastal town in high regard. The painting below is my favourite of the city. I can see why he painted it this way ~ the feeling of seeing the city in real life, especially the shadows of the mountains behind the port, somehow is the same feeling I get when looking at this Monet piece.
Deauville
The next stop was a short one as well. I didn’t get many photos because we spent a lot of time trying to find a decent cup of coffee in the town. This area is much more upscale and has a lovely, sprawling flat beach that extends far out into the coast. It looked like the beach scene in Little Women (2019). Anyways, a few fun facts I learned about this place.
Coco Chanel opened her first store here
This was the town that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about in The Great Gatsby, where Tom and Daisy Buchanan visited when they went on their honeymoon
Saint-Malo
We then hopped on the bus again for another two hours to the coastal port of Saint-Malo in Brittany. This city used to be a pirate stronghold right on the English Channel. Its ancient city is surrounded by a tall rock wall approximately 15 meters high, a fortress designed exactly as described in the books I read when I was younger to keep enemies out. If I recall correctly, construction started around the 12th century. Here, we explored the city in the evening, reunited with Gellert and Liv, had dinner in town, climbed to the top of the wall, and walked the town's perimeter from above. After our tour group checked into our hotel, which was a 20-minute walk outside the old city. We returned to town for dinner, where my friends and I played a murder-mystery game at a restaurant while we ate, trying to guess who the Mafia boss was. At night, I claimed the bottom bunk, a choice recommendation from my brother who used to sleep in one while serving in the Singapore Army, and probably had the best sleep of my life away from home. I can’t believe I spent my childhood fighting for the top bunk this entire time.
Sunday, November 16th
We woke up in Saint-Malo, and after an excellent sleep, my friends and I walked into town for our morning coffee. The walk was blissful. It's a sleepy town, slow to wake as fall gradually turns into winter, and as the tourist numbers dwindle. It’s as if everyone is bracing for the cold to finally freeze everything over.
Mont Saint Michel
Now for the star of the trip! After departing the peaceful Saint-Malo, our adventure picks up speed as we arrive at Mont Saint-Michel. This place has been on my bucket list since before moving to France. It’s a tidal island a kilometre off the mainland and was only accessible during low tide in the Middle Ages. Our tour guide told us we had four hours to explore here, so needless to say, we set off on foot quite quickly. The ten of us walked up the windy, rocky, and narrow streets, admiring the signs and saying to each other how much it reminded us of a medieval city that Universal Studios tries to replicate (spoiler, this one’s the original). Turns out, this island inspired the Kingdom of Corona in Disney’s Tangled, which is why it looked so familiar. My friends and I had mussels and fries before setting off to explore the abbey at the top of the mountain. If there was a movie or short film sequence, hanging out with my friends as we climbed the steps of the abbey and through the winding corridors of the church up top would make a great montage.
Other than the bus ride back home, where we played many rounds of photo roulette, completed schoolwork before a busy week ahead, and caught some sleep in before a late-night metro ride home, it was relatively uneventful for quite an already eventful weekend (Curtis will probably kill me for immortalizing on the internet that he got carsick at our rest stop. So, if you’re reading this, he hasn’t found out just yet:)
If a fairytale kingdom did exist, this would be it. It was a magical weekend, getting to visit so many places that inspired people to create, build, and imagine. I’m glad to have spent time with the friends I made in Paris before a few of them go home at the end of the semester.
Thanks for reading! Until next time,
Renee
If you haven’t already, read All the Light We Cannot See, it’s set in Saint Malo!!
this was THE trip