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John’s Shirt / Shorts (color sold out) / Shoes / My Pants / Tank / Sandals

Just uploaded 71 pictures for this blog post. HA! Needless to say I have LOTS to say about our amazing roadtrip from Paris to Normandy, Giverny and Mont Saint Michel. Whew, where to even begin…

We began our six week Summer travels in Paris… CLICK HERE for that blog post… and we then headed to Normandy! For that first week in Paris, we did not have (nor would I suggest) a rental car. For Normandy however, I would say it’s a MUST! Honestly not sure how you would even see the sights here without one. On the day we checked out of our Paris Airbnb, we took an Uber to the car rental place (we always use Sixt) to get an SUV for the week for the six of us. I chose the furthest rental place outside the city, but still within Paris, so that John wouldn’t have to drive much in the center of the craziness of Paris. The Sixt location I chose was Paris Neuilly Porte Maillot which was also on our path to Asnelles in the Normandy region.

So I will be super honest and say that although I am “great” at planning trips, my planning usually kind of ends at location selections, accommodations and transportation. I am such a fan of just exploring and asking the locals what to do and see once we’ve arrived that I definitely fall short on the details sometimes. Especially with places like Normandy that require a good bit of research and planning.

But that’s where we insert… MY MOM! Let’s just say that in lots of respects, we are polar opposites. I am the creative, fly by night, figure it out as we go type and my mom is the ultimate planner and organizer. From the very first year I started our Summer adventures in Oregon ten years ago now, she quite literally makes an entire notebook of plans, maps and printouts for me. She’s come along on each of our travels anywhere from 7-14 days which I LOVE!

So for Normandy, my mom was KEY. She not only researched where to stay and what to see and do, but she also did so much research on D-Day and what occurred where which for this very non-history buff, turned out to be incredibly interesting!

One thing I will say before I get going is that there is sooooo much to see and do in Normandy. Yes, I paid zero attention in history class… just enough to take the tests… but I had no idea the enormity and the spanse of D-Day until this trip. I had always thought it was one landing on one area of the coast but it was a massive undertaking that encompassed numerous cities. It was so incredibly heavy to experience and see it all and I enjoyed it so much more than I ever imagined I would.

Where We Stayed… First, Asnelles!

As far as where to stay, I can only speak to what we did and where we stayed. My mom divided it up between staying half the week on the beach and half the week in the city which we loved and I would also suggest. There isn’t enough to do (on-site) in any one area so it was nice to be able to see and walk to different things at each location.

For the first half of the week we stayed in Asnelles at an Airbnb on the beach. This section of the beach is called Gold Beach and is where is British landed on D-Day.

Here’s a peek AND A LINK HERE for our Airbnb in Asnelles. Absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend!

Although it isn’t your typical “beach vacation”, simply the views were absolutely beautiful with the most gorgeous sunsets!

What was also super interesting was that the entire coast in our area was lined with these massive concrete structures that created an artificial harbour for the British on D-Day called Mulberry. The British created 115 of these massive concrete caissons and then transported them to the coast of France for installation on the evening prior to D-Day. An absolutely UNREAL sight!

And of course we can’t have a Summer adventure without a little Winnie dancing!

A short drive into town in Asnelles there are several small restaurants, bakeries and shops. We went over the D-Day anniversary week so it was a smidge busier than usual but reservations still definitely weren’t really necessary anywhere.

It was also so incredible and emotional to see the huge showing of American, British and Canadian flags all over the area…

Sainte-Mere-Eglise

From Asnelles, one day we visited Saint-Mere-Eglise which was one of my favorite stops in all of Normandy. On D-Day in 1944, the town of Saint-Mere-Eglise saw heavy airborne landings around 1:40am which led to lots of casualties. One of these para-troppers, John Steele of the USA, got his parachute caught on the tower roof of the spire of the church and it STILL HANGS THERE TODAY!!! (they hung a mannequin with the original parachute to show how he hung)…

John Steele hung there for two hours, pretending to be dead until the Germans took him prisoner. He later escaped and rejoined his division. An absolutely UNREAL sight! Here’s the church and area surrounding the spire…

Oh and some of the houses in this area are GORGEOUS!!!

While I was standing taking pictures of the house above on the left, a man stopped to show us how the fence still has quite a few bullet holes from D-Day…

While in Saint-Mere-Eglise, we also visited their D-Day museum and it was INCREDIBLE!!! Absolutely worth a visit. And that’s saying a lot for a girl who did not enjoy history class and does not love museums.

All in all… Saint-Mere-Eglise is a MUST on a tour of Normandy!

Utah Beach

At any one stop along the D-Day route, there are so many memorials and museums so of course we had to pick and choose. We wanted to at least peek at as much as we could so we stopped for just a little bit along Utah beach as well…

Pointe du Hoc

One of the most beautiful, emotionally heavy and “amazing” places we visited was Pointe du Hoc. La Pointe du Hoc is a 35-metre cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy. In World War II, Pointe du Hoc was the location of a series of German bunkers and machine gun posts. Upon landing along this stretch of coast, US troops… along with over 100lbs of gear on their backs… while also soaking wet after tredging through the ocean water… scaled these 35 metre cliffs onto German fire. And the HUGE craters from the German guns and bombs are still very visible today…

Restaurant Recommendation

Although we had a lot of great meals in the Normandy area, nothing to super write home about except our dinner at L’Ephemere LINKED HERE. The entire experience from the owner greeting us when we arrived to the location, of course the gorgeous historic “castle” and grounds… and even the food was AMAZING! Would highly recommend!

Where We Stayed… Second, Bayeux!

After half the week in Asnelles, we then headed inland to Bayeux. Cutest little village! My mom went back and forth between Bayeux and Caen but after visiting Caen one day, I was definitely glad she chose Bayeux. Bayeux is a little more quaint, historic and charming in my opinion. We stayed in an Airbnb LINKED HERE that was nice. Not quite as amazing as the one in Asnelles but it worked for us!

Normandy American Cemetery

From our stay in Bayeux, we visited several more areas of Normandy including the Normandy American Cemetery. Hands down one of the most emotional, powerful and yet beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The cemetery site covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,389 American soldiers. And since pictures speak louder than words…

Winnie’s Sweater (that’s mine HA!)

Another absolute MUST SEE in Normandy for sure!

Caen

We only stopped for a quick lunch in Caen and it was a little dreary out but thought I’d share a few pictures. Unfortunately much of Caen was destroyed during the Battle of Normandy in 1944 but still a beautiful city… much much bigger than Bayeux!

Mont Saint Michel

My goodness this place was MAGIC!!! My oldest daughter Addison lived and studied in France two Januarys and one of the places her host family took her to was Mont Saint Michel… a tidal island village in Northern France. I know I say this a lot BUT truly one of the most incredible and magical places I have ever seen!!! Trying to even understand what you are looking at as far as how it’s situated on the water and everything is UNREAL! Back in the day, long long ago, it was only accessible when the tide was low making it defensible as the incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be assailants. There’s a whole tiny little town inside plus a GORGEOUS Abbey allllll the way at the top. As in lots and lots of stairs to the top! But, so worth it and the views are MAGIC!

As far as getting into Mont Saint Michel, you only need tickets to tour the Abbey at the top. If it’s a super touristy time of year, you may want to pre-book parking as well. We didn’t need to do that since we went in late May and parking was plentiful. For more information on arriving at and booking the parking lot for Mont Saint Michel I LINKED THAT HERE. You’ll drive to their parking lots (linked again here) and then simply either walk all the way to the tidal island (maybe a 45 minute walk) or take their shuttle which comes by often and drops you off right in front of the village!

Here’s a peek at the Abbey at the very top…

Linked our Exact Abbey Tickets HERE!

And the receding waters of the English Channel surrounding the village…

Giverny… Monet’s House & Gardens

My Pants / Tank / Sandals / John’s Jeans / Cardigan / Shoes

I have been dying to come here! A few AW Travel friends had made a stop in Paris before our last AW girl’s trip and they all went to Monet’s House and Gardens and said it was amazing! And it absolutely WAS! You will DEFINITELY need to pre-book your tickets. We actually wanted to go on our way to Normandy from Paris but had to come on our way out because we waited too long to book and it was sold out.

Linked our Exact Monet House & Garden Tickets HERE!

It was fairly crowded so I cannot imagine how busy it would be mid-Summer BUT so worth it! I always try and snap pictures without people around but it was definitely busy. Soooo much INSPO!!!