Day 3, Part 2 of our Normandy Virtual Road Trip: Barfleur and arriving at Grandcamp-Maisy.
If you missed my tour of Château Val yesterday, then you might want to head up to my Instagram highlights and check that out. Otherwise, me GUSHING over the experience at the beginning of this video will not mean much to you. 😂
And to all of you who DM’d me about the castle… Y’ALL ARE RIGHT – IT’S MAGIC. I kept waiting for Dobby, the house-elf, to pop out from one of those 200-year old trees.
“Dobby hears things, sir. He is a house-elf; he goes all over the castle as he lights the fires and mops the floors.”
In Part 2, we land in Barfleur, considered one of the most beautiful villages in FRANCE. Yup, the ENTIRE country. She may be small, but she’s mighty pretty, and we wander around the streets together to find out why.
After that, we travel down to Grandcamp-Maisy, where I stay the night at a local B&B and have a lovely dinner out on the town.
I am trying to visit as many WW2 dog-friendly stops along the way that I can. Leaving the Manche and heading into department 14 is an experience in and of itself. The impact of WW2 immediately surrounds you, and it is difficult to express what that is like as you are driving slowly through the villages and towns.
I am small and sad as I drive slowly, holding up traffic. I know I am irritating the locals, but I cannot speed past these places that will haunt my thoughts. I sit here, deleting and typing this same paragraph over and over. Here’s the thing – I don’t know how to handle what happened here, and being so close to it is a bit horrifying. No matter where you turn, there is death. And I weep for all that was lost, especially for ma pauvre belle France.
For those of you who also enjoy my videos on YouTube, I appreciate your patience. Those videos require additional editing and uploading requirements that are difficult while I am on the road.
Bisous and big hugs from Normandie, France,
Shannon