Sunday with families

Each family has chosen different activities for the weekend, but many are seeing the same sites but in a different order!  Today began with a blue sky and sun but in the afternoon the rain clouds moved in.  Tomorrow is Labor Day here and the weather still seems a bit iffy.

Here are some pictures from today's activities:


Jess went with Anais and her family to visit Giverny, the home and garden of Claude Monet.

Taylor and Heidi went horseback riding and to laser tag with Tilly.

Isaiah went for a hike with Leo's family and got caught in the rain!

Maddie and Maeve went to Euro Disneyland with Julie and her mother.

Jasmine and Janet went to St. Malo with Emma and her mother.

Matthieu and Garry went to Etretat.  Also visiting the town and cliffs today were Michael and Andreas, Abby and Agathe, and Harrison and Hugo.  

Adam, Orlane, and her family visited the castle at Champ de Bataille.

Catherine and Marine went to the Parc Asterix amusement park!  It is based on the Asterix comic books and movies that we watched in class at BHS.

Jessie went with Berenice and her family to Honfleur, Etretat, and are spending the night near Mont St. Michel.

This is Mont St. Michel!  Several students Enjoyed a day trip here even though the weather wasn't the best.  Josie and Damien, Tom and Zoe, River and Louis, and Brianna and Eugénie.

Saturday!

The French students had their practice exams this morning so most students and families spent the afternoon visiting  different sites in the area.  Here are some of the photos from their day:

Jasmine and Janet went to Brittany with Emma and her mother.  Here is a photo from Rennes.

 Matthieu, Garry, Tom and Zoe visited Rouen and went into the Church of Joan of Arc.

Maeve and Maddie went to Honfleur with Julie.

 

 Harrison and Abby visited Monet's house and gardens in Giverny with Hugo and Agathe.

Many students (and Madame and Mrs. Hamilton, too!) went with their host families to Etretat and ran into each other there.  Isaiah and Leo, Brianna and Eugénie, River and Louis, Adam and Orlane...  

 Sara worked on learning how to play the piano with Aliciane.

 Catherine's picture of the Guillaume le Conquérant bridge in Rouen.

Michael's lunch in Rouen.  French Macdo!!

Josie and Jessie went with Damien and Berenice to an amusement park.

And one from last night's go-karting adventure:

Friday at school

Another long day at school!  We had classes all day long and everyone was a bit restless and ready for the weekend.  One group had their class canceled because the teacher was out sick so we managed to organize a quick trip to the National Police station for a tour and explanation of how things work in France.  Tomorrow morning the French students have practice tests for the baccalaureate so the Americans get to sleep in.  Youpi!!!

Thursday - Beaches of Normandy

This morning the group gathered in the courtyard before meeting our very fancy coach bus to visit the beaches where the Allies landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944.  We had five stops planned on our trip along the coast.

After a 1.5 hour drive, we arrived at Arromanches-les-bains.  We had a few minutes to look around and then had some time in the museum gift shop for the D-Day memorial.  Then we entered into a small 360 degree cinema that showed the events of D-Day and the weeks that followed using video footage from the time.  It was a very emotional film and we exited with a new understanding of the magnitude of D-Day.

The second stop was at Longues-sur-mer..  There we visited several German bunkers that were still standing from the war.  The bunkers were strategically built in the hill so that they were difficult to spot from the ocean.  Even after a great deal of bombing from the air and sea, it took the Americans more than a day to gain control on June 7, 1944.

The third stop was Colleville-sur-mer for a school lunch picnic: baguette with ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato, bag of chips, cookies, and an apple.  Yum!  We had beautiful weather and so we sat in the grass to eat.  After lunch we went into the American cemetery.  First we visited the wall of lost soldiers where we could read the names of the 1,557 American soldiers who were missing in action from the D-Day landing.






"Here are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and who sleep in unknown graves.  This is their memorial, the Whole Earth Their Sepulcher."

Next, we went up to the memorial statue and were able to see the graves spread out in front of us.  9,387 Americans who were killed on D-Day or the days that followed are buried in the cemetery, and only four of them were women.  Another 14,000 Americans had been buried there but their families requested that their bodies be sent back home.  We took a walk through the cemetery before going back to the bus.

The fourth stop was at Omaha beach, just down the hill from the cemetery.  Some students gathered sand from the beach to bring home to America.

The final stop was at Pointe du Hoc, which is the name of the cliffs where they come to a point.  On June 6, 1944, 225 US Army Rangers landed on the small pebble beach at the bottom of the cliff that is 30 meters high.  They had to throw ropes with anchors up to the top of the cliff to climb up and fight the Germans.  135 of those Rangers died on that day.

At Pointe du Hoc we were able to walk around and visit the remains of the German bunkers, see the large craters that pockmark the landscape from bombs that were dropped there, and at the same time enjoy a spectacular view of the cliffs and the ocean.  The site creates a powerful mix of emotions.