Our school took part in an exchange program with a French school, where students would have a pen pal and exchange letters etc. Then once a year they would spend a week with their pen pal, staying with them in France.
I was asked to go with the French department on the trip. I think this was mainly because I was a man (there was a shortage of male teachers at the time) and also because I was young, without a family and could afford to spend a week away from home.
We have a lovely week and I stayed at the apartment of one of the French teachers. We spent a weekend together, shopping in some of the local markets and also visiting the Bayeux Tapestry. We also did a lot of days out with the children too.
Le Mont St Michel
This is small island off the coast of Normandy with what is basically like a Castle on. It is very picturesque and the beauty is that you can walk to the island when the tide is out, across the beach.
It was a fantastic walk in glorious weather. However, we did follow our guide carefully as the bay does have a lot of quick-sand which can be very dangerous.
The D-Day landing beaches
Another memorable and emotional day out was a trip to the D-Day landing beaches in the Normandy coast. It was amazing to see the sort of conditions the brave soldiers went through.
The American war cemeteries were all of the soldiers are buried are beautiful. In fact they were the scene of the one of my favourite photos that I have ever taken.
A trip to Honfleur
After a visit to a distillery where Calvados is made we heading out to the lovely quaint village of Honfleur. We had a lovely lunch!
So that was that, a lovely trip, but very tired when we returned home.
This post was written after this blog was first published. It was added to record this specific event and was back-dated to the event time/date.
