Nomandy, Belgium, and back to Switzerland

Well, a lot has happened in the past few days. I ended up on the Normandy coast, in the town of Bayeux, which was the first town liberated from the Germans. It was cool, smaller than Caen, and a great central place to spend my time in Normandy. I was in a hostel for a night, but it was overbooked for the next two, so I stayed in a monestary where a few nuns took care of me and a guy from Northern Ireland who was in the same situation that I was in. He and I found the Normandy coast hard to get to without a car, so we signed up for a tour. A little pricey, but very well worth it. We saw Arromanches, then went on to the few remaining German gun emplacements, complete with German 88s. From there, we went on to the American Memorial, which some may remember from the begining and end of Saving Private Ryan (I believe that's where they were, and where it was filmed). After that, we were off to Omaha Beach (pictured). Spent a little time there, then saw Pointe du Hoc. It was an incredible trip, really. There's more pictures. After my time in Bayeux, I went on to Brugge, since I couldn't find a hostel on short notice in Belgium. Brugge is a fascinating little town, and can only be described with the assistance of pictures. This morning, I grabbed a series of trains down to Bern, Switzerland, where I'm currently crashing on Mike and Kirsten's couch. You may remember this amazing couple from early on in my soloing adventures in Europe. As soon as I got here, they prepared a specatcular meal of smoked trout, white asparagus, and absinth (the real stuff, the real way). So from this excellently hospitible base of operations, I will book my hostels for the future through Italy and Greece, since with tourisim in high season now, it is nigh impossible to find a cheap place to stay on short notice. While I realize that this sacrifices some of the freedoms of not being tied down, it does ensure that I see the places that I want to see. After Italy and Greece, I plan on going back up to Belgium, Amsterdam and the like. On a side note, Luke: Parkur is real, they really call it that, and they really practice it in parks in Bayeux. That's me for now!