Mercredi 11 juin

Coach B

Happy birthday Maddie!

 

 

Another busy day!
Early start.
First stop Bayeux, approaching via the Eisenhower memorial, we observed the incredible detail of the Bayeux tapestry whilst listening to an audio guide, then wandered into the town where each pupil (and teacher) asked for an ice cream in impeccable French.(Seriously, there were some lovely accents!)
Time to relax and consume whilst others shopped in the street market buying a wide variety of souvenirs.
Off to Arromanches for lunch on the cliff tops and a visit to the 360 degree cinema to view the story of '100 jours de la Bataille de Normandie'.  A very moving film …, it was noticeable that as it ended, every single person was silent and moved out in a silent reflective mood.
A group photo (starring Graham, our much loved driver) and then a drive dropping down from the cliff tops of Arromanches to Gold Beach to Asnelles where we mixed science with French, learning about oyster production.  Your son/daughter will be able to brief you in full about this and after their tasting, will be asking you to buy them for tea.  They have been the main subject of conversation amongst the staff ever since.
Afterwards, afternoon tea at the top of the cliffs at Longues sur Mer - a gun battery taken by the Devonshire Regiment on 7^th June.  The detail of the rifling was still intact.
All back for dinner followed by a beautiful birthday cake in honour of Maddy's birthday.
 

Coach C Report

Started off at Trouville.. the pupils bought us our picnics by speaking French with the vendors.  We ate our picnics on the beach - played splat on the beach, hosted by Mr Tunmore.  Then on to Pegasus Bridge where we ordered our drinks from Madame Gondrée in the café which was the first house liberated in France.  A Veteran spoke to one of our students about his experiences, and then agreed to pose with the whole group.

Then to the museum for a tour and a film introduced by Prince Charles.  Then on to Ranville cemetery where we found the grave of the parachutist who was buried with his dog, both of whom died on 6^th June.  Looked at the differences between the graves of the Belgian and German graves, and placed stones on the Jewish graves.  All finished with another game in the park mixing with local French children.