Mémorial

« La douleur m'a brisée, la fraternité m'a relevée, de ma blessure a jailli un fleuve de liberté »

The pain broke me, brotherhood raised me, from my wound sprung a river of freedom.


Words written on the front of Mémorial; written by Paul Dorey, a Caen poet on behalf of the whole of Normandy. So I finally made it to Mémorial...I did say I would go, but I had promised Dad that I would go with him and Mum so I really did wait until the last minute! Both very informative and very moving, especially the section on the deportation of the Jewish race from the various countries. I just somehow can't get it into my head just how many people lost their lives, and what a massive scale it actually was. It really did make me think just how much the war did change Europe, and how much we balanced on a knife edge between victory and defeat. How futile it all seems, on all sides, especially when civilians were dragged into it. A very good museum, although slightly biased in favour of the French...one passage in an exhibit did say 'with or without the Allies, France was free from foreign rule...' - I think it was the 'with or without' thing! But altogether a well put together museum and well worth a visit. And this is the outside of it!

The exhibit on the Battle of Normandy was really really interesting for me, especially after living here for so long. The war really did affect the Normans; I'm so surprised why they are so welcoming to us Brits and Americans. I mean, we did save them from occupation but with massive loss of civilian lives and absolute destruction of towns and cities. An example would be where the Americans were trying to take out the bridges of supply to Caen; but ended up bombing Caen instead during lunchtime, killing over 300 people!

In other news, my parents arrived today. I am so so happy to see them; I have missed them so much. I can't even put into words how much I have missed them. My parents and I spent the afternoon in the sunshine with Becky, Thomas, and Kendra, and were joined for a little while by Caroline, Sylvère and Zoé and a fleeting visit from Thibaud. Such a lovely afternoon and so nice to see my friends finally meet my parents, not that I talk about them a lot or anything! My favourite thing about the afternoon was probably Dad announcing every now or then "I recognise that person" (as he reads my Blip every day!) dragging both Thomas and Thibaud in off the street to join our little group. Shows he's been paying attention! I think my parents have really got to know my friends through Blip, and I think they quite like finally meeting them...

Our evening was spent with my responsable Kristie where we went for a pizza, French style. By French style, I mean ingredients that usually are not found on a pizza, found on a pizza. Think potatoes or mango or something like that! Great evening, yet also really sad as I won't be seeing Kristie (who really has been a constant for me) until I come back to Caen.