Day 3 - Friday (8.5)

Today Ryan had to go back to London for work related stuff. In the morning we puttered around the house, had some lunch and then headed toward Caen to take Ryan to the ferry. This is the cheapest way for Ryan to get home, but takes about 9 hours. He'll be back on Monday so it's a very short weekend trip for him.

After dropping Ryan off at the ferry, Bev and I drove along the coast past the D-Day landing beaches. Juno Beach, Sword Beach, Gold Beach, and Omaha Beach. Since we are planning to see the American Cemetary and come back down the coast on Monday (when we pick up Ryan), we didn't stop. Both Ryan and Bev have said that the American Cemetary is a sobering sight.

We did drive on, but got lost several times. We finally ended up in Creully, a small village which has an umbrella factory. Yes, an umbrella factory. Come on, I live in Seattle; I had to stop. It's a quaint two story building, but it looks as though most of the work is done on the first floor. There were only 5 or so employees, but lots of umbrellas.

Here's the welcome statue, and building in the background. (Note to Autumn: this is the closest I have found to lawn art. BTW, I can't find garden gnomes anywhere. Sure, they have Monet's home in Normandie, but can you find one garden gnome?)



When you step inside, it's a large room with work stations, displays, and inventory shelves.







So while the umbrella factory, H2O Parapluies, is small, it's very endearing. The staff were so helpful and didn't mind guests milling around as they assembled umbrellas.

By the time we left the umbrella factory, we had to head home. It was 6pm, and Bev wanted to get to the grocery store before it closed at 7pm. Before everything closed at 7pm. On a Friday night. But we got lost, again. :) We eventually made it to a grocery store and got home around 8:15, made a late dinner, and then talked about teaching until 2:30 am. I had a great day, not just because I was in France, but because I have a good friend. I am lucky.