Made it to Caen (pronounced “Cone”)

With an uneventful and somewhat relaxing flight, we begin our tour of France. Something big is going to happen, just know it since the flight and the rental car process went without a hitch.

If you’ve never been to France, the customs process is very simple. Get off the plane, walk the standard 5.5 miles to customs and be prepared to fill out a form the size of a bedsheet to enter the country. France is different, the walk is the same but there are no forms. None! Just show your passport and off to get your luggage. Couldn’t be simpler. There isn’t even a check of your baggage as you exit to the lobby! Now how in the hell did those terrorists get into the airport and successfully explode a bomb last year?????

Anyway, found the rental car company, Eurocar, and didn’t have a single issue. No upsell of insurance or extras but he did ask if we wanted a more comfortable car. Not sure why, we have a Fiat 500, plenty of room for a couple of Hobbits carrying a backpack. So onward we go.

Google Earth, one of the many wonders of modern technology, showed the roads leaving the airport as a real mess. Fortunately with my navigator wife this was not a problem. We simply followed the written instructions we printed out before coming to this welcoming land and found our way to Caen without a single mistake. Once in Caen, that was a different story. Seems that in the last 2 years they changed the street our apartment is on to a “pedestrian” district, no cars. I looked this up on Google Earth before we got here so it wasn’t a surprise but finding the side road that I noted on our instructions became quite a challenge. No matter, we simply drove into the pedestrian district and parked in front of the apartment. Amazing how fast those Frenchmen can move!

Jean-Francois met us outside the apartment and helped us hide the car while explaining how to use the 3 sets of keys to get in. Jean-Francois and his wife Jocelyne have a beautiful home in the historic district of Caen with a ground floor apartment they rent to tourists and adventurers like me and the misses. This one bedroom flat is a perfect base while here in Normandy. Pics below of the humble abode.

Caen was a major battle site during WW2. I’ll give more details later today but it took about 6 weeks for the Allies to capture this town which they thought would be captured within the first day of the invasion. Bit of an underestimate as to the Axis forces that were located here. So today we’re off to the Caen Memorial Museum to walk through this history. We’ll write more this evening so until we get back, chow.