Normandy Day 1!!!

On Friday morning we got up around 10:30, took showers, ate breakfast and made sure we were all packed. Emily and I (Sami) quickly ran out and picked up some black shoes for the festival while Robert picked up the car. Once we were all loaded up we got some food and headed out. The car we rented was a Panda Fiat in pale yellow. It was so cute and pretty roomy! After being stuck in traffic for about an hour, for an "accident" that we never saw. There were a lot of people heading out of town for the 14th of July weekend (for Bastille Day). First we headed towards Deauville, where the manor Stephane and Robert used to own is located. They bought this manor and totally renovated it, it looks exactly as I (Sami) imagined it from when I was eight. The new owners added a pool, a tennis court and turned the stables into living quarters for their family, and the barn into an apartment and pool house. When we pulled up there was an electric lawn mower roaming around the front lawn, it was so funny to watch and pretty cool. That whole area was beautiful, with lots of clean air, which was refreshing. Then we drove through the heart of Deauville which is located along the beach on one side of a bay and on the other side is a town called Trouville, where we had dinner. Both towns are similar to Carmel, since everything is upscale designer stores. We walked along the boardwalk looking for a place to eat and we finally ended up along the main strip at a seafood restaurant. For dinner we had salad, a white fish with cream sauce and rice, hard cider to wash it down and for dessert chocolate mousse. When we left for Caen around 10 the sun was just setting. We ended up spending the night at a "Formula 1" hotel in Caen. The hotel is kinda like a pod hotel, with the rooms separate from the community showers and bathrooms. The room was fairly tiny; we slept bunkbed style with Emily and I down below on a double and Robert up above on a twin. The room did a have a tv, a little table and chair, and a sink. Everything was very clean and worked perfect for what we needed. We took our showers that night, because we thought since they were community showers it would be extremly busy and hard to get in one in the morning. Then we headed off to bed, since we were planning on going to Mont Saint Michel in the morning.