We avoided Caen, the same way we did three years ago, by crossing the Pegasus Bridge. This bridge, which crosses the Caen Canal, is the site of the first and one of the most famous D-Day battles. The British wanted to capture the bridges over the Caen Canal and the Orne river which runs parallel to it. These bridges would allow them to maintain contact between airborne troops East of the two waterways and the main invasion force West of the waterways. Shortly after midnight on D-Day, the British sent troops in gliders to capture both bridges. The bridge over the Orne was not heavily defended, but the Pegasus Bridge over the Canal was. Both bridges were captured and defended by a small group of heroic troups. This forced German counter attacks on the beach heads to come from the South where the Allies were better prepared to fight.

In addition to the British troups that landed here, the owners of a Café next to the bridge played an important role in the operation. The woman, Thérèsa Gondrée, understood German. The Germans didn't realize this so they spoke openly in front of her. Information she aquired was passed by her English speaking husband to the resistance and they passed it directly to London. She passed one piece of information that was very important, the location of the button that set off the explosives under the bridge. Her daughter and granddaughter still operate the café.

We arrived at the bridge around 9 a.m. on Sunday, so at first we had the area pretty much to ourselves except for a few fishermen. The glider landing locations are marked. Although I had read about the accuracy of the landings, when you see how close the markers are to the bridge, you can see why Germans were surprised. I had read Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E. Ambrose, so I was able to locate all the landmarks (gun emplacements, bunkers etc) in the area. It brought the whole operation to life.

The bridge that now spans the canal is a new bridge that looks like the original. The actual Pegasus Bridge is located a few hundred yards away at a museum.

After we walked around the whole area it was time to travel on to Beuzeville where Jan hoped to get a room at an "auberge de charme." Along the way, at Pont L'Eveque, we encountered a stop light in the middle of a stretch of roadway. It turned out that the stop light was necessary since the road was too narrow for two way traffic. After we cleared the narrow stretch of road we found a village filled with flowers. Jan had noticed one of the "Villes et Villages Fleuris" signs with three or four flowers. Villages in France can ask to have their gardens rated. The highest number of flowers given is four. This village had to have great floral displays, and it did.

We parked next to the city hall where there was a wedding going on. After watching the post-wedding photo session, we walked around Pont L'Eveque until we were overcome with hunger. The "croque monsieurs" in a store window attracted our attention and satisfied the hunger. It was time to head on to Beuzeville.

When we arived at Beuzeville, the first two hotels we stopped at were full! We were beginning to fear we might have a repeat of the previous night's search for a hotel room. Were we going to be forced to search for a room? There was one more hotel in the area, the Hotel de la Poste. This hotel was once a stop for stage coaches. We asked the person at the desk if there was a room. He didn't know but promised to get someone who did. The gentleman who came to help us was clearly the owner. When we asked him if he had a room, his answer was, "It depends." This was getting spooky! It turned out that on weekends, priority for reservations for the hotel rooms are given to clients of the restaurant. The price was right, so we agreed to stay for dinner and breakfast.

Once we had our room for the evening secured, we drove to Honfleur. We had gone to Honfleur with Terre in 2001, but wanted to see a little more of the city. The sun had been shining the first time, but this time it was cloudy. In my opinion, Honfleur is best seen when it's sunny. It seemed much more crowded this time, and we found the flower garden next to the river more to our liking than the shop-lined streets.

We returned to the hotel too early for supper, so we rested our weary feet for awhile. Just as we got ourselves settled in, there were three bangs and the sound of scraping metal from the street in front of the hotel (photo above right). Jan stood up just in time to see the last of the three bangs as a car ran into another car and sped off. Such excitement! The police were called and went off in hot pursuit of the car that left the scene of the crime. After a short while, the cars that could move left. The one car that was disabled was taken away by a tow truck and the debris in the street was cleared. No sooner had the street been cleared then a pair of horsemen rode up to the bar (green awning in the photo). Just like the old west, but no gunfight!

That night's meal was superb. The first course was a crêpe with smoked salmon. That was followed by quail medallions in a sweet cider sauce with apples, carots and potatoes. After baked Camembert, the dessert was the restaurant's famous Mousse au Fromage Blanc à la gelée de cidre.