I wake up to another beautiful day and go down to eat a good breakfast looking out on the sea. I love these moments when you know that your day will be filled with new impressions. I take the car and drive around a last time in Cancale before heading east on the small coastal road. Todays main event is Le Mont Saint-Michel – the famous monastery and fortified city island that sits in the very end of the bay of the Channel islands. Here, they have one of the biggest tidal ranges in the world – up to 14 meters! This means that the island is in the middle of a field a lot of the time. This monastery was continuously fortified and was a symbol of French resistance in the Hundred Years War as it withstood the English attacks. It has also served as a prison. I have been looking forward to this both historical spot as well as its beauty.

I take the walk out to the island to come closer to be able to soak it in. It is truly impressive to see the city grow from a dot in distance to the giant construction that this is. Sadly, it seems that I am not the only one who is interested – the crowds are also impressive even if I am an early bird. I decide to go for the museum and the abbey as soon as possible to be able to see something. The museum is on its way to the top and have display of one of the noblemen’s house still intact. Hard to connect though in a never-ending stream of people. I continue to the abbey that is as impressive as I believed. The same goes here even if it seems that most people have not climbed this high up yet. I am lucky. There is a mass in a couple of minutes, and non-Catholics are welcome. I take a seat and try to sort out a combination of unknown rituals and French language. The feeling when the nuns and monks start singing in this perfect hall is out of the ordinary. Just to close the eyes and float into the moment. A very interesting experience although the priest looked a bit disappointed at the Communion as I crossed the hands over the chest, as you should do if you were non-Catholic. I am happy that we live in our age so I was not thrown into the dungeons as a heretic.

As I return to the world from the mass, two things have happened. The tide has gone out, there is no sea around the island, and the tide of tourists have entered. In the tiny streets with souvenir shops on both streets – the effect is impressive. I manage to sneak out of the crowds and back to my car.

My next idea was to visit the landing beaches from D-day and go to some of the dozens of museums that describe the event. Since the hour is later than planned – I instead decide to go up to Cherbourg and drive the coast down. After a late lunch in Cherbourg – I go to Omaha beach. This was one of the worst beaches where the fighting was the hardest. As usual when I come to these places – I am grateful that I am born in a time and place where I did not need to be part of this event. I do not envy the allied men that came to the shores covered in mines and heavy gunfire nor the Germans that knew that it was only a matter of time before they could not hold out.

I spend the evening in Caen – a midsize city with a surprisingly lively restaurant and bar life as well as a number of large churches. It is smaller than my hometown Örebro but still it seems we could fit in all the population in Örebro in all these churches. Again, this is a pretty, little city that I hope to come back to.