Normandy, August 2014
Aaahhh,
these things just happen to us. We peacefully drive through the French country
side and bang, there it is, we don't even have to take a detour - the second
largest tidal powerplant in the world. How could I resist. And so
we spend an afternoon exploring the La Rance 240 MW powerplant, studying the 10
bulb turbines and principles of tidal energy. The tide difference is
about 13m here, one of the largest in Europe, and the plant operates at about
26% power factor, not bad considering the bonus of predictability. The
units generate on flow in, flow out and they also pump water in at high tide to
increase the head in the basin. Very cool, I think I would like one of
those please! And even more impressive, this plant started operating in
1966; pretty visionary. 
As we meander through the Brittany, we stay close to the coast, visiting
beautiful towns with well preserved medieval history and feasting on local fare
of galletes and cider. I am proud to say that after a bad 30 year old
experience of eating mussels, I have conquered my fear and thoroughly enjoyed a
pot full of them. The towns here are beautifully preserved and at times,
after most tourists disappear and we walk through the little alleys all alone,
it is not a stretch to think of life few hundred years ago.
We are in awe
of St. Malo with its seafaring history. The town had a great tidal
harbour and as we looked around, we counted 8 forts, including a number of them
on surrounding islands for protection. It never got conquered and served
as a base of the corsairs (basically pirates sanctioned by the French kings).
We walk around the ramparts and I am grateful that for once we are not on
a sailboat, as the winds are howling and even walking into the wind is a
challenge.
We continue from Brittany to Normandy and enter a more touristy area as we visit the abbey of Mont St. Michel, a UNESCO heritage site. The business takes some time of getting used to, but the magic of the little island city, rising steeply from the tidal flats makes up for it. We wonder about the thousand year effort of building the abbey, from a little chapel to the three story masterpiece several hundred years later and to the humongous effort of maintaining it now. Floating all the building materials in from nearby island, hampered by low tides, resulted in a 60 year construction span at one point. And that is nothing compared to some of the cathedrals we have visited.
The one in Rouen underwent pretty much a 1000 years construction,
having endured fires, lightning, tornadoes and other disasters, yet being
rebuilt grander each time. The 1944 bombing by the allies prior to the D
day left some unbelievable damage though. Rouen, and its cathedral,
like many cities from the coast of Normandy to Paris, was reduced to ruins, yet
we still see the remnants of gratitude toward the British, US and Canadians for
the liberation, both in action and displays. I find it interesting to
reflect on the passing time. When I was growing up, it was only 20 years
from the war end and the memory in Europe was still so raw, it was part of our
life, even mine. And now, 70 years later, the generation that experienced
the war is slowly leaving us and the history will only live on stories. On
one hand, it is important to move on and yet, just as important, is to have a
remembrance of the terrible events and what caused them. Sadly, considering
recent events, the world hasn't learned. We pay our deep respect by
visiting several of the D day landing sites, most importantly the Juno beach
where the Canadian regiments landed. The beach is now a resort area with
a very active sailing club, but the coast is dotted with remainders of
fortifications, landing equipment and memorials. 
You
might be puzzled by the two pictures in the shape of a cathedral - in Rouen,
they have an evening light show, one of my favourite experiences of the trip,
where they project specially made movies to music onto the facade of the
cathedral. It is awesome, kind of a Rouen version of Symphony of Lights,
just not as many people.
This is our last day in France, tomorrow, we drive to Paris to start dreaming about what our next adventure will be. Bonne journee!
