Caen and Deuville

The hostel we stayed at this past weekend was in the city of Caen (12 Euros a night!), a charming city that felt so tiny after being in Paris!  Here's what Caen looked like after World War II...

...and here's what it looks like in 2010.  See some familiar church spires?

It's amazing that with all of that awful destruction during WWII, some of these ancient churches and castles survived almost untouched.  On Saturday morning we spent a couple of hours enjoying the fortress/castle in the middle of the city.  I was especially excited to be there as it was the castle of the Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror) during the 11th century before he conquered England in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and lived the rest of his life in Britain.  We studied him in one of my classes this last semester and the effect his reign had on the English language, so it was pretty cool to be right where we had talked about.

We loaded up in the afternoon and drove to Deauville, a quaint city on the seashore that apparently is called the "mini Paris."  I loved the buildings (10 points for whoever can tell me what the stripped/slatted wood houses are called in the architecture world), but honestly at that point I was getting annoyed with some of our travel companions and I was ready to get back "home" to Paris.  Also, just a side note: do not be deceived by the sunshine in these pictures.  It was FREEZING every day and Deauville was the absolute worst with a sharp wind blowing off of the ocean.  Brrr!!!  Can you tell I'm ready to go in that last picture?