Cherbourg
From Bayeux we caught a BlaBlaCar. This one was a packed car with 3 other people who were actually deckhands on one of the Brittany ferries. They were friendly and talkative (in French) and they dropped us at the ferry terminal after just an hour or so drive.
From there we had a long walk to our hotel with all our stuff. We asked a yellow vest protester for directions and he produced perfect directions in very solid English.
Upon making the 40 minute walk to the hotel we set out to explore Cherbourg. I had never heard of it before I came, but learned that Cherbourg is one of the places that the U.S. was tasked with taking over from the Germans in WWII. Cherbourg was also the Titanic's 2nd to last stop before going to Ireland, then ultimately capsizing. So anyway, so pretty neat recent history surrounding the port city.
We really didn't do much on our stay here, but some takaways:
- I really loved the scenery. We hadn't seen the ocean or many bodies of water for awhile, so it was a welcome site. It was windy the whole time and the sound of the wind whipping through boats in a marina is top 5 all time sounds in my book. The town also had a bluff set back off the water maybe a half mile that you could see old war defense remnants on.
- Just one takeaway actually. Tricked ya'll.
Anyways, after one night in Cherbourg we were set to take a ferry, Oscar Wilde, to Dublin at 16:30. Unfortunately bad weather caused the ferry to get in late, and we didn't actually leave until sometime around 23:30.
While waiting in the ferry terminal a man came up to us who was traveling on a different ferry to southern Ireland. He was going there for 3 months in order to improve his English, but he got a jump start and began chatting us up.
He held onto some stereotypical beliefs about American's. I'm pretty certain he expected us to be fat, rude, and dressed like slobs. When we told him we were American he was flabbergasted - almost upset because we had shattered everything he thought he knew. Furthermore, he thought everyone in the U.S. was comfortable and wealthy. When I told him I didn't have a job he couldn't wrap his mind around it. He thought high paying jobs grew on trees here. After some discussion he was shocked but finally accepted that many of the problems they have in France aren't entirely different than the problems we have in the States. He asked for our email so we obliged and now have a most peculiar pen pal. He's already emailed once and wishes me good luck in my job hunt.
Once his ferry left we met our only other walk-on walk-on passenger, Maya. She was probably in her 50's, petite, warm, and friendly. She grew up in England with a mother she described as an anarchist. As a result she said she had a great childhood because she had no rules that could be broken. She went on to become a very talented pianist, playing all over Europe with various groups. She was most definitely a bohemian type, and told us she had rejected the life of a mortgage and marriage to have something much freer. She plays a ton of instruments and can get by in at least about 7 languages. She's currently wanting to learn Russian as her partner is Russian. I like to think that thus far they haven't been able to communicate.
Finally however we got to board the Oscar Wilde. Being from Washington I've taken my fair share of ferries so I didn't expect this to be much different. Wrong! This was a cruise ship! It was a 22 hour crossing, so onboard we had 3 or 4 restaurants, a movie theatre, arcade, bar, gift shop, etc. Our room had two little pull down beds and our own toilet and shower. It was way more than I had expected.
Despite all the cool stuff on board we spent most our time sleeping. After a quick meal we went to sleep around midnight, woke up and ate breakfast, then went back to sleep as we both took a Dramamine due to the rough seas and the drug knocked us out. Luckily the last 6 hours at least were calm and we felt better.
We arrived in Dublin around 10PM. Our plan had been to bus from the port to the city, but the bus doesn't run that late. Instead, we got shuttled off the ferry by a Dublin ferry worker who wanted nothing to do with Maya and ourselves. It was late, he wanted to go home. So he drove us to the nearest gas station and dropped us off. On the ride Maya was pleading with him to give us a number for a taxi but he told us to Google it (we couldn't) or ask the gas station attendent.
Luckily, there was a taxi at the gas station. The African driver came out of the convenience store and said "Who left you here? Who did this to you?". After our answer he just shook his head as if his faith in humanity was only hanging on by a thread. On the flip side, his faith in God appeared strong, as our ride was set to loud gospel music pumping through the speakers. Interesting introduction to Dublin.
I'll make a separate post about Dublin hopefully in the next day or two. If you haven't heard, we are now back in the States at home! We've got a lot of work getting our lives set up here, but I do want to finish this blog and have somewhat of a complete product. Happy reading!
From there we had a long walk to our hotel with all our stuff. We asked a yellow vest protester for directions and he produced perfect directions in very solid English.
Upon making the 40 minute walk to the hotel we set out to explore Cherbourg. I had never heard of it before I came, but learned that Cherbourg is one of the places that the U.S. was tasked with taking over from the Germans in WWII. Cherbourg was also the Titanic's 2nd to last stop before going to Ireland, then ultimately capsizing. So anyway, so pretty neat recent history surrounding the port city.
We really didn't do much on our stay here, but some takaways:
- I really loved the scenery. We hadn't seen the ocean or many bodies of water for awhile, so it was a welcome site. It was windy the whole time and the sound of the wind whipping through boats in a marina is top 5 all time sounds in my book. The town also had a bluff set back off the water maybe a half mile that you could see old war defense remnants on.
- Just one takeaway actually. Tricked ya'll.
Anyways, after one night in Cherbourg we were set to take a ferry, Oscar Wilde, to Dublin at 16:30. Unfortunately bad weather caused the ferry to get in late, and we didn't actually leave until sometime around 23:30.
While waiting in the ferry terminal a man came up to us who was traveling on a different ferry to southern Ireland. He was going there for 3 months in order to improve his English, but he got a jump start and began chatting us up.
He held onto some stereotypical beliefs about American's. I'm pretty certain he expected us to be fat, rude, and dressed like slobs. When we told him we were American he was flabbergasted - almost upset because we had shattered everything he thought he knew. Furthermore, he thought everyone in the U.S. was comfortable and wealthy. When I told him I didn't have a job he couldn't wrap his mind around it. He thought high paying jobs grew on trees here. After some discussion he was shocked but finally accepted that many of the problems they have in France aren't entirely different than the problems we have in the States. He asked for our email so we obliged and now have a most peculiar pen pal. He's already emailed once and wishes me good luck in my job hunt.
Once his ferry left we met our only other walk-on walk-on passenger, Maya. She was probably in her 50's, petite, warm, and friendly. She grew up in England with a mother she described as an anarchist. As a result she said she had a great childhood because she had no rules that could be broken. She went on to become a very talented pianist, playing all over Europe with various groups. She was most definitely a bohemian type, and told us she had rejected the life of a mortgage and marriage to have something much freer. She plays a ton of instruments and can get by in at least about 7 languages. She's currently wanting to learn Russian as her partner is Russian. I like to think that thus far they haven't been able to communicate.
Finally however we got to board the Oscar Wilde. Being from Washington I've taken my fair share of ferries so I didn't expect this to be much different. Wrong! This was a cruise ship! It was a 22 hour crossing, so onboard we had 3 or 4 restaurants, a movie theatre, arcade, bar, gift shop, etc. Our room had two little pull down beds and our own toilet and shower. It was way more than I had expected.
Despite all the cool stuff on board we spent most our time sleeping. After a quick meal we went to sleep around midnight, woke up and ate breakfast, then went back to sleep as we both took a Dramamine due to the rough seas and the drug knocked us out. Luckily the last 6 hours at least were calm and we felt better.
We arrived in Dublin around 10PM. Our plan had been to bus from the port to the city, but the bus doesn't run that late. Instead, we got shuttled off the ferry by a Dublin ferry worker who wanted nothing to do with Maya and ourselves. It was late, he wanted to go home. So he drove us to the nearest gas station and dropped us off. On the ride Maya was pleading with him to give us a number for a taxi but he told us to Google it (we couldn't) or ask the gas station attendent.
Luckily, there was a taxi at the gas station. The African driver came out of the convenience store and said "Who left you here? Who did this to you?". After our answer he just shook his head as if his faith in humanity was only hanging on by a thread. On the flip side, his faith in God appeared strong, as our ride was set to loud gospel music pumping through the speakers. Interesting introduction to Dublin.
I'll make a separate post about Dublin hopefully in the next day or two. If you haven't heard, we are now back in the States at home! We've got a lot of work getting our lives set up here, but I do want to finish this blog and have somewhat of a complete product. Happy reading!
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