Caen

We started the day at Amiens, spent the better part of it at Lisieux, and then finished it at Caen. Caen is one of the larger cities in the heart of Normandy. It lies about 10 miles from the beaches of the English channel. In the 11th century, it became a stronghold for William, Duke of Normandy, who built a castle there. (The picture above shows this modest little home as it appears today.) Later, he crossed the channel to become William the Conquerer of England. 900 years later, in 1944, the British returned the favor and bombed the town into ruins.

Caen has risen from the ashes of WWII to reclaim its place as a leading city of Normandy. It has a WWII museum that is a tourist trap for the D-Day visitors from the UK and US. Also, they have done major restoration to the bombed out architecture of the churches and ducal palaces. The one thing lacking is half-timbered houses.

Normandy, like Alsace, is famous for the half-timbered houses that were typical of homes built in the 15th - 17th century. The Norman houses are distinctly different from Alsatian houses in that the wooden beams tend to have fewer diagonal beams and more curves. Thanks to the bombings of 1944, there are very few of these homes remaining in Caen. The musée de la poste, shown below, is one of the few exceptions.
The following picture is another one of the old houses. This one is not so typically Norman, but I thought it was impressive enough to merit a picture.Finally, the best thing about Caen is that they have jalapeno peppers there. There was a tiny little Tex-Mex restaurant that offered an honest-to-goodness plate of nachos. Corn chips, cheese, and jalapenos. French food is good, but it lacks spice. I've been dying for 12 months to find food that makes my tongue burn. Finally, in Caen, we found what we had been craving.For the record, Theresa and Katie found the restaurant also served a mean margarita. Magaritas are hard to find in France and, when found, are not that good. Caen once again came to the rescue with a margarita as good as any in the US.