The ferry was quite nice, like a basic cruise ship..even had a cinema! Although you had to pay for it..so I just set up camp on a chair and snoozed, updated my blog, read, ate (had a picnic of cheese and rice cakes, even had my own tea bags so all I needed was some free hot water :P) and snoozed some more..it was a bit rocky but not too bad..arrived in caen about 6 hours later and got a bus in to the city centre..chatted to some other ladies who were also going to the games..I'd organised to meet Elle at the main station (where she'd just gotten a train from Paris to) and for once it worked out perfectly! She arrived just before me and I found her easily :) was so nice to see her, a bit of home..and to think we were together in France!! We walked quite a while and finally found the address of the airbnb apartment..although the girl said we had the wrong address :S we were luckily able to call the man and discover it was in fact next door..annoying, but we finally got in to the apartment and chilled for a bit..was nice to have our own space! Elle refreshed after her 40 hours in transit and we explored the town..had some tapas and sangria for dinner followed by a more traditional Nutella crepe..I organised a blabla car to and from the xcountry event the next day (train was expensive and the cheaper transport for the games was booked out) and an early night it was!
Up early to catch a tram to meet our driver, who was a young woman going to the xcountry with her dad..all went well until we hit the other 50,000 people trying to get there :S needless to say it took 4.5 hours of driving, sitting in traffic and finally parking and walking to get in..when it should've taken about 1.5 hours :S so frustrating! So we got in a few hours after it'd started but were glad to be there at all..it was at an awesomely fancy stud and there were soooo many people, very cool atmosphere :) there were a couple of falls as it was a tough course and it was very slippery..one horse actually died just after finishing, we're not sure what happened :S and unfortunately Chris burton had to withdraw his horse due to illness..but we saw a couple of Aussies ride and it was a brilliant afternoon :) awesome belated birthday present..although it's a shame the organisers didn't for see the traffic issues and provide more public transport etc..50,000 people fitting in to a tiny town... after the xcountry there was an exhibition of the breeds of the area which was really cool..a bit of driving, dressage and trick work..we were then able to locate our afternoon lift (a bit difficult but we eventually found him) and headed back to caen..much quicker this time!! And our driver was really friendly..annoyingly being late on a Sunday evening there were no supermarkets open so two minute noodles (that is been carrying around with me) it was!
We had the next day free so we decided to explore the town..went and saw the 11th century castle which was one of the largest fortresses in Europe..very impressive..had a look in the museum which had amazing artifacts from ancient times to more recently..we explored the castle grounds a little more (had loads of horse statues with different art for the games) then went in to the town..impressed by all the amazing churches (like saint Pierre)..strolled around the local markets and went back to the apartment for a bit, hoping the eventing jumping would be on the tv (as we couldn't find anywhere free in town to watch it!!) but no luck..we eventually went back out and located an Irish pub by the harbour that was showing it but we only caught the medal ceremony..no luck for Australia medal wise! We had a beer then wandered back home..I made a stirfry and we had some red wine and watched friends on Elle's iPad :)
Off on an adventure to the dday beaches on the coast today :)..we caught the bus and drove through some awesome villages before arriving in a beautiful coastal town..we went to a Canadian museum and did a tour of the German built bunkers (which French POWs helped to build and allegedly sabotaged by building them weakly..for the future attack from their allies..) and beach and learnt a hell of a lot! The battle was in order to reclaim France and subsequently Europe from the Germans, which had commandeered it in the early 1940s..we learnt how the allied forces had defeated the enemy against all odds, as the Germans had set up a huge defense along the coast..80km of coast was attacked overall; the beach we were looking at was 8km long..a priceless tour, we were very glad and humbled to learn more about the historic event that turned the tides in WWII...after strolling through the town we caught the bus back to caen..shared a cheese and ham baguette for tea..explored the impressive men's abbey (William the conqueror had married against the pope's will and this built two separate men's and woman's abbeys for repentance..as you do..), which was amazing but quite gothic..then prepared ourselves for the following day at the games :)
Not wanting to miss a moment (unlike with the xcountry), we got to the showjumping venue quite early..it was an awesome event, if not a bit nerve wracking! As it was a speed challenge there were quite a few rails down and even even a few falls as the fences were massive and the turns tight..we got to see two Aussies (unfortunately ones we didn't know), one of which went clear and ended up coming about 35th overall..a 19yo from Ireland won the comp (which continued into the afternoon but we only had tickets for the morning)..at lunch we walked to the main games village for the women's vaulting..which was amazing in terms of skill and the obedience of the horse, but 'twas a little tedious as it was the same routine over and over (I think they were just heats..)..so we explored the games village and the various stalls and displays..headed back to the vaulting for the men's competition however it was once again the same routine (their maneuvers were slightly more impressive due to their strength) so we didn't stay the whole time..tired from being enthusiastic spectators we headed home to make some dinner and pack our bags for an early morning blablacar ride to Paris..'twas an awesome experience to be at the games, made me pumped to get home and train miss pip :P
