Those who know me knows that I’m really interested in WW2 history and therefore this trip to Normandy was some kind of pilgrimage to me. The fact that 6.6.2014 was the 70th anniversary of the D-day is something not to forget either.
I’m not gonna go to details of what we did or where we went but this one I got to tell you.
In Caen is a huge museum called Memorial and it’s all about Normandy and WW2. A thing to do if you’re interested. We go with Hente to buy the tickets and as usual I pick the cashier buy the looks of her and ask for two tickets. “Do you have any discount conditions?”- she asked me. “Well, my friend here is retired and I’m just retarded”. The girl smiles to me and replies: “Sorry, we don’t have any discount for your kind of people”. Darn. Theres something wrong with the total sum but I just thought that maybe there was a some kind of tax still to pay. We went to have a breakfast with Hente to Memorials cafeteria and I had a look on the check. She did give Hente the discount ticket :D I’m not sure if Hente was so delighted to hear that he looks old enough to get the retiree discount! Muahhhaha
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WW2 veteran giving an interview to a documentarist in
Memorial, Caen. I almost cried because it was so touching. |
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| Portable organs from WW2 in Memorial |
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| It's snack time. Baguettes. |
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| In Gold-beach, Arromanches, France |
Hente I have to give it to you. I would have done Normandy without a car but rental car was a brilliant idea even though I was driving all the time. What happened was that I asked about car rental places in Tourist Information and so we headed that way. The two rental places were just opposite the railway station and they were packed. I mean totally full of people waiting and It takes time even to get one customer done. We checked both places and people were queuing with totally unhappy faces and when I saw the prices and the kilometre limitations I really got some second thoughts about this whole car renting thing. “Hente, the girl in tourist information told me about one more place that’s supposed to be around the corner. Let’s check that one out”.
Around the corner we went but at first we found nothing. Then I saw a car rental sign and a dude smoking a cigarette outside the place. Not even a single customer inside. Weird. Well let’s see what happens.
My French is non existent and the employees English was only a bit better but they did have a car after all. It required some shouting in French to the woman working in back office but they had a car. He said it’s a small one and I said that’s what were looking for =). Next obvious question was the price. The guy took his calculator and started typing numbers with his index fingers. “69 euros a day”. I looked at Hente and said "this is almost free but lets’s ask about the kilometres. “You have unlimited kilometres, just fill her up when you bring the car back.” WTF The prices on other places were way bigger than this and had kilometre limitations and so on. I said to Hente that this is gonna backfire somehow. We maid the deal, I signed 8 signatures and of we went to get the car. It was like 500 meters walk to the car lot and I saw this old white Peugeot from 90's and was sure that It is ours. Hey, with 69 euros a day I’m not complaining!
But the car rental dude passed the car without even giving it a glimpse. Ok, It’s gonna be worse than that. There was an other man standing in a front of this brand new looking Renault. Can’t be, it cant’ be that. “Ok, this car is yours. There’s only 6,9 kilometres in the odometer and you’re the first ones to rent this. Is it ok? I’m, sorry but it’s manual”. Muaahahhhhaaa. Brand new car with AC, integrated GPS and it was a diesel!!! So basically were driving it as cheap as possible. Oh happy days. We’re not believing our eyes or ears but it was true. The car has been returned long ago but I’m still waiting for the backfire ;)
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| Wroooooooommmmm |
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| Happy days! |
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