The First Days - Portbail France

Church where Marie-Elisabeth was baptized - now used as a Museum

We will be home in less than a week.  Surprising how a trip can seem like it is both very short and very long at the same time.  It seems like we have been in France for ages, but it also seems like it was just yesterday that we arrived.  Since I started entries to the blog backwards in time, it is time to start at the beginning - our stay in Portbail, the village where Marie-Elisabeth was born.

The real reason for this trip was to celebrate Marie-Elisabeth’s 70th birthday in the village where she was born in Normandy. Normally we would not visit France this early in the year but this was such a special event that we decided to brave the weather.  Glad we did.  Despite some cold, windy, and rainy days in Portbail it was a wonderful visit. 

The Thirteen Arch Bridge Over the Estuary in Portbail

We have stayed in Portbail many times.  It is a small village on the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula with views of the Isle of Jersey on clear days.  The village is set inland from the coast on an estuary with salt marshes.  A thirteen arch bridge crosses the estuary with a road leading to the beach and a small port.  The estuary is known for its extreme tides.  You can stand on the bridge and watch the tide come in – suddenly stop – and then reverse.  On days with the highest tides it is not unusual to find the bridge lined with people watching the tide come and go. We rented a different place this time – just across from the City Hall and a short walk to the village center.  Despite the close location we found ourselves driving into the village due to the weather.  The rental was spacious with a view of the estuary. One of the reasons we picked it was the large living area for the Birthday Party!

Marie-Elisabeth in front of her Grandparents' home where she was born. 

Marie-Elisabeth was born in her grandparents’ home on one of the two squares of the village – not many months after the village was liberated during the Normandy invasion.  Several years ago I added a blog entry that was a translation of M.E.’s grandmother’s description of the days before and after the invasion.  The “diary” gives a first-hand account of what civilians go through in war.  Just before leaving for this trip we noticed that someone had commented on the blog entry about the “diary.”  It was from a man who is involved in recognizing the events of the invasion in Portbail.  He wanted to meet with us to discuss this in more detail. We hastily emailed him that we would be in Portbail on this trip.  Unfortunately, we never found a time to meet but plan to get together in October when we are returning to the village.

Having arrived in Portbail after a long flight and a 5 hour drive from Paris, we spent several days getting over the jetlag.  Most of the time in Portbail was family related.  We had a wonderful birthday party on March 21 with 11 of us.  Cousins from both sides of the family – the Lecouté and Duchemin cousins, M.E.’s last living aunt (90), and her sister and brother-in-law from Barcelona.  A great family gathering!  

The PARTY!

Later in the week we visited another cousin in Cherbourg who could not make it to the party.  We visited two other cousins in Les Pieux (M.E.’s father’s village) who could not attend either.  Lots of talk and genealogy research sharing! We had a wonderful lunch with two cousins in a seaside restaurant in Sciotot, the beach “suburb” of Les Pieux. On another day we made our usual trip to Coutances to visit the Cathedral and a favorite pastry shop….of course.  We attended Palm Sunday Mass in the church that was just rubble in Marie-Elisabeth’s time – it was bombed during the invasion and reconstructed in the 1950’s.  Our time in Portbail flew by and then it was time for the drive south for our two weeks in the Dordogne region.  I plan a blog entry on that part of the trip – if not before we leave Paris then when we get home to San Diego!   

Lunch with Cousins in Sciotot

Pastry in Coutances