September 7, 2015

Visiting the Normandy Beaches…wow.  It’s one thing to learn about the places and watching movies like Saving Private Ryan, but to actually visit the places and see what the soldiers had to overcome is pretty unbelievable.

We came to Bayeux to use this as our jumping off point to visit Normandy and Mont St Michel.  We were really excited about the campsite because they had an indoor pool next door that was included.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go swimming because they REQUIRE you to wear a speedo…seriously, only France would not allow swim trunks!!  There are very few people in the world that can pull off wearing a speedo and to require everyone to wear one seems like public humiliation to me!  lol  Although, I have to admit, I tried to talk Adam and Hayden into each getting one just so that I could take a picture…ha ha ha…they both refused.

Despite that disappointment, we had a good time in Bayeux.  We had already scheduled a tour of the American Beaches at Normandy and it was great.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we had a small group, which was nice.  We visited Point Du Hoc, Omaha Beach, and the American Cemetery.  Point Du Hoc was crazy…I can not even begin to imagine being one of those Rangers that had to climb a cliff, while being shot at, to take over the bunkers.  Hearing the entire story of Point Du Hoc (although I’m sure I learned it back in ROTC, I didn’t remember quite a bit of it), despite all of the issues that they were up against to overpower the Germans is pretty heroic.

View from Point Du Hoc

Ranger Memorial

Beach below Point Du Hoc

View of the coast from a German bunker at Point Du Hoc

Grenade explosion in a German bunker

Bomb crater at Point Du Hoc

After leaving Point Du Hoc, we drove down to Omaha Beach.  This is another one that seems insane.  This huge coastline and we had to flight al the way from the water up across the beach and up the hills to take over the German fighting positions.  Again, despite so many things that went wrong, we managed to make it through, though not without thousands of people dying.

Hayden was getting a little historied-out by this time, so he made us a sand model of the bunkers on the top of Point Du Hoc.

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

After the beach, we went over to the American Cemetery.  They have done a wonderful job with the cemetery, it is a beautiful place and certainly worth visiting.  The view is wonderful over the beach and the grounds are lovely.  They have a map up front that shows all of the allied troop movements across Europe that was very cool.  While we were there, a group was bringing flowers to be placed at the cemetery, so they had the National Anthem played along with Taps…it was a really good experience and even though Hayden didn’t really appreciate it yet, I’m glad that he will be able to look back and hopefully realize what an important place it is when he learns about WWII later in school.

American Cemetery in Normandy

American Cemetery in Normandy

American Cemetery in Normandy

American Cemetery in Normandy

Allied Forces in WWII

The first night in town, we were tough and camped, but after not being able to go in the pool and after being VERY cold for the night, we decided to pack it in and find a B&B to stay for the second night.  We found a very nice place with a retired couple that rent out rooms in their house.  It was a really cool stone house that was at least a couple of hundred years old.  They didn’t speak English and we don’t speak French, but we did find out that they used to own a farm and retired into this house in the city.  The next day, we hung out in Bayeux and walked around the town.  The church in the center of town is Notre Dame of Bayeux.  It was a lot like Notre Dame in Paris, just on a smaller scale.  🙂

Notre Dame of Bayeux

Notre Dame of Bayeux

Notre Dame of Bayeux

We went to the grocery store for lunch and had a nice picnic with a loaf of bread, a big chunk of Brie and a bottle of Cider (a local drink) by the river.  The view was great and so were the bread and cheese, but we weren’t really fans of the Cider.

Bayeux

Bayeux

Lunch by the river

Bayeux

From here, we are leaving for Mont St Michel.  We were originally going to do it as a day trip, but decided to stay tonight up there because we found a campsite that rents out trailers inexpensively.  Since it’s been pretty chilly, we are jumping on the opportunity to avoid tenting for another night.  🙂  I’m afraid a week of living in an apartment in Paris has made us weenies!