Europe Part 3 - Normandy

On Saturday we when took a train to Caen to take a tour of the D-Day beaches in Normandy. The town of Caen dates back to the 14th century and 75% of the town was destroyed during the days before and after D-Day. The main thing that survived was the stone church because it was used as a landmark for the pilots to know where to drop the bombs. We started the day with a tour of the museum which details the timeline for all the different countries that were involved in WWII. Then we all loaded up in our Mercedes mini-van / SUV to tour all the different buses.

 

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger. The first one is the museum. The second one is a stack of books that were in the Caen library that had a bullet had gone straight through it during the battles. First we visited Arromanches-les-Bains which is where the British set up their blockade once they landed on Gold Beach which is the fourth picture. The next picture is what was left of the blockade that they created roads to unload the ships with supplies to continue to liberate France. If the see the next picture of the guns what you can't see if that the entire side was destroyed by a bomb. This is the sight of the third Jennifer falling incident. This was the most embarrassing because our group as well as several other tourists saw this.

The 7th picture is Omaha Beach. What you can't see is the huge cliff that the American troops had to climb. This was taken from the American cemetery. When we arrived at this 2nd most visited American cemetery there were a group of veterans and the bell chimes were playing the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful and Taps. It was very moving and you couldn't help but get misty eyed. In this cemetery all the crosses align in a row whichever way you look at them. Teddy Roosevelt, Jr was a medal of honor recipient that is buried in the cemetery.

The 13th picture is a closer look at the beach on the west side. The next set of pictures are from the Pointe du Hoc which is in between Omaha and Utah beaches which were the American beaches. This is American owned land that is the most perserved. The craters from the bombings are still evident. As you can tell how huge they are by the 6'5" Jason is in the center of the crater.

This by far was well worth the money. It was the right mix of history and beauty. It makes you thankful for all the men and women that served our country past and present.