Our first full day in Normandy dawned bright and sunny (yay!), so we decided to tour the outdoor D-Day sights. [As a side note, I have to admit that we were very lucky (and paid sufficient attention to the weather) so that, even in a region famous for its bad weather, we ended up with sun or at least no rain on all of the days that we wanted to spend outside. And rain on all of the days that we were inside or driving, but that's okay!]
Our first stop was Juno Beach, where the Canadians landed. Jessi and I had fun hunting for seashells (we found matching friendship seashells) and I think we all enjoyed the beautiful beach.
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| Friendship seashells are the new friendship bracelets! *Photo from the Pattons. |
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After Juno Beach, we headed to Arromanches, which had remains of Port Winston, built in the days after D-Day to allow for the movement of troops and goods onto the continent. We started out at a vantage point above the town, and then hiked down into the town to look at the port up close and personal. The leftover chunks were quite large and impressive in person. We also rode on the carousel overlooking the harbor,
in keeping with our habit of riding carnival rides in bizarre places.
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| *Photo from the Pattons. |
After a picnic lunch overlooking the sea, we visited a surviving German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer. I actually do remember seeing a bunch of these places
when I was in Normandy with Ruth in 2007, but I enjoyed seeing them again. There were paragliders and fields of sweet-smelling, fluorescent yellow rapeseed (more commonly known as canola in the US, I think?), so there was more than just old guns to look at...
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| *Photo from the Pattons. |
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| *Photo from the Pattons. |
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| *Photo from the Pattons. |
Our next stop was Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery, which we entered only 10 minutes before closing, so we didn't have much time there. The cemetery is beautiful in a stark, sobering sort of way.
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| Omaha Beach. |
Our final stop of the day was Pointe-du-Hoc, where there is a field that has been left just as it was after the invasion, with bomb craters and concrete chunks laying about, although nature has definitely been working to reclaim the ground. Normandy today seems so quiet and beautiful and serene, and, both times I have been there, I have found it difficult to imagine what it would have been like in the war. Seeing these craters I think helps to give me a little perspective on how torn up and damaged the landscape once was.
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| *Photo from the Pattons. |
The next day, we toured the Memorial Museum at Caen, which was very interesting and mostly depressing. It does a good job of rather even-handedly depicting what happened during WWII, including the atrocities committed by both sides. I left just totally overwhelmed by the cost of war and the knowledge that it didn't stop there. Even with all of these memorials to WWII urging us to "never forget", there are conflicts and ugliness all over.
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| Outside the Memorial Museum. *Photo from the Pattons. |
We ended our day with dinner in a fancy seafood restaurant in Grandcamp-Maisy. I ordered an appetizer and had no idea what I was ordering. Imagine my (slight) dismay when this showed up at the table:
I really had no idea how to eat almost anything on that plate, much less if I would like it. And there was no internet access, so Google and YouTube (which saved me in a previous lobster situation) couldn't save me. I ended up muddling my way through, attempting to figure out which parts I was supposed to each and which I wasn't, using the numerous strange utensils and sauces that were provided. My efforts (and the ensuing hilarity at our table) were much to the dismay and horror of the people sitting at the table next to us, who blatantly stared at me in shock and disapproval. It was an adventure, and I did enjoy what I figured out how to eat more than I expected. I have decided that oysters taste exactly like the ocean smells. I'm still debating whether or not that is a good thing. Anyways, I was very thankful that my main dish was cooked and already de-shelled for me (and totally delicious, by the way).
This pretty much sums up our time in Normandy, as we headed off to Brittany the next day (Monday). I did enjoy our time in Normandy, although the D-Day sights are not always the most cheerful and uplifting. But as we are further and further from WWII, I do think it is important to look back and "never forget".
