On to Normandy

After our stay in Paris, we moved onto Normandy for the beauty of the French countryside and some amazing US WWII history. Some of you may have thought that I was traveling there to stalk David Sedaris, but unfortunately he doesn't live where we were headed!
TJ found us this great little Maison to stay in near St. Mere Igles. It was so charming and we quickly fell in love with the proprietor, Paschal, and his very social cats.



The next day we headed into St. Mere Igles where our tour began. It is home to the church where a paratrooper from the 82nd Airbourne fell to suspend himself in the middle of the square that the Nazi's occupied. Luckily he survived as many of his brothers fell to their deaths.

St. Mere Igles honors D-Day and those that fought and lost their lives here in many ways and has a really great museum with artifacts from the war.

We visited many D-Day hotspots including a few beaches. We first visited Utah Beach the first night without even really knowing it. Here is a look at it and the English Channel present day...so hard to believe all that happened here...

And another view. Good thing I brought my personal photographer with me again this trip! TJ and I have a deal...he takes the pictures (because he is amazing at it) and I listen to the guide and fill him in on what he misses. Its a pretty good deal. I love this one.

The next day with our crazy but awesome guide, Elwood, we went to the main area of the invasion at Utah Beach. Flags and monuments stand to honor the invasion and those who lost their lives.

After our stop at Utah, we moved onto Omaha Beach, the site of an American slaughter on D-Day. We suffered the most casualties here...if you have seen the movie Saving Private Ryan, the first 15 minutes of the movie is supposed to reinact the invasion at Omaha Beach. So sad. It looks a lot different now.

The sloping beach line was important here, because those Americans that survived moving up the beach had to throw themselves against it in order to survive as it was the only cover available.

The Nazis were ready and picked them off through the cover of their pill boxes above the beach. As you can see, some of the ruins remain.

We then moved on to Pointe du Hoc, or the High Point where Army Rangers scaled this point to destroy an important Nazi defensive site. It was home to giant cannons and huge concrete bunkers filled with Nazi soldiers. They could hit either beach with these cannons, it was important to take them out. This is the point where they scaled the 100 meter cliff.

There were many casualties as the invasion did not go exactly as planned, but overall it was a success! The ruins of this area remain, and the views off the point are simply beautiful.

Some of the ruins at Pointe du Hoc are still safe enough to tour. We went inside a creepy Nazi bunker...it was pretty cool.

Here we are inside where many Nazi soldiers called home.

Probably one of the most emotional and beautiful places we visited was the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial. It is the site where many fallen Americans rest.

We were there at the end of the day and witnessed the lowering of the flags.

There was an American WWII veteran and his family present and he folded the flags and wept. It was so emotional. Who knows how many of his friends he visited before the ceremony...

The cemetary is located on a high point overlooking a Normandy Beach and the English Channel. It is a really beautiful place.

I can easily say that I enjoyed Normandy more than Paris. It is seeping with American history and is a stunning place to visit. The weather was much better too. I really loved our trip to Berlin and other WWII historical places in the last year and found this to make my WWII learning experience in Europe complete.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, you shouldn't miss this place!

Auf Wiedersehen!