One of my "must see" places to visit in Europe is the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Everyone has heard of the heroic invasion that began here, that led to the liberation of Europe in World War II, however to actually come and see it in person is quite the experience.
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is the final resting spot of over 9,000 American military that lost their lives during the D-Day landings. The new Visitor's Center was our first stop and it houses a fantastic collection of exhibits and memorabilia that tells the story of the invasion and the influence that day had on world history.
Although the girls couldn't quite grasp what happened here, they could sense that this was a special place where something very extraordinary happened...
The cemetery is located on the cliffs overlooking Omaha Beach, where the majority of Americans came ashore that day. To look at this beautifully scenic beach today, it is hard to imagine how different it was 65 years ago.
We stopped to pay our respects to those that gave their lives and we visited the other areas of the Memorial as well.
It really is worth stopping by to see when in France.
As we left the Memorial, we saw several Cider farms along the country side and decided to stop off and sample the famous ciders of the region.
We tried the samples and ended up choosing some Apple wine and some Apple/Banana juice for the girls to take home with us to Belgium
Our next stop was to Pointe Du Hoc, the site where 225 US Rangers scaled a 35m cliff to take down a German artillery battery site, only to find that the guns had all been previously moved!
However, they did take the site but suffered some heavy casualties defending the spot, losing 2/3 of their batallion.
"Hey, where are the guns?"
The site is on clifftop with panoramic views of both Omaha and Utah Beaches. On the day we visited, the sea winds were quite strong and we had to hold tight to DS and PS so they wouldn't blow away!
Hang on!!!
Today, there is a monument in memory of these Rangers and their mission that day...
Finally, with enough war stories to last us awhile, we headed down towards Mont St Michel and arrived just as the sun was setting down. Our first glimpse of this beautiful stucture was quite breathtaking!
Tomorrow, we will be up early to explore the grounds...
No comments:
Post a Comment