Day 4: Normandy Beaches

What I learned today:

1. Sidewalks and parking lots tend to be the same thing in France.

2. The French had a tendency of beheading their royalty.

3. You can’t see everything in a museum in 30 minutes.

4. Some movies are just nap inducers.

5. I really can not understand the French language, even though my last name is French.

6. There might be such thing as a waterlope.

7. Wars leave behind scars that never heal.

More Words

Fromage = cheese
boule = scoop
jambon = ham
fritas - french fries

Today was a pretty lazy day. In retrospect we did do quite a bit, but there was down time in between. In London we did a lot and had to move ourselves around to do it. Here, we would stop look around and then be back on the bus to be driven to the next stop. I must admit it was nice. I am not nearly as tired as I have been the past few days. Although I don’t think my body has yet adjusted to the different time zone. As it is already past 11:00 at night- a time that I would normally be dozing off in the chair at home- and I am sitting here wondering why I am not tired. I am not sure if it is just the difference in my physically surroundings- like the sun doesn’t seem to ever go down or if I truly have not gotten used to the difference over here.
It rained a little bit today while we were at the cemetery. Luckily we had not taken our backpacks with us, so it was a little easier to keep everything dry. Plus, it was more a constant drizzle than a downpour so you were able to deal with it without looking like a soaked rat at the end!
We started out in Rouen with an early departure to the Normandy region. We drove for about an hour and a half before reaching our first stop. A WWII museum dedicated to preserving the history of the war. But I felt like we did not have nearly enough time to really take it in. There was only about a half hour to tour the exhibit which encompassed the entire bottom floor. Which might be long enough for some people, but as a History major it was not nearly long enough. I definitely did not have enough time to read everything and barely enough time to look at most of it. I missed entire sections because we were supposed to meet back upstairs for the short movies they show. I think I would have rather stayed in the exhibit! I am not saying they were bad, but I think there was no need to do both of them in a row. The first one was basically video clips and photos from the Normandy D-Day preparations and invasion in split screen. One side depicting the Allies and one side depicting the Axis. When the two collided it moved it into one screen. The whole thing was set to music and I felt it was quite good. (Bear in mind, I also stayed awake for the whole thing!) The second one began where the 1st one ended and was about the continuation of the war in France. I think it went battle by battle through the entire fight for France’s liberation. Needless to say, I felt a little underwhelmed and couldn’t fight off my need for a little shut eye, so I did not catch the middle of the film. I think I still got the gist of it! :)
After the museum we made our way to Arromanches, the beach where the British soldiers landed on D-Day. We had a lunch of sweet and savory crepes in the small town next to the beach. I can’t say that I am a big fan of the savory crepes, those are ones with ham, cheese or both or other similar items on them. I tried a ham and cheese crepe and only ate about half of it. The sweet crepes had anything from jelly to nutella inside. I am not a big fan of Nutella, but most people enjoyed theirs. They did not have any with strawberries and cream like what I make at home, so I was a little disappointed about that. I guess it’s good that I can make them myself!
Out in the harbor there are still remains of a man made harbor that the British created by anchoring large concrete pieces to the bottom of the ocean floor. I guess the waters were to choppy to allow for safe transport of their items onto the beach. So they created their own personal harbor which allowed for a much safer transport between the large boats to the small ones that could make it safely to shore.
After lunch we headed back to the bus and it took us to see some German Bunkers that are still intact along the hill tops surrounding the shore. From there we made our way to the American Cemetery. It reminded me a lot of Arlington National Cemetery as it is set up in a very similar way. A sea of white crosses in fields of green. In theory we were back in the United States while we were at the cemetery as it is considered US soil. I don’t think you could commit a crime there and not face French laws, but I guess I really don’t know that for sure. And I don’t think I want to test the theory! There are over 9,000 headstones in the cemetery commemorating those American soldiers who died for freedom on the European front. So it truly was a sight to see. (But to tell the truth we had an hour here and did not need that long!)
Once we were done at the Cemetery we got back on our bus and it took us up the road to Omaha Beach. This is one of the two main beaches were our soldiers landed, it is also where we had many men die before even reaching the beach and hundreds more die or get wounded on the beach itself. And after seeing it with my own eyes, I can truly see why there was such a great loss at this beach. There is no where to hide. You are open tot eh elements out there- which is normal for most beaches. The problem here was not only were they open but the German soldiers had a distinct advantage in their positions that towered over the beach. (And I have to say sorry honey because I just couldn’t help myself form collecting sand from this beach.)
From the beach we had one final stop in the Normandy area- Pointe du Hoc. This is the area in which our army rangers landed and then made their way to the top of the cliff via ropes and rope ladders. They literally climbed their way to the top to face the Germans. And the cliff is not small! What was also amazing to me here was the remains of the battles you can still see. It’s not just the remains of the bunkers that are still visible. There are tons of craters everywhere. A result of the bombs that were shot at the german forces atop the embankment. It’s like what I picture the surface of the moon to be like if you attempted to walk on it. they are all grown over now with bushes and grass, but they are still a very defined part of the landscape.
The kids had a good time in this area, as they were pretty much allowed to run free. They even had a good time “playing dead” in one of the craters. Which probably wasn’t very PC (politically correct) but oh well. Not much can be done now!
That ended our trip through the different aspects of Normandy and the role it played in WWII and D-Day especially. I must say I have a much deeper appreciation for what happened there now that I have first hand experience with it. I am almost regretting not being a History teacher any longer where I could actually put this new knowledge and experience to use. Almost....!
After a 3 hour bus ride we landed here in St.Malo at a converted Abbey that now serves as a Hotel. The rooms are bigger than last night. But where we were complaining about not having an air conditioner last night we are now wishing we had a heater. As it is a tad chilly! Hopefully the blankets will keep us warm.
I hope I am not leaving anything out and I hope I am not boring everyone to death. But even if I am I think it will be a rich blessing for me to have this written down when I get home, because I am pretty sure all the details would be lost in a jumble of all the experiences I have had and am destined to have on this trip.