Sunshine Travelers (00:00)
There are some places you visit because they have always been on your bucket list. Then there are places that mean something to you long before you ever arrive. And Normandy was one of those places for me. Both my grandfathers served in the army in the European theater during World War II. Neither of them stormed the beaches of Normandy, but one of my grandfathers worked on building temporary bridges during the war, helping Allied forces continue moving across Europe.
His brother also served and received both a purple heart and a bronze star for his acts of valor. I remember being a child and my great aunt showing me those medals, and at that age I don't think I fully understood what they truly represented, but I do remember them. Now all these years later, Melissa and I were heading to Normandy. We were going to stand on the beaches, walk through the cemeteries, see the remains of the German defenses and
and visit the places where thousands of young men were asked to do something almost unimaginable. We often call them the greatest generation. After visiting Normandy, I understand that description a little differently than I did before. But our trip to Normandy actually started somewhere completely different. It started with Monet's Garden, a tiny Citroen, two very aggressive truck drivers, and my sudden discovery that apparently
I do like quiche.
Speaker 2 (01:21)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 1 (01:24)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
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Sunshine Travelers (01:52)
So Melissa, we flew into Paris from Venice. We picked up the rental car. And instead of heading directly to Normandy, one of the things you wanted to do is make a detour to Giverny Monet's Garden had been on my bucket list for a long time. And since we were gonna be in that part of France.
I felt like this would be a good opportunity. So at least geographically, it sort of made sense. it was a little bit out of the way than just driving straight, but not so far out of the way that we couldn't do that on the way. So logistically, we underestimated a few things though. So starting with driving in and around Paris, specifically out of Charles de Gaulle.
airport.
So French drivers, I think, have a certain reputation, and based on our experience, I'm not sure they are specifically interested in changing that. It was so weird because not once, but twice, like right in a row, truck drivers seemed to intentionally try to squeeze our little Citroen toward the edge of the road. And it wasn't like, I our lane was ending, we had to get over, they were not forgiving.
Yeah, this This was not a case of that they didn't see us. It wasn't a case of revenge where we had done something They literally just tried to run us off the road And I knew which vehicle was going to win that contest. And so it wasn't much of a battle that I was willing to take on. The weather that day was also pretty miserable. It was cold, it was raining.
We've talked a lot in the last episodes about the heat wave across Europe. we were in sweaters, we had on rain jackets and rain pants. And this is important to remember because only a few days later, France is now gonna be under that early heat wave with temperatures climbing up into the nineties. And we'll come back to that. But Melissa had booked some timed entry tickets to Monet's home and the gardens.
So we were watching the clock, and when we finally arrived in Giverny we had just a little bit of extra time. We were starving, and we stopped at a little garden cafe outside the gardens for a quick lunch before our entry time. And I ordered the quiche Lorraine. And like I said in the opening, I've never really considered myself a fan of quiche before.
Then at that little cafe, I tried Melissa's quiche Lorraine in France. And I realized the problem might not have been quiche all along. It might have actually been the quiche that I had eaten or been served before. And I was instantly hooked. And all of a sudden my grilled chicken salad didn't seem very appetizing at that cafe. but we also ordered a couple of French ciders.
And that started another theme for the rest of our time in Normandy. We began trying different local ciders whenever we would find them. I would say some were light and crisp and refreshing, some were a little bit on the sweeter side. Others had almost kind of a faint apple cider vinegar edge to them, if that makes sense. And then whenever possible, we would always look for the ones that were produced right there in Normandy because there are lots of cideries in that region.
And it's so interesting because I think a lot of people think, I'm gonna go to France and I'm gonna have wine. And it certainly does have the wine regions, but this was definitely a cider, a sparkling cider. and they came in like wine bottles. And you typically could, if they didn't have them on draft, or like you could would typically like buy the whole bottle sometimes at the restaurant. So let's talk about Monet's garden. before we get to that, you do need to look
ahead of time and try to get the timed entry tickets. if this is something that you really want to do. It did say that they have a few that you might be able to buy the day of there. but that would be very frustrating to risk that. it's not like very far in advance. I think it was probably 30 days in advance. And by the time I logged back in to get the tickets, the weekend was already booked up. Cause we really had two options. We had one option on the way out.
to Bayeux where we were gonna stay for the D-Day sites and then on the way back. On the way back was a Saturday and it was already booked up. So I'm glad we did during the week. I mean, if it's timed, it shouldn't make a difference, but also because we had the rainy experience that we had. So like Scott mentioned when we entered the garden it was still lightly raining and we thought that the weather might take something away from this experience. But honestly I mean it was just drizzling. It wasn't like
Pouring down rain and the water resting on the flower petals just really just gave it a whole different depth in the dimension. Everything looked fresh, very saturated, and the gardens were absolutely beautiful. So we did have to walk.
What would you say? Maybe half a mile or something to Monet's garden from the parking. And we didn't want to get soaked. We had umbrellas, rain jackets, things like that. So once we got in, the bigger challenge though was the tour groups. It felt like that there were like ten large groups like trying to go move through the garden at the same time. There was a group we kind of had to wait behind to even get in as well.
several would stop in one area and almost completely take it over. That was a little bit of a disappointment to me because it just really felt crowded. And that's not the experience that you really want in a garden. We tried to like hang back, go a different way, let a group move through. And then it just felt like there was just like more and more groups.
So we just tried to enjoy the garden as much as we could, especially the part with the water lilies, because that's kind of what you're there to see. but unfortunately though we didn't have unlimited time because the host of our apartment nearby you had last minute given us a very narrow check in window. so we're gonna talk about a little bit more about that in a second. But we we had to like be mindful of our time.
so we did walk around the lily pond area. There were just a few of the water lilies in bloom. you really do understand from there, like just like why it was so inspiring to him. And I think you can envision what it would be like if you had the garden to yourself I will say the only other thing that I felt was a little bit
maybe disappointing was that and it wouldn't have been like this when when he was there, but they the main road like splits the property. So it's the house and the garden and then the main road and then the water lily garden. you will hear big trucks, probably the ones that tried to run us off the road earlier, and motorcycles and different things. so that's the only other thing. So just
Be warned.
I think that most people have seen those paintings their entire life. It's some of Monet's most famous work. you may have seen them in traveling exhibits, different places. I think I've actually seen some of them in the MoMA in New York at one time. And then of course if you go to the orangerie there in Paris.
and you get to see it in the round, which is how he had developed it, which is incredible. you're looking across that actual pond, you're looking at the Japanese bridge, which of course everybody wants to take a picture on, the reflections in the water, and all the plants. And and even on a a chilly, rainy day, like you you could just in envision that as well. Well, before leaving, we went and toured Monet's house.
And that may have been one of Melissa's favorite parts of the visit. The house has been transformed into a museum that reflects his life, his collections, and the artwork that inspired him. The rooms are filled with reproductions and examples connected to artists such as Suzanne, Renoir, Sicily, and along with Monet's remarkable collection of Japanese prints. This guy was truly into these Japanese prints.
Yes, there were definitely a lot of those in there. But the way they had displayed them, they did a great job and it and it definitely fit sort of the way that he had had displayed them, I guess I should say. I really love seeing the rooms where he lived and all the art that surrounded him. I mean, it definitely made the gardens feel much more personal because you could see a lot of the influences behind his work and
just the inspiration bought from a lot of the paintings. Well, I thought I had taken my time going through the house. I was stopping, I was looking at the rooms, reading a lot of the plaques that were in there and paying attention to all the artwork. And then when I reached the end, there was no Melissa. So I waited and I waited and I waited.
So I definitely, as you could probably tell a second ago, I definitely enjoy the house and I was definitely taking my time. I think she was completely lost in there. Yeah, I just absolutely loved it. I took so many pictures. And even though it was very dreary out, the light inside the house was somehow amazing.
I think that the way this his house was situated, it was very cozy. It was just perfectly decorated. I mean, it literally looks like it could be like a Pinterest collection with all its art. I just could have you moved in. It just felt so cozy. like I said, it was just colorful and happy.
And one of the reasons I think I loved it so much, for those of you who don't know, I have staged houses for sale. for a lot of clients, I've decorated model homes. I've helped people like like redesign when they've moved or just like helped them redesign different spaces. And I've even had a space in an antiques and decor store before that I've would constantly get to refresh, et cetera. So I'm constantly redoing and redecorating.
and so I think that was just my happy place. And as a crowded as the gardens were, they kind of metered the people inside the house. And even though we had to wait in line for a little while, the rooms didn't feel quite as crowded. And you could just sit back and well, not sit, but walk around and enjoy them. And I just took so many pictures. So I'm glad we decided to wait in that line. And it wasn't like super long. I mean it it moved pretty fast, but I you're right. That was
The my favorite part of going there is being able to go inside the house. I joked and said she was having a magical experience. Well, eventually I did get her back and then we had to leave because our very strict arrival deadline near Bayeux was approaching. We were staying four nights at an apartment just outside of Bayeux. And earlier that day, I received a message from the host stating that she had an appointment and needed for us to arrive early. And I explained that.
Arriving early wasn't possible because we had time tickets at Giverny I was thinking, boy, she's gonna absolutely understand that, being French and appreciate it. And her response was that we could come after nine PM that night. And so I immediately wrote back and told her that that was too late. And her response was essentially, Then I will cancel my appointment and you can be here between five thirty and seven. And I I do have to say is that was listed
on the booking site. So I went back and looked and it was on there. It just didn't stand out to me that it was such a short window of time. Yeah. you're trying to look at so much other criteria when you're trying to book that that just seems unusual. And unfortunately it kind of made the whole thing uncomfortable before we even arrived. Yeah.
It's changed the way that I look at these listings and booking and Airbnb and stuff like that now. I'll make sure to look for that. you had looked through a lot of the reviews over the years and that was one of the big things that people talked about But not on her booking review, which was so odd. It was like on the review on like maybe a Google review.
And there wasn't anything that really stood out to us Now, before we move on, I do want to say a couple of things. please don't let the these trucks tried to run us off the road scare you out of renting a car because to really explore this area, you really do need to rent a car. I don't
think that we could have gotten to this apartment. The only place this happened, Melissa, was right there at the airport. Both times it was at the airport. Yeah. And we didn't have any other issues. it was great. You don't have to drive on the opposite side. it feels more normal for us. So if you've been nervous about, I don't want to rent a car in the UK or something like that, it's not like that.
And then I have one more little tip that we learned, not in France, but we learned it in Spain. But I think it actually applies to anywhere in Europe. When you are renting a car.
Make sure that you rent it from an American company. So like you can use a platform to like look at it and rent it, but make sure it's something that you're familiar with, like a budget, a national, I don't know, Hertz or something like that. And the reason why is some of these companies require you to rent the car and then do use a chip and pin
And we don't have pins on American credit card companies, and then you won't be able to rent the car.
so I think Melissa's point is just for ease and peace of mind is rent from one of those well-known car companies, it's not gonna be a huge savings to use some of these other ones. You might save a couple of dollars, but it's not gonna be huge. Just peace of mind. It's easier to deal with them. So let's move on because we
We had to get there by seven o'clock to make sure that we didn't get locked out. I was really close to canceling and finding somewhere else to stay, but I also had the feeling that she was not going to be accommodating about the refund. So we pushed on. The directions she gave us were not sp especially clear either. So when we arrived, we found ourselves outside a closed gate with no obvious way to get inside.
we were sitting there. I think I honked the horn a couple of times. The gate opened and she came out and showed us where to park. She then took us upstairs to where our apartment was located. We entered through a door near the kitchen And she showed us where our bedroom was, which had an ensuite bathroom. But come to find out there's only a shower and a sink in there.
And then she explained that the toilet was down the hall. So we were never completely sure whether that entire part of the house was ours and it was private to us, or whether we were sharing it We never saw anybody else, but the arrangement there was a little bit unclear. And then she told us what time breakfast would be served. By by then it was close to seven o'clock. So because of the urgency surrounding her appointment, we assumed
That she was trying to get out of there and was gonna leave. we went back to the room, we freshened up, we got ready to go out for dinner. And when we returned to the main area, she was out there sitting there watching television. So it's like, why by seven if you're just gonna sit here and watch TV? Yeah. So apparently I went and I guess she'd said maybe she was gonna cancel the appointment. So apparently the appointment was no longer a problem.
she just couldn't be bothered to check us in after seven. So that was our introduction to our home for the next four nights. And so thankfully the reason that we were there wasn't because we were gonna hang out at this apartment, which was actually really neat. It was like a farmhouse type situation and she had a whole yard and things like that. So it was nice.
One last thing on the apartment, because I know we've spent a lot of time on this and no one came to listen to this podcast about this apartment, but it was funny because at breakfast she would come out, she would set the table, she would put down the coffee and stuff like that. Then she would step back, she would look at the table and she'd say, This is a nice breakfast. And we just always got tickled about that.
But yes, it did include breakfast. So it was the room and breakfast and it actually was a great location and turned out nice. Yeah. Well, let's talk about the guts of today's podcast. Cause over the next several days, we visited beaches, museums, memorials, cemeteries, and battle sites that were connected to D Day. And one of the best decisions we made was having our own car, like Melissa said. There's excellent guided tours.
That you can take in Normandy. And I absolutely see the value in hiring a knowledgeable guide, especially for like a day. A guide can connect all the sites together, explain the military strategy behind it, and point out details that you might otherwise miss. But having your own transportation gave us freedom to decide how long we wanted to spend at each location. If something connected with us, we could stay. If we wanted to return later, we could.
And if we needed to change the order of the day, we could do that too.
So looking back, the ideal approach would be to stay in Bayeux. And Bayeux is B-A-Y-E-U-X, not Bayou as in the Louisiana Bayou but I'm sure it's related somehow.
Staying in Bayeux would be kind of be an ideal place to stay. Have a car for several days. hire a guide for one of those days in order to provide a deeper historical context. So the other good thing about that is that if you didn't want to have a car, the train actually runs to Bayeux and you could stay in Bayeux, and a lot of the tours leave from there too. So that would be another option if you didn't want to rent a car. So we were most interested in the American sites and
in understanding why each of the locations mattered you've heard about the historical significance about these places, but it's just different once you're there. Yeah, you've probably seen the movie Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, right? All of these are talking about the experience there at Normandy on D Day. So June sixth, nineteen forty four.
So one of the first things that we did to kind of help us prepare is to listen to one of Rick Steve's podcast episodes about the Normandy sites. in that podcast, he mentioned several of the movies that Scott talked about. He mentioned some books that might be helpful to read as well. But I'm glad that we listened to this because the guest that he actually had on recommended starting in Arromanches at the museum there.
And Rick Steve actually said he had been recommending another museum. That's kind of what he had done. But this particular guide that he had on the podcast lives in Arromanches and leads his tours from there. so then what we did is we put in that and some of the other sites that he mentioned as well, places that you would want to see throughout your visit, into an AI tool and just let it help us organize.
the itinerary around our priorities, the geography, where we were staying, et cetera, to to make it what worked well for us. So I feel like this is definitely not an area where you want to be rushed. And so what we had actually done is we had our first full day is this is where we started. So that we could then have more time on other days to to go back and see other things.
and do other things as well. and I think that would that worked really well for us. instead of just like rushing in and then rushing out because it like we did spend like one absolutely full day. There are places where
most people might spend 30 minutes and you might want to spend a couple of hours. and one example of that, we're gonna get to the cemetery, whereas some people especially in a tour, they may just wander to the very first part. And we just really took our time and wandered the whole thing. So we like to spend more time at each location than a lot of people. So our first stop was Arromanches. When we arrived in Arromanches
I looked down towards the beach before we went inside the D-Day Museum. sitting offshore were some of the most recognizable remains of that artificial mulberry harbor. And if you know anything about D-Day, the Allies created this artificial harbor for getting supplies in, for the landing, for all of those things. And I had seen photographs from the beach and knew instantly what that was that I was looking at.
And so I stopped and went down. I took a few photographs from the beach before heading into the D-Day museum. And that turned out to be a really good decision, which I'll come back to in just a few minutes. But inside the museum, they have these audio guides that as part of the cost of entry. And so they just give those to you as you go in. They automatically advance based on where you are standing at inside the museum.
And so you don't have to keep entering numbers or searching for the correct track. The story just simply moved with you throughout the exhibits. And I'd say it's probably one of the best audio systems and audio guides that we've ever experienced inside of a museum. And only a few minutes after entering, I looked back towards the beach. There was these beautiful windows that looked down over the beach.
and many of the structures I had just photographed were already disappearing beneath the incoming tide. It was shocking how quickly it came in. I mean, absolutely shocking. So I mean, I think what that means is like the beach isn't like super deep there, but like what you said, like the structures that had been visible further out were almost completely covered.
And then you could just barely see some of them. it was crazy. It was different from any kind of tide situation I had ever seen before. And so that is something that you definitely wanna know when you visit Arromanches actually that whole area too, which we're gonna talk about in another podcast episode. But in that whole area, is that you really you might wanna check the tide schedule.
Because it is very cool to see those structures and the bay looks completely different over the course of just a few hours. And so Scott had mentioned about the the audio track is even like as they were playing the films, the audio would play on in your headset.
So different from like other museums where like that part you might sit down and take off your headphones and listen to it. And what was so cool about it though is, and I think one reason they do that is so that they can have it in all the different languages. you definitely could tell that we're visitors from all over the world and lots of different countries visiting.
And so the more time that we spent there, the more we started to understand the importance of Arromanches You hear about Omaha Beach. and so this town was liberated early in the Normandy campaign, and the bay became the home of the British Mulberry B artificial harbor, and later they called it Port Winston.
Evidently Winston Churchill had come up with this idea during World War One. and then just they kind of sat on on this idea and never used it. And then in World War Two, when they were going to try to take back France from the Nazi occupation,
That's when they decided to deploy this and they did it in complete secrecy. But it took them two years in Scotland to actually build these structures in secrecy. That's what's so crazy about this. And they did it in Scotland so that the weather conditions could mimic those on this coast. And then the other reason why it was Mulberry B is because they actually had a mulberry A closer to Omaha Beach.
they had this crazy storm right as all this was happening and it got destroyed. such a neat way in that museum for them to present this history. So D Day was not only about getting the troops onto the beaches, so the invasion had to be sustained and then had to move.
inland and needed to get to Paris. and the Allies needed to be able to bring vehicles and fuel and ammunition and food and medical supplies and equipment on shore and without having the access to a major deep water port, which is why they constructed this. So they basically just brought this harbor with them.
these enormous prefabricated components that they actually towed across the English Channel and then just assembled like very, very quickly. Like the manpower to make this happen. And then the amount of people and troops and supplies and stuff that they were able to bring in I think it was like in maybe two or three months, right? And then they let it get destroyed and then
what is remains, remains. So the harbor decided to leave those remains there as a memorial to the effort and all the people who died in that effort. so the harbor helped move the supplies needed to support those armies advancing inland. And so of course then they could liberate each, the communities as they went.
In this whole area, it's not just the French flag flying. It's the American flag and the British flag and the Canadian flag. Yes.
Even still today, which is is just it's really cool to to see that. So standing there and looking at those remains and seeing those flag flying, it was difficult to comprehend the scale of the engineering and the logistics behind it
Sunshine Travelers (25:44)
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Sunshine Travelers (27:38)
I liked reading about that like when you look out there today, you see these things that look kind of like cargo ships that are formed in in kind of a semicircle. And those are actually these poured concrete walls that they were able to bring over or float over on a barge. And then once they got there, they sunk them. So they filled them full of water.
And they sunk down, and that became the platform sitting on the ocean floor to be the foundation for all this work or all the bridge work that they would put on top of it. And so it was just a really amazing engineering feat. And for me, this is where the personal connection comes in. My grandfather during World War II worked on temporary bridges
And we tend to tell the story of war through battles and understandably so, but armies also have to move. They have to cross rivers, repair roads, they build bridges, and they have to create infrastructure where none exists today. And Arromanches made me think about that side of my grandfather's service in a very different way. D-Day required extraordinary courage on the beaches, but it also required extraordinary planning.
engineering and coordination.
So from Arromanches, we drove to the Normandy American Cemetery. And I don't think I was prepared for what we would experience when we entered. The cemetery is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission. It overlooks Omaha Beach, and there are 9,388 American service members buried there, including four women. You can see photographs before you go. You can know all of the numbers.
But none of it fully prepares you for walking into that cemetery and seeing the row after row of white marble crosses and stars of David. It immediately reminded me of Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC, and where everything is just immaculate. The grass, the trees, the landscaping, and the markers stretching across the grounds. The cemetery, it's really neat because the cemetery is laid out in the form of a Latin cross.
And all of the markers actually face west towards home.
And I think that's a detail that will stay with me for forever.
It stays with us because suddenly these aren't just numbers anymore. Every marker represents a person, a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a daughter, or a sister who left home and never returned.
And so you have to know that these places are like the whole day, it was very, very moving for us. we're struggling to describe this it just really is a place that I feel like everybody should go see and everybody should go experience.
So France has granted the United States permanent use of the cemetery land, but the cemetery remains on French soil. It's a place entrusted to American care as a lasting memorial. There are three hundred and seven graves containing unidentified remains, and their markers read Here rest in honored glory a comrade in arms, known but to God
For the ones that are known, it has their names, and the dates and the places where they are from. So it's interesting to walk around and see like just all the different states and the places that people are from as well.
So the 9,388 people buried there represent only a part of the loss. After the war, families were given the choice of having their loved ones' remains returned to the United States or allowing them to remain overseas near the place where they served and died. Many, many families chose repatriation, meaning their remains were brought back to the US. Others chose to let their loved ones remain
With the men and women beside whom that they had served. So the cemetery offers free guided tours. We do highly recommend taking one. you can walk through on your own, and you should give yourself time to do that. But a tour will help explain the design, the memorials, and some of the individual stories behind the names carved into the stone. So unfortunately, we had just missed the last tour.
So definitely look that up in advance and plan accordingly. They offer those in different languages. And they have you follow some of the individual stories. We actually talked to a French person who we met at another site and he was telling Scott how wonderful the tour was. They actually talk about the person and what they know about them. So he said it was absolutely phenomenal.
I also have learned that Roosevelt's two of his sons are buried there in that cemetery. wow. I think it's definitely somewhere that we would like to go back to do that tour and and see some of the other things that we probably missed. I think the cemetery closes at four PM. So it was kinda early and that's why we did it as as early as we could, but unfortunately we had missed that tour.
And the cemetery also helps families arrange private remembrance ceremonies, including ceremonies at grave sites. And so even more than eighty l years later, the people buried there are still being honored by relatives and by visitors who never even knew them. And unfortunately it was as we were leaving, like we were almost back to the car, but we could hear them playing taps.
So if you get to witness that too. So I would say definitely just give yourself plenty of time here. We did spend some time. They have a very small museum here too and of film, which I think is is beneficial. But the more time you can give yourself to spend here, the better. We did notice that if you go on your own compared to the tours, a lot of the tours, the the groups only went to the very front part because I think it was
Okay, we have to get to the next site. We actually took the time, even though we didn't do the tour there and went all the way to the end. And we really had that section by ourselves. Also, so you know that the the gravesites at the very front, you can't walk between them. They have them roped off. I guess because they would get so much traffic. But then the further you go out, because I don't think as many people go, you can actually walk amongst the gravesites there.
For me, this visit was personal. While neither of my grandfathers are buried there, I I knew both of and neither had landed on Omaha Beach, but I could not stop thinking about them and about my grandfather's brother. I remembered the purple heart and bronze star that my grand aunt would show me when I was a child.
I knew that the medals were important. Standing there in Normandy, I understood them differently. When you look across the thousands of markers and realize how many families have a story like that and how many never got their loved ones back.
The phrase, the greatest generation, did not feel like a slogan while standing there.
It was definitely well earned.
So before we move to the next site, I just want to mention one other resource, I guess I would say, that I had watched a couple of years ago. Delta had taken some of the last survivors back on the anniversary and had done a film. And that is very powerful as well. I watched it on the plane, wouldn't recommend that because then you're sitting there like bawling. they probably have it on YouTube, but you could just look up Delta.
D Day Survivors and they have some films on that, which were absolutely spectacular. I think there's one other movie that I didn't mention called The Longest Day. I think that's it's an older one. The two that I mentioned are newer, but that's an older one. Yeah. I think it does help to
see some of those things before you go.
So from the cemetery, we continue to Point Du Hoc. at the cemetery, you see the human cost of D-Day. At Point du Hoc, you begin to understand the physical reality of what some of those men were asked to do. And what I appreciated about the museum in Arromanches is it kind of went through the the other things that you would see. a lot of these sites as well and some of the
what took place there. And so Point Du Hoc sits above the English Channel on cliffs roughly a hundred meters high. And on D-Day, US Army Rangers were assigned to scale those cliffs and neutralize German artillery that threatened the landing beaches. And so just think about that for a second. They had to approach from the water, a place they had never been, reach the base of the cliffs, climb with ropes and ladders,
carrying weapons and equipment and do it while the enemy was firing on them.
Today the battlefield has been preserved so that you can walk among bunkers, trenches, the cratered ground, you could still see where mortar shells created those craters in the ground. and then the cliff edges that look out over the sea. And the landscape itself is part of the memorial. More than 80 years later, ground still carries the scars of the bombardment.
when the Rangers reached the top, they found that the main guns had been moved from their prepared positions. And patrols later located several of the guns inland and disabled them.
And reading that the cliffs were a hundred meters high is one thing. Standing at the top and looking down towards the water makes that mission feel almost impossible. Yet they kept climbing. And also along the edge of that cliff, like the barbed wire is still there. And so the again, a lot of this is just intact. really just left as a a living memorial to anybody who visits.
So we also made a stop at Long-Sermer battery. and we actually did this later in the evening because it is open all the time, so we didn't have to worry about closing time. Long surmer are the only original German coastal guns still in their bunkers.
And it just makes it feel like eerily deserted. There's a coastal path here and then there's a loop trail. And we actually saw several local people just like taking their evening walk here. A man like with his his kid in the stroller. And what was neat is because we did this one later in the evening. There were a few people there, but but in contrast to the numbers of people at some of the other sites and the groups that we had seen at Point De Hoc and
at the cemetery and at Omaha Beach. It it honestly, I don't know, it's just so peaceful. It was so deserted. and it's honestly the way I like to experience a place. And so not having like everything on a tour. I know Scott mentioned earlier, like if you did a tour, you'd have a lot more context. But if you do that, leave yourself some time to have a car and go to some of these places so that you can just be like
For example, if you do the cemetery as part of a tour one day, the cemetery is free. So go back and just spend some time there on your own, for example. and and this long surmare battery, it was just neat because everything was there. It was just like they just left. So not like the other one where they had moved them and then dismantled them. It was just like it's frozen in time and you can wander around them.
climb up the hills, you can go in through them. so it's just it's crazy to see that and think about, how close that was to the beach that they were trying to prevent those invasions.
Well, we had gone up to the American Cemetery, but then we made a shorter stop down at Omaha Beach. And that's where the Americans had the highest rate of casualties of the five D Day landing beaches. And what strikes you today is how beautiful it is. It's a wide open beach. People are out there, they're walking on the sand, the water's rolling in and
Without knowing the history, it would be easy to see nothing more than a peaceful stretch of Normandy coast there.
Yeah, and that's one of the strangest thing I think about visiting these places. I mean, they're absolutely so peaceful now. a lot of these places were like coastal retreats before, like Arromanches was just a coastal resort town. the remains that are here of the the war sites and and the museums they're kind of like that. They're just quiet and peaceful towns.
You you honestly have to keep reminding yourself what happened here on June sixth, nineteen forty-four. American soldiers and other soldiers from other countries, but American soldiers here at Omaha Beach came ashore under devastating fire. And so many of them never made it off the beach.
there's a couple of memorials here on this quiet stretch of beach. And the most recognizable one is Les Bravas, a large sculpture rising from the sand. And nearby the French Signal Monument commemorates the Allied forces who landed at Omaha Beach.
Earlier we had stood at the cemetery overlooking this coastline. And now we're standing on the beach itself. That change in perspective helps you understand the distance the soldiers had to cross and just how exposed they were. Today, Omaha is quiet and peaceful and beautiful. And that contrast makes the history just even harder to process.
Well, remember when I said we would come back to the importance of the tide? after leaving Omaha Beach, we had decided that we'd go back to Arromanches for dinner. And as we walked into town, we looked out over the beach and we realized all of a sudden the view had completely changed. The tide had gone out, and suddenly we could see the remains of the temporary harbor stretching across the entire bay. Earlier, most of it had disappeared.
Beneath the water. And now you could see how far the structures actually extended out into that bay. From a distance, some of the massive concrete casins almost looked like cargo ships that were forming a barrier across the water. And earlier that morning, we had learned about the Mulberry Harbor inside the museum. Now with the tide out, we could finally see more of the scale for ourselves.
And what was neat is that the sun was setting behind those remains. And after such an emotional day at the cemetery, Ponte du Hoc and Omaha Beach, this was just a very peaceful ending to that day. We had simply returned to town for dinner, but standing there with the evening light behind the remains of the harbor, this became one of the images from Normandy that I will always remember. And because it was at the end of May.
The days there are really long. The restaurant we had dinner at closed at nine, but the sun didn't set until almost ten. So we were able to enjoy a very long evening sunset at the beach.
So the next day we had a much more ordinary mission. We needed to do some laundry before we were gonna head back into Paris and run a few errands. So we went into the town of Bayeux that we mentioned earlier. And almost immediately, I think Scott and I both had the same thought: is that we should have stayed here inside of the town. So Bayeux is an excellent base for exploring the D-Day beaches, the cemeteries, the museums, and the memorials, but it's also a town.
that we definitely enjoyed all on its own. we found restaurants, cafes, bars, local markets, plenty of shopping, but local shops, not the big chain stores and chain restaurants and things like that. It's the kind of place where you can park the car and just spend the entire day walking around.
I will say by then the temperature was beginning to shift. I mean, this is literally a couple of days after we had been in Gaverne. so remember we talked about the sweaters and the rain jackets and but now that early heat wave was definitely settling in and the days were starting to get much hotter. We just couldn't believe how warm it was. We kept having to find shade. So there's also several World War II memorials in and around town, including the Bayeux War Cemetery.
it's the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the Second World War in France and it's right right within walking distance from the center of town.
I think one of my favorite places in Bayeux had a much older history though, and that's the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Bayeux. It's a cathedral that was consecrated on the site in one thousand and seventy seven. And I'm just always mesmerized by anything that is that old,
although much of the building visible today reflects some later rebuildings that were done and some additions that have been made, even knowing that, the sense of age of this building is just absolutely remarkable. We had just spent weeks in Italy visiting famous churches and cathedrals, including the Duomo in Florence and the Cathedral in Siena. And in my opinion, Bayeux.
belongs in that conversation. And Scott, one of the things that we learned, if you had said the Cathedral of Notre Dame, you would immediately think Paris. But actually a lot of these towns in France are going to have a Cathedral of Notre Dame. And that is Notre Dame is just Our Lady. So the Cathedral of Our Lady, meaning Mary, which is so interesting because there's so many of those
in their own language, but the Church of Mary in Spain, in Italy as well. it means the same thing. So I didn't realize that. so that is something that I learned apparently in this area of France there are so many of these churches that are absolutely spectacular. And it's also spectacular that so many of them
Yes, they had damage for the war, but overall survived and were able to be restored, which I think is just absolutely phenomenal.
So we actually could have spent most of the day in the church. As a matter of fact, Scott, you had gone in and were wandering around and I got lost in a couple of the shops. And and funny enough, in this little town, we actually felt comfortable enough to leave our laundry at the laundromat and just there it wasn't like there was plenty of machines. We didn't feel like somebody would be waiting on us. And so that was what we started exploring and we had to go back and get it. And so we actually went back to the church again so that we could explore some more.
And I think part of what we love that we were just not expecting to enjoy this town so much. We came to Bayeux to do the laundry, to run a couple of errands, have some lunch. definitely weren't prepared to walk into this absolutely magnificent cathedral here as well. And as always, make sure that you do not miss the crypt. I think that's where you feel the age of the cathedral the most strongly.
is down in the crypt. You go below the main church and you really start to see the details that just show how old this cathedral is.
So Bayeux was also one of the first major French towns liberated after D-Day. And so it escaped much of the destruction suffered by some of the smaller ones in Normandy as well. So inside the cathedral, you'll see a memorial window honoring the Allied forces and the liberation of Bayeux. And so that connection between the cathedral's centuries of history.
And then the events in nineteen forty four is something that I didn't expect. And there was actually lots of stained glass that and and different things that gave memorial to the war and to the soldiers that fought as well.
The building had already stood for generations before World War II. it had witnessed other wars, lots of political changes, occupation and liberation, and yet it is still there. We actually ended up spending the remainder of that day in Bayeux it began as a just a practical trip for laundry and errands, and it just was a full day of walking and shopping and exploring. Scott picked up a hat for safari. We picked up soft-sided suitcase for safari.
and s got to support some local vendors. We stopped at a local market and bought some supplies for a picnic. We stopped in a local wine shop and got some local cider. and so that evening was our last night in Normandy. So instead of going back out for dinner, We took everything for our little picnic back to the apartment and ate in her garden. And so after several days of visiting cemeteries and battlefields.
Beaches and memorials. It was a very quiet way to end our time there with some local food, a very simple dinner outside, and time to just think about and discuss everything that we had seen. this apartment that had given us a little bit of a strange introduction to Normandy, but on our final night, the garden gave us the experience that we had imagined when we booked it.
By the time we left Normandy, we both felt this was somewhere we would return to and not only for another quick trip. I think we could realistically see ourselves spending a few weeks here. We'd rent an apartment in Bayeux or explore via camper van because we learned that this area is very popular for camper vans. We'd shop at the markets, find our favorite cafes and restaurants, explore the smaller towns all around Bayeux and really take more time.
With the D Day sites themselves. and so I think this is one of those places where we could enjoy becoming temporary locals for a while. we also want to bring our son here. He's a huge World War Two history buff. And I know he would appreciate the beaches, the battlefields, the museums, and all of the memorials. Yeah, I don't think it would be difficult to talk him into it. So Normandy is probably an easy sell for him. And we already have a plan for his wife, Emily.
after or before with Paris and shopping. Exactly. He he can spend a few days with us walking through bunkers and battlefields. And then for Emily, he can spend some time shopping in Paris. So everybody wins on that one. I'd definitely do this in a cooler time of the year though. Stay away from those summer heat waves that we experience. But in all seriousness, I would like to experience Normandy again with him.
For me, the trip had a personal connection because of my grandfather's and their service in Europe. for our son, this is the history he studied and been interested in for years. And I think you can read about D-Day, watch, all the documentaries that you want to. You can know the names of all the different beaches, but standing at Pont du Hoc and looking down those cliffs is totally different. Standing on Omaha Beach is very different.
Walking through the American cemetery is just different. Looking across the bay at Aramonche and seeing the remains of that temporary harbor, it's just different. We came to Normandy primarily because we wanted to visit those D Day sites. We left knowing we wanted to return not only for the history, but for Normandy itself. And so next time I think we'll probably stay there in Bayeux.
Normandy is peaceful today. The beaches are beautiful, the fields are green, the families live in the towns, people gather in cafes, and the tide continues to move in and out across the same coastline. That peace can almost make it difficult to imagine what happened there. And then you see the craters at Ponte du Hoc the remains in the bay at Arromanches, and the memorials on Omaha Beach, or the rows of white markers at the American Cemetery.
And the history comes back into focus. For me, this trip connected places I had read about with stories from my own family. It made me think about my grandfather's, the temporary bridges one of them helped build, and the medals my great aunt showed me when I was a child. I also remembered it also reminded me that the story of D-Day is not only about strategy, equipment, or military units, it's about individuals.
Most of them very young, who crossed a channel and stepped into an experience that is almost impossible for us to comprehend today. So if you're planning a visit, give yourself more than one day, stay in Bayeux, consider hiring a guide for one day, keep a car so that you can explore at your own pace, and make sure you check the tides before visiting Arromanches Most importantly, allow time to stop and take in what you're seeing.
these are not places to rush through simply to mark them off of a list. They deserve our time, our respect, and our remembrance.
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