We continued our French adventure today by leaving Caen and heading to see the D-Day beaches. We saw Gold beach at Arromanches first - there wasn't much resistance in thee battles on these beaches because the paratroopers had landed earlier and handled much of the battle. The little village was quaint and it was interesting to see. The beach itself was pristine and I would have enjoyed taking a jog on it - there was a sheer mountain that met the ocean, the sky was pink and well it was peaceful.
There is also still concrete out in the ocean that they made in England and floated over here to serve as a makeshift port until a city could be taken that had a port ... think of all that had to go into that planning? 12 countries working together to plan one surprise attack on one day - 12 countries (American, Britain, Canada, Poland, France, Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, New Zealand and Norway) Today they can't even make a decision about if the sky is blue.
We then went to the American Cemetery in Normandy - American soil and a honor to visit. 10,000 American lives lost during WWII, the crosses representing the dead, some named, some not. It was sobering and humbling. Its so easy to take our freedom for granted, but in the end Freedom is never free. To think what would have happened if Hitler had not betrayed Russia and he wasn't divided on the two fronts, or if he had heard about the landing before noon that day? So many little things that made our victory possible, little things that had they not happened the war would have been very different.
We then went to Omaha beach where roughly 1,500 of our men died within minutes and hours of landing. The tanks they were supposed to hide behind sank due to the rough seas and they were little target practice for the Germans. To sit and look on those pristine beaches, so pretty today and to know that 70 years ago they ran red with the blood of American Soldiers fighting for someones right to be free, or even more their right to live. Very humbling. I'm not really a history buff, museums in general are not my thing and I tune out much of the history lectures, but standing there you could not help but imagine. There are still German bunkers in France, one of which can be seen at Omaha beach... relics of the war can still be seen here and there, but overall if not for the memorials you would just see a beach. A pristine beach made for walking and enjoying the crisp air off of the sea.
We then went to Sainte-Mère-Église. It is a little village inside of Normandy France and is best known because John Steele parachuted down and landed on the church steeple - he pretended to be dead for 2 hours in order to survive and was later taken hostage. The stained glass of the church is neat in that it is the Virgin Mary surrounded by paratroopers. Overall the village is tiny and cute. We ate at a little restaurant - Mama and Jack had a ham sandwich and I had lasagna. It was very American, but after not eating very much breakfast this morning we were all hungry.
A few things that were mentioned from a historical point of view that I want to remember so I am including them here:
- Germany, while the bad guys in the WWII events it is important to remember that many German soldiers were not there by choice, but were there to avoid being killed themselves by Germany.
- The first victims of Hitler were Germans themselves.
- Russia lost by far the most people in the war - 20,000,000
- In total the war cost the world 2.5% of its population or 60,000,000 - 85,000,000 people estimated.
- One of the famous french actresses fell in love with a German and was put on trial - I loved her come back "My heart is french, but my ass is international"
- Germany actually elected Hitler to be it's leader - he told them what they wanted to hear. Be careful with your vote, it has great power!
After we finished up with the D-Day visits we took a hour and half drive through the gorgeous countryside to Mont St. Michel. I absolutely love this place - it was my favorite from my previous visit and so far it still is. I was so happy to get to share it with my family.
It is a monastery that was built due to a dream a monk was given my the Arch Angel Michel - he supposedly put a hole in his head as proof he wanted him to build the monastery on top of the mountain. Thus the monastery was built. We took the walk up the mountain (lots of steps) and saw the various private homes (47 people live on the island itself), the walkways etc... Mama actually made it up all the steps, I was so proud of her. Last time I came we didn't go to see the private homes and I didn't know about the steps - we had gone up the walkway where all the shops were, so I was expecting her to have to do that climb, but she did it and enjoyed one great view because of it.
We had a tour guide that went on and on a little too much for my taste and I really wanted Mama and Jack to enjoy the shopping so we left her about 3/4 of the way through the tour and headed out on our own. The building served as a monastery for years, then a prison and now it is a monastery and a tourist attraction. The monastery itself is impressive, but it is also cold and damp. I love some of the architecture and certainly appreciated it more as an adult, but I had seen enough.
The walk down is filled with shops of various types and restaurants. Last time I came they had more vendors on the streets, but we were here during the busy season and now it is slow for them, but it was still fun and quaint. I just enjoy the feel of the village and meandering in the shops. I was looking for a picture frame but no such luck. Maybe the next city will have one for Mt. Saint Michel, Lord knows Mt. Saint Michel had plenty of Paris stuff. I found it humorous.
The monastery on the mountain with the shops and other buildings going up to it looks like a Disney castle or something from Harry Potter. I just love it, I love the feel of it, the history and the ambiance. It was different that I remember from my youth, but I still loved it!
We then came back to the hotel and met with the group to have dinner. We ate at a restaurant across the way and had a five course meal. It was good but not my favorite one here by any means.. Menu below for memory sake:
- Cider Again - still taste like bear, hee.
- Appetizer - some little bread things with cheese and etc... in them. Maybe Mini Keeshess?
- Salad Appetizer - beats, cucumbers, and some other stuff I tried and hated.
- Pallet Cleaner - A very strong cognac mixed with ice-cream. Tasted to me like a shot of Seagram Seven Rum, YUCK.
- Main - Fish and Potatoes. The fish was dry but the potatoes were excellent
- Cheese - I gave mine away - Jack seemed to like his.
- Desert - 3 little varieties. I liked the apple and the chocolate. They also had a raspberry thing but it was tart.
- Coffee - little cappuccino cups but was actually good and very smooth.
- Desert shot of something liquor wise - I took a taste, not for me. Too strong and taste like rum. I like my alcohol fruity with the taste of alcohol hidden.
Once dinner was over Mama left to go back to the room while we were still visiting. She went the wrong way so Jack went to help her and he had the $$$. We had bought an extra Coke so I ended up borrowing money from a group member, it wasn't a big deal but I'm sure later it will be funny. Teach me not to bring my purse!
After dinner we walked down to the boardwalk with the unobstructed view of Mt. Saint Michel lit up. It was so pretty and the sound of the water hitting the dock was peaceful. I thoroughly enjoyed it - we played with the camera some. I didn't have tripod and I shake so mine weren't great, Jack got a few ok ones though. He used the balcony as a tripod - I'm looking forward to seeing them on a computer screen. I'm sure they aren't print quality but they will be cool and can show we saw it night. Side note we had to come back to the room for a battery because the one I had just changed so we would have a full battery died just a few minutes after we started using it. Murphy's law.
I want to go back in the morning before we leave and get some more pictures in the day light.
Now I'm in bed - about to take my medicine (which seems to really be working well). Tomorrow we go play queen and king in the chateaus :)
Hope all is well in blog land - sleep well!
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