Sorry I am so far behind on my posts here but just been TOO BUSY to get back to the computer and have seen so very much. After our days in Paris, on Sunday morning we picked up our rental car; turned out instead of a Citroen 5 with four doors was given the much snazzier and fun to drive VW Passat 4 door diesel pretty much fully loaded. Man this car could handle and scoot and I would need both. Also had a navigation system which proved to be both good and bad LOL. Set it to an English man's voice which became funny; we discovered after much driving and several days that he preferred to always take the small backroads!
We left Paris and that was actually some of the easiest driving of the day, of course it helped that it was Sunday morning early and few were out. Headed to the coast to see the famous Mont St Michel. It was a good 3-4 hour drive and I learned some things about French/European driving. They love round-abouts!! They are everywhere and the French make terrible maps and have horrible road signage. Also learned why Formula 1 racing has these awful cement curbs called checannes - they have them jutting into the streets here so you have to bob and weave in the small towns so they grow up driving on the narrow, twisty streets with funny obstacles!. After a bit, I seemed to find my comfort zone. And then the great abbey loomed up ahead - you could see it for miles and miles and was quite a site to behold. After parking carefully because the high tide can swamp the parking lots, we headed up...and up...and up. All the way to the top. The place sits so regally and commands the flat countryside completely. Since the tide was low, many folks in tour groups were walking way out into the sand. After our climb, we stopped for lunch on the hike back down - the mont also has a small town with many shops and restaurants.
Now we headed for the Normandy invasion beaches out toward Ste Mere Eglise (which the GPS unit did not like and could not find in list of city names no matter how we spelled). Shortly after leaving Mont St Michel, I found the largest German burial site in the Normandy theater. It is very very unusual as it is actually an ossuary with over 11,000 German soldiers. The ossuary sits in an oval shape and is inscribed with the names; the remains were actually culled together from several smaller German cemeteries spread throughout the area orginally. The site was quite moving and so very very sad. As we drove to the Normandy beaches we saw signs everywhere welcoming British and American tourists who you could also see on the roads. All the restaurants advertised for tourists. As we arrived at the far end of Utah beach the day was beginning to near its end and so we wanted to see as much of the beaches as we could before nightfall, which here thankfully is not until 10 or 10:30pm. So we found the turn to Utah Beach and boogied down the small road; most folks were already heading to their hotels for the night so we had the place almost to ourselves. One thing I must mention about all of the memorials we saw here and later at WWI sites over the next days, is that we have timed this to see most of them shortly after their anniversaries and so they are covered with many flowers and mementos which makes them so moving -- just been lucky on this aspect. Utah Beach, which was the US landing beach fartherest west and least defended by the British, was beautiful. We parked and photographed the many unit and division memorials that are found all along the roads and beaches. The sky was also gorgeous. They have a museum and many displays including a memorial to the sailors who were part of the D-Day landings.
The beach was so peaceful and beautiful but I tried to imagine in my mind how it must have been for those men landing and defending that beautiful beach that morning. My skin tingled and I remembered all the stories and personal remembrances that I have had the opportunity to read from men who were there. I walked on the sandy beach for a bit and was moved to see the sight of a single rose that had been placed on the sand -- obviously a remembrance.
From Utah Beach we headed down the coast road toward Pont du Hoc where the Rangers scaled the cliffs to take out what they thought were heavy German coastal defense guns. While the guns were not yet in place, the fight at the top of the cliffs was brutal. We arrived after what should have been closing time but there were still a few cars so we parked and headed to the look out spot. Now they are having to reinforce the cliff at the point as it is eroding away and has endangered the tall pointed stone marker placed their to honor the Rangers. The marker has been temporarily removed for its safety as they work with heavy equipment and while I was disappointed about that, the site itself is breathtaking and the German defensive positions are still partially intact including the pill boxes. There are also numerous craters where the US had shelled the position and where German defenses had been placed. There is a observation deck right on top of the highest point of the German defenses and it looks over the cliff. What a site!!
We now headed further down the coast to the famous Omaha Beach. At the first entrance before the road turns to literally run along the beach, there are a number of US unit memorials (of course I took many pictures of those but could not include them all here) and a small restaurant. The sun was beginning to set and the setting was serene and so very beautiful and believe me it set my heart and emotions whirling. As the surf gently pounded the shore, I was transported back to a time that caused so much suffering for so many and ended so many lives early.
We drove down the road along the beach to the large 1st Army Memorial overlooking the main section of the beach. It is so moving and again with flowers. This is where the main fighting occurred and the main German division tried to stand its ground; here is the location of the famous tough fighting as depicted in Saving Private Ryan or The Longest Day.
And then we continued down the road until it ended at the 2nd Army memorial and the German defensive emplacement that was destroyed in the bombardment and then used by the US commander ashore as his headquarters. We had to turn around here although we knew the US cemetery overlooking the last part of the beach was just beyond the hedge rows; there was no way in here and so we had to go back to the larger road inland.
So as it was now after 10:00pm, we had had a long day and we were tired, but still had a good 45 minutes to our hotel. I was disappointed that had not yet seen all that I had planned for the day but we vowed to arise in the morning and head back to this area to finish our quest. We had a reservation at a Best Western La Poisson de Mere in the town of Ouisterham. The town is depicted in The Longest Day as where the Free French Forces landed and in tough fighting took the casino on the beach and the French nuns came out briefly to cross the ground and offer help to the wounded. The coastal road we had to take to the hotel was small, twisty and had many round-abouts! In the small towns the road twisted back almost on itself and had speed humps as well. We were also having to rely on the GPS to actually find the hotel in the town LOL. So as it grew dark, we got silly. We had not really had anything to eat since Mont-St-Michel and everything closes in France especially in small towns by 6 or 8pm. So no separate supper tonight. As the GPS voice led us down increasingly smaller streets once we entered our destination town, we began to seriously doubt him. Also we really had no idea what to expect from the hotel since found on Expedia and Best Westerns vary widely in their quality AND the online pictures seemed to be computer generated. But we made our last turn and there it was! Actually quite new, modern, colorful and beautiful. It was now about 11:15pm. At the reception desk, we were greeted by the nicest young man who had been waiting for us. He led us to our room and even offered to bring us coca colas and coca cola light for me! He arrived a few minutes later with both drinks and a small bucket of ice! Yahoo! I must say that outside of Paris, all of the folks we met asked us where we were from and were happy to meet us usually. I of course found myself replying I was from Texas, in the US LOL! They clearly were surprised that 2 females were there to see war memorials. We then had a dinner comprised of the various snack foods that we had carefully brought with us from Paris. The room was large, with plenty of plugins and mirrors key for women who need it for hair dryers and curling irons and as we continued to discover are valuable commodities in French hotels. It had been a long and tiring day but we had seen and experienced so very much and it ended with a great laugh - what an adventure.
