| We don't usually go on guided tours in a bus, but because our friend was visiting from Egypt we decided we could make an exception, to go see the various battlefields of D-Day (Jour-J in French). It was a two day tour, which took us on the first day to some of the beaches, and then dropped us in Bayeux, where we would spend the night (and watch Eurovision 2005!) and start the next day by looking at the famous Bayeux tapestry, before returning to our D-Day theme. The first beach we visited was gold beach, which the British stormed, before continuing on to Omaha beach. |
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| In Arromanches there were the remnants of the artificial harbor, or 'mulberry', which had been constructed to allow the allies to supply their troops as they continued the assault on the axis troops occupying Northern France. |
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| We next went to the American cemetary located at Omaha beach, which holds nearly 10,000 American troops who have died in Europe. |
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| Near the American cemetary is the Pointe du Hoc, which held a german defensive unit and a superb view of the beaches. As such, before the invasion it was considered necessary to take the point, to preserve the element of surprise, and to prevent some well-aimed shells from falling on the invading forces. US troops scaled the cliff face and took the point. Before the assault, bombs were dropped to give the troops some space, which explains the torn-up landscape, now overgrown with grass. |
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| Another war cemetary, this one dedicated to fallen German troops. Despite the number of troops it holds (nearly 20,000, I believe), it is done on a human scale. The whole thing was done quite tastefully, we felt. |
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| Sainte Mere Eglise was where an American paratrooper got hung up on the church spire. According to the story, he played dead until the Germans were driven out of town by the other troops. I feel fairly confident in saying this is the only place in the world where paratroopers are represented in a stained glass window. |
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| Bayeux is famous for the tapestry which dates from the 11th century, and tells the story of the Norman invasion (say it with me: 1066!) of England. |
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| William gives Harold armor |
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| We finished our trip with a visit to the memorial in Caen, which had some amazing relics from before and during the second world war. From propaganda to personal letters, the amount of firsthand information was incredible. We didn't have nearly enough time to see everything, but we were quite impressed by what we did see. |
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| We closed out our trip with a reminder of why you don't drive into Paris on a Sunday evening. Traffic got thicker as we got closer, and the last hour was nothing but bumper-to-bumper stop and go traffic. Nevertheless our excellent guide got us back on time. It was a packed weekend, but well worth doing, and very enlightening. |