Normandy Day 2

Monday was our 2nd (and last) day in Normandy. We all slept very well. The shower was a bit tricky, but I think we all ended up well rested and clean. We started off early in the morning @ 7:30. The place we had scoped out for breakfast was not open (it had said it’s hours were 7h a 20h – 7am-8pm, they lied). So we set off for the US Landing beaches first and hoped that we would find some food in Bayeux around 10. (Does it seem like we are always eating in my blogs? I realize I write a lot about searching for food…)

On the road to the Point Du Hoc and Omaha Beach, we came upon a monument in the middle of the road. It was the World Peace Statue. The light was really cool – Kathy took lots of pictures of our shadows. There was a cemetery across the way, but not a military cemetery. I really don’t know anything about D-Day or WWII – I haven’t even seen Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan (although I own it).


As I understand it, the US landed and Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, and between them is Point Du Hoc – which was supposed to be a stronghold for the Germans because of the cliffs. There are monuments and museums at nearly every beach. We didn’t make it to Utah Beach because there weren’t clear signs to it, or we missed them, or we got off the main road too soon. Mom was disappointed. At the Point Du Hoc site, they have tried to maintain the land just as it was when the US landed. So there are huge craters where the shells from the offshore guns must have landed. We were lucky, and the weather finally got nice, so the water was beautiful.

We drove a bit down the coast and got to Omaha Beach. We followed the first signs and drove on a road right off the sand. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately went right below the cemetery (we figured later) so we missed it. We saw a video later that had big sweeping views of the US Military Cemetery – tons of white crosses and green grass and flags. At Omaha beach there are 2 statues. One is a stone monument just off the beach, one is a metal sculpture on the beach.

The next beach we went to was after Bayeux, and it was the last thing we saw in Normandy – it was called Arromanche. I believe it ended up being the center of the D-Day activities – eventually where the harbor was set up. Kathy had seen an advert for a 360 cinema experience at Arromanche where a 18 minute film including actual d-day footage was shown. 360 Cinema Website We got to Arromanche and it was very crowded. Our time in Point du Hoc and Omaha Beach was really before anything opened, but that was not the case in Arromanche. Parking was difficult, but free. :)
The Cinema was up a very steep hill – a nice walk before getting on the ferry, and the view was gorgeous, but we were in a hurry to make a certain showing – otherwise we’d have to wait another 30 minutes and we were in a hurry to get to the ferry on time. The film was very arty – no narration, only sound from the footage. Some of which was very loud gunfire. There were a lot of small children in the theater (which was like circle vision, but smaller…I think there were 9 screens…we all stood in the middle). I thought the subject matter was a little to disturbing for children – I was disturbed. The film was called The Price of Freedom, so it was supposed to disturb. I definitely came out of it grateful that I wasn’t called upon to be a soldier jumping off a boat on the Normandy shore. I’m sure that I would have been brave enough.

We didn’t have time to visit the British or Canadian Beaches (Gold Beach, Juno Beach and Sword Beach). There is a lot to see – I think the Normandy D-Day Beach Tours usually take several days. The roads follow the coast and are small (some 1 lane only like in Wales, just with less hills) and the speed limit is slow, so it takes some time to go short distances.

Before Arromanche we went back inland to Bayeux. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry – a 70 meter long tapestry (only about 2 feet tall) depicting the story of the Normans and the Saxons – featuring King Harold and William the Conqueror. It was really interesting. The tapestry has an accompanying audio tour that describes all of the scenes and tells the story of the tapestry. The tapestry was displayed for years to laud the story of William the Conqueror – to a largely illiterate people. People aren’t quite sure when the tapestry originated, but right now the leading theory is that it was commissioned by William the Conqueror’s brother, Odo – and completed around 1077. So it is very very very old. Check out some pictures on wikipedia (my go-to-source for everything): Wikipedia Entry. We all really liked it.

Bayeux was a very picturesque town. It has a small river running through it, and lots of pedestrian areas. It made it a bit tricky to figure out where we needed to be at first…finally we just parked and went to the tourist info center and were given a map and directions. It’s amazing how that works everytime if you are willing to say you are a tourist – because you know, wandering around looking lost isn’t worse (or the same) than the tourist label.

Before loading up on the ferry we got gas – well diesel – in Le Havre. It was much cheaper than in England. However, the diesel pump was so so slow. In both the UK and France you have to pump the gas the whole time – there is no mechanism to keep the trigger pulled while pumping; you just have to use your hand. Often the pumps are covered in gas or oil – some stations provide disposable gloves, but they are often all gone. Now I carry an orange cleaning glove in my car – it is very chic.

While waiting in line, a few of the French officers (their shirts said “cadets”) came and asked for our passports and then looked at eat of us – and then walked away. I think that one of them was training the other. After they were about 20 yards away the senior officer must have asked a question like “did you tell them what we are doing with their passports?” – which was answered “no” with a laugh. They both came back and told us that our passports would be stamped and returned. I don’t know how we got selected, but we got Le Havre stamps in our passport. J The cadets barely returned in time – we were moving onto the ferry when they found us.

On the return ferry we just had standard seats. It was fine. The ferry was supposed to be 5 hours, but was delayed by an hour due to a strong wind. We also did some duty free shopping on the ferry on the return trip. I bought some Milka Chocolate (the purple cow chocolate). It was a huge hit at work.

We made it back to Portsmouth around 11 (I think) and home just after midnight. I had to get into the office on Tuesday morning – we were in a month close period where I have a lot of responsibility. I was quite tired. But I survived.

During the week mom and Kathy stayed at home – one day I dropped them off at Avebury for the afternoon. They walked the whole circle a couple of times, and found a nice National Trust shop. I think 4 hours was plenty of time to explore the stones – the sheep had been rotated to a different field, so they didn’t even have the sheep or sheep poop as obstacles.

Mom got dropped at the Heathrow Airport on Thursday morning. On Saturday Kath and I planned a London trip – this time not by car. Details and photos to be blogged soon.