Day 8 (Oct 9th): Rouen in Paris and Normandy travel log
- Oct. 10, 2015, 5:32 p.m.
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- Public
Today we had a full-day excursion to the Normandy beaches. I’d expected it to be physically exhausting, but it was actually an easier day than previous ones, because we mostly just sit in a bus and was bussed from one site to another. But we have a very experienced guide with us the whole time, explaining the history in the right level of detail to give the context but not to get bogged down by it.
We began by driving by Juno beach where the British and Canadian invaded. Then we got to Arromanches to the site of Mulberry B’s deployment (and a museum). We got lunch, then drove to a few remaining German bunkers (La professeure said they look like Tatooine). We then went to a site overlooking Omaha beach, where one of American’s cemeteries and memorial is. There was a visitor’s center there as well, so we got to spend a chunk of time there. Viking also arranged a nice ceremony to remember the fallen soldiers and a moment to acknowledge the veterans (there were quite a number of them, my father-in-law among them) who joined. Finally we drove down to Omaha beach, one of the sites of the landing and just to get a feel of what the landscape looked like.
There were lots of memorials and museums near the Normandy beaches, and it would take a week to get to visit them all in detail, so we have left out a lot of stuff. But what struck me was how normal life is now - there are farmers still raising cow, families on vacation coming to camp, para-sailers sailing on the beach. Omaha beach is actually very beautiful. We visited at low tide and there were perhaps a hundred yards of sand between the shore and where the water was. And it was flat. The sky was clear and the water was clear. It was beautiful if you didn’t know what happened there.
Anyway, the drive to and from Rouen was about 2 hours long, so we had an early morning - 8 o’clock departure time and 6:30 return time. So by the end of the day we were all tired. I almost didn’t go to a presentation and tasting of Normandy cheeses, but was glad I did, if only for the tasting.
Last updated April 24, 2020
Zappel ⋅ October 10, 2015
I spent my 11th birthday building sand castles on Omaha beach -- I remember having really conflicted thoughts about being on that beach doing normal kid things vs. how I knew that beach had been 50 years earlier, but I think now I would be much more sobered by it. (I would probably still build a sand castle, though, because it seems to me that carrying on with normal life is one of the best testaments to peace.)