Lou Ann's EuroBlog

"The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.
- Ronald Reagan

I won't type nearly so much today, but will still not be caught up with myself. :-)

So ... if you skipped the quote at the top of this post, please go back and read it... Then, go on and read the post (which will go back to my original style of posting, chronologically).

Day Fifteen (7/10/05) - Caen to Paris
Just in case I didn't say this previously, on Saturday (day 14 - 7/9/05), I spent the better part of the day driving from our gite near Villereal to Caen, near the D-Day beaches in Normandy.

Seeing the beaches at Normandy, and especially seeing the American cemetery there has always been something that I've wanted to do, but never quite believed that it would actually happen. But today was that day... It's interesting, when "people" (in general) heard that I was going to visit Europe on a relaxed schedule, they had many, many recommendations of places that I just *had* to see. I don't have time to see everything that I know I'd love. I've been trying to limit what I see so that I can actually enjoy it. BUT ... this was one place that kept coming up ... and it was one place that I really wanted to prioritize.

I left the hotel as soon as I had had their continental breakfast. The car was already packed. I know that the beaches tend to be packed with Europeans on holiday ... especially on weekend days in July ... so I wanted to beat the crowds. My original intention was to drive to the farthest north beach (Utah), and make my way back down toward Caen (where there is a fabulous visitor's center) and then on to Paris. But, alas, again my plans changed based on wrong turns. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, and did the turn off for the beaches at the southern end rather than wait for the later turn. I am now convinced that this was providencial. I never did get to Utah beach...

I had stopped at the visitor's center in Caen the day before to see if they had any information for self-guided tours (with every intention of going back again the next day). I spent a very brief time looking at some maps and descriptions of the battles, but could not stay, as I began weeping (uncontrollably) as soon as the weight of the whole thing hit me. But ... I did take in enough of the big picture to remind myself that the D-Day beaches are NOT only about America (how typically egocentric of an American!) ... but that British and Canadian forces also participated in the invasion, and also had great losses of life on their sides as well. I realized that I wouldn't have time to do the entire area justice (should have planned a few days there!) ... so I decided to just concentrate on the U.S. beaches (Utah and Omaha) and the cemetery. Again ... too much planned ... it should have been a few days!!

After I turned off toward the water, I found the road that leads northbound along the shore, and followed it. The entire area is dedicated to remembering the invasion and the events of June 6, 1944. There are numerous towns there that were affected by the German occupation of France ... and the whole area is a lot larger than I ever realized. It was almost surreal ... driving past walls that were obviously more than 61 years old, and that had holes in them. The buildings and these walls are a lot like what you see in the movies that remember that event. Again ... surreal!!

(Side note ... at one point I drove past a home set far back on its property, the front yard fenced in, and a donkey looking up at me. I couldn't resist stopping to take some pictures. I didn't realize that the donkey would get up and come toward me. He was a wonderful subject. But ... he must have wanted me to feed him (do many tourists drive by, stop and feed him?) Well ... I took pictures, petted him a bit, and went to get back in my car. That's when the noise started. Oh, no!! I can't even tell you how LOUD his braying was. He must have been furious that I was leaving or something. I was afraid that he was going to come through the fence. Actually, I was afraid that he was going to wake up the entire town, and that his owners were going to come out and yell at me in French!!!)

Anyway ... the first town I hit had signs for Omaha Beach (which I drove past), and immediately signs for the cemetery. So, I decided to do the cemetery first and come back for the beach, and then to drive north to Utah Beach, and be back in Caen by noon.

The cemetery is amazing. If you are an American, you MUST make plans, at some point in your life to make a pilgrimage to see the American Cemetery and the D-Day beaches. I can't describe for you using words the profoud effect this visit had on me. If I didn't already have my train tickets for the following day, I would have rearranged my whole trip to stay longer.

It was a Sunday morning, and I was at the cemetery as the grounds opened for visitors, and was thus alone there for 10 or 15 minutes. As I came into the cemetery area from the entrance, there is a huge memorial that overlooks the graves. There is some sort of speaker system at the memorial that began the nine o'clock chimes, and then played several recognizable Christian hymns. Then, I walked through the paths that lead through the graves. There are beautiful flowers and rose bushes and gorgeous trees planted everywhere. And when they say that the cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach ... they mean that the cemetery truly does overlook Omaha Beach. The peacefulness of the place was such a stark contrast to the reports of the hideousness of the day. Again, I found myself weeping uncontrollably. I stopped at several points to read the names. They were mostly enlisted, mostly male. They came from just about every state in the U.S. It really hit me that some of these boys were coming from farms in Kansas or the coasts of Oregon or the Bronx to defend this land so far away from home at such great risk. The first group of soldiers that landed on the beach had almost 100% killed. Scattered throughout the cemetery are also headstones that read something to the effect of "Unknown". Again ... I can't put it into words how moving an experience this was for me. You must plan to visit there someday yourself!! (FYI, the French Government gave the United States the land for that cemetery, as well as several others scattered throughout the country. So, for a short time, I was on U.S. soil.)

When I had finally worn myself out emotionally at the cemetery (and when the tour busses started unloading, and people not speaking English starting running and skipping and laughing through the grounds), I decided to head on over to the beach (obvious to me at that point that it was not too far away).

I easily found the road that leads down to the beach. They said in the travel guides that the beaches have not really been commercialized, but that locals use the beach for typical beach holidays. True. In fact, the signs that point out certain D-Day spots along the beach are inconspicuous, and you really have to look for them. But I found a few and was thoroughly caught up in reading them and following the information around the area. There is a pebble ridge that helped the American soldiers that finally did make it past the German bullets. Even to me, who understands absolutely nothing of war tactics, it was obvious that a soldier who could reach this pebble ridge could more easily dodge the bullets flying at him.

I walked all the way down to the water (low tide) and stood in it for awhile up to my ankles. It was a cool, windy, foggy day, so you could not even begin to see across the channel to England. As I looked down the beach there were two large "things" sitting there that were obviously out of place. It turns out that these were large objects created by the American engineers (who played a major role in the battle) for reasons that I can't remember. (Sorry ... I bought a book to read about it later!) Anyway ... as you climb up the hill at the back of the beach toward a memorial marker at the top (no real path, you just climb through the brush), there are many (MANY) places where you can see the entrances to the German bunkers and where they had their anti-tank artillery. It was fascinating to me. There was even a diagram of the underground tunnels ... and I was tempted to climb down into one ... except that the entrance was SO narrow that I knew that I'd get all scratched up and probably ruin the clothes I had on (and I didn't bring very many with me).

Again ... being at Omaha beach, even with my limited knowledge of D-Day, was very profound and emotional for me. I have a renewed interest in learning more about WWII and what it means for its impact on life in the U.S. even today. Let me tell you this: WWII was SO significant for so many parts of Europe ... especially in the destruction of their historical sites ... that it is intimately connected with any learning that you do about any of the places that you visit ... and this has been especially true in London, which I'm sure that I'll tell you about when I get to describing that part of my trip.

I spent so much time there, that I ended up just driving back to Caen without going to Utah (which apparantly has much less in the way of visible remnants of the war), because it would have added another couple of hours. Well ... the visitor center in Caen is more of a museum. I should have spent several hours there, but only really visited the gift shop, and bought a couple of books to read and catch myself up on the history of the place. The visitor center itself is truly a monument to D-Day and to its significance in the history of the entire world. Again ... make this a must-see for yourself someday. If you're like me, and want to learn more about D-Day and the beaches at Normandy, this might be a good place to start (or just google it!)

Okay ... well, I promised that this one wouldn't be so long, so I will close here, and pick up with the Eurostar train ride through the Channel Tunnel (Mom really wants to hear about this ... but it will be a let-down), and my adventures in London.

Cheerio!! :-)