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Published: August 9th 2007
Our tour of Normandy took us on a journey through history from the cathedrals of medieval times to the Battle of Hastings with William the Conqueror to the Hundred Years War between France and England to the Battle of Normandy in WWII. We had requested a tour of the beaches of Normandy, but we got so much more, due in most part to the patient explanations of our tour guide, David, who is from the city of Bayeux,in Normandy.
We began our tour at the Cathedral of Chartres, widely considered to be the finest gothic cathedral in France. Even though the weather was cold and drizzly, as it was throughout all of our tour of Normandy, we were still able to appreciate the 152 beautiful stained glass windows of the cathedral. Next we drove to the fishing port of Cancale in Brittany. Because we were visiting on the spring equinox, we were lucky enough to witness some of the biggest tides in Europe. We stayed the night in the exquisite Chateau Richeux where our room looked out onto the sea and the high tide.
The next morning we drove into Normandy and to the magnificent Mont Saint-Michel abbey which sits high
Cancale, Brittany
One of the upsides to the cloudy weather...atop a tidal island. The abbey was first built as a church before 1000 AD and in the 14th century was fortified by the military to withstand a 30 year siege by the English during the Hundred Years War and thus become a symbol of national identity. Then we drove to Caen and visited the Peace Memorial Museum which, along with David, served as an excellent refresher of our WWII history knowledge and introduction to the beaches of Normandy which we were to visit the following day.
We started with visiting Sainte-Mere-Eglise which was one of the first towns to be liberated during the invasion. It was liberated early on June 6, 1944 by mixed units of the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. One of the paratroopers, John Steele, became famous when his parachute caught on the spire of the town church and he hung playing dead for two hours before being briefly taken hostage by the Germans. Next we visited Utah and Omaha Beaches, the two beaches where American soldiers landed on D-Day. Over the course of the invasion, nearly 3 million U.S., British and Canadian troops would cross the English Channel to land in German-occupied France. Seeing
the miles of beach head firsthand and understanding the conditions, both weather and terrain, the troops had to deal with, was awe-inspiring to say the least. We also visited Pointe du Hoc where 225 soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Ranger battalion had to scale 100 foot cliffs to take the German stronghold located there. Lastly we visited the Normandy American Cemetery in Bayeux, one of two U.S. military cemeteries in Normandy, where nearly 10,000 U.S. soldiers are laid to rest.
Before returning to Paris, we saw the famous Bayeux Tapestry, 220 feet of embroidered tapestry from the 11th century which depicts the circumstances surrounding William the Conqueror’s expedition to England and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. We also stopped in Honfleur, a quaint fishing village where many impressionist painters worked in the late 1800’s and in Rouen, the place where Joan of Arc was tried and burned at the stake. We ended our time in France in Paris where we visited the museums and shopped on the Champs Elysees.
I hope my description of this amazing tour didn’t sound too much like a history lecture! Maybe I just needed to “download” for providing an outlet and hopefully the commentary
will make our pictures all the more meaningful.
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Rene Clark
non-member comment
Hi
Hey friends, so glad you are all back together again and having such a good time. Your pictures are always so good. We still miss you terribly but can now count the months on one hand until you get home. Yea! We got a contract on the Colorado house yesterday so please keep your fingers crossed that it closes. Take care and write when you can. Love always, Rene'