Blogs from Arromanches-les-Bains, Lower Normandy, France, Europe

"Hope is not a prediction of the future . It is a declaration of what is possible" - Yogi Bhajan Apt is it not for where we are today? We have continued along the Liberation Roads and found ourselves passing through villages such as Sainte Marie du Mont he first village to be liberated after the invasion force landed at Utah Beach . The 101st Airborne Division liberated the village in the early hours of June 6th 1944. The first of many such liberations. We are following a route connected with the Band of Brothers. Our plan was to park up on a massive car park before going to the museum associated with the part the Americans played in WW2. Gabby parking was easy. Large parking areas alongside the road and almost empty. It was the ... read more

After leaving the relative peace and quietness of downtown Carentan Gabby the motorhome found herself parked up on a very windy headland overlooking the rather choppy sea. Rusted guns still point to the south coast of England. Why are we here? Well this coastal battery at Longues sur Mer is one of the key Normandy D Day battlefield sites. That is reason enough . It is the midst of the landing beaches between Omaha and Gold Beach with views towards Arromanches and the Mulberry Harbours . It is an open site , free to visit and wonder round and to our surprise still has its guns . It was still a busy place even out of season. A place for walkers and enthusiasts alike. There is a tourist information office here but at this time of ... read more

Normandy , the land of braves , don't forget...... Normandy,Normandie,d.day,France,g.i,cimetery,american,u.s.a.,ww2,debarquement,june 1944,juin 1944, ... read more

Far from Home with the Screaming Eagles Come the morning we set out for another traditional breakfast of a Baguette each, 2 Croissants each and a Pan au Chocolat. Suitably stuffed on Butter, Pastry, Bread and Chocolate we set out for St. Mere Eglise. This small town on the route up to Cherbourg was the Western flank of the invasion effort. Paratroopers of the US 101st airborne division, The Screaming Eagles, were dropped in and the town has become famed for the Paratrooper who's parachute became tangled around the church spire in the main square. These days there is an effigy of a paratrooper hung by his parachute from the spire and the Church commissioned a stained glass window to be designed to forever commemorate the efforts of the Airborne troopers who liberated the town. We ... read more

Wednesday-Day 16 We decided on a road trip today from our hotel in Villerville to the D-Day beaches, museums and cemeteries. Our first stop was the village of Arromanches-les-Bains, considered 'ground-zero' of the D-Day invasion. It was the site of one of two pre-fab artifical harbors that were built in the days following the invasion. The basic facilities, including 115 football-sized, concrete blocks, were build in England and hauled over during the early days of the invasion. As part of the harbor, over 20 ships were intentionally sunk to create a sea break. Over 54,000 vehicles and 326,000 troops landed here in the weeks following D-Day. We visited our first D-day museum here. We also visited the nearby Arromanches 360 degree Theater. It includes a well produced slide and video presentation of the Normandy area, then ... read more