The D-Day Beaches

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We spent a few days in the area around the famous coastal beaches of D-Day. I thought this would be more for Colin but I really enjoyed the history too (and the food.)

We stayed in Bayeaux in a really neat guest house. The host was fantastic and so nice and he had the most wonderful golden lab. Our room was on the main level and the door opened into the garden. We used TripAdvisor to book all our rooms for this trip and it is really reliable because every place we stayed was perfect.

On the first day we went to Juno Beach, the Canadian Museum and the Canadian Cemetery. It was really humbling to learn about what took place on those beaches and then to walk on the beach and invision what happened there. The hills along the coast are all bumpy and uneven from the bombings that distorted its original shape. There are still German bunkers standing that were built when they occupied France and you could walk through them. The Museum was very humble as well as it illustrated Canada's involvement in the war and also gave general history and facts about Canada. The Cemetery was peaceful and beautiful. We were the only ones there at that time. It was lightly raining as we walked up and down the rows of buried soldiers. We also signed a guest book which was really neat to see. It was mostly signed by other Canadians.

The next day we went to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. This was quite different from the gentle experience of the day before. When we arrived at the cemetery, we went through metal detectors and were patted down by security guards. Then to get to the cemetery we had to walk through the museum which was filled with dramatic movie clips that brought many to tears and tragic stories about heros of the war were illustrated all around the surroundings. When you head out to the cemetery, you walk along a path that is on the coast and the landscape looks as though it were designed to look like American countryside. Then you arrive at the cemetery and it is just massive! Rows on rows of tombstones for as far as you can see.

Dinner both nights was great. They have fixed price meals which means you get to pick one thing from several courses. It is a really good deal and it is so fun to get all these different course brought to you.

It was a great trip and I would love to go back to Normandy again. I hear they have a good cheese tour too. 😊

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