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Published: January 31st 2010
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JUNO BEACH NORMANDY Day 8
Since I am now in a very small town there are only a few buses that come and take you to the D/Day beaches. The first leaves at 12noon, so that is the one I took out. Now to return I would have to wait until 5.30pm, which wouldn’t be a problem because there is a good size Canadian museum at Juno Beach which has films on the d/day landings so it would be easy to fill the time. Unfortunately, I am a Lutes. For non-Lutes you may ask, “why would being a lutes be a problem?” if you are a Lutes you will know that the likely answer is that things tend to be closed when you plan to visit them. So I headed out on my bus and it began to rain a little bit. Not a problem I can be inside the museum when it is raining and go outside to the beaches when it clears. Well I got off the bus and headed for the museum to find that January is the one month in the year that the museum is ever closed. Why does my guide book not mention
this?!?!? Oh well… I head to the beaches and the walking areas that are open.
It was very strange to see this place that grumpy found it so hard to speak of. Both he and grandma were on my mind a lot leading up to my arrival in Normandy. One, because the day of my arrival in Normandy coincided with the anniversary of her leaving us and in turn the beginning of things being incredibly different for all of us. Two, for a man that loved to share the stories of his life D Day is the one story he found it nearly impossible to tell and only shared a brief glimpse into that day once. Three, well I think of them all the time and wonder what they would think of my adventure and wish that they would be there when I return so that I can share all these stories with them as they have shared many stories with me. But I digress…
The walking area along the beach was very lovely. They had stops with posted information about operation overlord, which assisted in getting a better idea of what it would have been like on
that day. Although the centre was closed I am glad that I came when I did because it was very quiet with no other tourists and allowed for a sense of peace that I needed to have while I walked around. The museum itself seemed nice from the outside. The structure was designed with the image of the maple leaf in mind. The beach was huge and there were still a few pillboxes and bunkers left but they were the only sign that anything had ever happened there. I also took a walk around the town and many of the streets were named after the war time events: Rue d ‘allies, rue 11 Novembre, Rue Jour J, etc. There was an old tank that was recovered from the water and now acts as a monument with thanks to all the Canadian regiments that fought on that day and at the bottom of the tank by the wheels stuck between some stones is a small, handmade wooden cross with a poppy stuck to it.
I wandered for a few hours and then it began to rain again and my bus was not going to return for another hour so I
decided to pop into a creperie for some hot choco and, obviously, some crepes. It was delicious and warmed me back up before I had to get back onto the bus.
When I returned to Bayeux I decided to check the times for the trains the next morning. I got the info I needed and one of the employees gave me a novel, in English, that was left behind by someone in the summer and since I spoke English they thought I might enjoy it. Yay for free books. So I took my new murder mystery novel and headed for the D Day Museum in Bayeux since I missed the one on the beach. So I walked down to the museum to find once again that it is a curse to be a Lutes. The Bayeux museum was closed for the week and would reopen on Monday. So I took it as a sign that grumpy did not want me to have any more information into the horrors of that day and hoofed it back to my hostel for a good nights rest before my 7am train the following morning.
Ps. People do walk around with baguettes and
cheese! So I did too and it was a delicious lunch.
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Cathie Lutes
non-member comment
D Day..
I'm glad to see that the Lutes tradition is alive and well... what are the odds "closed" they must have known you were coming. I'm sure grumpy and grandma were by your side on this journey... . Im glad you are embracing the "When in Rome.. or Paris saying and enjoying the French Cuisine.. yummy. I just want to jump on a plane and check out all these wonderful places. Luv Mom