Normandy

My parents got here on Thursday morning last week and on Friday morning at 4am we left for Normandy. We drove 3 hours down to the south coast of England and then took the ferry from there to Caen.

Coastline of Normandy from the Ferry (in the rain)

Our hotel was in Caen, just down the street from Le Memorial, a museum touted as the best WWII museum in France, so we went there that evening. It was very interesting to see all of the details of the French experience of the war. It was also a good introduction to all of the things that we would see the next day.

Le Memorial

Le Memorial and a bit of sunshine!

At night we went into Caen and got good views of a castle and cathedral in the city. When we finally found parking downtown we wandered around a found a little sidewalk cafe to have dinner in. Then we went back to the hotel and slept well after getting up at 3:30am!
The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and started our drive down the coast to see the WWII sites of interest. Our first stop was Arromanches, where the allies built a fake port to dock ships and carry in supplies. The entire port was built in England and then floated across the channel and sunk at Arromanches. It was important to the war because the Germans did not expect the allies to be able to dock at that seaport.

Arromanches-parts of the port are out in the water in an arc around the harbor

Our next stop was a place called Longues Sur Mer. It was a German gun emplacement with huge guns that could shoot 12 miles and could reach several of the landing beaches. A couple of the cement bunkers still have the guns in them.

A gun bunker at Longues sur mer

The row of 4 gun bunkers at Longues sur mer, picture taken from the coast

A large bunker at Longues sur mer right on the edge of the bluff. One of these was shown at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan

Our next stop was Omaha beach, site of the American Memorial Cemetary and also the most difficult beach for the allies to take. It was one of the two American beaches. All of the other beaches were taken by nightfall but Omaha was not taken until mid-day on June 7th. We went to the museum, walked around the cemetary, and then walked around on the beach for a bit.

The American Memorial War Cemetary at Omaha Beach

Looking down on Omaha Beach from the cemetary

Taking a break on the walk up from the beach

Then we went to a place called Pointe du hoc. This was a bluff between Omaha and Utah beaches where there was a big group of german pill boxes and gun emplacements. They could reach both Omaha and Utah beaches with the guns so it was important that they were taken out. They did a big plane bombing run in the morning and then a group of 230ish army rangers used rope ladders and grappling hooks to scale the shear rock side of the bluff and secure the area. The whole area is covered in craters from the bombing and everything was left exactly as it was after they vacated it. So there are tunnels and pill boxes and barbed wire and bombed out bunkers all just as they were. We took a flashlight and were allowed to climb around in the tunnels and bunkers so it was a pretty cool experience.

Craters at Pointe du Hoc

View from a German pill box

Coming out of a bunker at Pointe du Hoc

Utah beach is around the corner of the bluff (view from Pointe du Hoc)

We were supposed to be at our ferry back in the evening 45 minutes ahead of time and we got there about 15 minutes ahead of time but they still let us on the ferry and we started the long journey back home. Sunday we went to Ely again and saw the cathedral and went to an evensong service. Monday my parents and I walked to Grantchester and had lunch in the orchard tea shop there. And then Tuesday my parents were supposed to fly home and ended up missing their flight due to an accident on the freeway and didn't get out until Wednesday.
We do have our bunnies now (pictures to follow) so we have been taking care of them. We saw a kitty trying to get at them so yesterday we built a roof for their run to keep out curious cats. We have a 3 day weekend this weekend (late May bank holiday doesn't have the same ring as Memorial Day but a day off is a day off). Next weekend we are meeting our college friend Amy in Berlin so we will get to see some of Germany.