July 13, 2017

July 13, 2017

I wasn’t planning on going out last night but Aimee noticed the nice sunset before retiring. So a little later, I went out to give a night shot of Mont Saint-Michel another try. I am glad I did. Besides the clearer skies and colorful sunset, it also looked like it was high tide and the water stopped flowing. I saw the reflection of the lit up abbey in the estuary. Beautiful! I made the mistake of hopping on the bus to take a closer photo. I quickly realized there was not a good shot and turned to take the bus back. Unfortunately, there was a huge line and it took me 45 minutes to return.

This morning we packed up and headed east deeper into Normandy. We are going to explore the D-Day sites. We start on the west side with the town of St. Mere Eglise. The night before D-Day, paratroopers dropped into the land west of Utah Beach to secure the roads inland. Some accidentally dropped into this German-occupied town. One unfortunate soldier snagged the town’s church steeple and hung there for two hours. This was a prominent scene in the movie, “The Longest Day”. We also read a handful of the many placards placed around town describing action that occurred here. It is also market day, so after taking a photo we peruse the stalls.

On the way out of town we again get caught in some one lane roads meant for two. This time they are lined with hedgerows. Very appropriate, for that is the obstacle D-Day troops also ran into on their fight off the beaches.

We next head to Utah Beach and run through the Museum. It was a marathon. The museum is extensive and very interesting with a lot of cool artifacts. Built next to an old German concrete bunker, part of the exhibits face the grassy dunes of the beach. It is astonishing to learn how much planning went into this largest ever amphibious invasion. One exhibit was particularly engaging but was sensory overload. We listened to a narrator while watching an animated map while watching dual movie scenes being described. I had to watch it several times. Halfway through the museum, I am thinking I didn't allocate enough time to D-Day sites.

After the museum, we bought a tasty French sandwich from a stand abutting another German bunker. Our hunger abated, we walked onto Utah Beach passing by several memorials. The beach is so serene 73 years later.

From Utah Beach we drive east and stop at the next landing site, Pointe du Hoc. This cliff-edged promontory sits strategically between Utah and Omaha Beaches. The Germans built several concrete gun emplacements here. During D-Day 225 Rangers scaled the sea cliff to capture and destroy the cannon. After reaching the summit they found the guns had been removed for protection. They found them a half mile away. We walked the top, weaving around dozens of bomb craters, to visit the gun bunkers.

Just east is the five-mile Omaha Beach. We walked the beach and stopped at a couple memorials. Omaha is a wide beach that is faced with a high-steep grass hill. No wonder this was the hardest beach to take and the casualty rate was so high.

Having put in a full day, we drive east to Arromanches and our home for the next few days.