One of those serious days...

Bayeux
After spending a night at a beautiful little hotel in Bayeaux, we saw the Bayeaux tapestry in the morning. If you don’t know it, it’s pretty much “the” tapestry, and depicts the invasion of England by the Normans. The art is almost a thousand years old, and is in remarkable shape. I was pretty impressed, it was far longer and more beautiful than I expected. It wrapped the entire way around a massive room, and it almost felt like a movie with the detailed story it presented. There was even gratuitous sex and gory violence.

Normandy Beaches
The drive along the coast was still littered with remnants of the huge invasion force, the scale of the false harbor at Port Winston brought it home.

The American Cemetery was stunning, and very haunting. You sit on top of the ocean bluffs, surrounding by beauty – and behind you lies these young men. Below the cemetery was Omaha Beach, and I can’t imagine what it must have been like. Watching children play with their kites on the beach below us where these same men died was an odd contrast for this place. Some people might find it disrespectful I guess, but it seemed rather wonderful to me.

We also went to a nearby German cemetery, which touched all of us as well – there were somber collections of 5 black stone crosses, with one marker for every two men. The Japanese could learn a lesson from this country, as the entire visitors center made sure no German forgets what happened in the past. There were also letters home from these other young men, which made their own sacrifice for a misdirected country seem so poignant.

Near Omaha was the Ponte du Hoc, an imposing set of cliffs which the first American Rangers had to scale with ladders and hooks. This installation was huge, much bigger than I had thought with my reading, and the importance was fairly obvious. They had left the bomb craters alone, and it was like walking on the moon – there were hundreds of them, the size of dump trucks. It was odd how few fortifications had been destroyed by these same bombs, however.

There are some people that believe the French don’t honor the sacrifices our country has made on their behalf, I wish they could see the crowds of French tourists and schoolchildren solemnly viewing these locations.

Driving this evening to stay by Mont St. Michel.

Trip Map