Normandy, France

Mont St. Michel

 

The drive to Normandy, France from our house in England took about six hours.  35 minutes of that was sitting in our car as a car-mover train zipped us through the Channel Tunnel, an experience we won’t soon forget!  It’s the fourth way we’ve transported ourselves from England to mainland Europe (the other three being the car ferry, by airplane, and the Eurostar train).  The flexibility of having our car was great and we were even able to take Bailey with her brand new pet passport! 

Sitting in the car, on a train, under the ocean.  Strange!

The Chunnel dropped us off in Calais, France where a heavily tolled series of roads led us along the coast of Normandy.  The forecasted cloudy afternoon instead turned out to a beautifully sunny one so we shuffled plans and detoured for a few hours to Etretat, a tiny town surrounded by white cliffs along the Cote d’Albatre.  This Alabaster Coast is truly Monet’s Normandy and is known as the cradle of impressionism.  Monet lived in the area for years and produced more than 80 canvases of Etretat alone.  I don’t appreciate art to the extent I could, but despite this lack of knowledge really do enjoy Monet’s paintings.  The colors at the cliffs were amazing.  The white limestone was speckled and streaked with reds and browns, the grass was bright green even in the middle of winter, and the Atlantic was such a unique milky turquoise… I’ve never seen anything like it.  Of course we had to hike along the well-worn path along the cliffs.  This meant stairs.  Loads of them.  I think Chris forgets that I’m carrying an extra 20 pounds these days!  The light was beautiful and so was the day.  Our winter really has been mild this year: a light jacket and hat have been all we've needed so far!  We left the beautiful coast at sunset and drove the last couple hours to our hotel near Mont St. Michel. 

Me, belly, Chris, and Bailey with Etretat in the background.

 

Beautiful Cote d'Albatre white chalk cliffs and cloudy turquoise waters.

Mont St. Michel is a fortified abbey perched upon the top of a tiny, steep, rocky island just off the coast of the junction of Normandy and Brittany.  Apparently the narrow cobbled streets are seriously crowded in the summer months but we had the whole place to ourselves at first light on Sunday morning.  The three of us wandered around the (did I mention steep and stair-filled?) island for a couple hours, and then headed back to the car to drive to the D-Day beaches where we’d spend the rest of the day.   

Me and Chris with Mont St. Michel in the background.

Abbey sitting atop the steep, rocky island.

You know how you automatically turn sideways to fit through something narrow??  Yeah, that doesn't work anymore. 

 

It was only a couple hours drive to Utah Beach.  We stopped at a small bakery along the way to get our mandatory-daily-while-in-France chocolate croissant.  In my humble opinion, every country should adopt the chocolate croissant as a staple food.  But yes, on to Utah Beach.  We parked and then walked along the beach to its supposedly excellent visitor center and museum.  Gee, there aren’t any cars here.  And the lights are all off.  And the door is locked.  Face palm, they’re closed the entire months of December and January except for Christmas.  We had definitely missed that memo.  Luckily we prepped for the trip by watching videos on D-Day and brushing up on our history.  I’m so thankful we did that; otherwise we would have just been wandering around a beautiful, peaceful beach.

Bailey was so happy to be out of the car!  This was our first view of the D-Day beaches.

 

 

Chris taking down imaginary Nazi planes.

On June 6, 1944, 6,000 ships and 13,000 Allied airplanes hit the beaches of Normandy, France. The initial landing force was 45,000 men but in the course of a few weeks would swell to 135,000 as Allied troops stormed ashore along Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.  There were 37,000 Allied casualties in the 76-day Battle of Normandy, a number I find absurd. Hitler’s German army had captured just about all of mainland Europe by this point (and had held it for years) and had their sights set on capturing the United Kingdom as well.  Russia was battling Germany on the eastern front, dividing Hitler’s army and leaving just enough of a weakness along the coast for the Allies to capitalize on.  Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor galvanized the United States to start up the ‘war machine’ that dragged us from the Great Depression.  Three years later we joined Canada and England in the largest military operation in history, Operation Overlord, and attacked Hitler along the Normandy Coast.  This battle was decidedly the turning of the tide against Hitler – he would be dead within a year.

From Utah Beach we drove a couple miles to Pointe du Hoc, a strategic outcropping of land between Omaha and Utah Beach that held some of Hitler’s major artillery used to defend those beaches. US Rangers captured Pointe du Hoc by scaling the 100’ sheer cliffs from the seaward side. Way more than half the Rangers involved in the attack were killed. Wiki has a great article about the battle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Hoc. It was so interesting to walk around the pock-marked, almost lunar landscape and think of the area being shelled from the gun boats below.

Walking around Point du Hoc's lunar landscape.

The cliffs the Army Rangers had to battle their way up, under fire, to capture Ponte du Hoc.

 

Our last stop of the day was a coffee and then sunset at Omaha Beach, the other of the US’s main landing beaches.  I won’t do the battle justice in my own words on this blog, but would really suggest watching a video on the battle. 

Les Braves Monument on Omaha Beach

The Wings of Hope
So that the spirit which carried these men on 6th June 1944, continues to inspire us, reminding us that together it is always possible to change the future.

Rise of Freedom So that the example of those who rose up against barbarity, helps us remain standing strong against all forms on inhumanity.

The Wings of Fraternity So that the surge of brotherhood always reminds of our responsibility towards others as well as ourselves.
On 6th June 1944, these men were more than soldiers, they were our brothers.
Anilore Banon

Peaceful sunset walk along Omaha Beach.

The next morning we awoke early to head to the Normandy American Cemetery as they opened at 9:00.  We had the place to ourselves.  I don't have much to say other than I was so touched by the place I cried.  It was a much more moving experience than I'd anticipated. 

Frosty first view of the Normandy American Cemetery

Crosses and the Star of David in the morning light.

9,387 Americans are buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.

We absolutely could’ve done with an extra day or two to explore Rouen and Honfleur, and all the Calvados (a kind of cider) producers in the area. I’d have also loved a few days to hike around Brittany. Hopefully we’ll be able to make a trip back out that way (primary motivation: chocolate croissants) next summer before we head back to the States.