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July 16, Arromanches-les-Bains, D Day Beaches and Rouen
Today we are visiting the D Day sights but first we went into the city of Bayeux for a little McDonald's breakfast and some gas. I figured we would go to the German D Day cemetery at La Cambe first because it was the furthest west. Until 1947 it was actually an American cemetery then the remains were exhumed and returned to the USA. It has been a German cemetery since 1948 and contains over 21,000 graves. The graves are marked with simple plaques placed on the ground and groups of 5 dark crosses throughout the cemetery. It is a powerful sight, rather dark, depressing and emotional, something I don`t think photos can make you feel. I can`t help but think that so many of the young German soldiers forced into war by Hitler, many only 18-20 years old, were probably scared half to death, just as the Allied soldiers must have been. The next stop was the American D Day cemetery at Colleville-Sur-Mer, situated above what was called Omaha beach (6 km long) where the troops suffered staggering losses on June 6, 1944. Inside the visitor center we watched a couple movies about the Normandy invasion and profiles on some of the soldiers who were killed. We saw some displays of artifacts and descriptions of the events of the D Day campaign. We then went outside and viewed from above the beaches where the soldiers came ashore. The Germans had fortified the beachhead with concrete bunkers and put obstacles in the water to tear apart the boats. The troops came ashore under a full moon at 6:30 am during low tide to avoid the German defences in the water but this meant the soldiers were exposed on the wide sandy beach and many were killed. The cemetery contains the remains of 9387 soldiers who died during the Normandy campaign and a memorial for 1557 soldiers missing in action. The average age of the dead soldiers here is just 22 years old. There are white marble crosses and Stars of David marking the graves. They have been aligned precisely and it is amazing how looking down the endless rows the crosses all seem to line up, it is hard to describe and hard to capture in a photo what the eyes see. After the cemetery I wanted to go to Pointe Du Hoc, a spit of land sticking out between Omaha beach and Utah beach where the Germans had bunkers and artillery to defend the beaches on either side. 225 Rangers were tasked with climbing the steep cliffs to destroy the German guns. Only 90 survived. The site is littered with bomb craters 15-20 feet deep and concrete bunkers, some mostly intact and others destroyed. Brenna was not so impressed by all this so we headed back to Arromanches to grab some lunch. Next we were off to Courseulles-Sur-Mer and the site of Juno beach where 14,000 of the Canadian troops came ashore. The beach here is also long and wide where troops from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Queens Own Rifles suffered losses on the first wave attacks but eventually succeeded in securing the beach. Here, we stopped and enjoyed an ice cream for a snack to cheer us up. Just down the road was the town of Berniers-Sur-Mer which is the location of the first house liberated by the Canadian troops. I have a neat photo of the house as it was on June 6 1944 showing the damage from the war and a photo from the same angle as the house looks today. We then drove to the Canadian D Day cemetery. Out of the three, this one in my opinion was the prettiest with flowers and rose bushes planted beside and in front of each white headstone emblazoned with a maple leaf. There were several who were listed as dying on June 6 1944 and many others dying July 8 which appears to be a date when there was heavy fighting trying to liberate the French city of Caen. The D Day and Normandy battles were a major turning point in liberating France and forcing the Germans to retreat to the east. After visiting these sites, we set off for our next hotel in the city of Rouen. We followed directions to get us into the old-town area where our hotel was located and just when I thought we were lost, there was a sign showing directions to our hotel. How convenient, we got lucky. Free parking is next to impossible to find, there's so many cars and no parking spaces unless you pay 10-15 euro. We ended up finding a free spot, albeit a 15-20 minute walk. We grabbed some supper at a kebab shop across from the hotel before going to see a couple sights. In Rouen, they have many of what I would describe as houses built by the Three Little Pigs. They are part rock, part timber, and part plaster, many leaning outwards or sideways looking as if they are about to crumble! Unfortunately, we were behind schedule for the day and it was getting dark. Rouen seemed a little dirty and the neighborhood had some sketchy looking characters hanging about. When we got to the great Gothic Cathedral with a huge black spire, half of it was covered in scaffolding. In fact, several of Rouens churches, buildings, and streets were under major renovations so it was one big construction zone. During our walk we bumped into an older American couple from Boston. We chatted for a while about each other's travel itineraries, hockey, and the sketchy night people hanging around. Between the darkness and construction I only took a half dozen photos in Rouen. Off to Brugge Belgium in the morning.
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